A Day of Highs and Lows for the #45

Memorial Day was a day of highs and lows for Chuck Peters and Team Orange Crush. Nearly 250 enthusiastic fans dressed in orange and took their places center stage in the capacity crowd to cheer for Chuck Peters and the #45 car. The day started with Peters drawing the 2nd best starting position in the 25 car field, right beside pole-sitter Gene Guinn.
Peters got a jump on Guinn at the start, then chose to run wide and fast off the racing surface before shooting back onto the slick track as the third car to pass the flagger, just behind Chico’s Wess Brown. Brown and Guinn would go on to finish the 200-lap race first and second.
The 45 car ran strong and Peters was on the same lap as Brown when the first red flag came out with just 10 laps in the books. The Crush crowd had a lot to cheer for early on, as Peters was able to navigate his racecar around the track, passing cars as he went. A moment of excitement came when Peters became tangled in a group of spun cars in the slick fourth turn. The fans went wild when, without hesitation, Peters through his racer into reverse and sped backwards into the infield where he whipped the car around and resumed the race while the others remained stuck in the slop. This small victory was short-lived, however.
Chuck’s trouble began around lap 23 when he came together with another car on the front stretch and spun into a muddy mire on the apron in front of the grandstand. After several minutes of trying to rock the car free, a battery cable cut against the firewall and shot sparks through the car, causing a frustrated Peters to bring out the red flag.
After Guinn took the checkered flag to end the first 100 laps, a push-truck freed the 45 car and the Crush crew (Scott Charlton, Ken Gillette, Tim Vaught, Gary Goodwin and Jim Christian) went to work. Gillette and Charlton handled the electrical problem by widening the opening in the firewall and insulating the cable with tape. The others cleared pounds of clay from the wheel wells and mounted fresh tires on three corners of the car. They lined up for the second half feeling positive and expecting to finish in the top 10.
Peters returned to the race in 16th position at the start of the second half. The team heaved a sigh of relief as Peters ran strong and kept pace with the faster cars on the track. But just 10 laps into the second half the Universal joint let go, causing the driveshaft to come loose from the differential. Before the crowd had time to notice, Peters coasted off the track and came to a stop at the pit entrance just off turn three. The team worked valiantly to get the hamstrung Olds back onto the track – acquiring a new U-joint from a generous competitor, only to find that this particular “universal” joint wasn’t. The Chevy part did not match the Olds drive line.
With 70 laps to go, Scott & Ken left the fairgrounds to try to buy the needed part and get back in time to repair the car before the checkered flag flew, but time was against them, and the part proved to be a difficult one to find.
“Next year we’ll run brand new tires and we’ll bring an extra drive line, or weld this one up so it can’t come apart like this,” said a dejected Peters. “I love all these fans and I feel bad that I wasn’t there for them at the end of the race. I’ll do my best to be there for them next year!”
When asked what he learned at the end of the hard day, Peters stated, “Patience!”
“I went for it a little too soon. If I had gotten on the brakes and waited 2 more seconds, I might have been in the top five at the end. I made a decision to try to pass a group of cars that I should have let go. I should have avoided that particular battle for the sake of the war. The way I was running, I would have caught them in a lap or two anyway.”
“I want to congratulate Gene Guinn on his win - his third in four years - and Wess Brown on his second place finish. Both Wess & Gene are great drivers and good friends. I hope I’ll be back to challenge them next year.”