Patrick Sheltra, No. 60 Ferguson Pipe Enterprises-FloraGanics
Dodge Charger; Chicagoland ARCA 200 Fast Facts
ARCA RE/MAX Series Race No. 17, Chicagoland ARCA 200
Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, Illinois

Race Information: Event: Chicagoland ARCA 200, Saturday, September 6 at 5:00 p.m. Local Time Track: Chicagoland Speedway Qualifying: Friday, September 5 at 5:00 p.m. Local Time; Track Length: 1.5-mile paved tri-oval.

DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Recap: In his most recent ARCA RE/MAX Series start, Patrick Sheltra continued to impress. Returning to the dirt, Sheltra was a favorite heading into this past Monday’s Southern Illinois 100. It didn’t take long to figure out why. During the course of the 100-lap event, Sheltra came from the top-10 twice before being forced to settle for the runner-up position for the second time in 2008. It was Sheltra’s second top-five finish of the season and fourth career top-five.

Welcome Back To The Windy City: Patrick Sheltra returns to the Windy City looking to make his third career start at the Chicagoland Speedway. With a top-15 finish last year, Sheltra is searching for his eighth top-10 of the season Saturday afternoon in the Windy City. Sheltra made a rare ARCA appearance in 2005 driving a second entry for Clements Racing. After qualifying an impressive 21st, clutch problems sidelined Sheltra.

In Case You Missed It: Patrick Sheltra, the sophomore ARCA driver was a guest Tuesday night on Inside The ARCA RE/MAX Series in Toledo, Ohio. Inside The ARCA RE/MAX Series is the official radio program of the ARCA RE/MAX Series. Hosts Charlie Turner and Steve Wronkowicz spoke with the driver about his impressive second place performance at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, his thoughts on Chicagoland Speedway this weekend and his plans for the future. To listen to the full interview, click on ARCARacing.com and listen to the Inside ARCA Radio latest show link.

Welcome To The Team: Sheltra Motorsports welcomes Deana Cumbow to the team. Cumbow, a North Carolina resident joins the Sheltra Motorsports marketing team working with fellow Marketing representative Steve Howell. Cumbow boasts an impressive marketing background and has Motorsports experience dating back to the American Speed Association and most recently the ARCA RE/MAX Series at Eddie Sharp Racing.

On The Horizon: Sheltra Motorsports will sport two unique paint schemes in two of the remaining five events on the 2008 schedule. The No. 60 team will unveil a new paint scheme at Salem Speedway on September 13th and follow up with a brand new marketing partner and look for the ARCA RE/MAX 250 at Talladega Superspeedway on October 3.

Grabbing Life By The Horns: For the 10th and final time this season, Sheltra and his team will bring a Dodge Charger to the track. With one top-five and five top-10s already in the books under the Dodge banner, the team is hoping to record their first win under the Chrysler nameplate. The team answered their inaugural debut with Dodge with a respectable eighth place finish at Kansas Speedway. A week later the team proved that the finish was no fluke as Sheltra steered through late race carnage and confusion at Kentucky Speedway to record an seventh place finish. In June, Sheltra mounted his best finish in a Charger after recording a sixth place finish at the two-mile oval of Michigan International Speedway. Sheltra also battled back from adversity to nail a 10th place finish in the TOYOTA ARCA 150 at Nashville Superspeedway in early August. Most recently, Sheltra in the Southern Illinois 100 qualified a respectable ninth before charging to a second place finish, their best finish in a Charger. The new manufacturer also catapulted Sheltra to record a career best qualifying effort (Kansas) while also leading the field for four laps at the 1.5-mile race track of Kansas Speedway.

Impressive Stat: With 16 races complete in the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series season, Sheltra Motorsports has fielded a car for Patrick Sheltra that has run in the top-10 for all 16 events thus far this season. The team has amassed two top-fives with a runner-up at Toledo Speedway and the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds while holding five additional top-10 finishes. The team’s season best qualifying effort came at Kansas Speedway where Sheltra awarded himself with a career best run of eighth. Sheltra recorded his career best short track qualifying run of eighth at Berlin Raceway in July. The team has led two races at Kansas Speedway and Cayuga Motor Speedway for a total of 15 laps.

Watcha Haulin?: Crew Chief John Hayden has elected to bring Sheltra Motorsports chassis number 15 to Chicagoland Speedway this weekend. The team ran that model at the open ARCA RE/MAX Series test and race at Nashville Superspeedway in addition to the test and race at Michigan International Speedway in June. Chassis number 11 will serve as the team’s backup automobile. This is the same automobile the team participated with in both Pocono Raceway events this year.

Point Standings: After round 16 on the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series schedule, Patrick Sheltra sits ninth in the championship standings accumulating 3,235 points. Sheltra is 415 markers from moving into the fifth position currently held by RE/MAX Series veteran Justin Allgaier. 70 points keep Sheltra from moving into the sixth position. 670 credits separate Sheltra from the points lead held by SunTrust Rookie-of-the-Year candidate Scott Speed.

Sheltra Motorsports, Chicagoland Speedway Pre-Race Quotes:
Patrick Sheltra, driver of the No. 60 Ferguson Pipe Enterprises-FloraGanics Dodge:

On DuQuoin: “It was a good day. A hot day, but definitely a good one. We had a strong car, good motor and the luck was finally on our side. We tried to get Kimmel (Frank Kimmel, winner), but it took our car a little longer to come in. We’ll take second place and look to finish first this weekend.”

On Chicagoland: “Hopefully, third time is a charm. We’ve run extremely well on the mile-and-a-half tracks this year and were looking to continuing those ways this weekend. My crew chief John (Hayden) and Director of Competition Larry Moore have put their two heads together and I think we’ll come out stronger than ever.”

On The Addition Of Deana Cumbow: “It’s a real honor to have her here at Sheltra Motorsports. She knows her stuff when it comes to marketing and I think she’ll do us a great job and fit in nicely with our family orientated team.”

On The Upcoming Races: “Chicagoland, Salem, New Jersey, Talladega and Toledo. It don’t get any better than that. All different types of tracks not to mention a road course in there too. We’re confident we’ll be a threat in the five remaining races of the year and don’t count us out for a win or two either.”

Sheltra Motorsports, Chicagoland Speedway Pre-Race Quotes::
Grace Sheltra, owner of the No. 60 Ferguson Pipe Enterprises-FloraGanics Dodge:

On DuQuoin: “Patrick did a phenomenal job Monday. The guys have him a great racecar and he took full advantage of it. We were hoping to make it two wins in the same weekend but we’ll take the second place and hope for fireworks Saturday afternoon.”

On Chicagoland: “It’s our final Dodge race of the season and we want to go out with smashing results. The Dodges have been crucial to the success of our team this season. We’re bringing a good piece and we’re confident a win is on the Windy City horizon.”

PRIOR RESULTS:
Patrick Sheltra, Chicagoland Speedway Prior ARCA Performance Record:
Date Event Start Finish Laps Status
09/05 SK Hand Tool 200 21 35 65/138 Clutch
09/07 Chicagoland ARCA 200 16 13 134/134 Running

The Chicagoland ARCA 200 (200 miles/134 laps) is the 17th of 21 events on the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series schedule. The eighth ARCA race at Chicagoland Speedway is a two-day show. Practice begins Friday September 5 with a two hour practice session planned from 1:00 p.m.- 3:00 p.m. ARCA SIM Factory pole qualifying is slated to begin at 5:00 p.m. The field will take the green flag on Saturday September 6 shortly after 5:00 p.m. The race will be next day taped-delay on SPEED (Sunday September 6 at 4:00 p.m.) with additional race coverage including live timing and scoring available online at arcaracing.com. All times are local.

Fast Links:
Driver/Team: Patrick Sheltra on the web: PatrickSheltra.com
Sanction: ARCA RE/MAX Series: ARCARacing.com

About Sheltra Motorsports:
Sheltra Motorsports (sheltramotorsports.com) is a three-tier Motorsports operation consisting of dirt and asphalt competition. Patrick Sheltra, a 22-year old native of Indiantown, Florida competes in the UMP and WoO (Dirt) Series; while also running a full schedule in the ARCA RE/MAX Series (No. 60) and a limited schedule in NASCAR. Sheltra Motorsports ownership is combined of Richard, Grace and Patrick Sheltra. The team is headquartered in Indiantown, Florida with additional operations in Richmond, Indiana and Whitesville, Kentucky.

###

TEAM COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT:
NAME: Chris Knight, Sheltra Motorsports
PHONE: 239.834.9797 or 830.261.1215
EMAIL: knight849@aol.com