Two Races - Two Tracks - Two States - In Four hours ZARETZKE Will Attempt NW Double Dip

Yakima, Wa (RFN) - Possibly the Northwest's most entertaining driver both in and out of the car will attempt to drive two races on the same night (Saturday June 23rd). No big deal you might think, yet the race locations are over two hundred miles apart and take place within hours of one another.

In his first race John Zaretzke, of Yakima is slated to drive his #51 Better-All Motorsports  Keg-n-Cue Innovations Ford Taurus at Portland International Raceway (PIR) in the George Morlan Plumbing 100. The team has brought on a local sponsor for this event Boylston Metal Works out of Portland. This will be the sixth race of the 2001 Raybestos Brakes Northwest, NASCAR Touring Series. The event takes place at  PIR on the 1.95 mile road course, with a scheduled start time of 4:15 PM. While the second race scheduled takes place at Evergreen Speedway over two hundred miles away. A average Evergreen Speedway Super Stock main event will not begin prior to 8:30, and typically will begin after 9:00.

The logistics of pulling this off are great. To begin with you have to prep two cars, then transport both cars and support equipment to both track locations. At the time of this interview on (Monday June 18th) the road course car had been re-skinned and was on it's way to be painted.

The race day will begin with leaving the Super Stock car and equipment at Evergreen Speedway. In the morning the crew which includes John and five crew members will fly a chartered aircraft piloted by Darrell Habich out of First Air Field in Monroe located across the street from Evergreen Speedway, to a small airport in Vancouver, Wa. From there it's a van ride to PIR.

With the race Starting at 4:15 it's estimated the finish should be around 5:45 or 6:00. John said, " We hope to win this race, and if we do we will need to get the car through tech as fast as possible. Then load the trailer and have things buttoned up by 6:15. We need to be on the road by 6:15. It's approximately an hour and fifteen minute flight to Monroe. With driving back to the airport in Vancouver about ten minuets away, we estimate that we should get back to Monroe close to 8:00. and be ready to go.

Last season while driving in the NW Tour PIR event, John had a fifth place start, he went into the chicane at the end of the long PIR front straight with a conservative approach on the first lap. A car from five rows back tried to make a big turn and ran into John leaving him with a bent rim and a flat left front tire. Coming out of the chicane John found himself in last position. Limping back to the pits where the tire was changed, John pulled out just in front of the leaders. Sixteen laps later with a caution John was able to pull to the rear of the field and began his attack. With the green flag John raced though the entire field for the for the checkers and the win.

John comments, "I make no claims to being a road racer. I am not a road racing specialist. I do not want that title/label. I am a stock car driver. I just happen to enjoy racing the road courses in a stock car. I wouldn't give up racing NW Tour oval tracks and road courses for CART or Indy. My goals is to race Trucks and Busch then maybe someday Cup."

John will miss qualifying at Evergreen and will be forced to start from the back of the field when asked if this was going to be a problem John commented, "I haven't had the greatest year, and haven't been that comfortable with my race cars. I think part of it is working with a new race tire. I like to put on a show, I don't have a problem starting from the back. In the past we've gone to the back for unforeseen crashes or spins, and still won races. I don't think it's inconceivable to start from the back and win. Recently we have made a ton of changes on the car and it's been pretty good. The most logical thing to do is come back to Monroe and try and get into the top five."

Currently John is in the top five for season points at Evergreen. When asked how this might affect his season points at Evergreen John said, " I'm not a points racer, and wont allow the our team to race "season points". We try to win races, we figure if we can bring home one win per month and finish solid in the top five the rest of the races, season points will take care of themselves. At seasons end we should be in the running for the points championship. We don't even look at the points."

RFN - As the 2000 winner of the PIR NW Tour event what do you attribute your road course success to?

John - "We spend a lot of time on our road race setup. The car we will race at PIR is set up for road racing, and only used on the road courses."

RFN - Does the chicane at the end of the PIR front straight allow opportunity for passing?

 John - "Yes it does, There's good and bad to the chicane. It's good, when you can use it for a pass, but when you have forty cars spreading five wide after the green flag and all heading for the chicane it can turn into a mess pretty fast. It's fine going through single file, and you can do some side by side driving through it. Any more than that and you have problems. I have two or three good places to pass at PIR the chicane is one of them."

RFN - Is qualifying up front important on the PIR road course?

John - "Yes, I think it is. You don't have to have fast time, but the further up front the better you are. This is particularly though for me. I'm the worst qualifier in the world. I will get my adrenaline so high that I will over drive the car. Or I'll over compensate trying to calm myself down. I can't find that middle ground. I'm usually a fifteenth place qualifier on the Tour and everywhere we go. So when we have a good qualifying run it really means a lot to us."

RFN - How does fuel and pit strategy come into play at PIR?

John - "This year we will only race forty laps at PIR. Which means some may/will try to go without stopping for fuel. We are looking very closely at our fuel mileage. After our practice we will decide how to play it. Caution laps will count, so if there are many cautions things may change. The race itself will dictate what to do. We will see, it's going to be a fun day and we hope to bring home a couple wins."