Mike Mendenhall Wins At Altamont Motorsports Park

TRACY, California -- Mike Mendenhall always thought his first victory in the SRL Wild West Late Model Shootout series would come at a track like Madera Speedway. How wrong he was. Instead, Sunday afternoon the 43-year-old veteran of the now closed Cajon Speedway near San Diego took his initial SRL checkered flag on the fast ½ mile paved Altamont Motorsports Park in just his second start at the track. Mendenhall drove his Jeff Jess Motorsports -Alfred Matthews GMC Pontiac Cadillac – Hayward Pool Products – Newton Communications machine past a faltering Jeff Belletto on the next-to-the-last round of the 100-lap contest. Glued to the winner’s bumper as he took the checkered flag was Eric Schmidt, whom Mendenhall had to battle with nearly the entire race. Aaron Days, Joey Zampa, and Belletto ran third through fifth. “The style of track I’m comfortable with is a stop-and-go track like Cajon, Stockton, Shasta, Madera,” Mendenhall noted. “Altamont has really long corners. Last year we just floundered here.” Mendenhall’s blue #10 Monte Carlo just got steadily quicker from the time they unloaded. After being eighth fastest in the first practice session, he was quickest in the final one. He qualified sixth though that time was faster than any of his practice laps. “We just gained about a tenth of a second each time out learning how to drive the track,” Mendenhall explained. “We got a lot of help from Jeff Jess. He got us dialed in. I told him at the last race (at Madera) that we’d be all right there but would need some help at Altamont. That is Jeff’s home track and we took advantage of his knowledge. He had us doing stuff that left me shaking my head. But it worked.” Mendenhall started the feature fifth, but dropped a spot on the opening round; he then overtook Mike Mansch to regain fifth on lap 4. Schmidt dropped Mendenhall back again to sixth on lap 7. But then five circuits later, Mendenhall overhauled Schmidt. On lap 15, Mendenhall passed his teammate Troy Ermish and then gained third from Jeremy Wood on lap 25. Ken Boyd slipped past Mendenhall on lap 27. Forty-one rounds later Mendenhall re-passed Boyd. On lap 85 Mendenhall took over the second spot from Days. By that point Belletto was well in front. “He was out there quite a ways,” Mendenhall recounted. “Schmidt had been on my bumper for at least 60 laps. He pressured me the whole time. I was more concerned with him. I’m thinking I’m not catching Belletto. But then with three laps to go, I’m five car lengths behind him. Then when I caught him (on lap 98), I was stunned. Eric was still right on my bumper; I never got a breather from him. When we went into turn one (on lap 99), it was obvious something was not right with Belletto’s car. His car just drifted to the right a whole car width and I just tucked under him. I thought ‘just think what just fell into my lap’ ”. “I just can’t believe we won this race,” a shocked Mendenhall said in victory lane. Later Mendenhall added that what really made the victory cool were the congratulations he received from all his competitors and officials in the SRL. “I felt like an outsider here last year (his first with the SRL),” he explained. “The difference to now (is great). Everyone was happy for us.” “This is only the third track where I’ve won a race,” Mendenhall continued. He won 32 times during his 18 year career at Cajon and was victorious once many years ago in a street stock at Las Vegas. “I still say that my buddy Brian Kelley is the baddest driver I know,” Mike laughs. “One time he won five main events at five different tracks all in the same year.” The victory moves Mendenhall to third in the 2006 SRL points chase. The next SRL event will be August 19 at the 1/3 mile Madera Speedway