ATPR's racing representative looks for a winning campaign

Good thing it's not an election year.

Patrick Naeger, Missouri's only known racing state representative (R-Perryville), had his first career pure stock division win overturned last Saturday after his car failed the post-race inspection at Auto Tire and Parts Racepark near Benton, Mo.

But that won't keep Naeger, who represents the 155th district that covers Perry and Ste. Genevieve counties, from trying to get his racing season back on track in today's events at ATPR.

"We're working to get back out there and keep it from happening again -- people who know us know that we intend to race clean and legal," Naeger said. "We're embarrassed by how Saturday turned out."

Naeger finished first and his brother, Matt Naeger, finished second in Saturday's feature race and appeared to end Cline Myers' winning streak at four weeks. But during inspection, both of Naeger's cars failed to pull vacuum -- meaning the cars were found to have camshafts that were designed to produce more horsepower than allowed by track rules.

Their disqualifications handed the win to Myers, who's 5-for-5 this season.

"It was the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat in a matter of minutes," Naeger said.

It's probably not exactly a good campaign move, either, although Naeger is in his final term because of term limits.

"I hope it doesn't hurt my political career," Naeger joked. "Hopefully everybody realizes I'm not smart enough to know anything about my engine anyway."