It has been a long time coming, but Paul Shafer Jr. and his crew finally broke through and celebrated their first ARCA Midwest Tour presented by SCAG Power Equipment victory during a Memorial Day weekend special at Jefferson Speedway, located between Cambridge and Jefferson, Wisconsin.
Shafer took over the lead from Dalton Zehr with 45 laps to go and then kept his distance from three-time Jefferson Speedway track champion Casey Johnson to end his long drought and get the long-awaited checkered flag.
The win, especially being the first one in the Tour, at Jefferson Speedway has a special meaning for Shafer and his longtime crew chief Chris Purdy.
“Now that the first one is out of the way, maybe we can get a couple more,” a smiling Shafer said after the race. “It’s awesome to get the first win here for a lot of reasons. One, it’s probably the short track in whole State of Wisconsin, especially with the way how they run it every week. During the Joe Shear Classic, we practiced on Saturday afternoon and we came over here and watched the races. The second is that my crew chief Chris Purdy grew up in the Janesville/Milton area and he ran here a lot. I think he won eight out of nine features one year. It means a lot to me, Chris and everyone on the team because many are from around here.”
Shafer, who was also the fast qualifier, started 13th and was up to second by lap 42 after passing Johnson was an early leader in the race. Shafer was trying to chase down Dalton Zehr for the top spot.