Two
Poles in a Row for Camara
Sam
Schmidt Motorsports Qualifies First, Eighth, Eleventh
MILWAUKEE, Wisc.
- At a track that boasts more than 100 years of racing
history, Sam Schmidt Motorsports put its mark in the history
books with Jaime Camara taking the top spot in Saturday's
qualifying session at the Milwaukee Mile.
Camara captured
his second straight pole position in the Menards Infiniti
Pro Series, turning a lap of 25.5790 seconds (142.852 miles
per hour) in his #1 CELG/Goias Sam Schmidt Motorsports
entry. Teammate Chris Festa of Atlanta, Ga., qualified the
#19 SpacePak/CareCentric Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry
eighth with a lap time of 26.5128 (137.820 MPH). Travis
Gregg didn't get a chance to test teammate Camara's nerves
in qualifying as the #7 Lucas Oil Special Sam Schmidt
Motorsports entry remained in the garage for repairs
throughout the qualifying session. Gregg will start at the
rear of the field on Sunday, in 11th.
The 24-year-old
Camara, a Brazilian native living in Miami, beamed with
pride after earning his third pole of the season.
"This track is
so difficult," Camara said. "It is definitely a driver's
track. You can make a little mistake here and you don't
just ruin your lap, you crash your car. I tried to be
patient and build up speed through the weekend. The
engineers and I have had good communication about the car
and we think we are ready for the 100 laps tomorrow."
Festa, a
19-year-old Florida State University student, starts eighth.
He's curious about how the race will pan out on Sunday.
"Our engine
never got cool enough after practice, so it got a little hot
on our second lap in qualifying. This track is as tough a
track as I've driven," Festa said. "I'm interested to see
how the race will go. If we can all keep clear of the
outside wall, it should be great. As drivers, we will have
to stay smart and patient out there to still be running at
the end of 100 Milwaukee miles."
Festa was
alluding to the harsh statistic that only three Pro Series
cars were still running at the end of last year's visit to
the Milwaukee Mile.
For the first
time in his Pro Series career, Gregg will start at the rear
of the field.
"We were looking
for more speed in practice, and I just pushed too hard in
the wrong spot," said Gregg of the crash near the end of the
morning's practice session. "This track doesn't have room
for errors, and if anyone forgot that, I think I brought it
back to the top of their mind this morning. My crew is
awesome, they'll get the car ready for me for race day and
my job will be to stay patient and be there when the
checkered flag waves."
Owner Sam
Schmidt had golf and racing on his mind after sharing time
with a friend that owns a golf course north of Milwaukee and
talking about the PGA event that's happening across town
this weekend.
"Milwaukee is a
track that's something like golf. If you run the laps
right, you find the right groove and you work your throttle
exactly right, it feels awesome - just like smashing the
ball over 400 yards or sinking a perfect putt. But if you
miss at Milwaukee, you'll probably be making divots in the
outside retaining wall - and it's definitely not as soft as
a putting green," chuckled Schmidt. "Seriously, for
engineers and drivers, this track is very hard. They are
both trying to work on their ends of the deal, either
changing their driving line or changing setups on the car,
and it's kind of like herding cats. There are times when it
seems like the engineer and driver will never get all their
ideas headed in the same direction at the same time, and
then it works like it did with Jaime and Tim and it's
awesome."
Sunday's 100-lap
race begins at 1:00 p.m. (EDT) and will be televised on a
tape-delayed basis at 3 p.m. (EDT), on July 28th
on ESPN2.
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FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION: Williams Company of America, Inc. (704)
660-0796
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