Tough Night Racing Shows Fellow Drivers Help To Support Peter Britten

Story By: MANDEE PAUCH / PETER BRITTEN RACING – WEEDSPORT, NY – Peter Britten was on pace to battle for his second Super DIRTcar Series triumph Friday night at Autodrome Granby before his car went flipping, abruptly ending his night.

“Of course it wasn’t what we had planned,” Britten said. “Obviously I lost a racecar and being a small team you can’t really afford to lose racecars.”

Britten opened his weekend Friday evening at Autodrome Granby.

Britten started fourth in his heat and finished third, placing him in the top-12 redraw.

“We had a really tough heat race,” added Britten. “It was stacked with what seemed like everyone who follows the series. It turned out it wasn’t too bad. If you can beat some of those guys at the start of the night and keep them out of the redraw, it’s a good night.”

Britten drew the outside of the fourth row for the 100-lap main event.

“I really felt like we were going to have the car to beat,” he said. “We were up to second then the obvious happened. I went into turn one and ended up going for a cartwheel.”

The positive man that he is, Britten said that’s racing and unfortunately that’s how it goes sometimes.

“The roll cage held up really well which obviously was good,” added Britten. “It reminds you of why we have these rules and certain bars and all the safety equipment because something like this does happen now and then. To see the car hold up to a pretty big crash is comforting to know.”

It wasn’t long after his wild ride that he picked up a ride for the following day at Le RPM.

“Rich Scagliotta’s fiancé, Randie, called me up as soon as the crash happened,” he said. “She was calling to make sure I was okay.”

Britten and the Scagliotta’s have been very close ever since Britten made the move to America.

“They were stuck at work and couldn’t make it,” he said. “In the conversation Randie told me to take Rich’s car out and race it Saturday night. Luckily we had it in the trailer with us.”

Britten is extremely appreciative of the Scagliotta’s kindness.

“It was very nice of them to let me do that,” noted Britten. “They’ve always supported me. I didn’t have a car to race and they were very kind to let me race theirs.”

Saturday evening saw Britten behind the wheel of Scagliotta’s No.8 machine.

“We had a decent solid night and a good comeback from the night before,” he said.

Britten started fourth in his heat and ran fourth.

Britten redrew 12th out of 12 positions for the 100-lap main event.

“It was one of those races where we started off with the redraw,” he said. Nothing worked for me. Then I’d be in the wrong line on the restart and get held up, I’d pass a car and the yellow would come out. I felt like we had at least a top five car.”

Britten mentioned the track being small and fast, making it difficult to pass.

“It was tough but we ended up eighth,” he said. “I think that was a good solid comeback in Rich’s car. I was happy to just finish and have a good night.”

After destroying his car Friday evening and worrying about having to thrash to get ready for this upcoming weekend, Britten received a phone call on Sunday from car owner Jim Weller, who Britten helped throughout the season at Sharon Speedway.

“It’s been really great working with them this year at Sharon, we built a great relationship,” noted Britten. “They called me up and offered for me to race their car if I needed to. It’s a pretty amazing offer for someone to do that. It would be a big struggle this weekend to be racing without this offer.”

Britten only owns one car and motor so after Friday nights incident Britten was left stranded.

“The car was destroyed and the motor had to go back to get looked at after damage to the oil pump and an over rev while flipping,” he said.

If Britten were able to get a car together he still wouldn’t have a motor for this weekend, making the Weller’s offer even more grateful to Britten.

“I’m very appreciative and thankful for them to getting behind me like this.”

It’s no surprise the amount of support Britten has received. Britten is one who would give his shirt off his back if someone were in need. The amount of generosity Britten has received has not gone unappreciated.

Britten noted he will be racing Jim Weller’s car this upcoming weekend with the Super DIRTcar Series but will have the body of his No.21a machine.