Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
It’s no doubt that any of the divisions at the Autumn Colors Classic are tough to win in. The Thunder Car division, though, has to rank high on the list as the current list of entries includes past track champions from across the province, as well a past winners.
One of those past race winners that is looking for success this weekend is Randy Rusnell. Rusnell, a multi-time division champion at both Sunset Speedway and Flamboro Speedway, scored the victory at ACC in 2013.
After taking the lead four laps to go, he was able to hold off 2015 Sauble Speedway Track Champion Ken Grubb and fellow Sauble standout Todd Davenport in a pair of restarts to score the victory.
“It was a dream come true, I believe,” he commented. That’d be the next in line to winning the Daytona 500 which I’ll never do so the Autumn Colors is the next best thing. That was one year and memory we’ll never forget.”
Rusnell will once again be in attendance this year, looking for his second crown behind the wheel of his familiar No. 72 Marvin Freiburger, North Star Technical Incorporated, McCordick, HolmesAndMoney.ca, Brandt, Travis Industrial, Coldwell Banker, Partimer Signs, NCommInc., and Truck Trans Incorporated Monte Carlo. The veteran says the key this weekend will be staying out of trouble throughout the 50-lap feature and complete all of the laps.
“If we don’t, oh well – that’s racing,” he added. “We’ll see what happens. We haven’t had the best car all year and do the best that we can and what happens, happens.”
Rusnell enters the weekend coming off a solid season at Sunset Speedway that saw him finish seventh in points after posting 12 top-10s in his 13 races on the season. With no feature victories on the table, it wasn’t a season that was up to The Rocket’s expectations.
“The car has an issue with the frame and it’s been our achillies heel since last year when I got up on the wall,” he explained. “We’ve been trying to put band-aid after band-aid on it to try and make it better, and nothing we do to the car reacts well. We’re at the point where we know what’s wrong with it so we have to address it over the winter and come out and have a better car.”
For now, though, this weekend is all about having some fun – and perhaps finding some success along the way.
