This was to be the first event with new crew chief Louie Gennuso so the team was excited and hopeful that they would have a good day. The first practice session went well, however the car showed very similar characteristics as it has in the past. Louie and Shauna talked through the characteristics and Louie went to work. The second practice session went great; the car handled entirely different and improved their times by half of a second. When Shauna got out of the car, you could tell by the expression on her face she was excited. It was then time to qualify; Shauna had typically not been a good qualifier but knew that the car was capable of a good time. Tony Hunt clocked in the fastest time with a 12.943, when it was Shauna’s turn on the clock the car felt great so she pushed it as much as she could and clocked in the 5th fastest time with a 12.998.
Even though the car was handling great, Louie wanted make a few changes for the heat race to see if they could get more out of it. Shauna started in the outside second row position, at the drop of the green the two cars in the front row shuffled around a bit and Shauna was put into a position to see if her car would “stick” in the outside grove. It was clear Louie did more of his magic as she was able to drive her car anywhere on the track and run down the leaders. After the heat race Shauna was extremely happy with the car, “it went wherever I wanted to go, it was fast and a lot of fun to drive” said Shauna. Louie and Shauna talked about what changes needed to be made for the main event.
It was main event time and Shauna was to start on the front row. Tanner Swanson was to start on the inside of Shauna, Tanner is one of the young guns who could easily just drive away from the pack. Shauna knew her best opportunity was to be aggressive on the start. While coming around for the green flag Shauna did her best to get a “jump” on the start, Tanner wasn’t going to make it that easy for her so they drove side by side into turn one. Shauna’s car was as strong as it’s ever been and they drove side by side for the first lap, and she ultimately was able to take the lead. She then led the next five laps until Tanner was able to make the pass. Shauna was able to maintain second until about 15 laps to go, while trying to pass a lapped car Jojo Helberg was able to get by. Shauna went on to finish third. After the race, Shauna could hardly believe how quickly Louie was able to improve their program. The entire team, family and friends felt as if it was a victory. Shauna stated after the race, “there is defiantly room for improvement but I couldn’t be happier”. “Louie is a great leader and he instills confidence, I feel this is just a start to some great things.” Shauna moved to sixth place in the point standings, the next USAC Western Sprint Car race is August 15, in Madera, CA.
