Published: Aug. 18, 2015
Apel has a week to remember
Going into August, Steve Apel knew it was going to be a good
month. He just didn’t have any idea it was going to be this good.
In one week, the two-time defending super late model track
champion at Slinger won the feature, welcomed his first child, won the coveted
Red-White-Blue Series championship at Wisconsin International Raceway in
Kaukauna and won another super late model feature at Slinger.
And he did the last one in dramatic fashion.
After winning the super late model feature Aug. 9, Apel and
his wife, Liz, welcomed Cameron Michael on Aug. 10 — two weeks early. “We went
to the hospital for a routine checkup and her blood pressure was high,” Apel
said.
So their doctor suggested to induce labor. Later that
evening, Cameron Apel was born.
“Just having the kid alone makes it a week I’ll never
forget,” Steve said. “And to have a week to win the Red-White-Blue championship
and win two features in a row is a cool thing in itself. It’s absolutely crazy.
“I knew August could be a good month for us.”
Becoming parents was a certainty for the Apels with a due
date of Aug. 23. And even though their child arrived two weeks early, the
timing couldn’t have worked out better.
Cameron Apel was born a day after Steve Apel won the super
late model feature at Slinger. His next race wasn’t until Thursday in Kaukauna.
If Cameron had been born a day later, it was possible Steve
was going to miss the race in Kaukauna and not win the Red-White-Blue
championship, which was a goal the team had going into the 2015 season.
“If we couldn’t make it, we couldn’t make it,” Steve said.
“I wasn’t going to miss the birth of my child. There’s always another race.
There’s always next year, next week.”
The Apels were released from the hospital Wednesday.
On Thursday, the family, with the newborn, were at WIR for
the race in Kaukauna and Apel celebrated the series championship with an eighth-place
finish. He won the other two races in the series this season. Past champions
include Lowell Bennett, Dick Trickle, Mark Martin and Joe Shear.
“To accomplish our goal was a huge testament to the team,”
Apel said.
Apel and his new family celebrated in victory lane. They
posed for a photo with Apel’s wife holding their four-day old baby boy.
“It was emotional for me,” Steve said. “It was pretty cool
to have him there.”
Cameron was there Sunday when his dad beat Dennis Prunty by
0.004 seconds to win his second straight super late model feature. With the
victory, coupled with his first fast time in qualifying since June 28 (a span
of six races), Apel doubled his points lead to 18 points with three races
remaining in the season. He is trying to become the youngest three-time super
late model champion in track history.
If he does it, great. If not? That’s OK, too. “Our goal was
to go to Kaukauna and win a title and to accomplish that was cool,” Apel said.
However, that doesn’t mean a third straight championship
wouldn’t be nice to accomplish.
Winning the Aug. 9 feature ended Prunty’s four-race winning
streak and charge in the second half of the season. In that span, Apel lost
more than 40 points off his lead after he won three of the first six races of
this season.
“Our biggest goal was to just win races and we weren’t doing
that and that was frustrating,” Apel said. “We were running OK. But I just
couldn’t find the edge to beat him and I wasn’t faster than him and that was
frustrating.”
Apel and Prunty have combined to win 12 of the 15 super late
model races this season. Prunty has seven victories and Apel has five. But one
thing Apel does have an edge on Prunty is in the ability to win the close
races. It was the second time this season Apel edged Prunty at the finish line
by less than 0.005 seconds.
On May 25, Apel beat Prunty by 0.002 seconds — a track
record. Sunday’s finish was tied for the second-closest in track history. In
2010, Apel beat Scott Schoeni by 0.004 seconds, meaning Apel is the beneficiary
of the three closest finishes in track history.
On the flip side, Prunty has been on the losing end of three
of the four closest finishes in track history.
“I’m OK with close finishes as long as I win,” Apel said
with a smile. “It makes it fun.”
No comments:
Post a Comment