Matt destroyed his car in the first practice session when
debris got caught in the throttle linkage and held the
throttle wide open.
The fuel pump broke on impact and
the car was engulfed in flames. Matt’s
dad, Roy, was
just about ready to go over the wall to pull Matt out,
but Matt
started to move and got out himself.
(He is shown walking away from the car.)
Matt should sign this wall, these marks will be here for a few years.
Special thanks to Jeff Thompson
for the top 2 pictures,
he was sitting 16 rows up directly in front of
the impact.
Matt was only able to get a few laps in the backup car
before practice ended. This car was not built for this
racetrack, so a lot
of adjustments had to be made to try
to get the car to handle right.
Matt did not qualify well in
the first round, but managed to get within 6- thousandths
of a second from the track record in second round qualifying.
Matt started 27th and was never as fast as the leaders.
He
pitted twice early in the race during cautions to
make adjustments and
each time had to start at the
back of the field.
The pit crew did a great job getting him
some positions on his last pit
during a green flag stop.
Matt is shown here going a lap down to Randy LaJoie.
Matt
made Randy work hard to get around him.
In a bizarre finish starting with Kevin Lepage spinning
into the wall in turn 3, Todd Bodine races back to the line
under yellow
to try to pass Randy LaJoie. Todd makes
heavy contact with the number 68
and then the wall, taking
himself out of a much needed second place. Matt
was right
behind Todd and squeezes through to cross the line in 12th
place.
Matt sits on the pit wall after the race and
signs
hundreds of autographs for the fans.
