The #79 SBC/Tubby’s Submarines Chevy he’s taking to Brooklyn, MI [MIS] was built by John Conely, owner of Conely Motor Sports Inc., and 15 others on about 1% of a typical team’s $15 million-$20 million budget in the same Genoa Township garage from which he sells, rents and services used cars. Conely tried last year at Michigan and New Hampshire but was rained out. He’ll give it a go Saturday, his fourth attempt this year to earn a spot in NASCAR’s premier series. Fractions of a second kept the team out of the June race in Michigan and earlier events in California and Las Vegas. While Derrike Cope drove Conely’s car in June, Bryan Reffner, a former American Speed Association champion, will drive this weekend. Conely estimates he will need to turn a qualifying lap of 38.3 seconds to put the team comfortably in the field. Although it will be his first run in the Nextel Cup Series, Reffner was the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series rookie of the year in 1996 [driving for Ernie Irvan]. “We’ve worked together a long time and we think the same way,” said Conely, who has previously competed in the truck series and in NASCAR’s Busch Series. “We’ve done good together and we want to do it again.” Reffner, from Rudolph, Wis., drove 13 truck races for Conely in 1999, starting 25th and finishing 20th at Michigan. In 2002, he drove for Conely again in Michigan’s truck and Busch races, finishing 13th and 29th, respectively. Conely’s crew is made up of mostly local people, including Dean Biondi and Ron Hepler from Brighton, Chris Jennings from Hartland and Bill Yurgelaitis of Byron, who keeps Hartland Consolidated Schools’ buses on the road when he’s not racing.(Ann Arbor News/Michigan Live), also more info on the team at: conelymotorsports.com and bryanreffner.com.(8-19-2005)
