The return of the NASCAR Busch Series to Watkins Glen for the first time since 2001 provides an opportunity for Jeff Spraker to come back to his home state to compete in the August 13th event. Spraker who relocated from upstate New York to Mooresville, NC in 2000, in order to expand his fabrication/consulting business, is looking forward to running on the historic road course. Spraker started off the 2005 season at Daytona with a strong run in the ARCA Re/Max Series event, finishing 9th in his fourth appearance in that race. Since that time, Jeff has been retained as a consultant for several Busch teams, in a crew chief capacity, while his shop performs fabrication/repair work for a variety of Busch, ARCA and Truck series teams. The Spraker operation is also committed to the complete building, preparation and set-up of cars for the #30 Busch team sponsored by Smith & Wesson. This team is running an 8 race schedule in 2005 with drivers, Scott Riggs, Mike Bliss and Ron Hornaday. At the track, Jeff acts as crew chief for this team which is owned by SKI Motorsports.
At Watkins Glen, Spraker will field his own entry for this Busch Series event, with the #63 car prepared at his North Carolina shop. Spraker, who began his racing career in the NASCAR Modified Division, is from Latham, NY, near the state capital of Albany. He has campaigned cars in several NASCAR series including the Featherlite Modified Tour, the Busch North Series, the Busch Series, and the Craftsman Truck Series. His base of operation from 1979 to 2000 was in Schenectady, NY, where he started his business and housed his race cars.
After making the move to North Carolina in 2000, Jeff devoted a substantial amount of time to the establishment of his business, which in turn, allowed less time for his own racing efforts. However, the date on the Busch Series schedule for “The Glen” was just too much for this driver to resist. States Spraker: “I’ve concentrated on building my business in North Carolina for the past few years, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to run that road course – it’s one of my favorite tracks and I find it more challenging every time I run there.” Jeff has actually run in four different series on this demanding road course including the Busch Series, the Craftsman Truck Series, the Busch North Series, and the ARCA RE/MAX Series. Spraker is hopeful that his past experience on this road course will be beneficial in attempting to qualify for the 43 car field. The #63 Spraker Monte Carlo will carry sponsorship from Assembly Products of Westfield, WI and Every& McCabe Construction of Daytona Beach, FL.(PR)(8-10-2005)
