Brennan Poole Leads ARCA Points Standings Despite Adversity So Far
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[/media-credit]Leading the points standings may look like it was easily accomplished on paper by having solid finishes. However, for ARCA Racing Series points leader Brennan Poole, it wasn’t as easy as it looked as the team has had its fair share of adversity already this year.
At Daytona, Poole had to start 33rd and finished the race in the seventh.
“It was my first time on Superspeedway,” he comments. “I learned a lot and had a lot of fun.”
The following weekend at Mobile, he blew the motor on the first lap of practice so he got no practice and barely got in line to qualify. Despite that, the Venturini Motorsports team was able to qualify seventh and finish seventh.
At the third race of the season at Salem, the clutch broke right when Poole went out to qualify so the team had to change the clutch and Poole had to start the race from the back of the pack.
“I ended up finishing third so I know we had a great run there and the car was really strong,” he says. “That was great and kept building on the points lead.”
The last race at Talladega, Poole had to start fourth due to qualifying being rained out and being based on owner’s points. However on lap 11, Poole was involved in the wreck and substained some minor damage to the front of the car. The team kept making pit stops to make repairs, at one point running in the 22nd position, and came back to finish in eighth at the end of the race.
“I think we’ve had a great start to the year,” he says. “We’re only four races in and finished in the top 10 in all four races and we’ve had some setbacks that we have had to overcome. All in all, it’s been a great a year.
“My team has done a great job helping me as a driver to overcome some of the things I’ve had to deal with and we’ve just been able to come through and it’s been a great start to the year.”
There doesn’t look to be anything slowing down Poole in the future either as he heads to Toledo Speedway, which is right up his alley as it’s just like the tracks he used to race in Late Models.
Last year, Poole was leading on the last lap when he was turned around by Ty Dillon on the last lap. This year, Poole is looking for victory as he is taking the same car back again this year.
“I feel confident about it – going to have the same crew chief, Billy Venturini,” he says. “I think we’re going to be in the contention when we go there. Plus, Toledo is just a great track. It’s a lot of fun and growing up, I’ve ran Late Model stuff the last three years before getting into the ARCA Series and it just reminds me of a lot of the Late Model tracks that I ran on. It’s kind of a comfort zone for me because I’m very comfortable about tracks like that and the short track style.”
Keeping with the short tracks, the sixth race of the schedule is at Elko Speedway.
“Another place I feel confident about because it’s the place I have the most experience,” he continues. “Then Pocono and Michigan. Pocono, last year, we saw on the pole, led a big chunk of the race and finished fifth so we got a couple of tracks that are good tracks for us and I’m just excited. I love racing, I’m a competitor and I’m just looking forward to getting to some of these places.”
Poole got interested in cars and racing after a trip to Toys R Us at the age of two. His dad took him there to buy him a plastic golf set for his second birthday as his dad wanted him to be a golfer.
“I got in one of those plastic little battery powered corvettes and was driving around the store so my mom convinced my dad that he had to get it for me,” he says. “I loved cars, I played with cars all the time. at the time, my dad was working in auto repair and one of the managers at the store he worked at told him about quarter midget racing, which was five miles from the house we lived in at the time in California. He took me out there when I was four. We watched the race that night and he asked me if it was something I wanted to do and I told him yeah. So for my fifth birthday, he got me a car and I’ve been racing ever since.”
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[/media-credit]From there, Poole kept moving up the ranks and began racing UARA Late Models in 2009, winning rookie of the year. The following season, he won six races, including three in a row, and caught the eye of Venturini Motorsports General Manager Billy Venturini.
“He tried to get me into a car in 2010, but we just couldn’t get anything worked out,” Poole says.
In 2011, Poole started his own team with his father to continue late model racing.
“It’s tough ‘cause my dad lives in Texas; I live out here by myself,” the 21-year-old continues. “So the team was run out of Hickory with people we worked with the year before. We were running UARA at Hickory and Billy came out to watch that night and we just had an incredible night. Ended up winning the race and Billy called us and wanted us to come meet with him again. We ended up reaching something where I could get into the car in 2011.”
In his first start at Salem Speedway, Poole found victory lane and has been enjoying the experience ever since.
“It’s just been a blessing,” he says. “God’s always opens up the doors for me at the right time, at the right place, always put me in the right position. Just keeping my trust in him every day and he seems to be in control.”
This year marks a special year for Venturini Motorsports as it is their 30th year. Poole jokes it’d be neat to win the championship as Bill Venturini’s last championship came in 1991, the year that Poole was born.
“They’re a great family,” he adds. “I spend a lot of time with them being here by myself. I don’t know a lot of people so I’m always here at the shop – I’m at the shop right now. It’s just a great family. It’s a family organization – Billy’s uncles, aunts and cousins are all involved in the team. I think that’s what makes them such a strong organization. It’s just been fun working with them. I’m just happy to be a part of it.
“I got to race Billy’s old paint scheme at Daytona and Talladega, maybe a few more times this year. so that’s been kind of an honor to drive the old blue and orange paint scheme. I just feel blessed to be a part of it. It’s just been a lot of fun.”
Being at Venturini Motorsports within their driver development program, Poole is right now the most experienced on the team.
“It’s kind of funny ‘cause I’ve only ran seven ARCA races to this point,” he says. “It sounds weird to say but as the 21-year-old, I’m the guy that has the most experience so it’s been fun to have younger guys come up to me and ask me questions. It’s just kind of cool. I’ve never really been in this position before; I’ve always been the guy looking for advice. But here, there are so many young guys.”
Poole has had a great time with his teammates so far at Venturini as he’s been impressed by Erik Jones, who finished fifth at Salem Speedway at the age of 15. He has also become close friends with Ryan Reed.
“We’re close in age so we have a good relationship together; we play xbox together at night,” he says. “We race against each other on the computer. We have a pretty good relationship and I think we just go over things together a little bit. I think it’s been a help for me and a help for him as well. It just helps when you’ve got someone close in your age group cause you help support each other.
“At the end of the day at Venturini Motorsports, we’re all pulling for our teammates. We want to win because we’re all competitors, but we’re happy if another person wins the race ‘cause we all know how hard it is to win one of these races. It’s extremely tough. You win a race at the ARCA level, that’s pretty impressive.”
Darrell Wallace Jr. prepares for Nationwide Series debut at Iowa Speedway
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[/media-credit]After competing in the K&N Pro East Series for the past two years, Darrell Wallace, Jr. is set to make his Nationwide Series debut at Iowa Speedway on May 20th.
“I’m very excited,” he says. “Just count down the days until I make my debut. Definately looking forward to it. I love Iowa. Been out there twice now. Definitely had good runs both times out there. Looking forward to getting on the track, interacting with the fans, just giving the team, the sponsors and the fans a good show. Definitely looking forward to it.”
Wallace, Jr. says that his goals for this year in the Nationwide Series are to run up front and finish in the top 10.
“I don’t want to force the issue or anything,” he adds. “Run top 5s, top 10s, have a good run, bring the car home in one piece, make the team, the fans and sponsors proud.”
Wallace, Jr. prepared for this race by testing at a variety of tracks in the Nationwide Series car, including Gresham, Rockingham and Motor Mile.
“Definitely a lot different than what I’m used to,” he says. “Different tire, different motor. It’s all about logging laps. That’s what we did. Had a great time. Learned a lot about the cars. Just kind of really fit in with the team.”
Well some drivers are always looking forward to their next step, Wallace, Jr. never planned out exactly the time he wanted to move up to the Nationwide Series while running for Joe Gibbs Racing’s K&N East team.
“Every series that I join, I just want to run until it was time to move up, until somebody seen me out on the track performing well, kind of picked me up,” he explains. “That’s what Joe Gibbs Racing has done, they kind of put the issue on about running the Nationwide Series. It’s definitely kind of a pressure lifted off my shoulders now, kind of moving up, but also it’s still there. It’s moving up into the top three series in the NASCAR ranks. Definitely going to be some pressure there.”
Joe Gibbs Racing officials made the choice for Wallace, Jr. to make his debut at Iowa as they thought it’d be a good fit, considering he’s made two K&N East starts there already.
In the K&N East Series, Wallace, Jr. has six wins, 11 top fives and 19 top 10s in 25 starts. He will be running the K&N East Series race at Iowa on the Saturday to prepare for the Nationwide Series race.
“Going into Sunday’s race, it will definitely be kind of a little bit easier than jumping out not having any seat time there,” he says. “So it’s definitely going to be fun. That’s what it’s all about. I’ll make sure I go out there, accomplish that goal, see how things play out. Definitely going to have my spotter in my ear, be smooth, relaxed, so it will be good.”
Going into the event, he is going to focus on being there at the end, managing pit stops, not overdriving the car and making sure to find his rhythm to just log laps.
“It’s my first race,” he adds. “I’m not going out there to set the world on fire. I’m definitely going out there to show my capabilities, what I’m able to do on the track and also off the track.”
Building from that, Wallace Jr. is hoping to attract sponsorship to therefore be able to run more races. As many have found, finding sponsorship isn’t easy. But Wallace Jr. feels that he has the team to back him up and just needs to deliver the results.
“I have to show up and be out there ready to deliver,” he says. “Going out there, some races you run good, people see it, but they don’t capture the sponsor. It just takes time. That’s not my job to worry about sponsorship. It’s just about going out there and running up front, doing what I need to do on the track, and even off the track, handling myself well, doing anything I can to get sponsors. It’s all about being patient. Once that right sponsor lands, it will be good.”
As Wallace, Jr. continues to move up the ranks, he will have his JGR teammates to lean on for advice.
“I talk to Kyle sometimes,” he says. “I talked to him at Loudon last year. Hang out with Joey a lot. Me and Brian Scott interact with each other. Even Denny. It’s all good to have that kind of teammate support there. That’s just what helps out the most, is having that backbone going into that race.”
Wallace, Jr. is one of the most successful drivers to come out of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity Program, which is meant to help drivers from diverse backgrounds get into NASCAR in good cars through Revolution Racing.
“With everything the way it’s going now, it’s pretty much up to the drivers being there to deliver,” Wallace, Jr. says of the program. “NASCAR is doing their part. It’s about picking the right drivers, I’d say, being able to run up front. This year it seems like they got a pretty stout field of drivers. It will be definitely tough with Rev Racing there. They’re definitely doing their part.”
MEMORIES OF A MIDDLE AGED RACING FAN — A DAY AT DARLINGTON WITH THE CLOWN PRINCE OF RACING
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[/media-credit]The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series moves to one of the racing venues that helped make the sport famous: the Darlington Raceway. With the annual race at the track too tough to tame, comes a lot of personal memories.
After a life time of service in the United States Air Force, my dad moved our family to Darlington. He soon became a member of the Darlington Rescue Squad and that meant working in the large Red Cross tents during NASCAR weekends. My job during those weekends was to pass out aspirin and Dixie Cups filled with water to race fans who had too much fun while staying in the Darlington infield. Needless to say, it kept me busy.
My reflections centered around this famous speedway often emerge whenever I hear the name Darlington. That feeling was enhanced back on April 11th when I learned that NASCAR pioneer Joe Weatherly had been selected as a nominee for the 2013 class of the NASCAR Hall Of Fame.
Weatherly’s nomination is well deserved. The Norfolk-Virginia driver began his racing career on motorcycles where, in a period of 1946 to 1950, he won three national AMA titles. Later saying “I like to have something between my head and the ground when I crash,” Weatherly made the move to race cars in 1950. He won consecutive championships, in 1952 and 1953, in NASCAR’s Modified Series. In 1956, Weatherly joined what is now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and won championships in 1962 and 1963 with Hall Of Fame team owner Bud Moore. Tragically, we lost Joe Weatherly following a racing accident, in January of 1964, at the Riverside Raceway in California.
While Weatherly was known as being a fierce competitor on the race track, he was also known for being a genuine, larger than life, character off of the track. He was someone who never hesitated to assume the role of being the life of the party. His ability to pull of practical jokes on fellow drivers, NASCAR officials and the fans was legendary and it earned him the title “Clown Prince Of Stock Car Racing.”
I would know all about Weatherly’s practical jokes because I became one of his victims when I was a youngster.
It was the spring of 1958 and I was all of seven years old. Dad was still in the Air Force and stationed at Shaw Air Force Base-South Carolina the site of my birthplace and a major part of my raising. One morning at school I was summoned to the office where I found Dad waiting for me. He and the principal shook hands and we left the building. I was assured that everything was fine and we were going to play hooky that day.
A little over an hour later we arrived at Darlington Raceway where I was delighted to discover that Goodyear was conducting a tire test that day. I was thrilled to discover that Joe Weatherly, the driver of the #12 Holman Moody Ford Thunderbird, was on hand for the test.
After being introduced to him, Weatherly asked me if I had ever seen a mongoose. He claimed he had a pet mongoose that travelled with him and offered to show it to me.
I think you already know what happened next. The animal’s cage was actually a spring loaded wooden box, with a foot pedal that propelled a furry stuffed animal into the face of Weatherly’s victims. Everyone standing on the Darlington pit road that day knew it except for one person; that, of course, would be me.
Weatherly placed the wooden box on pit road and, in a very low voice, informed that a mongoose is a creature of the night that often slept a lot during the day. He suggested that I get really close to the box so I could see the animal. After placing myself a matter of inches away from the mesh screen, the foot pedal was tripped, a furry stuffed animal flew towards my place and I jumped backwards while screeching a rebel yell that would have made any son of the south proud. Next came a loud thud as the back of my front landed hard on the asphalt of the Darlington pit road.
Weatherly’s face turned beet red due to his laughter. My reward, for providing him with such a high level of entertainment, was an autographed 8×10 photo that proclaimed me as the “#1 racing fan.”
This story is just one of literally thousands of memories of Darlington I’ve kept with me all of these years. They are members of quality time spent with my Dad and the memories of a NASCAR fan based family who eagerly looked forward to each racing weekend at this race track. They are the long term memories of a middle aged racing fan and, next weekend when I sitting in my southern California home watching the race, I’ll be reliving those memories.
