photo by RPM 360
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. – There is just something about Oxford Plains Speedway that manages to bring out the best in 18 year old Emily Packard. In the American Canadian Tour’s return to OPS this past weekend, Packard seemed pick up where she left off in April, bringing home a 6th place finish in her Northstar Fireworks/Packard Fuels 9ME car.
Short her regular crew chief (Neal Woodward) this weekend, Emily’s dad Ellery Packard stepped in to turn the wrench and help get the car dialed in. “Dad was brushing up on his crew chief skills this weekend,” Packard said, “Neal had a prior commitment, and dad stepped in. It took him a little bit to get confident on the adjustments he was making but he did a great job and it showed all day.” In the first practice of the day, Packard went right to the top of the speed charts, and she continued to be fast through the last two practices, showing 2nd fastest on the speed chart in final practice. “We unloaded and we were really quick,” said Packard. “We made some minor changes to try to better the car a little more throughout practice, but it was good right out of the trailer.”
Starting fourth in the first heat, Packard fell back to 5th early on, but was able to work back up to the 4th place position quickly where she would finish in the heat race. “The car was good, but a little tight in the center,” Packard said, “but once we got the tires worked in the car started to really handle well, and I knew I had a good car for the feature race.”
Packard was lined up in the eleventh starting position for the 150 lap feature race when the green flag waved. At lap 20 Packard had moved up to the 10th position with her sights set to continue the move forward. At the halfway point Packard found herself in the 6th position, and was under fire from behind to keep it. In the last half of the race the caution flags didn’t help Packard, as she continuously found herself stuck behind lapped cars, which allowed a couple cars to pass her, dropping her back to 8th with 10 laps to go. When the final caution came out at lap 146, Packard restarted on the inside, and was able to make quick work of the lapped cars and go after a couple lead lap cars for position before the checkered flag waved, bringing the car home clean and with a sixth place finish.
“The car was awesome all night,” Packard said. “It seemed like after every restart I would get stuck behind lapped cars and I couldn’t get clear of them fast enough. The car was good on the bottom, and obviously that is the fastest way around here. I tried to run on the outside a couple times but the car was just too loose and I had nothing for them up there. With 25 laps to go the car started to fall off and I got super loose, but all in all we had a really, really great car.”
When asked about why she runs so well at Oxford Plains Speedway, Packard said “Oxford Plains is a complete opposite track than what I am most comfortable running. I tend to run well at tracks that have longer straightaways and tighter corners, but here you are constantly turning, and you use next to nothing for breaks. I am not sure why I run so well here, but I really enjoy running at OPS. This track has helped me to adapt to other tracks, and I am excited to go to Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, which is somewhat similar to this track, and see how I can run there this year.”
“I want to say thank you to my dad for being crew chief tonight, he did an awesome job,” Packard said. “We missed Neal and Frankie tonight, but dad did great. I also want to thank Kevin for coming out to spot for me tonight, he did a phenomenal job. I also want to thank my mom, Matt, Randy, and Sam for all their hard work tonight. And a BIG thank you goes out to my sponsors; Northstar Fireworks, Packard Fuels, Rutland Regional Medical Center, Be The Match, Yipes! of Barre, Fecteau Homes, Berlin Optical Expressions, Creative Visions and GossCars.com.”
Next up, Packard and the Northstar Fireworks/Packard Fuels team heads to Beech Ridge Motor Speedway for the American Canadian Tour race on August 8th.