Tracy Press

This weekend, Tracy driver Ryan Philpott will take his racing to a new division.

Tracy resident Ryan Philpott stands in front of his Ford Taurus race car, which he’ll take to the track in Saturday’s Toyota NAPA AutoCare 150 in Roseville. Photo by Bob Brownne/Tracy Press

Saturday, Philpott and his Ford Taurus will be in the Toyota NAPA AutoCare 150 at the All-American Speedway in Roseville. It’s the first of 13 races for the NASCAR Camping World West Series, also known as the Grand National West Series.

The series is a big step for the Tracy driver, who finished the 2007 season as Altamont’s champion in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Western Late Model division. Philpott’s finish today will determine his status in the next level of professional auto racing.

Philpott figures the potential cash prizes could add up to about $10,000, but he has invested several times that build his car and enter the race, so his real goal is to prove that he can compete in a tougher division.

“For us, having a good finish is the difference between going to the next race and staying home and watching it on TV,” he said.

The racers he will compete against also have budgets that are in a new league.

“They’re the ones with $600,000 to $1 million budgets. We’re the ones with $6,000 to $10,000 budgets,” he said.

Once he gets attention in a more competitive division, Philpott expects more sponsors will want to support him.

For now, the Philpott family businesses, Pacific Motorsports and Pacific Building, are his sponsors, and other local businesses like Rusty’s on Grant Line Road and Dirt Movers on Hansen Road also support his team.

He also has personnel dedicated to getting a car into the big races.

They’ve taken a 2000 chassis, shaped the body from templates for a 2005 Taurus and put in a 632-horsepower, 350-cubic-inch Grand National Series spec engine. It’s the standard package for this level of NASCAR racing.

“To us, this is our life,” said Matt Philpott, Ryan’s cousin and a member of the team that has worked since October to get the car ready for this race. He and crew chief Chuck Dozhier explained that the Ford is handmade in Philpott’s MacArthur Drive shop, and the pace has gotten quicker as race day approached.

“It’s intense, especially with the division we’re in now,” Dozhier said.

The race will be shown live at 8:30 p.m. Saturday on HD Net.

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written by LISA , March 29, 2008

GO RYAN..