CRAIG GOESS DRIVES TO ORLANDO LEGENDS VICTORY
Goess Retires From Legends Car Racing - For Now
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Craig Goess entered the 2008 Winternationals Legends Pro division events looking for success. In the fourth-annual event at Orlando Speedworld (FL) featuring five days of racing action, Goess was considered one of the favorites going in as he has had a 98-percent-win-ratio in multiple years of racing.
Due to his upcoming NASCAR Camping World East Series career, once Goess entered victory lane during the Winternationals, he retired, for now, from Legends Car racing action.
Clocking in as the fastest car during the testing sessions, a few cars on the race track caused him havoc during the features. He was knocked out of contention the first two events of the Winternationals.
“My perspective is that you have a whole team of cars over there (Nick Pistone Racing) that can’t handle someone being faster than them,” said Goess. “They are going to drive as dirty as they can to do what they have to do. They can’t handle someone beating them, so they will wreck them before letting you get by. I tried to drive the way I normally drive people and I am not going to wreck them. I kept getting blocked. I got under (Jordan Anderson) and he just turned left on me, just like his teammate (Nick Pistone). He is probably a little aggravated because we have been three tenths faster than them all week.”
After officials reprimanded racers during the driver’s meeting for bumping and blocking before the third round occurred on Thursday, Goess was able to take the victory, even with mismatched tires.
“I have three out of the four tires on the car that I have raced with the day before,” said Goess. “They are my best set of tires I have out here, but I had to put a mismatched right front tire on the car. I had to drive it the best I could.
“It couldn’t have worked out any better for me to pass the #99 (Pistone) and the #19 (Jordan Anderson) car from sixth place and win the race.”
In Legends Car racing, INEX, the sanctioning body, has a claim rule where a competitor can pay close to $5,700 to buy another competitor’s motor if they choose. Nick Pistone Racing attempted to use the claim rule on Goess, but instead Goess decided he had proved what he needed to, deciding to load up and prepare for his NASCAR Camping World East Series debut.
“Going out like that I feel 100-percent good about it,” said Goess. “If it was anybody else but them I wouldn’t have had a problem giving them my motor. I beat both of them passing them and that is the way I am going to leave it. I wasn’t planning on doing hardly any Legends racing this year, so there was no point in it. I don’t want them to be grinning ear to ear watching us do all the work and them having our motor. I want to be the one smiling out of here.”
The first race for Craig Goess and the #2 Greenville Toyota / ESR Development Toyota Eddie Sharp Racing team in the 2008 NASCAR Camping World East Series takes place April 19th at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Greenville, South Carolina.
Craig Goess was the fastest driver on the clock during the Winternationals at Orlando Speedworld.
