WINCHESTER, Indiana (June 25, 2012) – – After netting his career-best finish earlier this month at Elko (Minn.) Speedway, Mason Mingus, in the No. 32 Call 811 Before You Dig Toyota Camry, was determined to raise the bar in Sunday’s Herr’s Chase The Taste 200 at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway.
Mission accomplished.
After grasping a top-10 finish at Salem (Ind.) Speedway, a track that shows similar characteristics to the intimidating Winchester (Ind.) Speedway, the Lakeville, Minnesota-based team knew that their team was plenty of capable of a duplicate if not better performance in the ninth race of the season.
Two practice sessions on Saturday afternoon allowed the duo to dial in their No. 32 Call 811 Before You Dig Toyota Camry with the teenager maneuvering the seventh and eighth quickest laps respectively leading into Menards pole qualifying presented by Ansell later Saturday afternoon. Qualifying was tight for a majority of the field with Mingus landing his Japanese nameplate in the 10th position for his inaugural Winchester debut.
Under warm conditions, Mingus and the 32-car field took the green flag shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the avid athlete quickly fighting to protect his position inside the top-10. By lap 10, Tom Hessert had temporarily worked his way around the No. 32 machine but five laps later Mingus’s machine began to come to life and quickly marched back into the top-10 and held ninth respectively.
With a well-handling racecar underneath him, Mingus patiently continued to work his way through the running order. By the one-quarter mark of the event, the award-winning High School wrestler had muscled his way into eighth. By lap 60, Mingus was clearly one of the cars to watch on the track with his No. 32 Call 811 Before You Dig Toyota Camry moving into the sixth position by lap 60 and just 18 laps later stormed his way inside the field’s top-five. Chasing down the leaders, Mingus’s Toyota reached a race-high fourth on lap 84.
When the second caution flag waived just nine laps later for an incident on the track, the time presented equal opportunity for the Win-Tron Racing team to bring the No. 32 Call 811 Before You Dig Toyota Camry to pit lane on lap 95.
Restarting fifth on lap 99, Mingus found himself snug in a gaggle full of race cars and trying to fight for space on the track’s extremely fast high banks. The Tennessean would gallantly put up a worthy battle for the coveted track position. Through the race’s second-half, Mingus would remain tucked in fifth until a yellow prompted the team to bring the No. 32 Call 811 Before You Dig Toyota down pit lane for tires, fuel and an adjustment.
Under 50 laps remained when the field resumed racing which didn’t leave Mingus a lot of time to rally back – but the young driver was determined to show how strong his automobile was as he sliced and diced his way around the No. 12 of Jared Marks and the No. 23 of Spencer Gallagher, amongst a host of others before landing in sixth overall when the checkered flag waived in a very quick running of the Herr’s Chase The Taste 200.
“We’re real happy with sixth,” said Mingus. “I said coming to Winchester, we were aiming for a top-five, but we ran in the top-five for a lot of the race, so I really don’t have anything to complain about. I have to thank the guys on the Win-Tron Racing team for their efforts to bring me a good racecar each and every race. It shows that every time we race together, the better we gel. If we had a little more time, I think we could have made some more damage in the running order. Still, I’m hoping we can take this run and go on to New Jersey next Sunday and have another strong run in my road course debut.”
Mingus added, “I don’t want to forget to thank everyone at Call 811 Before You Dig, Diamond Equipment, my family and everyone else who makes this possible, I’m having a good time right now.”
Nate Thiesse, co-car owner of Win-Tron Racing offered his sentiments on his protégés performance at the demanding Winchester Speedway. “Mason continues to amaze everyone at Win-Tron Racing,” he said. “He did a great job from practice to qualifying and raised the bar for himself during the race. We really had a blast watching him perform. I know we wanted to leave Winchester with a top-five – but sixth is still satisfying and I hope we’re able to go to New Jersey next weekend and keep our string of good finishes together going.”
Sunday’s sixth place performance is Mingus’s third top-10 of the season in five starts. He finished 10th at Salem (Ind.) Speedway in April and ninth in the sixth race of the season at Elko Speedway on June 2.
Next up for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards tour is a trip to New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) for the lone road-course race of the season. The running of the All-American Race Weekend presented by Global Barter Corporation set for Sunday, July 1. In 2010, Win-Tron Racing won the pole with driver Justin Marks at the 2.3-mile paved Thunderbolt Raceway.
Further information including driver opportunities with Win-Tron Racing is available by visiting win-tronracing.comor contacting Nate Thiesse at 612.306.1641
Learn about Call 811 Before You Dig and what it can do for you by connecting to call811.com.
For more on Mason Mingus, please visit MasonMingusRacing.com.
About Win-Tron Racing:
Located in Lakeville, Minnesota, Win-Tron Racing is the home of one the most potent ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards single-car operations. Owned by former racers Kevin Cywinski and Nate Thiesse, the team since has acquired the assets of County Joe Racing has become a favorable fixture on the circuit. Since Win-Tron Racing’s inception in 2007, the team has hosted a variety of drivers including leading drivers James Buescher, Blake Bjorklund, Justin Marks and Matt Merrell to their first career ARCA victories. In 2012, the team will begin its sixth year of competition with current drivers Chris Windom, Mason Mingus and Aleks Gregory.
