Renee runs with a pack of cars through LRP's optional uphill chicane. Hodge Photo.

This past weekend, NASCAR’s Whelen Modified Tour visited the hallowed grounds of Lime Rock Park (Lakeville, CT). The Tour’s appearance at the 1.53-mile road course marked the Series’ first event on something other than an asphalt oval in a decade; as well as the inaugural event at LRP (previous road course events were held at Watkins Glen).

Friday (July 2) offered up two practice sessions and qualifying for the WMT; as well as the same for NASCAR’s K&N East Series. In the group qualifying session, Renee ran two laps – before missing the chicane on the third lap, followed by a car going off course directly in front of her on the forth lap. In the end, she qualified her UNION Insurance Group Chevrolet to the 19^th position.

On Saturday morning, while the team made final preparations on the car, Renee attended a driver’s meeting and participated in an autograph session. She also spent time – not just on Saturday, but throughout the event – with Molyslip representatives Stephen Joyce and Wayne Johnson.

“Earlier this season, we developed a relationship with Molyslip – a Canadian-based company that produces high-performance lubricant products,” offered Renee. “To have Steve and Wayne make the long trip from Toronto meant a lot. They are a couple of super guys and the entire team enjoyed getting to know them. It’s the icing on the cake that they also happen to have a great product line.”

The UIG No. 90 heads under the bridge at Lime Rock. Hodge Photo.

Shortly after noontime, the green flag waved for the 66-lap race. Renee maintained a competitive pace – pitting along with the rest of the field for a mandatory fueling pit stop on lap 20. When the race resumed, Renee pick up spots here and there. She notable went off course just once – in Big Bend – with just a few laps remaining in the race.

“When NASCAR first announced this event, we knew survival was going to be key. We figured if we could just survive, we would end up with a decent finish. We kept all the suspension on the car; we took care of the engine; and the transmission (courtesy of race winning team owner Wayne Darling) survived unscathed. And, because of that, we ended-up with a respectable finish.”

In the end, the team earned a 13^th place finish – moving up to the 16^th spot in the tight season long points championship. For those who weren’t able to make it out to the track, the race will be televised on SPEED on Thursday, July 22 at 6 PM EST. Please check out our gallery for photos from LRP.

“I have to send out a special thanks to all of the crew. This was an incredibly difficult race to prepare for – many, many long hours went into changing the car over for road course racing. It was difficult to accomplish – especially given the tight time constraints between Loudon and LRP – and it will be a long process converting everything back over to get ready for Monadnock. On another note, at the track, the three spotters did an awesome job. Carol, Charli and Steve worked together like they had been doing it for years – despite never having worked together before. I really want to thank everyone involved for all their hard work.”

Next, the WMT moves to the .25-mile Monadnock Speedway (Winchester, NH) on Saturday, July 17. In the meantime, check out an interview Renee did with Kate Wedman on her blog ‘Work Hard, Play Harder.’

UIG Recognized on NASCAR’s website

Just prior to the running of New Hampshire Motor Speedway’s New England 100, NASCAR posted the news release ‘UNION Insurance Group Goes Full-Time in NASCAR’s Whelen Modified Tour’ to the Home Tracks section of their website. The release marked some much anticipated publicity for the Chicago-based insurance agency.

UNION Insurance Group President Chris DeCaigny – who was standing on Loudon’s pit road when the release was published – was pleased to see his agency receive recognition for their support of the lone-female in one of NASCAR’s most competitive Series.

Boilermaker Reporter

The team received even more press in the Boilermaker Reporter – the official publication of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers. Renee is a third generation Boilermaker – working in the office of the Northeast Area Apprenticeship Program since graduating with honors from the University of Connecticut.

The story appears in both the print and on-line versions of the Reporter.

Make-A-Wish Foundation

When leaving the Driver’s Meeting at NHMS, Renee was approached by NASCAR with an opportunity to spend some time with a visiting Make-A-Wish family. She jumped at the chance – meeting the Full family from Minnesota. Renee Full (it turns out the two shared the same first name) had traveled half way across the country to have her wish of meeting Sprint Cup Champion Jimmy Johnson fulfilled.

The group – escorted by two State Police officers – walked out on to pit road, where Renee spoke with the family – answering questions and bantering back and forth about racing in general. Together they watched some qualifying runs for the Nationwide Series. Renee then enlisted the help of Phil Kurze (Whelen Engineering’s Motorsports Director) to help her new friend obtain Danica Patrick’s autograph.

“I had a wonderful time with the Renee and the Full Family,” said Renee. “I’ve never had the chance to work with Make-A-Wish before, but it’s something I would like to continue doing. It was a really powerful experience. Knowing she is a Jimmy Johnson fan, I was happy to see him win on Sunday – I hope the family made it down to victory lane. We exchanged contact information – I plan to stay in touch.”

To learn more about Renee’s journey, please click here.

The UIG No. 90 heads under the bridge at Lime Rock. Hodge Photo.

Lime Rock Park Test Session

On Tuesday, June 29, the No. 90 team headed out to Lime Rock Park (Lakeville, CT) to participate in an open-test session – in anticipation of the race to be held there on July 3.

The team ran several laps, despite having clutch/transmission issues.

“We had some mechanical issues – but that’s part of the reason we went. Obviously, it was important to run laps, but we also wanted to make sure we had the car sorted out. I’ve spent a number of days out at Lime Rock this spring – trying to learn how to run a road course – but it was pretty different in a Modified. I’m glad we went.”

A specially-prepared car (with a chrome-nose) was ready for action at NHMS. The car never made it to the big-show on Saturday. Hodge Photo.

This past weekend, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour traveled to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the first of two visits to the facility during the 2010 season.

For the Tour, the event began on Thursday with a late-morning practice session. Not too deep into practice, Renee backed her UNION Insurance Group Chevrolet into the second turn wall. With significant chassis damage, the team was forced to return to their Connecticut-based race shop to retrieve their second car.

“I put us behind the 8-ball by wrecking in practice,” said Renee. “I hate that it happened – the whole crew had to hustle to get the second car back to Loudon. It was a lot of long hours in the shop and, in the end, it wasn’t the combination we wanted to run there. We had to do what we had to do to salvage some type of finish.”

Starting from a provisional starting position of 35^th, Renee moved up several positions during the course of the event – eventually crossing the finish line in 20^th position. The team remains ranked 19^th in the season-long points battle.

Please take a moment to view photos from New Hampshire in our on-line gallery.

Next up, NASCAR’s Whelen Modified Tour heads to Lime Rock Park Speedway (Lakeville, CT) for the Series’ only road course appearance on the schedule. In advance of the race, the team will participate in an open test at Lime Rock on Tuesday, June 29.

With the July 3 Whelen Modified Tour race date at Lime Rock Park (Lakeville, CT) quickly approaching, Renee has been busy working to learn the intricacies of road course racing.

To that end, she has been out at Lime Rock’s 1.53-mile track twice in recent weeks. First, Renee ran the course with BMW Instructor Bob Rivard at a club event. Then, most recently, she had the opportunity to work with Simon Kirkby and Peter Argetsinger – both highly accomplished and respected racers and instructors.

“I’ve been racing for a long time, but I have virtually no road course experience,” confessed Renee. “Actually, the experience I do have is an embarrassment. Back when we did Setup [a racing themed reality TV show that aired on SPEED in 2007], we excelled at everything until we went to the first road course – then we got sent home,” she continued. “Now the stakes are much higher and I want to know what I’m doing when we get to Lime Rock.”

During her time at the track, Renee focused primarily on learning the line, and braking and shifting points. But, was also able to get a feel for what she wants out of her Modified.

“Even though I was in BMWs – not a Modified, I was able to feel what the car was doing and related the differences to my guys,” she explained. “It’s not just turning right, it’s a totally different feel in the seat of your pants. My first impression – and I mean like the first 30 seconds I was on the track – was I need big brakes and a really well balanced car. How we achieve that balance, in cars that were designed only to turn left, is something we’re already hard at work on.”

“From what’s been explained to me, from a technical standpoint, Lime Rock is as complicated as it gets. It was an unbelievable opportunity to work with Simon and Peter. They got me to concentrate on my line, working to erase early and late apexes. Obviously there is no way to conquer Lime Rock in just a few sessions, but at the end of the day, I think I left having both a better feel and understanding for where the car needs to be and why it needs to be there.”

In related news, NASCAR and Hoosier held a test last week with four teams (see the YouTube clip below) at Lime Rock. Additionally, an open test has been scheduled for June 29 at Lime Rock. At that point, Renee will be given an opportunity to see what she can do with her new-found knowledge. For more information on additional Lime Rock track time, please click here.

While the team is hard at work preparing the cars for the fast approaching season, we figured we’d fill you in on some recent happenings.

First, thanks go out to UNION Insurance Group for incorporating a picture of our team on the home page of their newly designed (and just released) website. Based in Chicago, UNION Insurance Group is the largest 100% union organized property and casualty insurance agency in the country. Our team is excited to be associated with such a fine organization and hope to do them proud during the 2010 season.

Second, the team would also like to thank Lime Rock Park for continuing to display a picture of our car on the homepage of their website too. A few weeks back we participated in the Frank Marratta Auto & Cycle Show with Lime Rock. And, looking ahead, we look forward to continuing to work with Lime Rock to promote our Tour’s only road course appearance – on July 3 – at their world renowned facility.

Lastly, Renee recently took part in an on-line radio interview on RaceFanRadio.com with Theresa Earnheart of Track Chic Live. Renee joined fellow ‘Five Women Wrenching’ teammates Deb & Lauren Cooper, Heather DesRochers, Erica Santos and Renea Topp in a lengthy discussion on each individual’s role in the world of motorsports. The interview aired on February 11 at 7 PM, but for those that missed the interview, archive downloads are available online.

Special thanks go out to Mark Hann of Victory Motorsports Marketing Services for arranging all the details for the interview – and for putting together the all-women pit crew team that made the interview possible!

Renee signs autographs along with several other area drivers. Howie Hodge Photo.

Over the weekend (February 5-7, 2010), NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and UNION Insurance Grouped backed driver Renee Dupuis participated in several different activities at the 51st annual Frank Maratta’s Auto & Cycle Show.

First, Renee’s car (the team’s 2009 New Hampshire car) spent the weekend in the Lime Rock Park display – alongside Mario Andretti’s famous F1 Lotus 79 championship car.

After spending some time with the folks from Lime Rock, Renee next participated in the ‘Meet the Drivers’ Autograph session.

Later in the evening, Renee went on to compete in the NHMS-sponsored ‘Pit Crew Challenge’ competition. Renee was part of an all female crew – dubbed ‘Five Women Wrenching.’ The team consisted of Renea Topp (Lime Rock Park PR), Heather DesRochers (winning Stafford SK Light driver), Deb Cooper (mother of Stafford SK Light driver) and Erica Santos (NEMA Midget standout and Stafford SK Light Driver).

When the weekend wrapped, both car and driver returned home – with the display car immediately undergoing the process of being stripped of its red sheet metal. Stay tuned in the coming weeks as the team looks to unveil a new paint scheme for the rapidly-approaching 2010 season.

Renee poses with her UNION Insurance Group car - from the 2009 season - on display in the Lime Rock Park booth. Victor Moreno Photo.

As part of an all-female pit crew, Renee works the air gun on the left front. Also pictured (from left to right) are: Renea Topp; Deb Cooper; Heather DesRochers and Erica Santos. Howie Hodge Photo.

When the 51^st annual Frank Maratta’s Auto & Cycle Show opens on Friday, February 5 the UNION Insurance Group Chevrolet will be found on display in the Lime Rock Park booth – notably alongside a title-winning ALMS Patrón Highcroft Acura.

Renee will team with Lime Rock (Lakeville, CT) to promote the facility’s inaugural NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event. The 1.53-mile road course will play host to the WMT for the first time on July 3 as part of a holiday-weekend doubleheader with NASCAR’s Camping World Series East. It will mark the first time the Tour has competed on a road course since 2000.

“We’re looking forward to running Lime Rock,” offered Renee. “The show provides us with a great opportunity to promote our race – as well as our many sponsors.”

During the show Renee will participate in the ‘Meet the Drivers” autograph session on Saturday, February 6 from 6-7 PM.

Following the autograph session, she’s scheduled to compete in the NHMS-sponsored ‘Pit Crew Challenge’ competition. Renee will be part of an all-female team, including: Renea Topp (Lime Rock Park), Heather DesRochers (winning Stafford SK Light driver), Lauren Cooper (Stafford SK Light driver) and Erica Santos (NEMA Midget standout and Stafford SK Light Driver).

Renee’s car will be on display throughout the show – which runs from Friday thru Sunday (February 5-7) at the Connecticut Expo Center in Hartford. For more information, please visit the show’s website.