Crow's Landing/Modesto was supposed to be the debut of a two-car effort by Penske to help close
the points gap against the Cougars and Mustangs. Unfortunately the first car was involved in a towing
mishap on the way to the race. The car was being towed by Craig Fisher and mechanic Tom Greatorex
from Penske's shop in PA. They had been driving for a day and a half straight alternating the driving
duties. They came to a poorly lit, newly constructed freeway interchange near Fernly, Nevada when
the trailer tire got just off the side off the pavement, got sucked into some gravel and hit a drainage
culvert. The car was very badly damaged. It was so bad that Craig Fisher was told to strip all the good
parts off of it but Mark looked at it later and decided everything was still "square" and that it should
be repaired. On top of that nightmare scenario, the new lightweight (sandblasted) Camaro that they
had been preparing since June, was barely ready and was airfreighted to the race at the last moment.
It had the wrong gearing for the track and while they changed to a slightly better gear ratio, it still
ended up falling short of what they really needed.
