The 2003 racing season has been a long one for Jerry Artuso and it came to an end on Saturday night with the final race of the FASCAR Goodyear Challenge Series at the New Smyrna Speedway in Florida.
But the end was a sweet moment for the local stock car racer as Artuso captured the FASCAR Goodyear Challenge Series Points Championship.
After nine months of commuting to various tracks in The Sunshine State, Artuso, has put a lot of miles in his race car as well as on his Air Miles Card. At New Smyrna, Artuso recorded the second fastest time in time trials and started fourth in the feature after an inversion of the top five. Rich Clouser, who was second in points and 20 behind Artuso, got the pole position after the invert.
At the seven lap mark, the front of the field got into oil put down by a back marker in turn three causing a seven car pileup, involving all of the top cars including Artuso and Clouser. Both cars were severely damaged.
Artuso's crew received help from five other teams and was able to return to the track on lap 27.
After completing the race in ninth place one position behind Clouser, Artuso won the title by only nineteen points. At the end, the car wasn't much to look at with a lot of body damage. To finish, Artuso was forced to run on only three shocks and no brakes. Congratulations to Jerry and Crew for a job well done!