Colton Builds Chassis for Phelps, Britten, McGrail and Working on Unique Entries for “the Mile”
WEEDSPORT, N.Y. – Sept. 12, 2012 -When the VP Small Engine Fuels 200 winner pulls into victory lane to celebrate a NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week triumph, it may be the driver who captures the crowd’s attention, but in those 200 laps it was the car that turned heads in the grandstand.
As NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week XLI nears, car builders like Bill Colton of Troyer Race Cars are working hard behind the scenes to prepare for one of the most challenging and most rewarding races of the season.
“It is such a big undertaking from a car builder’s standpoint,” Colton said during a conference call with media on Tuesday. “Syracuse is an endurance race. You have to really have performance. You have to have a fast race car. You have you have a car that is fast in all conditions because you go to Syracuse and you don’t know what you’re going to get.”
(CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL FEATURING BILL COLTON)
Many competitors have a special car built for Syracuse’s “Moody Mile,” and drivers like multiple-time Australian V8 Dirt Modified Champion Peter Brittenand Jimmy Phelps, who is currently second in points in the Super DIRTcar Series, are looking to Colton to help them succeed at the unique race.
“Setup-wise, car-wise, it’s one of its own,” Colton said. “It’s totally different from everything we do. That’s what makes it challenging, and that’s what makes it a goal that we all strive to achieve at.
“You start running at 130-140 miles per hour for 200 miles, it really breaks parts on a race car that you never see break anywhere other than Syracuse. You’ve really got to look at it differently. You’ve got to prepare for it.”
Colton, the 2012 recipient of the DIRT Hall of Fame “Mechanic of the Year of the Award,” keeps NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week circled on his calendar year round.
“It’s our Super Bowl,” he said. “Every team really strives to succeed at that race and every chassis builder tries to come up with a better mousetrap. If you’re fortunate enough to win it, as a car owner, a crew, a driver, or a chassis builder, you’ve entered an elite group. It’s one of those things – especially for drivers – that could be a career-making win for them. It just puts an exclamation mark next to their name.”
Colton earned his exclamation mark in 1981 when a Troyer-built Mud Buss V driven by MervTreichler sped ahead to win the “Schaefer 200,” now known as the “VP Small Engine Fuels 200,”and is working on some unique entries for the 41strunning of the event next month, including an altered version of the asphalt modified Pat McGrail drove to victory Sunday at Airborne Park Speedway.
“The cars are very fast,” Colton said.”They’re turning a lot of heads. Honestly, it’s something that, in all the sport, that’s one of the few things I have a patent on through Troyer is the suspension on that car. It’s something that is really unique and we have high hopes for it for Syracuse.”
The 41st NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week runs from Wednesday, Oct. 3, through Sunday, Oct. 7, at the New York State Fairgrounds with satellite events Wednesday night at Cayuga County Fair Speedway and Thursday and Saturday nights at Rolling Wheels Raceway Park. Media members interested in participating in weekly media calls every Tuesday leading up to Super DIRT Week can contact Chris Dolack at cdolack@dirtcar.com for more information.
For more information about NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week, including vendor and sponsorship opportunities, call DIRTcar Northeast Headquarters at (315) 834-6606.To purchase tickets for events at Rolling Wheels Raceway Park or the New York State Fairgrounds during NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week XLI, log on to www.SuperDIRTWeekOnline.com, or call the DIRTcar ticket hotline at (877) 395-8606.
For the latest news and updates about Super DIRT Week and DIRTcar Racing, “like” theSuper DIRT Week andDIRTcar Racing Facebook pages or follow the Twitter feeds, @SuperDIRTWeek and @DIRTcarNE.