On the tough short track racing ranks, no matter how much knowledge and technology goes into the car and how much talent a driver posesses, a good amount of luck is still needed in order to get into victory lane.

Meghan Dillner overcame some bad luck at the start of her 25-lap Pro Challenge Series Rookie Challenge event at Orange County Speedway (NC) on June 7th to score a hard-earned second-place finish in just her second-career Pro Challenge start. Her BDI Racing teammate teammate Zach Stroupe, however, wasn't able to shake a bad luck bug, succumbing to damage suffered from another competitor late in the PASS South "Orange Blossom Special" 150-lap Super Late Model event.

Despite the up-and-down day for BDI Racing, helds were still held high when leaving the Orange County Speedway facility due to Dillner's strong run and the notes gained by SLM Crew Chief Bond Suss for a big PASS National Series event at the track in July.

The day started off on a high note for the team, as 14-year-old Dillner earned the outside-pole starting spot in Pro Challenge qualifying, coming just 0.016-seconds shy of her first pole.

"The team had it really great for me, I couldn't thank them more," said Dillner. "It really stuck. I was really trying to get the pole there. It was really close, but I was happy I got a really good qualifying lap."

Come feature time, Dillner nearly met with catastrophe. The #151 truck would not stay running as she pulled off pit road for the pace laps. When track safety workers were finally able to get her to pit road, the BDI Racing team got the problem corrected just as the field was getting the one-lap-to-green signal from the flagman. Dillner caught the field just as the green flag waved and instantly picked up several positions in the first lap. From there, Dillner drove with a vengeance back to the front.

With just a handful of laps to go, Dillner made the pass for second and started reeling in the leader Ryan Glenski. She pedaled as much as she could, but the laps ran out on the young rookie.

"This was only my second race in Pro Challenge, so it gave me a lot of experience weaving through the pack by drivers I was just a little bit faster than. It was an honor to finish second to Ryan Glenski, who is a heck of a driver and has a lot of experience in many different cars. I had a great time tonight. I was a little bit disappointed to get second, but it was a great finish for my second race."

Once the BDI Racing team put an exclamation mark on the Pro Challenge event, focus shifted to the #51 Vesuvios Restaurant Chevrolet Impala SS ride for Zach Stroupe. Earlier in the day, Stroupe timed in fifth-quick in qualifying, but in the pre-race re-draw, Stroupe pulled the highest spot in the re-draw, 10th. At the drop of the green flag, Stroupe patiently saved his tires, pacing himself inside the top-10. He remained in a top-10 spot for much of the event, despite nearly going a lap down to the leaders, who were setting a blistering pace around OCS. Stroupe was able to stay on the lead lap thanks to a timely caution, but with just 50 laps to go, the bad luck bug found its way to the #51.

Contact was made between Stroupe and another driver, causing damage to the right-side bodywork of Stroupe's Chevy. The contact also shifted the rear-end of the car, causing internal damage that put Stroupe out of the race, ending in a 17th-place finish.

All was not lost for Stroupe and the BDI Racing team in the disappointing finish, however, as he and Crew Chief Bond Suss were able to accumulate notes to take back to Orange County when the team next competes with the #51 SLM on July 18th and 19th in the 200-lap PASS National event there.