Tag Archive for: #410sprintcars

Ashley Cappetta is starting a new chapter this fall, balancing her passion for racing with an exciting new endeavor—becoming a licensed auctioneer. Cappetta, who has been involved in the auction business since she was 16, is enrolled in classes to earn her auctioneer’s license in a single semester.

“I’m excited to start this journey,” Cappetta shared. “I’ve had a passion for the auction business since I was 16 years old, when I truly started going to auctions—buying and reselling items at flea markets to fund my race team. I eventually ended up working for an auction house, doing everything except auctioneering—photos, listings, advertisements.”

Cappetta’s ultimate goal is to run her own auction house, but for now, she’s focused on getting licensed and gaining hands-on experience. “Once I’m licensed, I’ll have the opportunity to work with an established auctioneer, and that’s where I’ll start,” she said. “I prefer live auctions over online ones, so my focus will be on in-house auctions.”

While Cappetta looks forward to this new venture, she faced another weekend at the track filled with challenges. “Frustrated doesn’t even begin to cover it—I feel bad for my race team,” she admitted. “It’s not from a lack of effort. The team has been working hard, both at the shop and on the track, but it feels like we’re beating our heads against the wall.”

Reflecting on Saturday’s struggles, Cappetta noted, “This week, I can’t say I could have done anything better. The car got loose in the heat race after a good start, and I feel like I’m chasing the car in the corners. We fixed the wheel spin, but it’s been one thing after another.”

Despite her frustrations, Cappetta is committed to finding a solution. “Talking out of emotion does nothing, so I use the time at the car wash to unwind and analyze the night,” she explained. “I decided it was time to make a change and pull out a new frame—the only thing we haven’t tried.”

Determined to get back on track, Cappetta and her crew have been working tirelessly. “I worked from 1:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. in the shop to get the new frame and car ready—new fuel cell, shocks, fiberglass, nose wing, wheels, fuel lines, seat insert—we have to try something else,” she said. “It’s confusing because the car felt good at BAPS, but we’re running out of options.”

Cappetta remains hopeful that the new frame and rebuilt engine will bring the turnaround she and her team need. “It’s so defeating to see the crew down. I just want to get comfortable on the track again. It’s my dream to win an important race, and I want to get things figured out before the Weldon Sterner Memorial, to put myself in a good spot. My sponsors and crew deserve it.”

After a strong start to the season, Ashley Cappetta faced a rough night at the track this past weekend. Despite her early momentum, the challenges of the night proved formidable, testing her resilience and determination, “Unfortunately with the way the track was with all of the rain it received it was tough to pass.” The night started with a high pill draw lining Ashley up seventh for her heat race, “Had to make something happen on the start and I just couldn’t get anything to work. The car felt good but I didn’t want to put myself and any of my competitors in a bad spot.” Cappetta finished her heat race where she started, seventh, which had her lined up sixth for the B-main.

“In the B-main it was tough to get going but after the caution, we were better.” Ashley was up to fourth and was going for fourth when she misjudged the guardrail and ended up on her side, “I’m shocked it happened, I lacked judgment and after I hit the guardrail I gathered it back up and then spun and the car stood up and tumbled over.” Cappetta was able to restart as it did not appear that the car suffered much damage, but Ashley said the car did not feel right for the rest of the race. Cappetta would finish the night with a sixth place finish in the B-main, “All in all it was a frustrating night, especially after testing on Wednesday went well.” After a tough night Cappetta and the team are looking forward to their next race, “One positive is that we have the speed we were looking for, it just wasn’t our night. It was the first feature we haven’t qualified for this year which is still ahead of where we were compared to last season.” Another positive from the night, “In 12 years of racing I haven’t made too many mistakes and it makes you feel good knowing nights like this don’t happen often.”

Ashley and the Cappetta Racing Team will be back in action Saturday at Lincoln Speedway for the Kramer Klash.

Saturday night started with another good pill draw and this time it put Ashley on the pole to start her heat race, “The heat race was good. I had a little bit of stumble in the engine, we had too much fuel going into it.” The engine stumble hit the hardest on the starts, “I felt bad for the guy in third, I’m thankful that he gave me a little shove.”
Cappetta won her heat, putting her in the redraw for the feature. After the heat, Cappetta and the team called the engine builder and were able to change things in the fuel system for the feature, “The temperatures were cooler than they have been on Saturday which made a big difference. We ended up having to make some adjustments due to the weather conditions.”

When the field saw the green for the feature the engine stumble was gone. With the engine stumble not an issue Cappetta could focus on the race, “The car was loose early and I was not comfortable. I ended up with the wing in the trunk early, I didn’t want it back so early but I had no choice based on what I was working with.” Having the wing so far back helped Cappetta glue the car to the bottom of the track, “Unfortunately it was too late, I was getting ready to pass a car before the third red. It’s hard to say where I would have ended up. We ended the night with a top 10 but not sure that would have happened if the top two cars hadn’t wrecked out.”

With a week off to regroup Cappetta and the team will be focused on figuring out how to get the car better in the features, “We really need to get this slick track figured out. We’re having a heck of a time and can’t figure out why.” During the downtime, Ashley will be on vacation with her family, a much-needed respite from the grind of running her own business and race team.

Ashley would like to thank the fans and everyone who purchased merchandise on Saturday, “I appreciate all of the support from the fans before and after the races, and for everyone that bought merchandise. We are going to be able to give the Emig Family a good amount as a portion of my merchandise sales from the weekend will go to them.”

During intermission it was brought to Cappetta’s attention that another team filed a complaint with officials that she was wearing an Apple watch, something that is not permitted per Lincoln’s rulebook, “I screwed up not knowing the rulebook, there’s no excuse to miss knowing the rules. As soon as the official approached me, I removed the watch and did not put it back on for the rest of the night.” As many people do, Ashley uses the watch to track her health and fitness, “When I think of my Apple watch, I use it to track steps and keep tabs on reminders throughout the day. I’ve never used it for anything other than that.”

The amount of effort it would take to use an Apple watch to gain an advantage is not something that Cappetta is interested in, “My mind is so focused on what I need to do in the car I don’t have time to worry about communicating with the team. Plus the team is older and technology is not something they would even think about trying to figure out and use. Then there’s the fact that you’d have to have both your watch and phone to do anything illegal and I’ve never taken my phone onto the track.”

Cappetta had one final statement regarding the allegations made: “Our trailer is always open. Anyone can come in and take a look or talk to me at any time. I’ve put too much into what I’ve built and have too much pride to cheat. That is something the ACR team will never do.”

Up Next

Lincoln Speedway, Saturday, August 3 at 7PM

Season Stats

7 races, 0 wins, 0 top 5’s, 4 top 10’s, 6 top 15’s 

Sometimes when you get what you wish for it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Last year Cappetta wanted nothing more than to pull a low number at pill draw. Cappetta’s pill draw luck took a turn this season and the team has been consistently drawing low numbers, but not low enough to start on the pole of her heat, most weeks she has lined up second, “I’m tired of starting second, if the person in first is playing games you don’t want the jump to be called. At this point I would honestly rather start third, there is so much pressure starting on the front row.”

The start of Cappetta’s heat race put her behind the eight-ball, “I felt that the start of the heat race was not good and thought it should have been called back and it wasn’t.” Cappetta fell back to third right away, “Falling back early on a track like that was rough. Coming off turn 4 it was dirty and slick and I just didn’t have the car to make up for it.” Cappetta did move her line up after seeing other drivers make it work but it was too late at that point to make much of a difference, “It sucks that deal happened, but if I had a better car I would have been able to make up for it.”

Cappetta lined up 17th for the feature and was able to make her way up through the field, “If I could have gotten by one car a little bit sooner I think we could have had a top 10. The last several months we have been having issues with the car falling on the right rear and on Saturday we did not have that problem at all.” Similar to the heat race, moving up the track would have likely led to better results, “When its slick like it was on Saturday I need to work on getting comfortable moving up to the top. I wasn’t comfortable enough to move up during the feature but it would have helped me get by cars running the same line as me.” Cappetta finished the night crossing the line thirteenth, “I’m looking forward to moving on to next week and hope for better results.”

Fallen Firefighters Night Special for Cappetta

Once again Cappetta ran a special wing for the Fallen Firefighters Race/”Guise-Little Memorial” on Saturday, “I’ve known the Little Family for a long time and have gotten to meet the Guise Family being involved with the race, they are an incredible group of people.”

Cappetta, a volunteer firefighter herself, knows how special this race is, “Anytime you lose someone that commits a service to the community it is an honor to honor their life. These people are dedicating their time for free with no other benefit than helping people, and they paid the ultimate sacrifice in doing that.”

There are a lot of incredible people that put their heart and soul into the race, Don Livingston, Whitney Dietrich and Jeff Staub, plus countless others. Prior to the start of the 410 sprint car feature, Cappetta had the opportunity to pace the field alongside Chad Trout, who was also running a special wing design for the night, “We’re thankful that Chad is willing to work with us to have the special wing wrap and it was neat to get to pace the field with him.”

Racing With a Heavy Heart

News spread through the pits prior to cars taking the track about fellow racer, Riley Emig’s motorcycle accident, “Before I even started racing on Saturday I heard the news about Riley and it was on my mind all night.” Not far from the track, Emig was involved in an accident that unfortunately took his life, “I raced with Riley and watching him race quarter midgets, it was a hard pill to swallow, especially hearing the news on Fallen Firefighters Night, knowing his sister is involved with the fire company.”

Ashley and the entire Cappetta Racing Team are keeping Riley’s friends, family and fellow racers in their thoughts and prayers as they navigate this difficult time.