From the Tim Schendel Pits... SCHENDEL FINISHES NINETEENTH AT ELKO
Falling victim yet again to the “fail to tail” rule, Schendelʼs hopes for a strong finish are taken away

Sparta, WI, September 27, 2009 -- Going into the second to last race of the ASA Midwest Tour series at Elko Speedway in Elko, MN on Saturday, Tim Schendel and his Iron Eagle Racing team had high hopes. They had tested the #21 TexPar Energy Chevrolet prior to the race and it seemed to be in excellent form. In practice on Saturday, the car and driver were in tune and had great practice runs. Then, the bad luck started again for Sparta, WI native Schendel.

“We were first out in qualifying and that is not really a position you want to be in.” Schendel said after the race. “The car handled great in qualifying and we thought we had a good run. As it turned out, we did, but everyone else did too!”

Schendel ran a qualifying lap of 13.928 seconds - twenty three places outside of first position. It was tough competition considering his time was only .17 seconds behind top qualifier, Jacob Goede. In fact, .528 seconds separated the whole fieldʼs time. The top eighteen qualifying positions automatically enter the feature. Since Schendel was not in the top eighteen, he had to run a last chance race to make the feature. He started that race on the pole and finished in first which solidified his position into the 125 lap race.
He started the race in 19th place and Schendel gained momentum throughout the race. With only 12 laps to go, he had made his way to the tenth position. That was when he and the #71 car came in contact with each other. Due to the “fail to tail” rule in the ASA Midwest Tour series, Schendel was sent to the back. With hardly any time left to make up positions, he finished a disappointing 19th.

“I felt really good coming into this race.” Schendel said. “But, it just seems we are always in the wrong place at the wrong time. The “fail to tail” rule has hurt me in three races this season including this one. With this one, there was no time to make up any positions.”
Dan Frederickson won the race with Chris Wimmer and Steve Holzhausen rounding out the top three. This was the last race in a three part series where the overall winner won a bar of gold valued at $4,000. The honor went to Steve Holzhausen.

Schendel still sits in fourth position in overall points but Jonathan Eilen is only two points behind him in fifth. Nathan Haseleu is in first while Steve Carlson and Chris Wimmer are gaining on his lead. Mathematically, Haseleu, Carlson and Wimmer are the only drivers able to contend for the championship title.

All Schendel and his team can do is look forward to the last race of the season which takes him back to his hometown track in West Salem. The Oktoberfest 100 will be run on Saturday October 11 at the LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway in West Salem, WI. This is a race where Schendel has visited victory lane twice in racing career - in 2003 and 2005.
“Weʼre taking the car out this week for some testing. Hopefully, our luck will change and weʼll wrap up this season with a good race at my hometown track.” a hopeful Schendel said.

In addition to primary sponsor TexPar Energy, Schendel is sponsored by Cote Construction, Shades Body Studio, Leoʼs Upper Dells Bar, Tim Neubauer Trucking, the Rite Spot, Wehrʼs Machine, Wehrʼs Chevrolet, Ripp Distributing, Bolden Bros. Masonry, Deanʼs Satellite, Evans Printing, Fastax, Klotz Lubricants, Tesar Engineering and Marr Promotions.

You can order Tim Schendel/Iron Eagle Racing apparel by Marr Promotions online at
www.marrpromotions.com and click on the “Schendel Merchandise” tab or by calling Marr Promotions at 866-888-2975.

For more information on the Iron Eagle Racing team, to schedule an interview with Tim, or for information on possible sponsorship opportunities, please contact Ron Schendel at 608-343-1943 or visit Timʼs website, www.timschendel21.com.