FURR READIES FOR BRISTOL AFTER A TOUGH COUPLE WEEKS ON THE ROAD
Concord, NC ~ Ross Furr started off the 2008 season picking up exactly where they left off in 2007 winning the season opening event at his home track of Concord Motorsport Park, but on and off the track it's been a tough month since that race winning day.
Furr, who won the 2007 UARA-STARS Late Model Stock Car series championship looked to be on his way to being a top contender again this season, but a crash in race two at Motor Mile Speedway took the team on a three week trip of bad luck. At Motor Mile, Furr was running inside the top ten and looked to have a strong car as he raced to get inside the top three, but when the field bunched up on a late restart the front and rear of his car was smashed up as an accordion effect took out his radiator and ended his day.
The finish at Motor Mile was Furr's worst in 18 series races, coming home a disappointing 23rd. This would be the start of terrible luck for the Ross Furr Racing team as the following Sunday, May 20th the team lost one of it's sponsors and friends, Tim Taylor of Taylor Pump & Lift and Whitley Truck Equipment as he lost his fight with cancer.
"Tim(Taylor) was a good friend, he wasn't just a sponsor to this team, he was a friend to us all here at Ross Furr Racing and we're going to miss him," said Furr.
Ross Furr Racing carried on to Orange County Speedway for the third race of the season with heavy hearts and high hopes to get the championship defending season back on track. For Furr and the RFR team Orange County wouldn't help very much in healing the wound of losing their friend. Furr in his own words said his car was "junk" all day and in qualifying he posted his worst effort in a year qualifying 17th.
The day wouldn't get any better as Furr was caught up in a crash near lap 80 while trying to get inside the top ten. Furr got out checked his car out and headed for pit road, the team led by crew chief Greg Peterson whipped the car back into shape and headed back out there to solider on for points. Furr would rally back to record a 16th place finish, his second worst in the last 19 races.
Following three weeks of just terrible luck and heartache, Furr and his Ross Furr Racing team are busy preparing for the trip back to Bristol Motor Speedway.
"We had a couple good runs there(Bristol) last year, but suffered from rear end issues at both races, but I'm looking forward to going back. I think this is a place where we can try and get our program back on track, we can't take much more bad luck," said Furr.
Furr, who posted an average finish of 4.5 last year in two starts on the high banked half mile of Bristol, is very excited and confident heading back to Bristol.
"If it wasn't for the rear end issues, I think we could have been a player for the win last year, but taking this new car, we're going to have to be on our game, but Greg(Peterson) will have us dialed in and we'll be back up front where we're supposed to be."
Furr will be heading to Bristol as one of the few of the top level teams that won't head out to the track to test in the next couple of weeks, but that won't slow him down. Look for Furr to be a top contender and if he can improve just a little on last year's top five runs, he'll be hard to beat on the high banks.
For more information on Ross Furr visit
www.RossFurr.com