"Z-Man" Set For 1st Start In CRSA Competition At Glen Ridge On Friday Night
by Steve Pados, GA Motorsports Media

West Park, NY- This coming week 14 year old driving talent Zachary "Z-Man" O'Connell will take part in his first sprint car race as the CRSA opens it's 14 race series with a scheduled stop at the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park this coming Friday night. O'Connell has been testing the new ZTO Motorsports Sprint Car entry the past couple of weeks at the Glen Ridge facility and although he is very aware of the fact he is still in the infancy stages of learning about the race car and what he and the car do do together, the "Z-Man" is excited about the new class and series he will be racing in. Starting out slowly when he began his maiden voyage with the race car two weeks ago, O'Connell is making sure each successive outing with the machine allows him to be more comfortable with the car and his surroundings. Noting the major differences between the in-house Slingshot and the Sprint Car are staggering, Crew Chief and Dad Paul O'Connell has indicated he wants the "Z-Man" to feel at totally at ease with the car before cutting him loose on the racetrack. Last week when O'Connell took to the Glen Ridge track, he felt much more comfortable that when he took his first run at the track.

The new surroundings for the ZTO Motorsports Team will be challenging this year as they become educated into the world of sprint car racing. The many new tracks the team will be venturing to throughout the season will add to the education of the young driver as each new track where they will compete will offer new challenges to the "Z-Man" and for the entire team as they look forward to the new hurdles in front of them. With continued help via phone from veteran sprint car crew chief Ray Brooks, the team felt they learned quite a bit from the opening two sessions at Glen Ridge but realize there is a great deal more to learn about sprint car racing each and every day.

The "Z-Man" had a hectic week last weekend as for the first time the ZTO Motorsports Team spent a ton of time on the road moving from track to track. After testing the Sprinter at Glen Ridge, the team returned home to it's West Park, New York shop and loaded the Slingshot onto the backend of the trailer and proceeded to Pennsylvania for the Saturday night action at the Hamlin Speedway. The team worked on the car throughout the day but couldn't find a problem with the race car even though it wasn't performing as well as it was hoped. Later at home the team found one of the rear tires had developed a leak and the car had developed a horrendous push throughout the running of the main event resulting in a poor finish in the main event.

While it remains unclear at this point how much Slingshot racing will be done after the CRSA season begins, the ZTO Team will try to make as many races as possible. Offering a combination of both Friday and Saturday night racing, with a Sunday night in June at Utica Rome, the team will concentrate on making most of the shows scheduled by the CRSA. While the series takes a jaunt into Canada in July, the ZTO Team had already decided to not take the long trip into Canada. The new season for the CRSA kicks-off on May 30th with the teams once again returning to Glen Ridge for the opener. The 14-race schedule will find the series making stops at Penn Can, Accord, Utica Rome, Five Mile Point, Orange County, Virginia Motor Speedway and the Rolling Wheels Raceway in the states with a weekend swing into Canada in July. O'Connell is planning to make as many Accord Speedway Midweek Madness Shows and will be among the entrants when the Wednesday night shows begin on June 4th. For O'Connell, the June 4th race will be a kick-start for him at Accord as the "Z-Man" will return on June 13th when the CRSA 305 Sprinters make their lone 2008 appearance at Gary Palmer's "Gem in the Catskills".

With the school calendar now loaded with the many things the "Z-Man" is involved with at school, O'Connell remains focused on the books first. Continued efforts with the Jimmy Johnson Foundation now take a part of his spare time and learning the basic fundamentals of working on a Sprint Car to go along with the Slingshot, give the young driving talent a tremendous workload.

The new ZTO Motorsports Team T-Shirts are now available at a cost of $15.00 each and will be available at the racetracks where the "Z-Man" is competing and through the team's website: www.zacharyoconnell.com

The "Z-Man" continues to excel in the classroom to go along with his increasing on track skills. He has maintained Honor Roll status for every semester and will soon be completing 8th grade at the Highland Middle School, situated in Highland, New York. The Honor Roll status is part of an agreement worked out by his parents for the capacity to drive the in-house race cars. Zach will end his 5th year in the school band this year as he plays the jazz trumpet. Zach is heavily involved with the school newspaper, "The Blue Review" as an at-large reporter and has done an extensive amount of work with the school yearbook. He is also a member of the Ski Club and the Mile Club. Zach also competes in the Port Ewen Athletic Basketball Association. When not playing sports or completing his homework, the "Z-Man" likes to take the drive down to the S&S Speedways to continuously hone his skills in racing, as he finds the more laps he runs indoors, the more adept he is becoming on the racetrack during the summer.

ZTO Motorsports would like to thank the great supporting cast of sponsors who have come on board with the relatively new racing team. The list includes, Apple Greens Golf Course, Lowes Home Improvement of Kingston, D&D NAPA of Highland, Stock Car Fantasy, John J Pezzo, CPA, P&Z Rental Management Inc, Northern Dutchess Archery, Hig-Fab, Fast Dirt Racing Promotions, Port Ewen Athletic Association, and GA Motorsports Media.

For more information and further updates regarding the "Z-Man" Zach O'Connell and the ZTO Motorsports team, log onto their website at: www.zacharyoconnell.com