By: Kevin Ramsell
BURLINGTON, WI (Wednesday, January 28, 2009) – It’s just like going to the grocery store; you pick up the ingredients and come back and make a great meal. The same idea can be used in regards to the two engines given away this past Saturday night at the 2008 American Speed Association Kwik Trip Midwest Tour presented by ECHO Outdoor Power Equipment Championship Banquet.

It started back in December when ASAMT Vice-president Steve Einhaus along with Bruce Mueller of B&B Racing Engines and Mike & Gary Tesar of Tesar Engineering walked up and down every aisle at the Performance Racing Industry show to gather the parts from over 30 manufacturers for each engine builder to create an ACE super late model motor.

Both engine builders brought their masterpiece to the banquet and by simply drawing a name out of the hat, Chris Wimmer and Blake Horstman are now the new owners of these great prizes.

“You like to see a deserving guy win the engine,” Mueller stated after learning that Horstman won the engine he built. “You do a lot of work on it and I have to thank all of the guys that work for me because they spend a lot of their time on it to make it real nice. You want to see someone who deserves to win it.”

Horstman was practically speechless after he found out he won it, “I just can’t believe it, I don’t know what to say,” Horstman stated. “We haven’t been able to find many sponsors and this will definitely help us out. We are really going to be working now; this is a boost in the shorts to get us working on sponsors. Its awesome that Bruce from B&B and Tesar are doing stuff like this, guys like me really appreciate something like this, and I mean everybody appreciates it.”

Wimmer was all smiles after he learned he won the Tesar engine, “It’s really neat and really cool what they do with the motors. I saw that Travis Sauter, Kris Kelly and Brandon Hill each won a motor last year and when you go into the banquet and you are looking at the motors its one thing, but to win one that is really neat.”

This is not the first time that Wimmer has had a Tesar engine under the hood of a car he has driven, “Mike (Tesar) has always been a good engine builder, I had a chance to run some of his motors in the ARCA Series driving for Kevin Cywinski and they were unreal,” Wimmer recalled. “I am real excited to get it in the car.”

And Mike Tesar can’t wait for Wimmer to run his motor, “We’re pretty excited that Chris got the motor this year. I have known his dad for a long time,” Tesar stated. “Chris has driven Cywinski’s car in ARCA so we have a little bit of a relationship going. Chris is a great driver, the family is awesome and of course I knew his uncle (the late Larry Detjens) years ago.”

But all agree that this giveaway would not be possible without the support of the manufacturers who donated the parts. “You have to thank all of the manufacturers who have given parts for all of the motors, you can’t thank them enough. It’s very, very, greatly appreciated,” Horstman stated.

“Most of the time they are more than willing to do something and when they find out it’s for an engine to be given away, they really step up to help,” Mueller stated.

“We thank them so much for donating all of these parts,” Tesar exclaimed. “There is not a bad piece in the motor; everything is top of the line.”

A full listing of each and every manufacturer that donated will be featured in a future release.

And why do Tesar and B&B do this? “You like to give back,” Mueller stated. “We have built a lot of engines for many people and we have made a decent living over the years so you want to give back something and keep everybody going.”

Tesar also shares the same feelings, “It’s really good that we are able to get all of the pieces from all of our suppliers to put this thing together for these guys. These guys race hard in this series and we work hard to promote our business as well. To give something back to them like this, it’s really awesome.”

“Its things like this that makes me very proud to be a part of this series,” Einhaus stated. “All of us put a lot of time and effort into making this possible and its one of the highlights of our banquet every year. We give a lot of thanks to the manufacturers, B&B and Tesar for their support. This is a win-win for everyone involved.”

The 2009 season opener will take place on Saturday, April 25 at Dells Raceway Park in Wisconsin Dells, WI for the first Race of the Gold event.

To learn more about the American Speed Association Kwik Trip Midwest Tour presented by Echo Outdoor Power Equipment log on to www.asamidwesttour.com or call the ASA Midwest Tour office at (262) 514-3880 or e-mail Tim Olson at tim@asamidwesttour.com or Steve Einhaus at steve@asamidwesttour.com.

The American Speed Association Kwik Trip Midwest Tour presented by ECHO Outdoor Power Equipment is sanctioned by the American Speed Association . To learn more of the Daytona Beach, Florida-based Racing Speed Associates or the American Speed Association® including the ASA Member Track program, call (386) 258-2221 or send an e-mail to info@asa-racing.com. For news and information from racetracks and regional tours involved in the American Speed Association®, visit  www.asaracing.com .

ASA™, ASA Racing™ and American Speed Association® are trademarks of Racing Speed Associates, LLC.  Racing Speed Associates, LLC is not related to or affiliated with ASA Late Model Series, LLC.