WHITLOCK SUFFERS IGNITION FAILURE AT ST. EUSTACHE

Not one but two ignition boxes fail on the Dickies Dodge Avenger

ST. EUSTACHE, MONDAY JULY 7, 2008: Dave Whitlock and the Dickies/NMT/PCRFC Dodge Avenger team had trouble on Saturday night in the Kodak 250 from Autodrome St. Eustache when not one but two ignition boxes failed on the No. 39 Dodge. This was event number four on the thirteen race NASCAR Canadian Tire Series season.

Whitlock would practice in the top ten during the afternoon session but was a little off the mark for qualifying and found himself back in the seventeenth starting position for the evening event.

At the drop of the green flag the No. 39 Dodge driver would quickly move just outside the top ten. Whitlock reported to his team that the car was fairly good and they discussed what minor adjustments would be made when it came time for pit stops.

On lap 104 the car just suddenly quit. Whitlock quickly changed over to the back up ignition system to see if that would help but still had no power. After checking to make sure he hadn’t accidently shut off the motor with the kill switch he rolled behind pit wall to the attention of his team. It was finally deduced that both ignition boxes were bad, a fact that astounded everyone but repairs were made and Whitlock re-entered the race track fifty laps down to the leaders. At this point it was just a matter of getting some laps in and making sure the car was where they wanted it to be set up wise.