Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Monday, December 3, 2012
Erik Jones living the dream as Snowball Derby winner
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.
“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.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
VanDoorn Puts on a Show in Runner-up Finish
Super Late Model Standout Augie Grill Adds Governor's Cup 200 to Win List
Two-Time Snowball Derby Winner Makes History and Takes Top East Coast Trophy
By Elgin Traylor, Speed51.com Operations Manager - Twitter: @ElginTraylor
He's Back.
The absence of Augie Grill from the Super Late Model win column had stretched all the way back into June of 2011. Grill had won several times in his crate car, but had nothing from his Super Late Model events. In that time Grill won the 2011 Glass City 200 at Toledo Speedway in Ohio, one of the top Outlaw bodied Super Late Model events, and the Allen Turner Snowflake 100 at Florida’s Five Flags Speedway. With those wins, the template-bodied Super Late Model winless drought flew under the radar until this season.
But it’s hard to keep a two-time Snowball Derby winner down.
It was a near last-minute decision for Grill to tow his No. 112 machine south to New Smyrna Speedway for the first time in his career. Grill was not on the entry list. He did not make the practice day. He did show up and delivered a butt-kicking in the 47th Annual Governor's Cup 200 at the Florida half-mile.
"It’s refreshing," said Grill. "I kind of did the same thing going to Toledo and running the Glass City last year. It just got me out of my norm by going up there, working hard, getting the car good and winning the race."
Grill had few challengers on the way as the 112 was dominant all night long. Pole sitter Johnny VanDoorn, who was in an Anthony Campi Racing Super Late Model, ended up second after losing a lap after a restart incident with Grill.
"I might have pinched Johnny a little bit and flattened his left-front tire on a restart," said Grill. "It definitely wasn’t on purpose. I put it in gear and it kinda got squirrelly on me."
Both Grill and VanDoorn were making their first starts in the Governor's Cup 200 and they proudly sat on the front row that featured talent from Maine to Michigan invading the Florida Super Late Model regulars.
VanDoorn, who charged from a lap down to second, wanted a caution to have that restart opportunity all over again.
"He just turned right going into one," said VanDoorn of the contact with Grill. "I knew what he was doing. What comes around goes around. That’s just Augie Grill. He’s just a good old short track racer. I can’t expect anything less. I’m not mad about it. If I would’ve gotten to him, I would’ve done the same thing to him."
That exchange wasn’t the only one that made fans rise to their feet at New Smyrna. One that resulted in a post-race shouts between crew members came when VanDoorn and former Governor’s Cup winner Tim Russell collided in turn three. Russell’s car got the worst of the wear as the multiple-time Florida Super Late Model champion was out of the race and steaming mad afterwards.
"He turned right at the end of the straight away and stuffed me in the fence," said Russell. "That’s all there was to it. I went there and asked him what his problem was after the race. He said I tried to right-rear him. I don’t know why the hell I’d try to right-rear him at that point of the race. All I know is that I was three-quarters of the way down the straight away and he turned right and stuffed me in the fence and held me there pretty much.”
While VanDoorn had never raced Russell at New Smyrna before, the Campi team that he was driving for relayed their thoughts on racing with Russell.
“They warned me about him, about when you pass him, he’ll try to right-rear you in the wall," said VanDoorn. "Sure enough, going into (turn) three, he tried right-rearing me. I just held my ground and he bounced off me and took it somewhat firewall-deep into the New Smyrna Speedway sign down there. Typical prima donna racing, I guess. What do you expect?"
With the Governor’s Cup win, Grill will now look to do what only one man before him has done – win the Governor’s Cup and the Snowball Derby in the same season. It was done only by Ed Howe in 1972. Grill will be driving a Stanley Smith entry for the Derby.
"We’ve got a lot invested in Stanley’s car," added Grill. "Between me, Stanley and his guys, we’ve put a lot of thought into that car. I believe we’re going to have a good piece there. It’s taken a lot of pressure and stress off me leading up to the Derby, knowing I don’t have a car to prepare for myself. That’s a huge load off my mind."
While Grill builds Grand American Race Cars for a living, his car is always the last project to get worked on. Grill will not hang the 112 ride up knowing it's going to bed with a big victory under its belt.
"It’s nice. I hate that it’s going to be stuck in a corner all winter," said Grill. "I’ve had a couple people call about leasing it for the Derby. I don’t know if I’ll do that or not. I’d like to put it to rest for the winter with a win on it."
Saturday, November 17, 2012
VanDoorn on the Pole for Governor's Cup; Senneker to start 24th
GOVERNOR'S CUP 200 STARTING LINEUP
1 81 - Johnny VanDoorn
2 112 - Augie Grill
3 51 - Stephen Nasse
4 72 - Scott Heckert
5 89 - Matt Tifft
6 36 - Tim Russell
7 39 - Kenzie Ruston
8 26 - Travis Cope
9 26 - Preston Peltier
10 9 - Rich Clouser
11 29 - Austin Theriault
12 96 - Ben Kennedy
13 27 - Bobby Good
14 97 - Patrick Staropoli
15 30 - Bobby Knox, Jr.
16 07 - Jeff Scofield
17 18 - Hunter Robbins
18 71 - Jimmy Doyle
19 11 - David Rogers
20 22 - Dusty Cornelius
21 19 - Ray Black, Jr.
22 08 - Jake Griffin
23 20 - Anthony Sergi (to the rear)
24 31 - Terry Senneker, Jr.
25 129 - Spencer Davis
26 00 - CJ Castetter
27 9K - Kevin Henry (to the rear)
28 38 - Robert Glover (to the rear)
29 14 - Mario Maresca (to the rear)
Follow the race tonight on www.speed51.com
1 81 - Johnny VanDoorn
2 112 - Augie Grill
3 51 - Stephen Nasse
4 72 - Scott Heckert
5 89 - Matt Tifft
6 36 - Tim Russell
7 39 - Kenzie Ruston
8 26 - Travis Cope
9 26 - Preston Peltier
10 9 - Rich Clouser
11 29 - Austin Theriault
12 96 - Ben Kennedy
13 27 - Bobby Good
14 97 - Patrick Staropoli
15 30 - Bobby Knox, Jr.
16 07 - Jeff Scofield
17 18 - Hunter Robbins
18 71 - Jimmy Doyle
19 11 - David Rogers
20 22 - Dusty Cornelius
21 19 - Ray Black, Jr.
22 08 - Jake Griffin
23 20 - Anthony Sergi (to the rear)
24 31 - Terry Senneker, Jr.
25 129 - Spencer Davis
26 00 - CJ Castetter
27 9K - Kevin Henry (to the rear)
28 38 - Robert Glover (to the rear)
29 14 - Mario Maresca (to the rear)
Follow the race tonight on www.speed51.com
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