The Richard Childress Racing supported Golden Gate Racing Team is geared up and ready to go for the 2011 racing season. This year the successful San Francisco based team will return to the K&N Pro Series West with Utah’s Michael Self as their primary driver aboard the #21 Bay Bio Diesel-Golden Gate Meat Company Chevrolet Impala.
The 2011 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West series consists of 14 events from February through November. The new schedule includes visits to 12 NASCAR facilities in nine states and is the West’s oldest stock car racing circuit, celebrating its 58th season. – click here for 2011 schedule
The Golden Gate Racing Team will begin their 2011 racing season at the end of January in the annual NASCAR Toyota All Star Showdown at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, California. This high profile event brings the K&N Pro Series East together with the West in a non-point shootout that is the Daytona 500 of short track racing. The Golden Gate Racing Team will field two drivers for the event with North Carolina’s Ty Dillon joining Self on the track. Additional details about the showdown will be released in the coming days.
“We are looking forward to a very strong year with Michael Self as our primary driver and a great crew that makes this team strong wherever we go,” said Jim Offenbach, owner of the Golden Gate Racing Team. “We’re ready to get rolling, we recently tested well at Toyota Speedway and we should have the ability to run up front with Michael and Ty in that event before we begin the west series next month.”
The 2011 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West season begins at Phoenix International Raceway on Febuary 24 and concludes back at the one-mile, Arizona track on November 12. The Phoenix events are two of three events in conjunction with NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races this season.
The schedule features a return to several tracks that have hosted NASCAR K&N Pro Series West events in the past but have been absent from the series in recent history. Both Offenbach and Steve Portenga, Competition Director for GGRT, are looking forward to returning to many of the previous venues they have once raced at.
Included will be a June 11 visit to The Bullring at Las Vegas Motors Speedway, where the series raced in 2001, 2002 and 2003; a race has been added on July 10 at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Wash. – which hosted 50 series races between 1964 and 2008; and a race on September 3 at Spokane County Raceway in Washington, a half-mile track that was visited by the series in 1979.
“Steve (Portenga) and I always ran very well back in the day at Evergreen Speedway and we are both excited to see it back on the schedule this year,” added Offenbach. “It’s always nice to see a track return to the schedule like that and I think we will perform well there.”
A high profile event on the schedule is the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East-West combination race at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa on May 21. The fifth edition of the East-West challenge will share the weekend with the NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
The Golden Gate Racing Team and Self both have strong records on road courses and the new schedule includes three such events. Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah on April 30. The team returns to their home track of Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, on June 25; and Portland International Raceway on July 24.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West will make two visits to All American Speedway in Roseville, Calif. The historic fairgrounds track will host the series on April 16 and again on October 15. Self has had consistent top finishes in his late model racing career at All American Speedway and is sure to be a driver to contend with upon his return this spring.
The series will visit Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on July 2, participating in the track’s big Fourth of July holiday celebration event for a fifth consecutive year. Two other popular short-track events on the 2011 schedule for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West include a visit to Colorado National Speedway in Dacono, Colo., on Aug. 6 and a trip to Montana Raceway Park in Kalispell, Mont., on Aug. 13.
“The schedule for next year looks incredible” said Self. “Not only have they added two more races but they’ve given us a chance to race at some of the most well known tracks in the west. I don’t think there’s a doubt in any racers mind that this is the best West schedule that’s been released over the last few years.”
In the coming week, Self and Offenbach will travel to North Carolina to participate in the annual Media Day for Richard Childress Racing. During the trip, Self will have the opportunity to spend time with his fellow drivers that are within the successful RCR stable including Kevin Harvick, Clint Boyer, Jeff Burton, Austin and Ty Dillon and more. The event will give him the opportunity to meet much of Childress’ staff and tour their operations.
“Just getting the opportunity to go back to RCR and be around some of the biggest names in NASCAR is unreal,” added Self. ‘I can’t thank Richard Childress and Jim Offenbach enough for this opportunity. It is far beyond anything I ever imagined I’d get the opportunity to do. This will be an amazing experience that is only going to advance and influence my racing career further.”
In addition to the support of Richard Childress Racing and the sponsorship of Bay Bio Diesel and the Golden Gate Meat Company, the Golden Gate Racing Team carries additional support from a number of dedicated marketing partners whom they are very grateful for over the past racing season. Among the partners are the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma, Superior Lamb Company, Hill Meat Company, Harraka Racing Equipment Sales, Foodcomm International, Signco, Praxair and JW Web Design.
Contact us to learn more about sponsorship opportunities for the 2011 racing season. To learn more about the Richard Childress Racing Driver Development program visit www.rcrracing.com. Michael Self’s personal racing website can be found at www.michaelselfracing.com.
Credit: Golden Gate Racing PR
