"Z-Man" Debut Halted By P&Z Rental Management Work Schedule
by Steve Pados, GA Motorsports Media

West Park, NY- While it was hoped 14 year old driving talent Zachary "Z-Man" O'Connell would take part in his first CRSA sprint car race last Friday evening at the Glen Ridge Motorsports Park, a change of plans was necessitated during the week due to the tremendous workload his Dad and Crew Chief Paul O'Connell was enduring with his P&Z Rental Management business. The senior O'Connell, who does the majority of the maintenance and preparation on the two in-house race cars of the ZTO Motorsports Team, worked throughout the week on a couple of deadlined projects he needed to complete on schedule. With the late hours of working on those projects, the maintenance on the race cars came to a screeching halt. Sportsman racing star Howard Jarvis who is lending his assistance whenever possible to the team but endured a hard crash at Accord the prior Friday night, had his own equipment to work on and and was unavailable to work with the team. The decision was made to shelve the sprint program for the weekend due to the long travel time and the team rushed over to Accord to see some Friday night racing. Jarvis suffered from an oil line coming off during his heat race and coating him with hot oil. Paul O'Connell was happy to be on the scene and was summoned to the pit area to help Jarvis prepare for the feature event. Racing to a fourth place finish during the main event, Jarvis is now leading the points in the Camper's Barn Sportsman division points. The team is actively seeking some new team members who can help alleviate some of the workload from Paul O'Connell.

Saturday morning found the team going to work on the Slingshot car with the hopes of having it ready for the weekly action at Hamlin. The car was prepped, loaded and taken to the race track. O'Connell was racing in fifth place in his heat race when he collected an inside tire and was put to the rear with a lap remaining in the heat. He finished eighth. Starting the feature event from the 23rd position. O'Connell moved up quickly in the early stages of the feature event and found himself racing for position in twelveth when two competitors got together in turn one and momentarily blocked the track and collecting O'Connell in the process. Again Ladyluck was not riding with the "Z-Man" on this night and the car suffered heavy front end damage and was parked for the night resulting in a poor finishing position.

With another big work week planned for Paul O'Connell with his business, the sprint car will sit in the shop this weekend as the team has committed to the two day weekend show at Hamlin. With the Slinger needing much attention, the team has to order some new equipment in hopes of having the car race ready for the weekend. With Hamlin offering the NASCAR Crew Challenge show on Saturday night, the ZTO Motorsports Team will be defending their win from last year for the event when Lowes Car Chief Ron Malec was steering the equipment to victory.

While the "Z-Man" remains excited about the new class and series he will be racing in this year, he also realizes the time needed to educate himself with the car is paramount in moving forward. While he felt he learned a great deal with his two practice sessions at Glen Ridge, 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. After again consulting with veteran sprint car crew chief Ray Brooks during the past week, the team felt they learned a couple of things they may have been doing wrong with the set-up of the race car and once the workload eases for Paul O'Connell, will be implementing those changes into the race car.

Through the efforts of Zach's Mom, Brenda, the team will be highlighted in the upcoming weeks at the Highland Middle School the "Z-Man" attends. Zach's fellow students will have the opportunity to see both race cars up close and personal as the ZTO Motorsports Team proudly displays the race cars on the school grounds. Zach will be graduating on the 25th of June and will lose another night of racing due to the graduation ceremonies.

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 has already decided to not take the long trip into Canada. 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 11th. For O'Connell, the June 11th race will be a kick-start for him at Accord as the "Z-Man" will return to Accord on June 13th when the CRSA 305 Sprinters make their lone 2008 appearance at Gary Palmer's "Gem in the Catskills". While Zach will be testing the car at Accord, negotiations are nearly completed to have the "Original Lady Outlaw" Mares Stellfox in competition in the ZTO equipment at Accord to test the car at full throttle.

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