NASCAR “Parks” Dupuis at Langley
On, Saturday, September 3 Renee traveled to Langley Speedway (Hampton, VA) for the running of the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour “Newport News Shipbuilding 150.”
Once again in an Ed Bennett-owned, UNION Insurance Group backed Chevrolet – the team first participated in two practice sessions. Following practice, came qualifying – where Dupuis logged the 7th fastest time of the day.
After an autograph session on Langley’s front stretch, the green flag waved at just after 8 PM. The team entered the race in a ‘conserve tires mode’ – and was following that strategy – until lap 45.
While running in 9th position on lap 45 – coming off of turn 2 – Renee was drilled in the left-rear nerf bar by LW Miller – causing her to spin. As several other cars were collected – Renee went down a lap trying to pull away from the wreck. Twice the car was brought to pit road – examining damage and making repairs. When the green flag waved on lap 49 – Renee was just exiting the pits and was over a half a lap behind the field. Dupuis ran the car hard – running lap times equal to the leaders – but, with no cautions, eventually went down another lap on the track.
The telltale rubber on the No. 59's left-rear nerf bar.
When getting lapped by Miller – Renee chose to take him wide on two separate occasions – a clear sign of her displeasure with his earlier antics. On the next lap, Miller came close to wrecking himself on the front stretch when he unsuccessful tried to dump her again.
“LW clearly dumped us. So, when he attempted to go by later in the race, I took him wide – twice. I took him wide – I did not wreck him. As I pointed out to the officials in the trailer – I’ve been doing this a long time and if I wanted to wreck him – I would have. I made a decision to show him I was not happy but I did so in a manner that didn’t put him or anyone else on the track in jeopardy. Now, when he came back after me again on the front stretch – he did so with the obvious intent to wreck us. But, apparently, NASCAR didn’t see it that way. So, they black flagged us. I’m yelling on the radio trying to find out what the flag is for – is it a stop and go – what’s the deal? But neither my spotter, Carol, nor the guys down in the pits could get an answer from officials. So, I bring the car to pit road while we’re still trying to get an answer from NASCAR. Several laps go by and we still couldn’t get an answer – but there was no official holding us in the pit stall – so I went back out.”
Apparently unhappy with the fact that the car returned to the race, NASCAR then parked the car and invited Renee and Ed to meet with officials in the NASCAR trailer at the end of the race.
“I wasn’t paying attention to the time, but the rest of the crew informed us that Ed and I spent about 45 minutes in the NASCAR trailer,” explained Renee. “Without going into the ugly details, suffice it to say we didn’t see eye to eye on much of anything.”
In the final rundown, Renee was credited with a last place finish.
“To add to the frustration, we have been to three WSMT races this season (Hickory, Caraway and Langley) and been taken out twice
Either gluttons for punishment or showing perseverance, next up, the team has filed an entry for the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour portion of the inaugural UNOH Showdown on September 10-11 at Connecticut’s Thompson International Speedway.
Upcoming Race Dates
As you may already well know, for the 2011 season our team has just a limited racing schedule planned. To that end, we would like to take a moment to update you on some upcoming race dates…
- Thursday, July 21 – Thompson International Speedway (open comp show)
- Thursday, August 18 – Thompson International Speedway (open comp show)
- Friday, August 26 – Caraway Speedway (NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour)
- Saturday, September 3 – Langley Speedway (NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour)
- Sunday, September 11 – Thompson International Speedway (Combination NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour)
- Saturday, September 24 – Tri-County Motor Speedway (NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour)
We look forward to providing updates following each event.
Monadnock Misadventures
After a one-day weather postponement, Renee made her first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour start of the season at New Hampshire’s Monadnock Speedway on Sunday, June 26.
In her Ed Bennett-owned No. 59 entry, Renee began the day with an hour-long practice session – turning top-ten lap times . As per usual, following practice, the teams in attendance participated in qualifying – where Renee logged the 16th fastest time of the day.
Next up, the track hosted an hour-long autograph session behind the facility’s main grandstand.
At approximately 5 PM, the green flag waved for the 200-lap feature. A lap-by-lap rundown of the race can be found here. While maintaining track position, on lap 48, Renee was tagged from behind and spun into the infield – when the car behind her didn’t slow for the caution.
“I don’t think it was intentional, but getting dumped by Eric (Beers) pretty much ruined our day. We went a lap down when I couldn’t get the car restarted. And the day just went downhill from there.”
When the race went green again, the team attempted to maintain the ‘lucky dog’ position – but through some misunderstanding missed the spot. Then they went down an additional lap in the pits making repairs to the right front.
In the end, Renee was credited with a 22nd place finish.
Next up Renee will be back in her Bill Woodman-owned No. 90 machine for the 40-lap Open Comp show at Thompson International Speedway on Thursday, July 21.