Tires, fuel, new shocks — $5,000 can go a long way toward upgrading a Street Stock racing program.
The winner of the Fall 40 Street Stock Championship on Saturday at Magnolia Motor Speedway will get a chance to figure out how to spend that money.
“This is the most money I’ve ever raced for,” said Spencer Hughes, NeSmith Street Stocks National Points champion. “It helps you get to the next race, first and foremost. We go through a lot of tires. This is our 30th weekend in a row to race. It helps with fuel for the pull-truck and other stuff. It helps out this winter when you want to buy something new or upgrade something. It’s nice to have the cash to do that.”
Hughes finished second at the Street Stock Nationals at Whynot in August, a race that paid $3,000 to the winner. He won the Golden Egg Classic and $2,000 at Magnolia in April. Hughes has won 20 races this year, including the last Street Stock race at Magnolia. He feels good about his chances of snatching the largest payday of the year, even if more than 60 drivers are expected to try and qualify for the 30-car field.
“It definitely adds a little bit of pressure,” Hughes said. “You don’t want to go up there and run bad; you’re expected to do well. With the points and everything over, that’s kind of a relief, though, so we’re going up there to race for fun and have a good time.”
While Hughes likely will be the favorite among a small group of contenders, friend and fellow Street Stock driver Lee Ray is keen to turn another solid season into his first big payday. Ray leads the Mississippi Street Stock Series points and finished second in Magnolia’s points championship. He finished fourth in the SS Nationals at Whynot, a race that drew more than 90 potential qualifiers. He said he took last week off to prepare for Saturday’s race.
“We took the time to go over this thing pretty good, checked everything and made sure I had everything tight,” Ray said. “You have a lot of stuff — wheel bearings, joints. We always check those things, but those are things we doubled up the last two weeks.
“My old car has been good this year, so we feel good about it. Boland Performance helped me earlier this summer, and I’ve been in the top three every weekend lately. I got a good car. Just have to keep my head straight and out of trouble.”
Navigating a 40-lap race is a task Street Stock drivers face just a half-dozen times a year, if that, so managing fuel, tires, and aggressiveness throughout the race will be vital.
“You just have to go back and look at your notes, see how you did at lap 20 of the last race,” Hughes said. “You learn throughout the year how hard a track can be on your equipment, when you can really push it, and how hard you can run either half of the race. It can be tricky.”
Ray and the rest of the field likely will be chasing Hughes in qualifying and heat races, which start tonight, or Saturday.
“He came out of go-karts, and he’s smooth,” Ray said of Hughes. “He doesn’t rattle it in the turns. Spencer makes you do your homework. You want to work on it more trying to catch him, and I’ve been chasing him all year. We talk all the time, and learn a lot from each other.”
The 30-car field for Saturday is six more than Street Stock races typically feature at Magnolia. Second- and third-place finishers will receive $2,500 and $1,500, respectively. The last four starting positions will be determined by the fastest car from Thursday night’s practice session that doesn’t make the main event (27th), non-qualifier winner (28th), a lucky draw spot from the non-qualifier race (29th), and a Magnolia Motor Speedway weekly racing series points provisional (30th).
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