FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 8, 2004
Contact: Nelson Holmberg (nelson@noslencommunication.com) (360) 521-1590

Mister Home Loan overcomes difficulties to race in Madison

MADISON, Ind. — It is always good to get the season’s first race under the belt.

That’s how Superior Racing Team was feeling after finishing the Madison Regatta, in what turned out to be a long weekend in the 2004 debut of the U-25 Mister Home Loan.

The long weekend started on Thursday morning when crew chief Roger Newton and truck driver/crew member Vern Blair discovered that a spring on the trailer had gone bad. Replacement of that spring was expected to be as easy as buying a new part and installing it, then moving the boat into the Madison pits and beginning the final preparations for the race. The weekend included 14 hour days that began at 7 a.m., and a scramble to make sure the boat would participate in the race.

But that’s not how it turned out. Newton said the team had to go to a fabricator’s shop in Evansville, Ind., and have them make a spring for the team, as ordering one would have taken too much time. By the time the trailer spring was replaced, most of the day had gone by. The team didn’t get the boat into the pits until Thursday evening.

By Friday afternoon, decals had been affixed to the boat, and setup was underway. It looked as if Dr. Ken Muscatel would make it out for the day’s testing. But some other problems cropped up, including the boat being roughly 75 pounds too light, things weren’t aligned just right, and the accelerator wasn’t set up right.

The positive side, however, is that the boat — reworked over the winter, including weight loss and a new bottom — rode well throughout the weekend, but the little problems limited what the team could achieve in the overall picture. It wasn’t all bad, however, as owner/driver Dr. Ken Muscatel got into a great race with Miss Emcor’s Mike Weber in heat 1B. Muscatel had the advantage of the inside lane and used that and his driving experience to hold off a faster Miss Emcor for third place in the heat.

Muscatel also finished all four heats, and earned 63 points toward the 2004 O’Doul’s High Points Championship. The positives continued as the team were able to isolate some of the problems they’d experienced over the weekend, and took measures to make sure they’re fixed in the two weeks leading up to the Chrysler Jeep Superstores APBA Gold Cup in Detroit, July 14-18.

The boat is already in Detroit, having some work done at Fairlane Tool before the team catches up to it, and begins final preparations for the Gold Cup.

— U-25 —

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