Todd Lesenko

It was announced today that California-based Tap It Brewing Co. has joined Jim Dunn Racing as the primary sponsor of the team’s Funny Car for the 2012 NHRA Full Throttle season. Tap It Brewing Co. produces fine handcrafted ales in a variety of flavors from bold and intense to cool and refreshing.

“We’re proud to have Tap It Brewing team up with us for the 2012 season,” said Dunn. “We have been in NHRA Drag Racing for a long time, and we know what it takes to make the sponsor experience highly successful. Our car and crew are seasoned veterans, and we’re all looking forward to kicking off the season and showcasing our partnership with Tap It Brewing and all of our sponsors.”

Todd Lesenko will replace Paul Lee behind the wheel of the Jim Dunn-owned machine.

“We’re extremely pleased to have signed Todd on as our driver of the Tap It Brewing Funny Car,” said Team Manager Jon Dunn. “Todd is a great addition to the team. Fans and sponsors alike are going to enjoy watching Todd race this year, and he will do a great job on and off the track representing Jim Dunn Racing as well.”

In addition to Tap It Bewing Co., former primary sponsor Canidea Natural Pet Foods and a number of others will be among the associates sponsors on the team’s Funny Car for the 2012 campaign.

Clay Millican

Popular driver Clay Millican will get his shot a full NHRA Full Throttle campaign in 2012, it was revealed earlier this week. The Automotive Distribution Network, the parent company of the Parts Plus brand, will back Millican beginning with the season opener in Pomona next months, thanks in part to a great fan response during their initial backing of Millican during the latter half of the 2011 season.

“After the positive response to our sponsorship of MPE Motorsports and Clay Millican for 12 races last year, we’re committing to the full 23-event NHRA slate for 2012, providing extensive marketing support and pitside hospitality packages at tracks nationwide,” said Mike Lambert, Automotive Distribution Network president. “Hospitality ensures that our Parts Plus members and jobbers, as well as our manufacturer partners serving as associate sponsors, maximize our promotional efforts on a local basis to effectively reach the end user – the professional who throws away the box.”

“I’m thrilled that Parts Plus is onboard for the whole season,” Millican said. “Their support has generated excitement for our team as we gear up for 2012 with two brand-new cars and all the parts and pieces we need to compete at a championship level.”

Imafe credit: Antron Brown via Twitter

Antron Brown

Fan favorite Antron Brown, who finished third in the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel standings, will have a slightly new look on his Matco Tools dragster for the new season.

Image credit: Spencer Massey via Twitter

Spencer Massey

Massey, who finished an oh-so-close second to Del Worsham in his first season driving for Don Schumacher Racing, also revealed a new look for his FRAM Ultra dragster for his pursuit of a championship in 2012.

Image credit: Kalitta Motorsports via Twitter

Doug Kalitta

Although unpainted at present, Doug Kalitta will roll into preseason testing prior to the Winternationals with a brand spankin’ new chassis in hoes of improving upon his eighth place finish in the Top Fuel standings last season.

By: Andrew Wolf

Thanks to: www.dragzine.com

                          

Every form of motorsports has been subject to the rigors and torment of our struggling economy for the past few years, but perhaps the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has felt the hardships more than anyone else. It’s been a bumpy ride for the tracks, teams and sanctioning body, and as of right now it doesn’t seem that there is any clear cut answer as to when it will fully get back on track.

Maybe I’m just another yahoo with insane thoughts, but I have a few ideas that I would love to see the Sprint Cup Series implement in an effort to rejuvenate interest in what was once a dominant product.

Six or seven years ago, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was far beyond being on top of its game. It was simply a superior entertainment product.  From what I’ve seen in my time in the motorsports world, I’ve started to conclude that being on top is likely the scariest place to be because there’s only one direction to go. Down. So we watched NASCAR go from having the hottest ticket in the sporting world with sold out events at each venue, to races where sections of the grandstands were covered with ad banners to conceal the lack of ticket sales. I think the most glaring indication that  sales for NASCAR events had hit hard times was when I started seeing billboards advertising discount tickets for Bristol Motor Speedway races here in the Memphis area. It seemed like just yesterday that you had to know somebody just to have a shot at getting on a waiting list for Bristol tickets. How things have changed.

So enough of stating the obvious, let’s jump into some ideas for getting NASCAR rolling again.  Some of these thoughts are inside the box, some are outside the box, while others aren’t even within viewing distance of the box. Instead of starting by presenting my most logical idea, I’m going to start with my way outside the box idea, because if you will bear with me you will see that there is a trickledown effect. To begin, I would love to see NASCAR modify its race format for some events to match more of a weekly Saturday night racing format. This includes events with time trials followed by dual 30-50 lap qualifiers (laps determined by track size). These qualifiers would set the lineups for the main event, which would be 150-250 laps (again with distance determined by track size). I think that this would bring new interest to the sport, and would give the average fan more variety than just watching 400 laps of the same old thing.  We live in a day and time of instant fun and satisfaction, and you are hard pressed to get someone new to the sport to sit in front of a television for four hours watching cars go in circles, much less getting them to sit in the stands. Also, in my mind by reducing the amount of laps, you could reduce some of the associated costs for the teams. This would allow purses to be marginally reduced, which in turn allows for cheaper ticket prices for the fans.

Shows like NASCAR Drivers: 360 gave fans a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of racers.

I recognize that races like the Daytona 500, which are mainstays of the sport, wouldn’t need to be modified, but if you step back and think about it, part of the draw and beauty of that event is the unique format, which includes qualifiers. I just think that overall these marathon events have become redundant and outdated. Most of the time a 500 mile event is highlighted by drivers conserving their equipment for the first 400 miles, and then going for the gold in the last hundred. If the race was only 200 miles or laps it would result in more aggressive and entertaining action in a more manageable block of time.

Next on my agenda for bringing the fans back to NASCAR is to find a way for them to relate to the drivers again. I think that a lot of fans feel like they’ve become alienated. I understand that this is a mindset, but at the same time NASCAR hasto find some way to make fans feel akin to its competitors. I really enjoyed shows like NASCAR Drivers: 360, which gave fans an insight into the daily lives of these drivers. While clearly ratings or some other factor did not justify keeping the show going, I think that programming similar to this would be advantageous in generating renewed interest. As an industry insider I recognize that these drivers are ordinary people like you and me, but your average fan doesn’t typically get to see that side of these gladiators.

Finally, we’ve also got to find a way to get the younger generation interested in the sport, and hopefully as young drivers like Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Dillon and Trevor Bayne work their way through the ranks, NASCAR will soon have fresh blood making noise on the top tier. It’s been several years since a young driver came onto the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series scene and made some noise on a full-time basis. In my opinion, there just haven’t been that many successful new additions to the series, as Denny Hamlin is truly the last young driver who stormed onto the scene and made it stick. If we don’t get kids interested in motorsports across the board, not just in NASCAR, we are all in trouble in the long term.

I fully understand that some of these ideas I’ve presented are unrealistic, but sometimes you have to think crazy to change things. At the end of the day, empty seats and lack of interest only hurt our sport as a whole, and obviously none of us want to see it die away.

Main image thanks to:  newszoom.com

Dover image thanks to: sports.yahoo.com, NASCAR Drivers: 360 image thanks to mess.media.tv, Stenhouse and Bayne image thanks to: winphotomagazine.com

                          

After trying to win this race since 2004 and coming up empty eight times, team owner Michael Shank took his eponymous team to Victory Lane on the strength of a heroic three-hour final stint by NASCAR star AJ Allmendinger, who is also one of his partners in a new Indy car venture.

Allmendinger’s driving partners were former CART teammate Justin Wilson, Ozz Negri and John Pew.

In a stirring drive, Allmendinger drove “the most fun three hours of racing I’ve ever done” to beat No. 8 Starworks polesitter Ryan Dalziel by 5.198 seconds.

The second Michael Shank Racing finished third. The top three finishers all drove Ford/Riley Daytona Prototype entries and were the only finishers to complete the 761-lap distance over the 3.560-mile Daytona International Speedway road/oval course.

The battle royal between Allmendinger and Dalziel, part of the 2010-winning team, was amazing to watch as they sliced through the mammoth GT field, banging side by side on occasion and splitting the maze of Porsches and Mazdas that made up most of the GT grouping. Daytona’s banking allowed the drivers to go high, low, in between as they vied for the win. The third-place sister car to Allmendinger’s couldn’t stay with this duo, finishing almost 50 seconds back.

Allmendinger’s battle with Dalziel was prefaced by one with the Scot’s teammate and countryman, veteran Allan McNish.

“You know, I knew those last three hours I was going to go flat-out because of the No. 8 car, the 01 at that point were really fast. And McNish, I look at, he’s one of the best sports car drivers ever,” Allmendinger said. “He’s got all the accolades when it comes to Daytona, Le Mans, everything that he’s done. That was really fun. I was trying to give Shank a heart attack on the timing stand a little bit, but that was just fun. I mean, it was a good time out there.”

Team owner Shank, from Columbus, Ohio, felt “like I have to prove myself every step because I came from nothing more or less. I’ve had great relationships with people like Ozz (Negri, co-driver) and John Pew, that have really taken our business to another level. I always feel like I tried to over-deliver for them in any way I could. Sometimes it worked out and sometimes it didn’t, but for the most part I have a pretty good track record doing what I say I’m going to do.”

Trouble struck the defending Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates No. 01 BMW/Riley Daytona Prototype with an hour and 15 minutes remaining, when Scott Pruett reported he had no first or second gears. That dropped the reigning Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series co-champion out of the running for the overall win as his team tried to effect repairs to get him to the finish.

Each lap in the pits was, of course costly; Pruett rejoined in sixth place, five laps behind leader AJ Allmendinger. He’d make up one lap on the leader but remained sixth at the close. The No. 02 BMW/Riley, with Juan Pablo Montoya at the controls finished fourth after having its own issues, the first car one lap down.

The No. 5 Action Express Corvette was the first of that breed to finish the race–itself a bit of a miracle as the team suffered electrical issues throughout the 24 hours, starting in the first hour with a misfire. Darren Law brought the car home fifth.

The balance of the top 10 were the No. 77 Ford/Dallara with Paul Tracy at the wheel for Doran Racing who completed 748 laps; Jan Magnussen in the Spirit of Daytona No. 90 Corvette DP, 746 laps; JC France in the No. 9 Action Express Corvette, 739 laps and Michael Valiante in the No. 2 Starworks Ford/Riley, 736 laps.

The No. 44 Porsche GT3 Cup of Magnus Racing with Richard Lietz at the wheel earned the Rolex watches for their victory in GT, finishing 11th overall and completing 727 laps.  That podium was a Porsche sweep as Wolf Henzler brought the No. 67 TRG Porsche second and 12th overall, followed by Marc Lieb in Brumos Racing’s Porsche in lucky 13th place.

Magnus Racing is a relatively new team led by John Potter and drivers Andy Lally, Lietz, Rene Rast and Potter. Lally realized “we had the potential to do this.  The people assembled by John to start Magnus Racing just two years ago were top-notch guys and he took direction from some really well-seasoned vets. He steered the ship in the right direction and basically put together a really solid, strong effort.”

The 50th anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona was certainly a grand one from the standpoint of competition, racing excitement–and even the weather cooperated. It never became exceptionally cold overnight; there was minimal fog; no rain anywhere near the race track and sunny skies throughout both Saturday and Sunday.

The number of people in the infield was capacity for this contest and they certainly got their money’s worth, watching grand battles throughout the field.

Thanks to: www.motorauthority.com

Images thanks to: www.tcpalm.com and www.zimbio.com

                          

The 63rd Grand National Roadster Show opens on Friday and runs through Sunday night, when they hand out the million or so awards to just about everybody who showed up. This is the ninth year the show has been held at the L.A. County Fairplex in Pomona, Calif., having moved south from its Bay Area roots where it was known forever–and by some even today–as the Oakland Roadster Show or, simply, Oakland.

New owner John Buck, who someday will stop being referred to as the new owner but not yet, has done a stellar job of hauling in many different facets of the rod and kustom universe to broaden the appeal of the sprawling event to as many paying cutomers (kustomers?) as possible.

This year there will be about a zillion cars on display, and about two zillion on Saturday and Sunday when the Grand Daddy Drive-In takes place. OK, zillion is an exaggeration. There are about 500 cars parked in the Fairplex’s 10 huge art deco halls for all three days of the show, but on Saturday and Sunday, Buck promises another 400 to 800 cars scattered across the Fairplex’s grounds. With sunny weather predicted that number likely will be closer to the 800 end of the scale. In between those there will be live music, some vendors and more unhealthy BBQ than even you can possibly eat. Yes, it’s a parking-lot paradise.

But the main draw, the history-making part of the show, has always been the AMBR. AMBR stands for America’s Most Beautiful Roadster, an award given to just one car for each of the show’s 63 years. So all those guys who grew up smuggling copies of Hot Rod and Rod & Custom into history class and who bought and dropped ancient 1932 Fords as their first cars but then grew up, made a couple bazillion dollars and suddenly realized they were happiest when they had nothing but that beater Deuce, have all now hired builders to realize their teenage fantasies and transport them back to those halcyon days with a new car. Damn the cost.

Those guys are the ones who build hot rods and enter them in the AMBR category at Oakland–er, excuse us–Pomona, get them judged on Wednesday, set them up on perfectly shampooed, roped-off carpet on Thursday, then sit and wait on chromed pins and needles until Sunday night to see whether their $1 million (or more) investment will finally pay off in a replica of the nine-foot-tall AMBR trophy that is transported around in its own hardened silo with wheels.

And there were a lot of those guys on hand when we stopped by on Thursday.

The first builder we spoke to was Roy Brizio, one of the nicest guys in hot-rodding or any other organized social group. Brizio’s shop in South San Francisco, just a monkey-wrench’s throw away from SFO, has built literally hundreds of variations on the 1932 Ford Roadster. This year’s entry was for Tom Gloy, whom we remembered from his days as a racer and team owner in Trans-Am.

“You remember those days!” he gasped. “No one’s old enough to remember those days.”

But we did. He had a shop right in the paddock of what was then known simply as Sears Point. Gloy was different from the typical entrant. He came by his interest in hot-rodding a little late in life.

“It all started with Hurley Haywood at Daytona in 1988,” he said.

Haywood was driving around in a ’34 Cabriolet. Gloy loved the car.

“He gave me Roy’s number,” Gloy said.

So he went to Brizio’s shop.

“Roy said, ‘What do you want?’ I said, ‘I don’t know.’”

So Brizio sent him out to look at hot rods for a couple years.

“Fifteen years later I came back and he asked me the same question, ‘What do you want?’”

This time he was better prepared to answer.

“I knew I had to have a race car, it had to be driveable and comfortable and I had to be able to get my six-foot frame into it.”

Brizio went to work, starting, as you might expect, with a ’32 Ford. The car he did was a ’32 but smaller in every direction: channeled six inches, the grille shell and cowl were narrowed two inches, the windshield was lowered two inches and the rear-end wheel-well area was completely remolded. The body is lowered over the frame rails and the seats are lowered into the floorpan. Under the hood is a Hilborn-injected 302 Ford V8.

But Gloy never planned to enter it in a competition, it was just to drive. However . . .

“It kept getting bitchiner and bitchiner,” Gloy said.

So here it is. Entered in the AMBR class at the GNRS.

About 30 feet away but from a whole ‘nother approach was Hayden Groendyke’s “Marmon Sixteen.” Yes, that Marmon.

“It’s something a little different,” said builder Jason Smith of the Hot Rod Garage in Sand Springs, Okla. “It’s somewhat unique.”

Groendyke’s father is a Duesenberg and Auburn Cord collector while Hayden is more of a hot-rod guy.

“This was a way to blend the two worlds,” Smith said.

The car is an actual Marmon with a real Marmon V16 underhood. It has about 200 hp, “but the torque is unbelievable,” according to Smith. Smith did a lot of work, particularly to the rear half, where he followed original Marmon blueprints, but much of the car is original. It looks about twice as large as anything else entered in the class.

Across the aisle from the Marmon was Bill Lindig’s Indy Speedster V8, built by the SoCal Speed Shop. It was a car Lindig had been watching and longing for for 12 years before he bought it in 2007 from racer Jack Howarton.

“I just love the contours of the body,” Lindig said.

The car was well-known before Lindig got it, but it was never going to be finished. So Lindig handed it over to SoCal and they added details throughout.

“They say the devil’s in the details? This one’s got a lot of devil in it,” said Lindig.

One difference with this car is that it has been driven–a lot.

“Oh g**d*** it’s a kick in the a**,” Chapouris said.

Across the hall from SoCal was Sylvester III, the reborn version of a hot rod that had been exhibited at Oakland in 1962 named Sylvester II and then stored in a barn for 35 years. Paul Shaughnessey of New Metal Kustomz in Cotati, Calif., found it in that barn.

“At first I wanted to put it on the road, but then I did some research on it and decided to bring it back to its show condition,” Shaughnessey said.

The car is striking, brilliantly shining in dark red paint and new chrome on the engine. But the most amazing thing about this entry is that Shaughnessey is only 30 years old, less than half the average age of rodders in the hall. Maybe there’s hope for a new generation.

Dennis Varni’s deep blue ’33 was built by Steve Moal.

“It has an elegant façade but it’s a monster underhood,” Moal said.

The V8 engine is almost obscured by a massive 871 GMC blower on top of it. Moal said the engine makes 700 hp, which suits Bonneville veteran Varni just fine. Varni has gone more than 300 mph on the salt.

The car is also loaded with detail, from the hand-woven seat leather done in Italy to the leaping-dog skeleton on the hood, a parody of the Ford mascot.

“The car’s so fast the dog lost its skin,” Moal said.

Kitty-corner from there was Larry Reynolds’s 1929 Lakes Modified Ford, built by Kenny’s Rod Shop in Boise, Idaho. The proportions are the most striking thing about this car, with the rear of the body ending forward of the rear axle. But the details are almost as intriguing, especially the gauge cluster, which is from a 1950 Plymouth but turned upside down on the ’29. And it’s a driver.

“If you can’t drive it, why have it?” asked builder Kenny Welch.

And finally, at the opposite end of the moneyed hot-rod class, was Keith Christopherson, who built his 1928 Ford roadster in his backyard shop using parts he got from swap meets around his Santa Rosa, Calif., home. The meets in Turlock and Petaluma were the best.

“It takes time, money and enthusiasm to make something like this,” Christopheron said. “If you’ve got two out of three you’ll be alright.

Christopherson won his class at Oakland in 1972, so he’s knows hot rodding.

“The goal of this roadster project was to build a car to reflect a hot rod built around 1950, using as many original old-school parts as I could scrounge up from swap meets, friends [and a little eBay] and I wanted to build it at home, myself, with help from friends, similar to how it would have been built in 1950,” said a hand-painted sign propped up next to the car with a piece of rebar Christopherson had found that morning.

He estimated total cost for the build at $26,000, which probably would buy a hood ornament on some of his competitors cars.

He and friend Woody “the Woodman” Pollard finished the car at rest stops and gas stations on the drive down from Santa Rosa.

We wish them all–from the Moals and Brizios to the Christophersons and the Shaughnesseys–good luck. Only three more days to go.
By: Mark Vaughn

Thanks to: www.autoweek.com

Main image thanks to: www.worldofwheels.wordpress.com, other images thanks to: www.rodshows.com, www.autoweek.com

Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120127/CARNEWS/120129870#ixzz1kfyCbtZ6

                          

Many times in our sport we see siblings, children, and other relatives of famous drivers battling the shadows cast by the accomplishments of their relatives. Of course, most prominently in the motorsports world is NASCAR racer Dale Earnhardt Jr., who every day of his life is measured against the accomplishments of his legendary father.  Just like it’s not fair to compare Earnhardt Jr. to Senior, the same applies for other drivers throughout the sport, including Batesville, Arkansas Dirt Late Model competitor Billy Moyer Jr.

The 21JR team prepares for the COMP Cams Topless 100 at Batesville Motor Speedway.

The charismatic 24-year-old driver is the son of National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer, Billy Moyer. Moyer, 54, is arguably the greatest driver to ever strap into one of the machines, and his list of accomplishments includes over 700 feature wins, multiple national championships and an array of crown jewel triumphs.  For Billy Moyer Jr., this list of accolades spells non-stop pressure to succeed.

“Because I have the same name as my dad, people expect me to immediately win, and it just doesn’t work that way,” says Moyer Jr., who has been racing for six years.  “The chances of anybody, especially me, ever measuring up to what he has accomplished are pretty slim. I mean the guy has done everything.”

While Billy picked up a feature win in his first year in 2007 in a weekly racing series event at Poplar Bluff Speedway (Poplar Bluff, Missouri), he went winless in 2008.

“I think that when I won a race in my first year of driving anything, it only fed the monster that I was a chip off the old block and that racing would come naturally,” he explains.  “The reality is that I beat six other cars that night, and luck was definitely a part of it. In 2008 I entered a lot tougher events against a lot tougher field of cars, and my inexperience showed in my results.”

With the winless season in 2008, Moyer Jr. started to receive criticism from fans, who said things like, “he sure isn’t his dad” and “he just doesn’t have it.”  It was a tough situation for the young driver. On more than one occasion fans approach Moyer Jr. in the pits, only to ask where his father was racing on a given night, and failed to show any interest in the youngster’s program. It took the air out of Billy each time as his social side was dealt a blow from uninterested bystanders.

The 2009 season would prove to be a breakout season for Moyer Jr., as he tackled a regional series by pursuing the COMP Cams Super Dirt Series title. Early in the campaign he claimed his first special event win with a $2,000 payday at Riverside International Speedway (West Memphis, Arkansas). The win would set the tone for the season as Moyer Jr. went on to not only claim a second win, but ultimately the series championship.

“That was a big deal for me, to be able to have such a good year with not only the championship and a couple of wins, but  I was also able to record some strong finishes like making the feature for the COMP Cams Topless 100 and some of the end-of-the-year, big events in Mississippi,” he says.

Some of the haters finally cut Billy a break with these accomplishments, but he still was subject to harassment and barrages on internet forums and from some fans who deemed his racing progress loomed behind the expected curve.

“I like to tell myself that stuff like that doesn’t bother me, but the reality is that I’m human, and you can only ignore people talking about you for so long,” comments Moyer Jr. about the criticism.

In 2010 Moyer Jr. took his program on the road as he entered his most aggressive schedule to date, which included the daunting task of the UMP Summernationals. Each year the Summernationals schedule features approximately 28 races in a 30 day stretch. It tries even the most seasoned drivers and teams. For Billy Moyer Jr., it served as school in session as he learned a great deal about the sport, and while he didn’t score any wins, he did finish in the top ten in the final standings.

“That Summernationals deal is tough,” Moyer Jr. laughs.  “At the same time it was a lot of fun, and guys like Shannon Babb really taught me a lot about how to stay on top of your game when you are racing every night of the week.”

Along with his strong UMP Summernationals performance, Moyer Jr. won seven events during 2010, including the biggest win of his career, a $5,000 payday in the Bama Brawl at North Alabama Speedway (Tuscumbia, Alabama).

For the 2011 season Billy competed in a schedule similar to the 2010 campaign, but he found the going to be a little tougher as he battled mechanical gremlins for much of the year.

“2011 really tried me as a driver and our team as a whole,” Moyer Jr. says. “I know I’ve only been racing for a few years, but I’ve never felt so much like just giving up, because anything that could go wrong, did go wrong.  We picked things up late in the season and came away with seven wins, but 2011 is definitely a year that I wanted to quickly put behind me.”

Moyer Jr. celebrates one of his race wins in victory lane.

With the 2012 campaign comes a new day and a new venture for Billy Moyer Jr.  He recently announced that he will be chasing the World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year title. The tour will see him enter over 50 events across the United States and Canada against a talented field of competitors each and every night.  While he’s seen most of these tracks as a crew member for his dad, he has only actually raced on a handful of them.

“I know it’s going to be a tough experience, but I think I’m as ready as I’ve ever been to try something like this. I’m really excited to get out there and see how I measure up against some of the nation’s best drivers. I’m also excited to get out to the east coast and race at a lot of places for the first time and show them that my dad and I are two different people,” notes Moyer Jr.

In addition to the strong competition, Moyer Jr. is quick to indicate tire selection and big tracks will be a major challenge for him.

“I’ve grown up racing on mostly hard tire rules. Now I’m throwing myself to the wolves, where you can run any tire that you want, and on most nights I’ll be on the relatively unfamiliar soft compounds,” he explains. “It’s also no secret that big tracks have been a problem for me so far. I’ve got a lot to learn on flat, half-mile tracks, and I’m sure there will be just as many as ups as downs this season. (But) I like to think that I’m mental ready for the challenge.”

The 2012 season will no doubt see Billy Moyer Jr. facing some adversity and struggles, but at the same time the courage and determination that this young man is displaying will gain unlimited respect from competitors and fans, who will see that he is truly trying to emerge from the shadow of his legendary father.

It has been a long road, but Billy Moyer Jr. is finally beginning to emerge from his father's imposing shadow.

Main image thanks to: thesportswire.net, victory lane photo thanks to: Woody Hampton, autograph photo thanks to billymoyerjr.com

                          

SpeedFest was moved to Lanier National Speedway in 2009, where NASCAR competitor Kyle Busch took back to back wins in 2009 and 2010. Teenage racing sensation Chase Elliott, son of NASCAR Legend Bill Elliott, came away with the win last year.

Topping the current list of 36 entries for the SpeedFest 200 for the ARCA/CRA Super Series is NASCAR Competitor Kyle Busch, who looks to get his third win in this event and fellow NASCAR Sprint Cup competitor David Ragan, who considers Watermelon his home track. There will be additional NASCAR flavor in the event with NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competitor Johnny Sauter and NASCAR Nationwide Series competitor Erik Darnell both entered for SpeedFest 2012. The NASCAR “son’s” group will also be well represented with defending event winner Chase Elliot entered along with Ross Kenseth, son of NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Matt Kenseth and John Hunter Nemechek, son of NASCAR competitor Joe Nemechek also entered.

The entry list for the SpeedFest 200 for the ARCA/CRA Super Series is full of the top names in Super Late Model Racing including Bubba Pollard, Mike Garvey, Donnie Wilson, Clay Rogers, Jeff Fultz, Erik Jones, Kenzie Ruston, Stephen Nasse, T.J. Reaid, Casey Smith, Colt James, Dwayne Buggay, Russell Fleeman and many more.

The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour presented GM Performance Parts will be part of SpeedFest 2012 with the Rheem 150 for Pro Late Models. This special non-points event has also attracted a top group of 33 entries to date led by 2011 SpeedFest Pro Late Model Race winner Chase Elliott. Other top drivers entered for that event include Bubba Pollard, Mike Garvey, Chris Davidson, Daniel Hemric, Dwayne Buggay, Korey Ruble, Brent Downey, Cole Powell, Kyle Benjamin and Snowball Derby Tech Director Ricky Brooks who will be behind the wheel for this event.

There will be an open practice on Friday, pits open at 10am, rotating open practice for both divisions will go from 12noon until 6pm. On Saturday pits will open at 9am with rotating practice beginning at 12noon. Qualifying for both events will begin at 4pm. Pits open on Sunday at 9:30am, there will be a Chapel Service at 11:30am. An on track autograph session for both divisions’ drivers will begin at 12:30pm. The racing action will begin at 2pm and will include the Rheem 150 for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour presented GM Performance Parts Pro Late Models and the SpeedFest 200 for the ARCA/CRA Super Series, which will feature a halfway break at lap 100 were teams will be allowed to change tires. Cars will then be lined back up for the second 100 based upon how many tires they take at the break and what lap they are on. Those taking no tires will be first followed by those taking one tire, two tires, three tires and four tires.

Additional event information can be found at www.watermeloncapitalspeedway.com or at www.craracing.net.

Thanks to: craracing.net

Main photo thanks to: cordelegeorgia.blogspot.com