Fifteen-year-old Erik Jones ready for ARCA Racing Series debut
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
By Mark Inabinett al.com
MOBILE, Alabama --The ARCA Racing Series has become a proving ground for young drivers on their way to NASCAR, providing the opportunity for regional hotshots to handle a vehicle heavier than a late model on a track bigger than their local bullring.
Some learn their lessons well. For example, six of the top 11 finishers at this year's Daytona 500 had ARCA experience.
Now into the series' high-speed classroom for the automotively gifted comes its youngest student ever: Erik Jones, a 15-year-old from Byron, Mich., is entered in the Mobile ARCA 200, which rolls off at 2 p.m. Saturday at Mobile International Speedway, a Rick Crawford Performance Track.
Jones can become the first 15-year-old driver in ARCA's 60 years because of a recent rule change. The series amended its 16-year-old minimum driver age to allow approved 15-year-olds to compete on tracks of 1 mile or shorter.
Driving the No. 55 Paragon Corvette Reproductions Chevrolet, Jones will add another "youngest" to his list of achievements. For instance, he's the youngest winner in the history of the ASA Late Model Northern Series.
But making history isn't why Jones entered his first ARCA event. It just felt like time to move up the racing ladder, he said, and because of the rule change, Mobile became his first opportunity.
"We had a lot of success last year," said the 2011 champion of the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour for pro late models. "We figured if we had that much success at this level, we'd see how we do at the next one."
Part of last year's success was what Jones calls his biggest racing highlight: Leading every lap of the 46th annual Florida Governor's Cup race at New Smyrna Speedway in November in only his second super late model outing. Competing on a national touring series might eclipse that, he said.
"You try to look at everything as just another race," Jones said of Saturday's event. "But this one is kind of in a category of its own that makes it more than just another race. You want to be in the spotlight and you want to perform, so you put a little bit more pressure on yourself."
Jones' journey to ARCA started in karts at age 7.
"I always liked cars even when I was really, really young," he said. "So finally we decided we'd try some go-karts. And I didn't win my first race, but I came close. And when I did win, well, that just makes you want to win more."
And he hopes to keep on winning.
"I'd love to make it to the higher levels of racing. I'd love to make it to the Sprint Cup Series one day," Jones said. "You don't race for the money, but it'd be nice to make a living doing something that you love."
Jones isn't the only driver at Mobile hoping to make his first ARCA start on Saturday, and he's barely the youngest.
The list of first-time teens includes Tyler Reddick, a 16-year-old who's been racing since he was 4. He's the youngest driver to start a World of Outlaws feature and the youngest winner of a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series feature.
Not only is he transitioning to heavier stock cars this week, he's also moving onto pavement in the No. 18 Broken Bow Records/Stoney Creek Records Chevrolet. Almost all of his racing has been on dirt tracks. Still, while the Corning, Calif., driver said it's a "privilege" to join the ARCA lineup in Mobile, he believes "racing's racing," and the fundamentals don't change from track to track, car to car, or surface to surface.
"A lot of it comes down to having a good car, put down a good qualifying lap, start up front, avoid trouble and when you get down to the end, be there," Reddick said. "Put yourself in a spot to advance at the end of the race. The main thing is to make sure that you take care of your car for the first 150 laps. Have your car in one piece and not all beat up."
Neither Jones nor Reddick was presumptuous enough to think he would win on Saturday.
"We'd definitely love to win, but I definitely want to finish and hope I can get a top 10," Jones said.
But since both are so accustomed to winning, it's hard to temper expectations.
"If we qualify good, start up front and do what we're supposed to do, it could happen. You never know," Reddick said. "It's just one of those deals. If you're in the right spot at the right time, you could get a win here."
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
An "Eye for an Eye" for Muskegon's Mike Garvey in the Rattler 250
Pollard, Grill win Rattler races
By: Ken Rogers
Dothan Eagle
KINSTON – Veteran short-track specialists Bubba Pollard and Augie Grill left with the titles and the trophies of the Rattler Weekend’s premier races, but 14-year-old Kyle Benjamin could make a case that he had the best car in both the Rattler 250 and the Rattler 100.
The double feature, forced when rain washed out the first two days of the season-opening weekend at South Alabama Speedway, started in bright sunshine and ended under the lights on a windy, cool Sunday at the 4/10th-mile asphalt track.
Pollard won the grueling Rattler 250 – which was red-flagged twice and slowed further by eight cautions in the first 100 laps – by several seconds, nearly half a straightaway, over T.J. Reaid. Casey Smith was third, one spot ahead of Johanna Long. Long worked her way through the field after starting 25th – dead last.
Stephen Nasse finished fifth, followed by Clay Rogers, Austin Theriault, Mike Garvey, Donnie Wilson and Logan Boyett in 10th.
Boyett set a new track record in qualifying when he turned a lap in 15.056 seconds. That shattered Pollard’s track best of 15.092 set in July of 2010.
However, Pollard and Benjamin had the two dominant super late model cars in the first half of the race. The both pitted under caution on lap 188 of the 250-lap feature, their second and final stops, earlier than the other drivers.
“We put on our second set of tires at lap 100 – and we just didn’t have the right heat cycle in them,” Pollard said of the mandatory five-minute caution flag. “We knew we couldn’t finish on the tires we had and had to come in early enough to get by the guys in front of us.
“It’s all about luck in these races. We had a good race car.”
After the second pit stop on lap 188, Benjamin restarted seventh and Pollard ninth. In just five laps, Benjamin had moved to fifth and was battling D.J. VanderLey for fourth place. Benjamin had the inside line and VanderLey was on the outside. They bumped coming out of Turn 4. VanderLey skidded into the outside wall in front of the main grandstand. Benjamin’s ride was more interesting. He went airborne, into the catch fencing, then crashed back to the track and barrel-rolled, stopping just past the start-finish line on his roof.
The race was red-flagged as crews cleaned the debris and removed the cars from the track. Neither driver was injured.
“In the super race, we had a great car all day,” Benjamin said. “I’m not really sure what happened. There’s two sides to the story.”
Benjamin’s side in the heat of the moment was that VanderLey dumped him. The teenager calmed down after the race.
The final caution came out on lap 224. Smith was leading, followed by Reaid, Pollard and Mike Garvey, who pitted when he felt his car getting tight.
The race stayed green for the final 26 laps. Two laps after the restart, Smith checked up when Grill had a problem in front of him. Reaid bumped him and Pollard took advantage, flying around those drivers and into the lead. He cruised from there.
The second race was the 100-lap Rattler 100 for pro late model cars.
Grill, Pollard, Benjamin and Garvey – all key players from the first race – were back at it. Late in the race, the cars seemed to drive tighter, the drivers said. But no one was willing to give up track position.
Pollard’s car went away first, with 25 laps remaining. The order stayed Grill, Garvey, Benjamin and pole-sitter R.S. Senter.
But Grill ran off the track when he came up on lapped traffic and damaged his left front with about 10 laps remaining. Benjamin got around Grill with five laps remaining and set his sights on Garvey, whose car kept getting tighter.
On lap 98, with two to go, Garvey got wide between the first and second turns and Benjamin pounced – Garvey said literally.
He got even as they got into Turn 3, dumping Benjamin into the wall.
“When I got loose, Kyle got in there and blasted me in the door and door-slammed me,” Garvey said. “It made me mad. I wanted to go back into 3 and I just meant to move him. But I spun him out.
“It was clearly my fault. We cost ourselves and our team the win. … Basically, we gave one away. You shouldn’t give races away.”
Grill, despite his damaged left front, inherited the race the lead and held off Senter and Pollard for the victory.
Mason Massey was fourth, followed by Chris Davidson, Kyle Plott, Cole Powell, Brandon Jones, Brandon Odom and Anderson Bowen.
“I ran up on some lapped cars and ran off the track and bent something there on the left front,” Grill said of his late-race gaffe. “It wasn’t the same after that. I could maintain about four car lengths on Garvey, but after that he just closed right up on my bumper and got by me.
“Luckily, my bonehead move was righted by his bonehead move. He just flat spun the 71 car out. He got loose off 2. I think he thought the 71 had gotten into him, but he didn’t. Then he came into 3 and just spun him out.”
For Benjamin, the 14-year-old from Easley, S.C., it was a day he will learn from. He finished, officially, 17th in the super late model race and 18th in the pro late model race.
“We had a good car in both races,” he said. “I haven’t been upside down much like I was in the first race. I’m glad car’s still in one piece.
“I’m not sure what happened with Garvey right there. I got under him. Really, he was sideways and came down. He runs into the back of me. He’s a great driver. I don’t understand why he did that.”
Asked if he was tired, the 14-year-old said, “It wasn’t that tiring of a day, but I got tired of getting wrecked.”
By: Ken Rogers
Dothan Eagle
KINSTON – Veteran short-track specialists Bubba Pollard and Augie Grill left with the titles and the trophies of the Rattler Weekend’s premier races, but 14-year-old Kyle Benjamin could make a case that he had the best car in both the Rattler 250 and the Rattler 100.
The double feature, forced when rain washed out the first two days of the season-opening weekend at South Alabama Speedway, started in bright sunshine and ended under the lights on a windy, cool Sunday at the 4/10th-mile asphalt track.
Pollard won the grueling Rattler 250 – which was red-flagged twice and slowed further by eight cautions in the first 100 laps – by several seconds, nearly half a straightaway, over T.J. Reaid. Casey Smith was third, one spot ahead of Johanna Long. Long worked her way through the field after starting 25th – dead last.
Stephen Nasse finished fifth, followed by Clay Rogers, Austin Theriault, Mike Garvey, Donnie Wilson and Logan Boyett in 10th.
Boyett set a new track record in qualifying when he turned a lap in 15.056 seconds. That shattered Pollard’s track best of 15.092 set in July of 2010.
However, Pollard and Benjamin had the two dominant super late model cars in the first half of the race. The both pitted under caution on lap 188 of the 250-lap feature, their second and final stops, earlier than the other drivers.
“We put on our second set of tires at lap 100 – and we just didn’t have the right heat cycle in them,” Pollard said of the mandatory five-minute caution flag. “We knew we couldn’t finish on the tires we had and had to come in early enough to get by the guys in front of us.
“It’s all about luck in these races. We had a good race car.”
After the second pit stop on lap 188, Benjamin restarted seventh and Pollard ninth. In just five laps, Benjamin had moved to fifth and was battling D.J. VanderLey for fourth place. Benjamin had the inside line and VanderLey was on the outside. They bumped coming out of Turn 4. VanderLey skidded into the outside wall in front of the main grandstand. Benjamin’s ride was more interesting. He went airborne, into the catch fencing, then crashed back to the track and barrel-rolled, stopping just past the start-finish line on his roof.
The race was red-flagged as crews cleaned the debris and removed the cars from the track. Neither driver was injured.
“In the super race, we had a great car all day,” Benjamin said. “I’m not really sure what happened. There’s two sides to the story.”
Benjamin’s side in the heat of the moment was that VanderLey dumped him. The teenager calmed down after the race.
The final caution came out on lap 224. Smith was leading, followed by Reaid, Pollard and Mike Garvey, who pitted when he felt his car getting tight.
The race stayed green for the final 26 laps. Two laps after the restart, Smith checked up when Grill had a problem in front of him. Reaid bumped him and Pollard took advantage, flying around those drivers and into the lead. He cruised from there.
The second race was the 100-lap Rattler 100 for pro late model cars.
Grill, Pollard, Benjamin and Garvey – all key players from the first race – were back at it. Late in the race, the cars seemed to drive tighter, the drivers said. But no one was willing to give up track position.
Pollard’s car went away first, with 25 laps remaining. The order stayed Grill, Garvey, Benjamin and pole-sitter R.S. Senter.
But Grill ran off the track when he came up on lapped traffic and damaged his left front with about 10 laps remaining. Benjamin got around Grill with five laps remaining and set his sights on Garvey, whose car kept getting tighter.
On lap 98, with two to go, Garvey got wide between the first and second turns and Benjamin pounced – Garvey said literally.
He got even as they got into Turn 3, dumping Benjamin into the wall.
“When I got loose, Kyle got in there and blasted me in the door and door-slammed me,” Garvey said. “It made me mad. I wanted to go back into 3 and I just meant to move him. But I spun him out.
“It was clearly my fault. We cost ourselves and our team the win. … Basically, we gave one away. You shouldn’t give races away.”
Grill, despite his damaged left front, inherited the race the lead and held off Senter and Pollard for the victory.
Mason Massey was fourth, followed by Chris Davidson, Kyle Plott, Cole Powell, Brandon Jones, Brandon Odom and Anderson Bowen.
“I ran up on some lapped cars and ran off the track and bent something there on the left front,” Grill said of his late-race gaffe. “It wasn’t the same after that. I could maintain about four car lengths on Garvey, but after that he just closed right up on my bumper and got by me.
“Luckily, my bonehead move was righted by his bonehead move. He just flat spun the 71 car out. He got loose off 2. I think he thought the 71 had gotten into him, but he didn’t. Then he came into 3 and just spun him out.”
For Benjamin, the 14-year-old from Easley, S.C., it was a day he will learn from. He finished, officially, 17th in the super late model race and 18th in the pro late model race.
“We had a good car in both races,” he said. “I haven’t been upside down much like I was in the first race. I’m glad car’s still in one piece.
“I’m not sure what happened with Garvey right there. I got under him. Really, he was sideways and came down. He runs into the back of me. He’s a great driver. I don’t understand why he did that.”
Asked if he was tired, the 14-year-old said, “It wasn’t that tiring of a day, but I got tired of getting wrecked.”
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Veteran racer Garvey chases fun on short track at SAS
Veteran racer Garvey chases fun on short track at SAS
By: Ken Rogers Dothan Eagle
For as long as he can remember, Mike Garvey has been doing what every race driver does – chasing.
He has chased the leaders. He has chased the speed, looking to shave a couple more hundredths of a second per lap. He has chased the sponsorship dollars that make the difference at the highest levels of auto racing.
Garvey, 49, has driven in the NASCAR Truck, Nationwide and even Sprint Cup series.
He was in Daytona for SpeedWeeks two weeks ago. And as much as chasing as he did there, an odd, but liberating realization hit him: with all the chasing he was doing, he wasn’t gaining on what mattered most – having fun.
“It’s not that it’s not any fun, it’s just a business,” Garvey said, explaining his decision to keep chasing this year not on the top three NASCAR circuits, but instead going after smaller checks but bigger thrills on short-track asphalt tracks.
His sights are squarely set on fun.
“I don’t have that many years left to race and this is where I like doing it,” Garvey said as rain fell at South Alabama Speedway, where he is competing today for two coveted titles.
The 36th annual Rattler Weekend was washed on the past two days, but organizers are determined to salvage the premier events of the lineup today. Rattler 125 sponsor Rheem agreed to run the pro late model race, originally scheduled and traditionally run as the Saturday night feature, as part of today’s weather-adjusted lineup.
Tentatively, qualifying will take place at 1 p.m. for both the super late model Rattler 250 and the pro late model Rattler 125. A SuperTrucks race will be held after the qualifying session. The 36th annual Rattler 250 will follow the trucks race, followed by the Rattler 125.
Ironically, it sets up as a busy day for Garvey, who is entered in both the Rattler 250 and the Rattler 125.
Garvey, an Atlanta resident, said he raced at Cordele, Ga., recently in both pro late model and super late model races.
“We finished second in the pro race and in the super race we fell out about 60 laps in,” he said.
The driver added he’s raced at South Alabama Speedway about half a dozen times. What keeps him coming back to these tracks?
“It’s racing, man,” he answered with a shrug. “We’ll go anywhere to race. It’s a fun little race track. I love the race, I love John Dykes. John’s a great promoter. He does everything to help the racer, so we’ll try to support him any way we can.”
And, don’t forget, it’s fun.
“It’s a riot,” Garvey said. “I’ve done a lot of other stuff. This is by far the funnest racing. This is just a lot of fun. We get to hang out with our friends, we get to race. This is way more fun than anything else.”
Garvey said the camaraderie at the small tracks still prevails. The competition is fierce, but friendly. That is getting more difficult to find at racing’s top levels.
“These guys are our friends. We work with them,” he said. “It’s not so much money that everybody’s uptight. We have fun doing it. We race hard and we try to win, but we’re having fun doing it.”
Garvey, who has just started his 32nd year in the sport, is driving for Tracy Goodson Racing this season. He says he will stay plenty busy just concentrating on the short-track program.
“I think there’s 42 races this year we can do between Pensacola, Mobile, Opp and Gresham (Ga.),” he said. “So there’s a lot of races we can do. We stay plenty busy. When we’re not racing we’re working on race cars and building race cars. This is all I do.
“So we’ll race and get that side of the business going again so I have something to retire with in a few years.”
In addition to the two races he is scheduled to run, Garvey said the challenge will be adjusting to the different racing styles the cars demand.
Asked to compare driving the pro late model car against the super late model car, Garvey laughed and said, “Man, it’s like driving a Yugo and then getting into a ZR1 Corvette, horsepower wise.”
“The Pros are fun to drive because you’ve got to drive them so hard. It keeps the price of the motors down, but you’ve got to drive them so hard because you don’t have any horsepower. They have 450 horsepower.
“Then you get into our supers, which have 650 horsepower. It’s totally different driving style. Everything’s different – the set-up’s different, the driving style’s different. That’s what makes it so fun.”
Garvey said just because these aren’t the top series of racing doesn’t mean there aren’t superb drivers.
“That’s the biggest misconception,” he said. “Not everybody wants to be a Sprint Cup guy. There’s great racers any local race track you go to that are capable of running with anybody, anywhere. And they’re content doing this.
“You can find just as much competition here at Opp this weekend as you can in a Sprint Cup race.”
By: Ken Rogers Dothan Eagle
For as long as he can remember, Mike Garvey has been doing what every race driver does – chasing.
He has chased the leaders. He has chased the speed, looking to shave a couple more hundredths of a second per lap. He has chased the sponsorship dollars that make the difference at the highest levels of auto racing.
Garvey, 49, has driven in the NASCAR Truck, Nationwide and even Sprint Cup series.
He was in Daytona for SpeedWeeks two weeks ago. And as much as chasing as he did there, an odd, but liberating realization hit him: with all the chasing he was doing, he wasn’t gaining on what mattered most – having fun.
“It’s not that it’s not any fun, it’s just a business,” Garvey said, explaining his decision to keep chasing this year not on the top three NASCAR circuits, but instead going after smaller checks but bigger thrills on short-track asphalt tracks.
His sights are squarely set on fun.
“I don’t have that many years left to race and this is where I like doing it,” Garvey said as rain fell at South Alabama Speedway, where he is competing today for two coveted titles.
The 36th annual Rattler Weekend was washed on the past two days, but organizers are determined to salvage the premier events of the lineup today. Rattler 125 sponsor Rheem agreed to run the pro late model race, originally scheduled and traditionally run as the Saturday night feature, as part of today’s weather-adjusted lineup.
Tentatively, qualifying will take place at 1 p.m. for both the super late model Rattler 250 and the pro late model Rattler 125. A SuperTrucks race will be held after the qualifying session. The 36th annual Rattler 250 will follow the trucks race, followed by the Rattler 125.
Ironically, it sets up as a busy day for Garvey, who is entered in both the Rattler 250 and the Rattler 125.
Garvey, an Atlanta resident, said he raced at Cordele, Ga., recently in both pro late model and super late model races.
“We finished second in the pro race and in the super race we fell out about 60 laps in,” he said.
The driver added he’s raced at South Alabama Speedway about half a dozen times. What keeps him coming back to these tracks?
“It’s racing, man,” he answered with a shrug. “We’ll go anywhere to race. It’s a fun little race track. I love the race, I love John Dykes. John’s a great promoter. He does everything to help the racer, so we’ll try to support him any way we can.”
And, don’t forget, it’s fun.
“It’s a riot,” Garvey said. “I’ve done a lot of other stuff. This is by far the funnest racing. This is just a lot of fun. We get to hang out with our friends, we get to race. This is way more fun than anything else.”
Garvey said the camaraderie at the small tracks still prevails. The competition is fierce, but friendly. That is getting more difficult to find at racing’s top levels.
“These guys are our friends. We work with them,” he said. “It’s not so much money that everybody’s uptight. We have fun doing it. We race hard and we try to win, but we’re having fun doing it.”
Garvey, who has just started his 32nd year in the sport, is driving for Tracy Goodson Racing this season. He says he will stay plenty busy just concentrating on the short-track program.
“I think there’s 42 races this year we can do between Pensacola, Mobile, Opp and Gresham (Ga.),” he said. “So there’s a lot of races we can do. We stay plenty busy. When we’re not racing we’re working on race cars and building race cars. This is all I do.
“So we’ll race and get that side of the business going again so I have something to retire with in a few years.”
In addition to the two races he is scheduled to run, Garvey said the challenge will be adjusting to the different racing styles the cars demand.
Asked to compare driving the pro late model car against the super late model car, Garvey laughed and said, “Man, it’s like driving a Yugo and then getting into a ZR1 Corvette, horsepower wise.”
“The Pros are fun to drive because you’ve got to drive them so hard. It keeps the price of the motors down, but you’ve got to drive them so hard because you don’t have any horsepower. They have 450 horsepower.
“Then you get into our supers, which have 650 horsepower. It’s totally different driving style. Everything’s different – the set-up’s different, the driving style’s different. That’s what makes it so fun.”
Garvey said just because these aren’t the top series of racing doesn’t mean there aren’t superb drivers.
“That’s the biggest misconception,” he said. “Not everybody wants to be a Sprint Cup guy. There’s great racers any local race track you go to that are capable of running with anybody, anywhere. And they’re content doing this.
“You can find just as much competition here at Opp this weekend as you can in a Sprint Cup race.”
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