We have some pretty cool customers at CityMax.com, and we love hearing their stories. Recently we came across one that really takes the cake! Shane Harding (pictured here with his daughter) is a NASCAR driver based out of Langley, British Columbia (just outside Vancouver). His crew chief Joe reached out to us about getting involved with the team and we jumped at the chance to be a part of it!
Check out the new car below:
With over 20 years of racing experience and countless wins under his belt, Shane recently had an amazing outing at the 45th annual Apple Cup race in Yakima, Washington. Joe emailed us the story behind the race and we thought you might like to hear it too (it’s a bit of a read, but well worth it!).
In Joe’s words:
The race weekend went very well with us beginning on top of the speed charts. During qualifying we had a flat tire, but still qualified in the 10th position. On Saturday afternoon in Shane’s 25 lap qualifying race, everything went well with Shane finishing in 2nd place. For Sunday’s main event, we started on the inside row in the 2nd position. The first half of the race went very well, as by Lap 25 we had the lead. With Shane comfortably ahead, he was in cruise control. After a number of caution flags, he was able to easily distance himself from the cars chasing him.
On Lap 70, trouble developed with the splined shaft on Shane’s throttle. Shane’s car was no longer able to go full speed and he gave up the lead that he had so comfortably held. Shortly afterwards, a wreck covered the track with debris – bringing out the red flag for about ten minutes. During this time, Shane worked to fix the throttle lever while still driving – as he was required to stay inside the car. After the race restarted, it appeared that Shane’s temporary fix had worked as he started closing the gap on the cars in front of him. However it was short lived joy, as the fix didn’t hold and Shane was again unable to hit full speed on the long stretches of Yakima Speedway.
On Lap 148, car #50 was struggling and failed to hold his line. As Shane was passing, it forced him off the track between Turns One and Two. Unbelievably, the flag man never waved the yellow caution flag (which indicates all cars must slow down). Just as Shane was pulling back onto the track, the two leading cars #39 (Pete Harding – Shane’s father) and #19 (Korbin Thomas) approached at high speed: right when Shane was trying to turn his car around on the track.
Because there was no caution flag, Shane never expected the lead cars to be arriving at 120 MPH, and chaos ensued. The leading car at the time was Pete Harding, who was hoping to collect his 3rd Apple Cup Victory. Pete slammed the brakes and slid below his son’s car, missing it by only a fraction of an inch, as Korbin Thomas’ car slid by on the outer side of the track (also narrowly missing Shane). Korbin was able to maintain more speed as he slid by Shane, passing Pete for the lead and the win.
In the winners’ circle to greet his father, Shane could hardly put two words together, managing only a barely audible “sorry” while hugging Pete – who had just lost the 45th annual Apple Cup because of his son’s mishap.
“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Pete told Shane, who was filled with guilt for what he felt cost his father a victory in the 150-lap Apple Cup race. “That’s racing and anything can happen.” Pete gave his son a big hug and let him know he still had a great day racing together.
Pete’s class and fatherly love were rewarded not long after, when Korbin Thomas was disqualified for failing a postrace engine inspection. This news gave Pete Harding his third Apple Cup victory, and first since winning back-to-back races in 1998 and 1999. It also gave Pete the $4,000 winner’s check. Pete has also won four Fall Classic titles at the Yakima Speedway, whereas Shane picked up his first Yakima Fall Classic win in October 2011.
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What a fantastic story for the Harding family! A big congrats to Pete for the win (but more importantly, for being a great sport), and to Shane for his courageous efforts in spite of technical difficulties. For more NASCAR and anything racing-related, check out Harding Motorsports on Facebook or follow Shane’s exploits at ShaneHarding.com.
If you have a cool story you’d like to share, drop us a line at media (at) citymax (dot) com.