Shafer holds off all challengers in ARCA race
KAUKAUNA – Paul Shafer Jr. painted quite the picture of the final laps of the Gandrud Auto Group 250.
“All that kept running through my mind was, like, one of those ‘Planet Earth’ things and they’re chasing a little antelope down through the woods,” Shafer said, leaning against his car after winning Tuesday night at Wisconsin International Raceway.
“I’m the antelope, just running, running, running … yeah, they’re gonna catch me for sure.
“They didn’t catch me. I don’t know how they didn’t catch me. But we were running, and here we are.”
Despite having significantly older tires at the end of the ARCA Midwest Tour’s longest race, the driver from Portage, Indiana, got away from Sammy Smith and Luke Fenhaus in their threeman battle over the final 31 laps to score his biggest victory. Shafer finished third last year.
“This race is awesome,” Shafer said. “I’ve been coming here since 2015, and in 2015 I was a senior in high school, I was a kid with a dream. I wanted to win this race. It’s 250 laps, $10,000 to win, one of the biggest races in the Midwest.
“Now we’ve won it. I’m kinda … the man who did it. That’s awesome.”
Attrition took its toll; just 17 cars, a little more than half of the original field, finished and just 12 were on the lead lap. Among those who dropped out were two-time defending winner Ty Majeski, who cut a tire; Derek Kraus, who ran out of fuel; and Jesse Love, who broke a right front wheel and hub.
Austin Nason finished fourth and Gabe Sommers fifth. John DeAngelis Jr., who dominated early, ended up sixth, hanging on despite a broken rear end in his car.
Two NASCAR Cup driver competed: Aric Almirola, who estimated he hadn’t been in a super late model in a half-dozen years, finished 11th, and William Byron fell out just past the midpoint.
Shafer was among the first drivers to take his two fresh tires, during a stop just before the 100th lap, and cycled to the front for a restart with 95 laps to go after others made their stops.
“From about 85 to go, all I could do was run. Just run,” Shafer said. “They’ve got better tires. Run, 110%, just go, go, go.”
After the final caution of the night flew – Midwest Tour rules include a competition caution within 50-65 laps to tighten the field and allow for pit stops – Shafer found himself to the outside of Gabe Sommers and with Smith behind.
“We were a little nervous,” Shafer said of the strategy that left him with older tires. “I’d done that before and it didn’t pan out. All I knew is we just had to go. We put it on kill and just went."
Shafer and Smith made some contact after the restart, but Shafer got away.
“It just took forever,” Shafer said, “and finally, checkers went, we’re still leading it, and now we’re sitting here.”