Inaugural Michigan Dirt Cup Late Model Tour Championship within Sammy Epling’s sight for 2012
Perry, Michigan (Tuesday, March 13th, 2012): Every driver in any form of motorsports goes through a phase of ups and downs, and perhaps even a little sideways both on and off the track. How they respond and react is the key to bouncing back should those trials and tribulations become burdensome. For Sammy Epling, the off-season has been anything but a walk in the park, but in the end he hopes it’ll all be worth it.
“A lot of things have happened this year with some business and some personal issues. We all go through them. I’m just hoping when all is said and done, it will make me even stronger for the race season.” The Perry, Michigan veteran offered. “All I can do and all this team can do is move forward, not look back, and prove that in the end, it really was all worth it.”
By moving forward, the 42-year-old has a plan for the upcoming 2012 racing season, and that is to walk away at the end of the season as the Inaugural Michigan Dirt Cup Late Models Tour Champion. “We’re focused on that Championship without a doubt. Andy Stebbins and Bill Long have put together a great program with that series and watching how successful the Modifieds deal was last year, I can’t wait for this season to get going. We want that Championship without a doubt and that is our #1 goal!” Epling continued.
The 2012 racing season will tentatively begin for the S.J.E. Motorsports crew on Friday, April 14th at the fast 1/3 (0.333) mile semi-banked dirt oval of Winston Speedway, located north of Muskegon in Rothbury, Michigan for the tracks Opening Night. “We’re a little behind in getting the car done, I want to say that we’ll be ready for opening night, but I can't promise that just yet,” He laughed. “The Crew and I are thrashing as much as we can to be ready for that show. If we don’t make it out for that, we’ll definitely be there the following Saturday (April 21st) for the Player Hater 50.”
Exciting news out of the S.J.E. Motorsports camp is the new working agreement with Brady Smith at Brady Smith Race Cars; “I would like to thank Brady Smith for stepping up and helping us out this season. Brady is a really down to earth guy, I was lucky enough to meet him last year when the World of Outlaws Late Models Series came to town. He didn't hesitate to answer any questions I had and that led to me going to Iowa at the end of last year with him to help out for a weekend. I was hands on and learned a lot of helpful things.” Epling remarked.
Epling’s #28 UMP Late Model complete with a new Black and Blue Paint Scheme which will be revealed when the car unloads off the trailer for the first time this season, is now a converted Brady Smith Race Car and he hopes that will provide him and the S.J.E. team with a little extra incentive to do well in support of the new partnership; “He builds Modifieds as well as putting other Late Models together for other drivers, so we are hoping to get some more of these cars here in Michigan, so if interested you can call me and we can hook anyone up. Please go to the website at: www.bradysmithracecars.com” He added.
In addition to chasing after the MDC Late Models Tour Championship, the 2012 schedule works out to where Epling will also be chasing after the 2012 Track Championship at the fast 3/8s (0.375) mile high-banked dirt oval of I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Michigan, located just an hour West of his Perry, Michigan home. “I think we can win that title over there. It’s a good weekly show with the talent that runs there and very competitive. I think we can go over there and get us a Title. Two of the MDC Tour races are there too, so that definitely helps.” Epling ended.
During the 2011 season, Epling scored two Feature Wins with those coming on back to back nights at Mt. Pleasant Speedway in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, where he was the 2010Track Champion, and then at Thunderbird Raceway in Muskegon, Michigan over the weekend of July 29-30th. He would go on to finish 14th in the final UMP DIRTcar Racing Series Michigan State Points Standings. Overall in 20 starts, he accumulated two Feature Wins, nine top five finishes and an impressive 16 top 10 showings.
With preparations continuing for the upcoming 2012 racing season, Epling’s #28 Brady Smith Race Cars UMP Late Model will carry sponsorship decals from Fusion Graphics & Signs as well as Shift Shop Transmissions, Huffy’s Marathon of Perry, Hedrick Precision Engines, M.P.H. Promotions, Imagine Design Now, and S.J.E. Motorsports.
For more information about Sammy Epling and the entire S.J.E. Motorsports Team and to inquire about sponsorship opportunities for the upcoming 2012 campaign, log onto the teams’ new website at: www.sammyepling.com You can also follow Epling by becoming a fan on his Facebook Fan Page. Just go to: www.facebook.com/sammyepling and click on “Like”. Finally you can also follow the team on Twitter by going to: www.twitter.com/sjemotorsports and click on the “Follow” button.
