06-08-2007 | TruckSeries.com Report
Over the years, the Monster Mile has been good to David Starr. Starr owns the track record and holds the best average finishing position of all NASCAR Camping World Truck Series drivers with more than 5 starts. With all of the solid finishes on his racing resume and rough start to the 2007 season, Starr was looking forward to returning to Dover with his International MaxxForce Diesel team for this years AAA Insurance 200. Crew chief Dennis Connor and the International MaxxForce team prepared a brand new Circle Bar chassis, CB-18. The new chassis has been labeled "Wheeler" as in 18 Wheeler trucks. Just like the big tractor-trailer trucks that are powered by MaxxForce Diesel engines and the same type trucks that are serviced at the Circle Bar Truck Corral in Ozona Texas. For the first part of the first practice session Starr put Wheeler through its paces on the cautious side. After a brief get to know you period, Starr wheeled Wheeler into the top 10 on the speed charts in both practice sessions. After practicing in the top 10 all day the team posted a disappointing 20th qualifying effort. Qualifying didn't turn out as well as the team had hoped but they knew Wheeler was ready to race and they had 200 laps to get their new International MaxxForce Diesel Ford F-150 back to the front. The drop of the green flag basically ended the day for Starr and his MaxxForce Diesel team. The front row tangled on the first lap and the accordion effect spelled disaster for Starr. Along with a laundry list of body damage the radiator was blowing coolant all over the racetrack and Starr was forced to take his wounded Ford F-150 behind the wall for major repairs. 33 laps into the race the International MaxxForce Diesel Ford returned to the racetrack in 28th position. The race for Starr was no longer for position; the race was now for pride. Starr would bring his crippled machine to pit road numerous times during the AAA Insurance 200. With each stop the over the wall crew patched and taped on the MaxxForce Ford all the way to the checkered flag. All of the hard work from to keep them in the race would only net them a 25th finish but they were not about to quit. As the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to Texas, David Starr still leads all drivers in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series having completed 56 consecutive races without a DNF. David Starr: "This deal just makes me sick. Dennis and the guys gave me a great International MaxxForce Diesel Ford F-150 and I knew today was going to be our break through race. We didn't even get to make a lap. We need to turn this deal around and my home track next week at Texas Motor Speedway is the perfect place to do it.