WENDY MATHIS FINISHES THIRD AT NEW SMYRNA BEACH IN TBARA FEATURE

Tampa, FL – Florida pavement open wheel standout Wendy Mathis recorded her best finish of 2008 with a podium finish with the TBARA series – widely recognized as Florida's premier asphalt touring series. This past weekend represented back-to-back nights of racing at completely different styles of tracks. While Orlando Speed World is more of a bullring, New Smyrna Speedway is a horsepower track.

Friday night got off to a rough start and Wendy almost hit the wall in practice when the right front brake caliper decided it didn't want to cooperate with her. This set the team back and Wendy had to start shotgun on the feature Friday night. “"We started eighteenth and finished twelfth,” said Mathis. “While not the greatest result in the world, by the end of the night the car came around to me and the changes we made to the setup really had a positive impact.”

Undaunted, the team packed up and headed to New Smyrna Beach on Saturday,
confident that they had found something in the setup of the car that would yield better results on Saturday. "Starting on the pole for my heat race was great and I got a fantastic start," continued Wendy. "We made a gear change after practice and it gave me just what I was looking for and the car felt great but still pushed a little bit coming out of turn four. Another car got by me in the end, but I was very happy with second in the heat race."

Starting on the pole for the feature, when the green flag flew Wendy dropped the
hammer and took off. "I got a great start and after I got some heat in the tires, the car felt fantastic, especially through turns three and four," continued Wendy. "A late caution had us sitting pretty, but unfortunately Dude Teate drove in too deep and ran out of brakes and used my car to slow his down. The result was a bent left rear rim for me, which didn't feel very good under caution, but I was not going to slow down for anything."

On the final restart Wendy got a great start and fended off a challenge from Mark
Gimmler to come home third. "This is our best result in quite some time and I cannot be more proud of my family,” continued Mathis. “We all really came together as a team this weekend, had great communication and worked through our problems with the car. It's no secret we are up against much better funded teams, but tonight we showed that we can outsmart the best of them and run at the front where we belong. I've been telling everyone that 2008 is going to be
a different story for Wendy Mathis Racing and tonight we showed it!"

Wendy proudly endorses Bell Safety Products, K&N Filters, Kendall Motor Oil and
Lubricants and is also a spokesperson for the Race Against Drugs program and the Sprint Car & Midget Magazine's Stay in School Program. Wendy is also sponsored by JB Banta Logistics.

Company Information:
Wendy Mathis Racing
PO Box 89083
Tampa, FL 33689

Press Contact:
Todd Michaels
wendymathispr@gmail.com
407-756-9698
www.wendymathisracing.blogspot.com

In 1993, Wendy Mathis became the first female to win the Florida State Quarter Midget Championship. Since 2001, she has competed in the TBARA Sprint Car Series, collecting two feature wins. For 2009, we're putting together sponsorship packages to run the Indy Pro Series ovals or selected events in the ARCA RE/MAX Series.

This release was published on openPR.