A long, really hot weekend…

San Ramon, CA – The Accurate Arms / Race Marketing sponsored #29 Chevy Camaro driven by Bob Accardo shined bright on the high banks of the Auto Club Speedway Roval in Fontana, CA.

Life’s Good Racing prepped the car and race support was provided by Red Panther Motorsport.

This being a new track for Accardo and the racecar, the team had no previous data which added to the challenge. A gear change and some suspension adjustments made the fast car even faster as the weekened went on landing Accardo a P1 starting spot for the race on Sunday. So plenty of work for the Red Panther Motorsport Crew Chief Chris Hovey and Mechanic/Spotter Gary Minnich. With temperatures in the upper 90’s all weekend, Accardo tapped the guys from CoolBoxx for some much needed relief. CoolBoxx owners and fellow competitors Viktor Czapla and Matthew Rivkin came to the rescue and installed one of their driver climate control systems into the Camaro late Saturday night to help keep things cool for Sunday’s festivities.

Sunday is race day and Accardo was sitting pretty with his front row starting spot. When the green flag waved he jumped out to an early lead. As he crossed the start/finish line on lap 2, the engine lost oil pressure and shut off ending the weekend effort in disappointing fashion. Post race inspection revealed that a failed drive belt on the engine’s external oil pump was the culprit.

Bob Accardo reviews his Round THREE performance:
“WOW! I really didn’t know what to expect coming to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana for the first time. This track is really fast and super fun to drive. With no previous data, Chris made a calculated guess on the chassis setup and gear, and got us really close! We were fighting the brick effect with the aero through NASCAR turns 1 & 2, as well as trying not to scrub speed on the exit. We ended up making a gear change and Gary made some chassis adjustments and the car felt good. My Red Panther Motorsport team did an excellent job! The oil pump belt failing was a disappointment but at least the fail/safe did its job and shut the engine off before any major damage occurred. Things can always be worse! The heat was the killer this weekend. I need to give a huge shout out to Viktor and Matthew from CoolBoxx. If not for the CoolBoxx system they installed in the car for the race on Sunday, I literally would have been passed out from heat-stroke by the time the tow truck reached me at the end of the race! The system works perfectly and keeps you comfortable and cool so you can concentrate on driving! Thanks again guys! We’ll get ‘em at Sonoma!

About Red Panther Motorsport (RPM)
A leading California based professional racing team. RPM competes in the Hankook Tires United States Touring Car Championship (USTCC) race series and has won multiple class Championships. For more information, please see and visit www.RedPantherMotorsport.com and like us on our social media channels.