#43 STP Dallara Honda of Butch Davis

 The FBR Motorsports IndyCar Series made its debut this past Thursday at Pocono, where top speeds were well over 240mph and the biggest complaints from drivers was a lack of breath and white knuckles.. In what had been a highly anticipated season opener, Marco Brughelli in the #11 7-Eleven car took the pole, earning him 1 point, making him the first driver to officially score points in the series.. Kory Williams in the #18 M&Ms car would start 2nd, followed by Butch Davis in the #43 STP car, Rick Ravon in the #1 Gould Charge car, Mike Norris in the #20 Invicta Watches car, and Damian Katz in the #47 West car.. The race would see 18 drivers attempt to make the race, with the #53 Doimo car of Don Nelles unable to make the grid due to mechanical issues.. As the 17 cars took the green, it didn't take long for things to get exciting.. Mike Born in the #14 Old Spice car misjudged the traffic jam in front of him entering turn 1 and made contact with the #33 Skoal car of Mark Page, sending Page into the outside wall of turn 1 and breaking Page's rear wing off and bringing out the first caution of the race.. The second caution would come on lap 13 when the #96 MOMO car of Jaime Huppert clipped the curbing in turn 2 and caused a traffic jam, with the #05 Marlboro car of Mike Morris, #62 Colgate car of Ellery Souza, #43 of Butch Davis, and #11 of Marco Brughelli all making slight contact with one another, with the #11 going through the grass briefly.. On lap 21, exiting turn 3, the #42 Patron Tequila car of Kyle Millikin made contact with the #20 when Norris pushed up out of the corner and made slight contact with the wall.. The #42 turned violently left, careening towards the pitlane entry.. Unfortunately for the #42, Kyle made heavy contact with the end of pitwall, sending him spinning down the pitlane.. The car was destroyed, and Millikin's race would go no further, the first car out of the event.. The #43 of Davis would suffer the same fate as the #11 did earlier by taking a trip through the grass, this time exiting turn 1 when the #1 of Rick Ravon made contact with the #94 Bryant Heating car of Mike Bryant, almost sending Bryant into the wall exiting turn 1.. Davis would catch a break on lap 33 when Mark Page's motor expired, bringing out the 4th caution of the race.. Mike Born's race would end on lap 47 with suspension failure after contact with the wall exiting turn 1.. Page's fate would be shared only 2 laps later, as on lap 49, Jason Fuchs' motor expired in his #19 MOPAR car exiting turn 3.. Fuchs, who was leading at the time, was spun by the #9 Budweiser car of Hal Moore when the motor expired, and shot across the track in front of the entire field.. Thankfully, everyone was able to avoid the #19 car.. In what would be the final caution of the race on lap 56, the #9 clipped the curbing in turn 2 and made contact with the #11, putting the #11 of Brughelli in the wall.. Damian Katz, making his sim-racing debut, would suffer a mechanical failure on lap 58 before the field took the green when a combination of brake failure and suspension issue put the young driver into the wall and the back of front-runner Brughelli under yellow.. The final restart would come with with 37 laps to go, and all drivers would have to make one more stop before making the run to the checkers.. On lap 64 and 65, a series of incidents between the #1 of Ravon and of #96 of Huppert would lead to the eventual retirement of the #1 car on lap 77.. Mike Morris' race would end prematurely on lap 72 with suspension failure after contact with with Souza put both he and the #18 into the wall on lap 68.. As the race wound down, the #43 of Davis opened up a lead over Brughelli and Moore, with the #15 Target car of Chad Simpson following a few seconds back.. Davis extended his lead by leaning hard on the boost button and running some of his fastest laps of the race before making his final pit stop on lap 92.. Taking only enough fuel to make it to the end, Davis was able to get out of the pits with an even larger lead and maintained a 14 second gap to the trailing duo of Brughelli and Moore to the finish.. Brughelli edged Moore at the line for 2nd by a mere 5 hunderdths of a second, followed by Chad Simpson who was another 3 seconds back.. Kory Williams fought back after suffering heavy damage earlier in the race to pass Ellery Souza on the final lap to take 5th place.. Patrick Norris, who remained relatively quiet all race, brought his #17 Ethanol car home in a respectable 7th, followed by Jaime Huppert.. Mike Bryant was the final car to finish the race under power, 2 laps down..

The inaugural race for this series saw 28 lead changes among 10 different drivers, with Davis leading the most laps ( 58 ).. The race was slowed 6 times for a total of 19 laps.. With the victory and the 2 bonus points for leading the most laps, Davis starts off the inaugural IndyCar series at FBR Motorsports with an 11 point lead over Brughelli.. The FBR IndyCar Series heads to the high banks of Texas Motor Speedway this Thursday, and with the first race under their belts, drivers should be more comfortable and more prepared, hopefully providing for an even more exciting race..