Quincy Pre-Race Thread

by **Syzygy** Tue Jan 14, 2020 2:51 pm

Juveno OUT, Olsen IN at Stephans

After failing to report to the team headquarters in the days following the Round of Massachusetts, Barry Juveno was released from his position as full-time driver of the #65 Stephans Racing Tonare. Stephans Racing was quick to name a replacement: Donnie Olsen, the 32-year old Texas native, will make his return to full-time PCC Cup Series competition this week in the Round of Quincy. Longtime PCC Cup Series fans will recognize Olsen; he took the series by storm in his 2006 rookie campaign, winning three races and narrowly missing a chance at the title. Unfortunately, further successes were few and far between, and he exited the series full-time at the end of the 2010 season when his family team ran out of funding. After several years of competing in the Stock Car Racing Association, Olsen landed at Stephans Racing for a PCC Lites effort and Cup reserve role in 2014, where he has remained since. Olsen has made one Cup start prior this season, making a surprising run in the Round of Russia in Stephans Racing's fourth car. Barry Juveno will reportedly honor his Lites and Trucks commitments for the rest of the season in the #12 Hannigan Enterprises Yugo and #65 Juvenosport Toyota, respectively.

Juveno exits Stephans Racing 35th in Driver's Points, 265 points behind points leader Ike Durbin. Juveno was one of only six drivers to make every start this season. Stephans Racing currently sits at the bottom of the Team Standings, 129 points from safety.

Torregrossa to pull Double-Duty at Decatur

Ex-PCC Europe Series drive Salvatore Torregrossa announced today that he will be contesting both the PCC Trucks and PCC Cup Series rounds at Decatur next week. Torregrossa announced he will be running the #28 AJM Racing entry in the Trucks race, and has secured the #20 Matthews Motorsports Team entry for the Cup race. This marks Torregrossa's debut in the Trucks series, and his first start in the Cup Series since 2012. This announcement follows a successful tire test in an AJM Truck just one month ago. Torregrossa departed the PCC Europe Series following his failure to qualify for the Round of Russia, and has expressed a desire to race in the United States in the past few months.

2017 Cup Series Package Tests at Chicago Twin

The first major test session for the 2017 PCC Cup Series package occurred earlier this week at the Chicago Twin Speedway. In attendance were Lucas Motorsports (Jefferies), Paloma Autosport (S. Smith), Johnson Racing (Burkhart), ROG Motorsports (Beverley), Griffith Motorsports (Maddox), Stephans Racing (K. Stephans), Nice Coq Racing (Eichholtz), and Australian Motorsports (Grant). Changes from the 2016 package include an increase from 650hp to 850hp, and half an inch has been taken off the spoiler to reduce downforce. Every car participating in the test session ran faster than Ian Elias' pole time from earlier this season. Greg Maddox led the session with a time over two seconds faster than Elias' pole time.

Crush Motorsports For Sale

Finnish-based Crush Motorsports announced all of their equipment would be put to auction at the end of the season, marking the end of a failed experiment after just one year of competition. Crush Motorsports began competition in the PCC Trucks series this year, and looked to make a splash as the only European team in the series. Ultimately, the team has struggled mightily, with driver Matteus Leskinen only beating Mary Sue and John Kirkpatrick in points among full-time drivers. The team will contest the final five races of the season before closing their doors.

Stock Car Racing Association Folds Amidst Funding Issues

The SCRA is no more. The Stock Car Racing Association, a competing stock car sanctioning body to the Professional Car Club, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Wednesday, marking the end of a tumultuous 36-year existence. Founded in 1980 in St. Louis, Missouri, for most of it's history the sanctioning body marketed itself as a low-budget alternative to the higher-profile Professional Car Club. As such, the SCRA's competitors contained a mix of of both professional racers as well as hobby racers alike, in addition to younger competitors trying to make a name for themselves. The sanctioning body's premier series, the SCRA Diamond Stocks, reached it's high-water mark in 2012, with the winner of it's premier race, the Sunshine State 500, getting an automatic grid spot in the PCC Cup Series Cleveland Grand Prix. This came in the middle of an aggressive expansion period for the SCRA, who were just coming off purchases of the American Late Model Series, Modified Super Cup, and Midwest Touring Trucks in the previous two years.

Financial problems developed midway in the 2014 season when the SCRA began to cancel races, and television contracts were canceled. By the end of the season, only eight of the twelve scheduled races had actually run. The financial problems only grew worse, and earlier this year all SCRA series went on hiatus following the Diamond Stocks race at Wabash in May. With this week's announcement, the Stock Car Racing Association has officially ceased operations, with all assets liquidated or sold off.

Several SCRA teams have already begun competing in 2008 PCC Cup Series Champion Caleb Williams' Stadium Super Series, which coalesced earlier this year. Several more have expressed interest in competing in the series, which holds races in stadium tracks across the country. David Russell Motorsports, long-time PCC Cup Series team and 2014 SCRA Diamond Stocks championship-winning team, declared an interest to re-enter the PCC ladder after the bankruptcy announcement. Notably, David Russell Motorsports won the 1998 and 1999 PCC Cup Series championships back-to-back with owner David Russell behind the wheel.