Colangelo Brings Home Second in ‘Lakeland’s’ Swan Song
Bittersweet Top-Five Has Points Leader Singing a Happy Tune
In concerts, the artists usually save the best for last. That was the tune Jeremy Colangelo was singing this weekend as he made his final appearance at the track he considers one of his favorites, USA International Speedway (FL), more commonly known as Lakeland.
The track is closing down and will likely become a commercial real estate development in the not so distant future. Its final race was Saturday night and Colangelo wanted to go out on a high note in the Sunbelt Series event. He did just that - bringing home a second place finish in a run that was anything but clear sailing for him.
“The weekend started out pretty good, even though it was a little bittersweet,” said Colangelo. “We qualified fifth; we thought we were going to have a little bit better qualifying run than that. We knew we weren’t going to be the best, because we really worked on the long runs. That is what we concentrated on in practice.
“I was a little disappointed but the crew was happy and we were ready to start the race. It was kind of bittersweet at the start because it was the last race there but we knew it was going to be good because we had such a strong car.”
Early in the race however, some obstacles snuck up on Colangelo and his team which threatened to take their good run away from them.
“Around lap 20, the downforce or something on the track caused the rear deck lid to cave in. When that happened it took all the air that was hitting the spoiler and started sending it into the rear bumper. It made it really loose all around. We fell back to around 11th then and I was struggling to even keep up.
“Thankfully a caution came out and we came into the pits and my guys were able to get it all taped up and replace the deck lid. We had to restart towards the back of the pack around 28th or so. I was pretty frustrated and my spotter was trying to keep me calm too. Slowly I worked my way back up and we made it back into the top-10.”
Once Colangelo and his team had put himself in the position to go for the win, as they worked their way into the top-five with 10 laps to go.
“There were some restarts toward the end of the race because of some accidents that involved the leaders. By the time we got to second, there were only two or so laps left. I think we had a better car than the leader but we just ran out of laps. I was happy with second but you would always like to win it. I think if we would have had even two more laps then we probably could have got him.
Despite not being able to bring home the victory, Colangelo had a solid run and a good points night. Not a bad way to go out and remember his favorite track.
“By far, Lakeland is my absolute favorite track. The facilities are great, from the restrooms to the concessions, the track itself, everything has always been so well kept up. Everyone is so friendly and it has always been a treat to go there. So for it to be going away, it’s tough.
“It was a solid points night for us, hopefully this second place will give us some padding with the points lead but the whole thing is kind of bittersweet to know we had a better car than the leader, but second is a good way to go out at Lakeland. It’s a lot better feeling than being taken out of the race.”
Colangelo will be back in action this weekend when he heads to Desoto Super Speedway for the next Goodyear Challenge event on Saturday August 9, 2008.
For more information on Jeremy Colangelo, contact Elgin Traylor at (704) 788-2134 x 4 and be sure to check out www.jeremycolangelo.net
