South Georgia Racing: December 2014

Sunday, December 28, 2014

#SpotLight- Cat Daddy Stands Tall with Feet Firmly Planted on Honest Georgia Clay!!

Cat Daddy gets ready for Winter Freeze at SMS

Through better than 3 decades Clint Smith has been a competitive constant in the World of DLMs. To the multitude of faithful legions that admire this Georgia Racer, he's still known as the "Iron-Man of Hav-A-Tampa". From its inception in 1990 til 1998 the Senoia Native never missed a single event in the Star Studded series. Cat Daddy captured the series championship in 1993, besting the likes of Scott Bloomquist, Ronnie Johnson, Jack Pennington, Lavon Sloan and Dale McDowell. "When you raced and won in the Hav-A-Tampa series, you accomplished something special right there." Clint said "Top Notch Drivers from all across the country came to test their mettle and find out if they were MORE than a Big Fish in a little pond. I'll always savour my 1st Win in that series. Sweat Streaming down my face, Whisking past the Flag Stand to edge out a Tough as Nails Field and Clutching the Checkers in Triumph high above my head at South Hampton Speedway. Right Then in my very own hands, I held Undeniable PROOF No One in the WORLD was better than us on that Hot August Night. Man, were we Rolling!!"

#TailGateNews- GRT Rolls Juggernaut Style into the New Year!!

JFitz Readying for FireCracker100 at Swainsboro Raceway

HUGE Honour of being named driver of a GRT House Car comes on the heels of a Successful 2014!! The just concluded season found Jason Fitzgerald hammering down an OutStanding 14 Wins and gathering his first series title since returning to pilot a LM himself. During the brief off-season this Dirt Track Visionary sits down to take pen in hand and script a New Chapter into the Legend that is The JAX Juggernaut!

Growing up helping his uncles with their Open Wheel Modifieds and being constantly surrounded by racing, it seemed Jason Fitzgerald was predestined to thrill fans Far & Wide behind the wheel of a High Powered Race Car! He got his start toward the end of 1993 in an Open Wheel Modified. It wasn't until the beginning of 2000 that Jason officially climbed into a DLM cockpit. The Rest, as they say, Reads as a Novella... '01 Putnam County LM Championship, '08 SAS SLM ROY and 2nd in overall series standings, '09 claimed an incredible 8 out of 15 events in the Ferociously Competitive National Late Model Series to carry that title on back to Middleburg. Intermix these Racing Monuments with the fact that The JAX Juggernaut hung up his helmet briefly to Crew Chief the Dunn/Benson & later Bobby LaBonte SLM programs. Fellow Jacksonville racer Earl Pearson Jr piloted as Jason led them onto a very satisfying World100 WIN and Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Dominance that included 2 Championship Titles!!

#KelleysCorner- Keep Some Sunshine on Your Face

Keep Some Sunshine on Your Face

A few nights back I was kicked back watching television when I stumbled across a documentary on HBO about the late comedian Richard Pryor. I have always enjoyed stand-up comedy and Richard Pryor is high up on my list of favorite comedians. The documentary wound through Pryor’s at-times troubled life. Throughout the show there were short clips from many of Pryor’s various stand-up specials. I was drifting in and out of watching (maybe even dozing a bit) when the clip came on where Pryor was doing his infamous character Mudbone. And this particular clip ended with Mudbone’s simple analogy for living a happy life and keeping positive – “Keep some sunshine on your face”.

#SpotLight- Nipping at 2015, Jordy Eyes BIGGER Prize!!

Jordy Nipper at Swainsboro Raceway's Turkey 100

From Go-Karts to SLMs Jordy Nipper has ridden them All to Perfection and onto Prized Piece of Real Estate...

Victory Lane!!

The 27yr old Gutsy HotShoe from Gray, GA strikes a very nice balance between the Family Business (Scotty's Muffler, Brake and Lube in Macon) raising his own family and the business of Dirt Track Action! Working a Mon-Fri schedule that includes 1/2 day on Saturday puts it's own set of limitations on what events that the team can travel to. They've managed it nicely though and mostly find a race every week during the season. Good Folks know, anytime that #1N backs out of a trailer, you're in for a Great Show!

In his never ending quest to bring Cochran Motor Speedway above and beyond "Eldora of GA" status, Chris Martin has invited the Ultimate Super Late Model Series in to sanction the GA State Championship October 16-17th!!

Ultimate Series Director, Kelley Carlton, was quoted as saying, "Chris and his staff have really stepped up to the plate to bring more Super Late Model Racing to the area. I have heard many times over what a great job they have done with the racing surface and the facility in general.

#SpotLight- The Gambler Holds Pocket Aces for 2015!!

The Gambler, Russell Brown Jr

When traveling the roads in the S GA you'll run across the City built by SPEED, Valdosta...

Nestled snugly in this city you'll find the headquarters for Russell Brown Race Cars...

This is where our story begins...

The Gambler has always been known as a Thinking Man's type of racer. Calculating what line his car needs, timing moves four or five laps in advance and sometimes, just sometimes, throwing it all out the window holding it Wide Open until the face of God comes into focus. It all began in 1987 when at the tender young age of 8yrs old Russell Brown Jr stood by his father's side and learned how to help the Sr Brown fabricate some of the finest chassis seen in Georgia. A Lifelong "Hands On" approach to the industry has helped RBJ mold skills and gain knowledge necessary to understanding the intimate inner workings of DLMs. This tradesman ability has kept him atop LM Power Rankings around these parts for many years.

#TailGateNews- Lightning Jack Pens His Name in GA Racing HOF!!

On 12/13/14 the Dawsonville based Georgia Racing Hall of Fame opened their books for five new members. Among the notable entries were Leon Archer, Roscoe Smith and 2006 National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame Inductee, Augusta native, "Lightning" Jack Pennington!

Jack began his march into infamy in 1974 when he took a 3,800lb former Winston Cup car to run at Golden Isles Speedway in Brunswick, GA. The man finished a surprising 3rd. What made the finish even more surprising was the fact that he did so on asphalt tires! Time restraints and availability left the team without dirt track rubber but left stoked coals in his belly for More!!

Are You Antisocial?

Throughout my career in racing I have tried to pay careful attention to trends and ideas used by promoters and racers that seem to benefit those that are using them. 10 years ago we had a few magazines and newspapers to help spread the word of what was going on in racing. Other than that it was word of mouth, an occasional newspaper ad or a flier at the local auto parts store. While all of those were fairly good methods they didn’t reach much of the potential audience. How many times “back then” did you show up at your local weekly racetrack to find that there was a special event going on? Fast-forward a few years and the proliferation of the Internet - message boards out the wazoo and everybody has their own website. These new alternatives certainly provided you with the ability to reach more people and gave you a place to get your news out. But it was trendy. Some users did an excellent job with keeping their site fresh and kept up with posting the news across the various racing message boards. But others faltered and failed miserably. And those that had been visiting their websites and those boards searching for news quickly became frustrated and gave up looking.

#SpotLight- Galloping Gib Rockets into 2015 in FULL Song!!

The story behind the MAN from Manning, SC is an interesting one to say the least. Galloping Gib Gibbons is grandson to Racer Edward Guy "Slick" Gibbons a Claredon County Athletic Hall of Famer and son to the Late Great Edward Guy "lil Ed" Gibbons Jr a National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer. Ed's career spanned 25 years garnering him better than 400+ Wins. His richest came in Concord, NC where he took the J.W. Hunt 200 to the tune of $20,000!!

#TailGateNews- Golden Isles Speedway Grabs PRI Spotlight in Indianapolis!!

Scooped out of the throng of Major Happenings at the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) show in Indianapolis this weekend!! DirtonDirt.com's DirtWire:
Announces Ultimate Super Late Models and Golden Isles Speedway had set a date for a $10K Show!!
The Star Spangled Spectacular will be a 2 day HUGE Event on July 3-4th and will Feature some the Nation's Finest SLM Racers going Door2Door for MORE than just Pride!

The Thomas Family Name has been Heralded as the High Water HallMark of Dirt Track Racing since the late 1940s. They single handedly Revolutionized the LM Industry, shaping it into what we know today, when Mr Jimmy and son Billy Thomas designed/constructed the first Jig Built DLM in 1975. Early Consistent Success of the chassis brought hundreds of racers to the shop's doorstep wanting a "Jig-A-Lo" of their own. Hall of Fame Dirt Late Model Champions such as Buck Simmons, Ronnie Johnson, Billy Moyer, Charlie Hughes and so many more have piloted the Jig-A-Lo into Immortality's SpotLight! The chassis captured high profile events like World 100, National 100, U.S. Dirt Track World Championship and eventually became the MOST copied chassis in history. There wasn't any fooling a Real Racer, tho. They could always feel the difference between the Real Thing and a knock off by the seat of their pants.