MB Motorsports’ inaugural run at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in the Chevrolet Silverado 250 was beset by mechanical issues. When the team unloaded the #63 Personal Comfort Bed / Mittler Brothers Machine & Tool Chevy, they had high hopes for what would be their first road course race and their first event outside the U.S.
According to driver Scott Stenzel, “On a road course, one of the most important things is to be able to shift smoothly through the gears. In first practice, we had trouble getting in a solid green flag lap due to a transmission gremlin that prevented smooth 2nd gear shifts. That gremlin ended up turning into something terminal during the last practice session and reduced our track time even further.” Adds crew chief Trip Bruce, “We were able to get another transmission in the truck before qualifying and everything seemed good until turn one of our first qualifying lap and Scott found himself inside a truck filled with smoke. Try laying down a fast lap in that situation, on road course, no less. Needless to say, since we were locked into the race, we didn’t push it.”
“This was our first race with Personal Comfort Bed on board the MB Motorsports Chevy, so we were doing everythig we could to get them as much exposure as possible,” says Stenzel. “When the green flag dropped we were almost 2 seconds quicker than we had been in practice. On lap 4, we were heading down the backstretch, hunting down a pack of trucks running 15th-20th when the gear shift linkage broke. The shifter stuck in 2nd gear and we had to go behind the wall.”
Bruce led the crew to replace the shattered linkage. 19 laps later, Stenzel brought the Personal Comfort / Mittler Brothers Chevy back out onto the track. “We passed a few trucks during the green flag run that were initially faster than us during practice, so that gave us a lot more confidence,” notes Stenzel. Bruce agrees, citing “One lap before the checkered flag flew, Scott ran his fastest lap since we arrived at the track. The #63 Personal Comfort / Mittler Bros. Chevy Silverado just kept getting better and better each and every lap. It makes you wonder how things would have turned out if we hadn’t had the transmission trouble.”
When asked about frustrating days at the track, team owner Mike Mittler was philosophical. “That’s just part of racing. Some days are good, some days aren’t as good as you’d like. When you do have trouble and the team rallies back like they did today, that’s a very satisfying feeling for everyone involved. I’m proud of everyone on our team and what they did to make sure Personal Comfort Beds, LG Seeds, Excel Bottling’s Ski Soda and the good folks at Eagle Rock Camp all received as much exposure as we could deliver. There’s no quitters on this team.”
MB Motorsports now prepares for the mile and a half Chicagoland Speedway where the Lucas Oil 225 will be held on Friday September 12th. You can get live updates from the team during the race by following @MBMotorsports on twitter.
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