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CHET FILLIP
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| Whoever came up with the quote “Nice guys finish
last” have obviously never met Chet Fillip or his brother Corey
and everyone involved with their Advanced Racing Suspension #77 team. PRA is extremely lucky to have Chet and his entire Team as their Inaugural Champions for the 2006 Big Car Series. Chet has competed in the biggest races in the world including the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500 but it was the PRA Big Car Series that brought Chet his first racing Championship.  Chet
and his Team earned this title starting with the first race at Illiana
Motor Speedway where they finished with a strong 3rd place in the
South Shore 125; Eric Gordon drove to the Series Inaugural Win. Round
two of the Big Car Series found Chet battling for the lead early with
Ken Schrader at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis where
he held the point for a while until he and Carl Edwards put on quite
a show for the fans and Chet would have to settle for 2nd place as
Edwards went on to win the Independence 100 presented by Plastic Express.
Round three found the teams out east at the legendary Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut; this would be the first race that Chet failed to qualify in the top six and found himself starting deep in the field in the 15th position of the Inaugural BIG ONE where he would begin his march towards the front of the field and 100 laps later finishing in his season LOW 6th position, Bobby Santos, III was able to complete the sweep that night starting last in the Big Car race and cashing in on the $50,000 bonus since he had earlier in the night taken home the Midget feature win.  Round
Four of the series was held at the South Georgia Motorsports Park
and Chet and his team were dialed in, they were the fastest in practice
and set Fast Time in qualifying and it seemed certain this could be
the night that Chet would find Victory Lane but Ryan Newman had other
ideas. Marc Jessup led the early part of the feature but was constantly
under heavy pressure from Newman and they both knew about a straightaway
behind them that Chet Fillip had worked his way through heavy traffic
and was on a mission. Once Fillip caught the two leaders the fans
received their monies worth as the trio put on an unbelievable show.
Late in the event Jessup suffered a mechanical failure while Newman
and Fillip had really used up their tires fighting with Jessup for
the lead which allowed A.J. Fike the chance to sneak into the 2nd
position and nearly steal the win away from Newman at the SGMP 100,
but another 3rd place finish for Fillip kept him where he had been
for the majority of the season in the points battle, at the top. Chet and his team came into the season finale at the beautiful USA International Speedway in Lakeland, FL with a 100 point advantage in both the driver standings and the owner standings which is not all that much considering it pays 400 points to win each event. Then, the most ironic thing we have seen in racing happened as Chet Fillip and second place in points Eric Gordon posted identical qualifying times at the lightning fast ¾ mile track which would have the pair starting very deep in the field in 20th and 21st in the series finale. Marc Jessup who has been extremely fast at the Big Car events went on to set Fast Time with a 19.827 and a speed of over 137 mph. Chet Fillip knew his goal going into this event and it was simple, at the very least keep Gordon in his sight and stay within four or five positions of him and the Championship would be his. Gordon needed to race as hard as he could and hope that would be enough, as the race began it was evident that Gordon would need something to happen to the #77 car as Chet began to slice through traffic on his way to a very familiar place, the front of the field. Chet was able to make the top groove work for him and from the middle of the race to the end was passing cars at will and it definitely didn’t look like he was points racing, Chet was racing to WIN. He was able to get to the 4th position and was applying heavy pressure to Teddy Beach for the 3rd position on the last lap but had to settle for 4th. Bobby Santos, III went on to win the Big Car Championship 100 to become the only repeat winner of 2006 followed by Bobby East in 2nd. Although Chet and his A.R.S. team never made it to Victory Lane in 2006 it wasn’t from a lack of effort on their part and all of the teams are probably assuming that will not be the case in 2007.  PRA
is proud to have Chet Fillip and his Advanced Racing Suspension Team
represent the Big Car Series as their Champion, sometimes nice guys
do finish 1st. CONGRATULATIONS CHET.2006 RESULTS: CHET FILLIP (6-13-2006) Illiana Motor Speedway – 3rd (7-5-2006) O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis – 2nd (8-15-2006) Stafford Motor Speedway – 6th (10-25-2006) South Georgia Motorsports Park – 3rd (12-13-2006) USA International Speedway – 4th |
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