Tinkle Family Racing, with driver Zachary Tinkle, made the trip to Anderson Speedway Saturday for another Anderson Speedway McGunegill Engine Performance Late Model event on the fast ¼ mile track. Tinkle was coming off his first ever late model win in that divisions May 18th event and was looking to continue his good finishes and build on his points lead.
Zachary was also debuting his military appreciation paint scheme on his #53 race car, on the very appropriate Military Appreciation Night at Anderson Speedway. Crew Chief Danny Trent and driver coach Brandon Grant had once again given Zachary a very competitive race car which showed in the Saturday afternoon practice sessions.
In qualifying Zachary turned the second fastest lap to multi-time Anderson Speedway Late Model Champion Jeff Marcum. Zachary finished second to Marcum in the 10 lap heat race.
Marcum and Zachary started making there way through the field at the drop of the green flag for the 35 lap feature event after the inverted start and they quickly came to the front. Marcum passed then leader Tom Miller on lap four to take the lead. Zachary would move to second and chase Marcum the rest of the race as the two were the class of the field lapping all the way up to third place. Marcum would get the win, his third of the season, Zachary would finish in second.
“Sometimes in racing you have those nights that you feel like are a win even if you didn’t end up in victory lane, last night was one of those nights at Anderson Speedway in the McGunegill Engine Performance series,” remarked Zachary. “The team worked together great and we realized we have a really good thing going. Even though I didn’t get P1, we were one of three cars on the lead lap and making up ground. I appreciate how much people liked the military paint scheme. Thank you to our military for making keeping our country safe so people like me can race. Thank you to race winner Jeff Marcum for what he said in his victory lane interview about me. Thank you to the racers that came up to me after and thanked me for how I raced them. That’s worth more than a trophy any day of the week.”
Zachary is the current points leader in the Anderson Speedway McGunegill Engine Performance Late Models, he is 55 points ahead of Marcum.
Next Event: Anderson Speedway McGunegill Engine Performance Late Models PGG Shoot Out on Saturday, June 22nd.