Bob Dionne 2nd Place Chicagoland Driver Interview

Great performance today Bob finishing 2nd on a tricky speedway here at Chicagoland!

You and John Hayes battled it out right down to the wire. Your feelings on your 2nd place finish?

I was happy with a second, didn't have alot of time to practice so I didn't realy know how my car was going to handle.

John put up a great fight and almost had me at the end and would like to thank him for staying in my rearveiw mirror.

Did you have any clue you had a car that could run strong all race?

My car was pretty good right off the truck, justt had to make a wedge adjustment at the first caution because my car would get loose at 15 laps into a run.

Chicagoland is known to eat up the Right front tire if a driver isn’t careful. With 20 to go, did you think you had anything left for the #20 car?

The 20 car was strong all night and I thought I might have something for him at the end, but I think I pushed it a little to hard in the middle of the run and hurt my right front tire.

With about 8 laps or so to go. You closed the gap between you and the leader to just over a ½ sec difference. Anything you would have done differently those last 8 laps?

No, I did whatever I could to catch Mike, but did quite have enough for him at the end

The field as a whole did a fantastic job with only 4 cautions (1 coming at the line at the checkered for the entire race). Was that what you were hoping for with long green runs?

Yeah i was hoping for long runs, because i knew that tired wear was going to be a factor at this track and was hoping guys would burn up there tires.

In 4 out of last 5 races, you’ve been able to put the #33 Car in the top 10, and 3 of those in the top 6! What does Bob Dionne have to do as a driver for the remainder of the season to possibly contend for the championship?

I just need to keep doing what i have been doing lately, I had a few bad races there in the middle of the first half of the season and collected quite a few penalty points.

Now ½ the season is completed. Are you happy with your performance so far?

I am happy with it for the most part, but I'm a person that strives to be better all the time and feel I could be doing better.

206 or so points separate the top 7 drivers now. You’re tied for 4th with Mike Steger 180 pts back of the leader now. Shocked? Disappointed? Or right where you’d like to be? Share your thoughts with us?

Well Mike, I have kinda mix emotions on this one, with all the good drivers we have in this league I'm happy being in fourth place, but if it wasn't for some bonehead mistakes on my part I feel I could be doing better.

SORS East heads to Loudon, New Hampshire for next week’s race. What, in your opinion, is the key to a top 5 finish there?

I feel the key to this track is to stay out of trouble early in the race and save your tires for the end, it is real easy to get into trouble here and end your day early.

It’s always a pleasure to chat with you Bob, and Congratulations again on putting your #33 Chevy in 2nd place today! Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with us today. Is there anything you’d like to add, or any comments you may have?

Thanks Mike,

I would like to Thank Billy for putting together a great league and giving us some great racing and my teamates Bob Wigent and John Hayse for helping on setups every week.

Mike Steger, SORS EAST Race reporter reporting from Chicagoland Speedway Raceway