He was 5 years old on the day his uncle remembers Erik Jones excitedly saying how he wanted to be a race car driver. After all, he loved toy cars. Loved to watch races. Dared to dream at that age about one day going fast on his own.
“I guess I told him — and, of course, I don’t remember this — that I thought I was born to race,” Jones said. “I know it’s weird. I know that doesn’t sound realistic, but I started on go-karts and moved up through the ranks.”
Sunday, in another glorious finish to another enthralling Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway, the 16-year-old Jones moved into a stratospheric level and lived the dream. Jones, a Byron, Mich., resident, won the 45th Snowball Derby. He won it in unforgettable fashion. He won it to the delight of more than 10,000 people who crammed into this cozy track and roared as Jones pumped his fist out of the driver’s window as he took the checkered flag.
Just when you think this race can’t top its last one, there is Jones, a bolt from the blue racing in his first Snowball Derby, outdueling NASCAR superstar Kyle Busch in the kind of fender-to-fender, nose-to-nose racing in the final 20 laps that leaves you spellbound.
They were so close, so competitive, you could hear the sheet metal scream. But in the final laps, Jones’ No. 4J Paragon Racing Team Chevrolet Impala didn’t waver or lose its groove. Busch wound up the vanquished and finished third behind Jeff Choquette, a West Palm Beach resident, who produced his best performance at the Snowball Derby.
“It was amazing,” said Jones in perfect summation. “To race against a guy like Kyle Busch, who I consider one of the best, and to win against him, I could not have drawn it up any more perfect than that. It is just hard to believe.”
Seconds after exiting the car, last year’s Snowball Derby champion Chase Elliott, 17, came over and said, “Great job.” Soon afterward, Pensacola’s Johanna Long, the 2010 Snowball winner, offered her congratulations.
This makes three teenagers — Long was 18 when she won — winning this prestigious event in three years. If this is racing’s future, the sport is in great hands. “Erik does an awesome job,” Long said. “He definitely can wheel it. He outran Kyle Busch and he showed everyone he can race.”
Busch saw that in the summer when he let Jones drive his car in a Late Model race in Nashville. The two gained mutual respect. “Erik just drove a great race there at the end and did what he needed to do,” Busch said. “He held me tight, but that’s fine. We raced clean, we raced hard. “We knew what kind of talent Eric has.”
Far earlier in the 300-lap race, on Lap 158, Busch created the day’s biggest contention when he spun out leader T.J. Reaid. It resulted in a wreck that tore up Elliott’s race car, tore up Bubba Pollard’s race car, and damaged Reaid bad enough that his car was never the same. Reaid, who once drove for Busch, was furious, giving an obscenity-laced response to on-track announcer Dave Pavlock that made it over the track speakers.
Elliott, whose enormous driving skills and fast repair work from his pit crew on the car kept him racing and competitive, was equally furious. He blasted Busch in a post-race interview. But race director Dan Spence took care of the situation. He made an official’s call to force Busch to the back of the field on the restart. The decision was met with loud cheers from the crowd.
“It was definitely the right call, without a doubt,’’ said Tim Bryant, track general manager and co-owner at Five Flags. “And I think it helped ensure the clean finish we had. “Dan knows short-track racing sometimes involves contact, but at the same time, he is not going to let guys go out there and have Katie-bar-the-door.”
Race fans get stirred up on these matters, but it’s really no different than any other sport when athletes commit hard fouls in basketball, a pitcher retaliating to hit a batter, a defensive tackle hitting the quarterback late.
That doesn’t make them bad people. Things happen in the heat of competition between athletes. That’s why you have referees, umpires or officials. Racing is no different. Fortunately, at Five Flags, there are directors like Spence and track inspector Ricky Brooks who do not play favorites, who always try to do the right thing, who always try to uphold the integrity of racing by ensuring tough decisions are made.
It changed the complexion of the race, but not the incredible finish. Busch worked his way back into the front of the pack and ultimately the race was decided as it should have been in the final 25 laps.
Inside his car, Jones was having a ball.
“In three years, I went from racing on local tracks in a bomber to winning the Snowball Derby,” said Jones, who became the youngest driver in history to start an ARCA Series Race earlier this year. “I always liked the competition, the speed, the adrenalin that racing gives you. “Racing gives you everything.”
Sunday, it gave him the memory of a lifetime.
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