Flying Dutchman Off-Road Race Team

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Wheatland, MO

The Flying Dutchman Lands on Podium Twice

Appleton, WI (June 4, 2008) - Dan Vanden Heuvel and his Flying Dutchman Off-Road Race team began their thirtieth year of off-road racing with back to back podium finishes at the E3 Spark Plug Show-Me State Showdown at the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri. The opening weekend of the World Series of Off-Road Racing featured a track that wound in, on and around the facilities 3/8 mile oval dirt track. The weekend of racing saw the .7 mile race track go through major changes during the weekend, thanks to the heavy rains that fell Saturday night. In fact almost the entire Saturday evening race program had to be rescheduled for Sunday as thunderstorms passed through much of Missouri.

Dan Vanden Heuvel was able to get in some practice laps in with his #77 ATD Transmission Maxxis Tire Chevrolet Silverado PRO-2WD truck and found the track very technical, putting a large emphasis on chassis setup. After some fine tuning to the Fox Racing Shox suspension, the Flying Dutchman was ready for battle.

As mentioned before, severe thunderstorms on Saturday evening, cancelled all but the Super Truck race. So WSORR officials were forced to take the two day race program and make it all happen on Sunday.

Round One
Dan and his familiar #77 Fox Shox equipped Chevrolet started from the third row. When the green flag fell, Dan headed down the main straightaway, staying clear of Kevin Probst’s first turn rollover. After the initial mayhem Dan quickly moved into the top three. Dave Waldvogel and Dan fought each other hard for the second position. The two Chevy powered trucks went back and forth for position. In the final corner of the race, the Maxxis tires hooked up and got #77 the second spot on the podium.

With only a couple of hours to prep the truck for Round Two, the crew wasted no time preparing for the final race of the weekend.

Round Two
The #77 PRO-2WD had another solid round of racing. At the finish Dan crossed the line in third place. This put the Flying Dutchman in second place in the 2008 WSORR PRO-2WD Championship standings.

Afterwards Dan Vanden Heuvel commented about his race weekend.
“It’s great to be back racing with the World Series. We came out here with a new tire manufacturer, not knowing really what to expect and we are on the podium both times. It’s absolutely awesome. The Maxxis tires really hooked up to the Missouri clay, and our Fox Shox really kept this Chevy on rails. I can’t forget to thank Charlie at ATD transmission, even with all the abuse our tranny took to day, and we never missed a beat. Now we have some time to get ready for Crandon. I’ll definitely be in contention for out first win of the year when we get to the “Big House. I can’t forget to congratulate my son Mike for winning round two in his Light Buggy. The Vanden Heuvels had a pretty good weekend.”

After two rounds of racing, Dan Vanden Heuvel is second in the 2008 WSORR PRO-2WD Championship standings.

The next race for the Flying Dutchman Off-Road Race team is the Forest County Potawotomi Brush Run, June 21-22, in Crandon, Wisconsin.

Dan Vanden Heuvel would like to thank all his partners including:

Maxxis Tires

Fox Racing Shox

Mastercraft Seats

Catco Parts

MSD Ignition

Autometer

Miller Electric

Motive Gear

Odyssey Battery

AirGas

Jaz Products

J & L Photography

Loctite