@OSCAARRacing • (November 3, 2015)- If one word could be used to describe Dan Price's season – perseverance.
It didn't seem to matter what was thrown the rookie driver's way, he always found his way back to the track to fight for another strong finish.
Going into the season, the track that everyone thought would be the place to watch Price would be at Peterborough Speedway, as that is home track. Unfortunately, neither trip materialized into the run that he would've hoped for with finishes of ninth and 11th in 2015.
Admittedly for a rookie, there is going to be places that they will struggle, and Price was no exception. Beyond the struggles at Peterborough, the trip to Flamboro Speedway at the end of August wouldn't go smoothly with a mid-race incident resulting in a 14th place finish.
Though the place that seemed to bite Price the biggest – Delaware Speedway. The first trip there was the sight of Price's biggest crash of the season, resulting in his modified needing a whole new front clip, among other things. As I said, Price persevered and fixed it, making his way back on the tour. He also showed that he wasn't going to the London, Ontario-based half-mile get him down, either, as he went back there later in the year and scored a 10th place finish.
While those three tracks presented their challenges for Price, the other two tracks produced a pair of highlights that Price will certainly carry with him forward.
Starting the year at Sunset Speedway, the first two races would see incidents relegating Price to a pair of finishes outside of the top-10. The third trip in August, though, produced a highlight to remember. After suffering damage in his heat, his team would work hard to put the pieces back together. Their work wouldn't be nothing as Price would have a great run in the feature, posting his first career OSCAAR top-five finish with a fourth. Unfortunately, a return to Sunset in September didn't produce favorable results.
The other track on the tour that Price ran well? Full Throttle Motor Speedway. Price ran great in both features at the bullring en route to finishes of sixth and 12th. Though even bigger, he would put the No. 09 Hy-Hope Farm, Langilles Scrap, Cochrane Automotive and A&T Mecahnical modified in victory lane with his first career heat victory.
When I spoke to Price at the beginning of the season, he kept his goals simple in looking to complete all the laps each week, hoping to learn each week as he went.
"I'll be at a two to three year learning curve with this car," he said back in March. "I'm not going throw buckets and buckets of money at it and try and come out of the gate like gangbusters. It's a building process. We're going to have some fun, stay out of trouble and get laps."
For the 2015 season being a starter point, he certainly proved that he'll be one to watch as he gets better moving forward.
By: Ashley McCubbin
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