November 19th 2015
Capaldi Racing was on hand for the Trans Am season ending event at Daytona International Speedway last weekend with the #8 Wolverine Bronze / Ford Performance / Boss 302 Mustang. After a successful Trans Am debut this past summer at Mid Ohio sports Car Course, the team decided to head south to sunny Florida to join the 23 car TA3 field. Daytona marked the second career start for team driver Craig Capaldi in the ever popular Trans Am Series.
The weekend would include two days of testing, qualifying, and the season ending 100 mile race. As the practice sessions progressed the team encountered a electrical gremlin that made his presence known from the first green flag. The team worked effortlessly to diagnose and repair the issue, but the gremlin was along for the long haul. To make the situation more complicated, the issue would only prevail on track making the diagnostic process that much more complicated. After multiple component tests and component replacements the team headed out for the official qualifying session. Capaldi managed to get two laps at speed before the #8 Wolverine Bronze / Ford Performance / Boss 302 Mustang decided it was time to awaken the gremlin. Sidelined for the remainder of the session, the team watched timing and scoring to see how Capaldi’s lap would hold up. Fortunately, even with the situation that was presented, the #8 Wolverine Bronze / Ford Performance / Boss 302 Mustang would find its place in the 5th starting slot for the race.
Ride Along Below:
Race day. After changing even more components and exhausting their efforts the team was out of time and short on patience in the diagnostic process. Collectively the team made the decision to forfeit their starting position and start in last position “The last thing we want to do is be towards the front of the pack drafting and have a mechanical issue that would put our competitors in risk of danger if the car experiences any issues again. Craig will start shot gun on the field and we have left it up to him that once he is confident our issues have been resolved he can make the decision to start moving through the field” stated team principle Leo Capaldi. The #8 Wolverine Bronze / Ford Performance / Boss 302 Mustang would line up in the 23rd starting position for the main event as the green flag was displayed. After a couple of laps of staying out of trouble and playing follow the leader, Capaldi was ready to stop looking at others tail lamps and began his charge. After a couple caution laps that bunched the field up and some passes Capaldi found himself back in the hunt in the top 5 in class by the half way point of the race. As the laps wound down the #8 Wolverine Bronze / Ford Performance / Boss 302 Mustang was running strong and battled up to 2nd position in the closing laps. As the checkered flag was displayed on the race and the season, Capaldi would grab the final podium spot in 3rd position. “I can’t thank the guys enough, they have been nonstop for 4 straight days trying to get this car up to par. It feels great to be able to give back a result after their efforts and I can’t thank Wolverine Bronze Company enough for getting us here this weekend” stated Craig Capaldi post race.
As the season comes to a close, the team is already at work prepping the #8 Wolverine Bronze / Ford Performance / Boss 302 Mustang for 2016 with hopes of making a return to the series once again for the full schedule. We would like to give a special thanks to all of our followers this season and to Wolverine Bronze Company and Ford Performance for making it a successful 2015!
To catch all the action, The Bullet Liner Championship Weekend will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network on Sunday, December 6th, at 1:00 p.m. ET
Capaldi Racing would like to thank all of our partners and supporters:
Wolverine Bronze Company (http://www.wolverinebronze.com/)
Ford Performance (http://fordperformanceracingparts.com/)
Burris Racing (http://burrisracing.com/)