By Patrick Sheltra......
(4-5-10) - Throughout the past couple of weeks, I had been checking the ARCA web site looking at all the different columns and seeing what everyone was talking about and I was preparing myself what I would talk about when I was finally asked.

When that time came this week, I really still had not pin-pointed the direction I wanted to go. Sitting here writing it now, I've chosen to talk about a couple things that really have made a difference during my career in ARCA. Family, support and safety.

Without a question I have a great family. My parents and my brother are the reason I continue to make it a habit to race on a weekly basis. Not only do I love it but the "racing high" if you will that they experience when I finish well makes it all that much worth while.

In 2007, I was driving for Dan Kinney of Premier Motorsports out of Whitesville, Kentucky. After a couple one-off races with Clements Racing and Ken Schrader Racing the years before, we decided it was the right time in my career to head in to asphalt racing after success on the dirt. We went with Premier Motorsports for a lot of reasons. One of the main reasons were the two people who steering the ship at Premier, Keith Strunk and John Hayden.  

Keith had won the championship back in 1999 with Bill Baird and John had formed a solid career as a driver and knew his stuff in the ARCA garage which made me feel comfortable coming in as a rookie driver. We went to Daytona and missed the show, but I don't blame the guys or car for that - I just feel we were down on horsepower. Despite some discouragement, we went to Lakeland and a good finish and it was there we decided to take what was a limited schedule and turn it into a full-time effort. We bought some cars, updated some of the other equipment and the finishes started eventually turning into something we were feeling really good about.

Despite the direction of the team's on-track performance we decided we wanted to have sole possession of the team - so we can build the team name as we are in this for the long haul. Dan agreed to sell and by July 1, 2007 we had officially formed Sheltra Motorsports. The rest of the year was spent building my confidence and becoming more comfortable with the cars. We had our bumps and bruises along the way but we finished the season with a strong top-10 finish at Toledo and despite missing a race we had still climbed the ladder to finish a respectable seventh in the championship standings. All things considered I was satisfied.

There aren't a lot of family-owned teams in the ARCA Racing Series with both the owner and driver at the wheel. With that being said, we wanted to focus during the off-season and revamp the entire operation to prepare for our first full season as Sheltra Motorsports in 2008. We started off the season with a strong car and had a good finish in the bank but a controversial call on pit road wiped out any chances for a top-10 finish.

From there we move forward, showed some early season strength including almost winning our first race at Toledo Speedway who was won by my buddy Matt Carter. Then during the middle of the year, we hit a slump. We could not pin-point anything out in a particular that caused the stall. We would get caught up in a wreck, have a motor failure, this would go wrong, that would go wrong. It really wasn't anyone's fault it just fell under the term "that's racing." As a team though we vowed to finish the season on a strong note. After slipping back to 10th in points we were prepared to fight to the end and my guys stepped up to the plate and we scored a home-run. The last seven races of the season we never finished outside the top-12 but once and our finishes included a second place finish on the DuQuoin dirt and a strong fifth place showing at Talladega where we were leading with two laps to go and got shuffled out of the draft. At Toledo, we backed up our runner-up finish with a solid sixth place finish which propelled our team from 10th in the championship standings to sixth during the last stretch of events..

After a comeback like that, I felt like we were prepared for anything. I was almost wrong.

Heading into the 2009 season, we eyed the ARCA Racing Series championship. It's what my parents, our marketing partners, who really have helped us get to where I am today and my team had dreamed of since I entered the stock car world. But it wasn't only us that was putting the pressure on; we knew that everyone from the media and to even the other teams in the garage had put us on their radar list. We raised the notch and they knew it.

In Daytona, we had a bad to the bone car, she was fast. We qualified 16th and had taken our time throughout the day, dodged all the big wrecks and were sitting in the top-five with 10 laps left and I was gearing up to make my move. I remember on the backstretch with about six to go, I gave Joey (Logano) a push and I tried to go with him but then we had moved into turn three and there was contact from behind. The next thing I knew I was in the wall and was trying to re-fire the car and then Larry Hollenbeck t-boned me and the lights were out. I woke up in a hospital bed and I told the doctor's and everyone there in the room I was fine and going to get up. I tried and then I realized in my head, this ain't good. The wreck (if you have not seen it; check it out on you tube under Patrick Sheltra) was a bad deal, no questions asked. It shouldn't have happened but it did. I was just thankful for the safety requirements that the ARCA Racing Series insists on - because I know that had not we as a team been so stern about keeping me safe in the car I may not be here today writing this.

Before the accident, I always knew that safety was important but after Daytona, I became an advocate for safety in the ARCA Racing Series. My guys built and gave me a strong safe car but from then we took extra precautions as far as safety was concerned and I haven't worried since. The injuries that I had from the wreck threatened my return to ARCA with Salem just six weeks down the road - but I was hell-bent on letting a crash keep me from driving. I wasn't prepared to let my family down, my team or marketing partners down. This is a family operation and they were behind me 100 percent, so I was willing to do whatever I could to get back behind the wheel.

I was hoping for a good run at Salem but the adrenaline and the determination to prove to everyone that I could still race not to mention a great call by John (Hayden) led us to our first ARCA victory. It was like a story out of a book - it had a good ending. The icing on the cake was the announcement of our new marketing partner Buffalo Wings & Rings (buffalowingsandrings.com) for the remainder of the season.

After Salem we went to Rockingham and finished second and took the point's lead. Not too shabby. We went to Talladega had another hot rod after the one we raced at Daytona was nothing more of twisted and torn sheet metal but we succumbed to engine failure. Another one of those racing deals.

It just seemed that we could never get our mojo back after running strong early at Talladega. We had some good runs in-between but then battled a lot of bad luck too. We asked former NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion driver Ted Musgrave to come in during the middle of the season and evaluate our team. He did some great things for us. He helped with the cars, coached me in the spotting tower and did help the overall improvement of our race team but we just felt like we weren't competing to the level we felt we should, especially after finishing ninth in points.

During the off-season we decided to uproot the team from Kentucky to the heart of racing - Mooresville, North Carolina to better our racing resources. I was hoping that the guys would make the move with us but most of them didn't and I respect their decision and appreciate everything they helped me accomplish during our time together.  

With the 2010 set to be my last year in the ARCA Racing Series before hoping making the move into NASCAR and planning on turning the ARCA steering wheel over to another driver - we went hunting for a new leader to help our new move become a permanent one. We were introduced to Jon Wolfe and quickly realized he was the man that we felt could lead this team to a championship.

While keeping our family-owned tactics in mind, Jon put together a stout group of guys and I enjoy coming up to the shop on a more frequent basis.  

So far in 2010, we survived Danicamania (which I didn't mind by the way, she's a pretty cool person) by finishing fifth at Daytona. What a change for the year before huh? And then we went near my hometown of West Palm Beach, Florida and finished 10th in my first ever race in the rain. Heading to Salem next weekend with Buffalo Wings & Rings back on board, it's nice to be the defending champions, we're fourth in points and I have the comfort of having a family-owned team behind me.

My family's support, guidance and belief has gotten us through the ups and downs of ARCAville. We haven't always made the right decisions but I don't think there's a better way to deal with racing emotionally, physically and mentally than driving for a family owned operation.

Without it doubt it has helped me mature, learn the business, experience the hardships, experience the greatness but make Sheltra Motorsports a nice home in the ARCA Racing Series.

Thanks for reading.