Eddie MacDonald Recovers from Friday Practice Crash to Post Sixth Place Finish
Eddie MacDonald posted a very satisfying sixth place finish in the Pro All Star Series 75 lap Inaugural Commonwealth Classic at Richmond Raceway after a Friday practice crash. A punctured tire entering turn one sent Eddie Mac careening up the track and hard into the wall. The extensive right-side damage left serious doubt if the car could be repaired.
After evaluating the damage and locating the necessary replacement parts on hand, crew chief Rollie LaChance and Eddie Mac decided to try to fix the car in time for the Saturday race. With the crew ready to go and with the help of other teams for tools and parts, repairs began shortly after five o’clock and ended shortly after midnight. Without the permission and cooperation from the people at Richmond the repairs would not have been possible.
“First of all, we owe a great deal of thanks to Richmond Raceway for letting us stay in the garage long after everything closed up,” said Eddie Mac. “We had a great run on Saturday thanks to the fantastic efforts of our guys with some help for parts and tools we did not have from other teams. We are competitors on the track, but we always help one another whenever we can off the track. There was so much right-side damage it took the efforts of all twelve of us to get the car fixed. Thankfully, we had and extra rack thanks to Brian Neal, otherwise our day was finished.”
In the first three practices on the ¾ mile D-shaped track at the famed Virginia raceway, the #17ma Dave Lemieux owned Super Late Model ran seventh, fourth and fourth before the fourth 15 minute final practice when the tire blew sending it hard into the wall in turn one with Eddie Mac saying, “I did not have any notice something was wrong until it let go and then it was into the wall. I thought it was going to hurt but fortunately the safety of these cars is incredible. However, we bent at lot of things and we had to make the decision whether we could fix it.”
“We checked to see if we had the necessary parts and then Rollie and I decided to try to fix it,” said Eddie Mac. “We are so thankful to have the crew of guys we have. I would not have been racing today if it were not for these guys. We have been together for many years and everyone works together to get the job done.”
Raceday on Saturday morning the crew was back at it stringing, scaling and doing the usual prep for practice, qualifying and the 75-lap feature later on Saturday night. Rollie and Eddie planned the first practice would shake down the car the first couple of laps but the Rowley, Mass. veteran racer said, “The car felt so good I decided to go for it right away and it really ran great. I was happy with it. We make a couple of small adjustments for the second practice and qualifying. We qualified 13th but we thought we would have a good piece for the race.”
When the green flag flew, Eddie Mac was able to maintain his starting position on the track despite a tight condition that became worse leading to the scheduled break on lap 40. New tires and adjustments were made as Eddie Mac found himself on the bottom of a three-wide position on the restart lap. In typical, vintage Eddie Mac fashion, he powered past the two outside challengers and into 11th position and started marching forward. By lap 50 and still dealing with a tight car, the #17ma EXIT Realty, Hancock Electric sponsored ride moved to eighth and into seventh by lap 70 while holding off the Derek Griffith challenge. Eddie Mac took the checkered flag in 7th but was awarded the sixth position when the winner was disqualified for an illegal part.
“I am really happy with the finish and extremely proud of the work our team did to get us on the track,” said Eddie Mac. “Thanks to car owner Dave Lemieux (Lemieux Builders) and Brian Neal (Neal Excavating) and our sponsors Derek Beatrice from EXIT Reality in Middleton, Mass. and Kenny and Scott Thompson from Hancock Electric in Quincy, Mass., Rob Grimm from Grimm Construction, HMS and Schroth Racing, and Freddie Peterson from Peterson Auto Body in Peabody. It was really nice to have Chuck Grimm, Rob’s father, Steve Vasey, and Dave Biglin in attendance. Those guys were a big part of our K&N team and it is awesome they still come from Waymart, Pa. to support us.”
“We will get this car fixed and ready for Loudon in June and we are waiting for Freddie Peterson’s new car to be completed and we will be racing that also in a number of events,” said Eddie Mac.
