Bradley Riethmeyer Captures ROMCO Championship
Twenty-year-old Riethmeyer races to a 5th place finish.

Hutto, TX (October 21, 2004) – Driving through the pit gates at San Antonio Speedway, Texas A&M student Bradley Riethmeyer had one thing on his mind, win the prestigious ROMCO Super Late Model Series championship. Bradley needed to finish eighth or better to wrap up the series crown and also needed to overcome obstacles thrown in his path over the weekend.

In preparation for the final race of the season, ROMCO drivers had a chance to practice their skills on the high-banked half mile San Antonio Speedway on Friday evening. Six laps into the practice session everything came to a screeching halt. The blue #49 ACPConsulting.com car’s engine blew up in a big way. The Riethmeyer Racing team does not own a backup motor and championship hopes were instantly put on hold.

“I thought everything was over, but before I could even get out of my car, Robert Richardson ran down to turn one and said go get in his car. Walking back down to Robert’s car, I had several people offer me motors including veterans Doug Hooks and Joe Aramendia. Doug even brought his back up car incase something happened to me in practice. Its awesome racing with so many great people who are willing to help when there’s trouble “.

Quickly following the early practice session engine trouble, Bradley Riethmeyer was back on the track in a borrowed racecar. Riethmeyer was now behind the wheel of NASCAR Southeast Series rookie Robert Richardson’s #33 super late model. This wasn’t the first time the Richardson Racing team helped out Riethmeyer. Last month Bradley raced to a third place finish in a team car to Robert in the NASCAR Southeast Series race at Kentucky Speedway.

Throughout the practice sessions on Saturday, Riethmeyer was near the top of the speed charts and things were beginning to look up again for the team. Fast practice times were backed up with a fifth place qualifying effort for the Richardson/Riethmeyer Racing team.

“I left it all in turn one. I didn't drive the car, and then I got on the gas to soon. The car easily had two more tenths”

Starting the race on the inside of row 3, Bradley quickly raced up to Brandon Bendele, his closest threat in the points. As the race began to take shape it became clear that the #33 car was riding trying to keep out of trouble. The pace of the race was very quick with very few cautions. In a very short time, Riethmeyer crossed under the checkered flag in the fifth position. Bradley Riethmeyer, the 2004 ROMCO Super Late Model Series champion is the youngest champion in series history.

“In the race we were lightning quick. The car was capable of running 0's, but I kept getting an earful of "save your tires, just ride right there." I wanted to go, but I listened and just cruised around the track. Winning the championship was a little more important than winning the race, although it would have been nice to win both".

"Winning the championship is amazing. We did it with a lot of luck and some help from a lot of great people."

It is even more amazing considering that the Riethmeyer Racing team did it on a budget that's a quarter of what some of the other teams had.

“Hopefully we can catch the attention of a few people a little higher up the racing ladder and work out something for next year. I just want to thank everyone that has helped me out this year."

Sponsors for the Riethmeyer Racing #49 racing team include: ACPConsulting.com, Van’s Auto Parts, TexasSpeedzone.com, KAM Racing Engines, and Royal Purple Synthetic Oil. Richardson Racing sponsors include: North Texas Pipe and McKinney Pipe and Steel.

The Riethmeyer Racing team hopes to put together sponsorship to race in either the Snowflake 100 or the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in early December. For sponsorship inquiries, call 512 633-4931 and be sure to visit Bradley’s website at http://www.br49.com for more information. The ROMCO Series website is http://www.romcoracing.com.

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