By DAVID MILLER
Special to The Dispatch
Jeremy Shaw knew about halfway through the 2016 race season that he was ready to take a step back.
He’d raced 16 straight years in multiple divisions, accumulated three track points and become a mainstay in the top 5 of NeSmith Late Model races each week.
Each race, regardless of how he finished, was cherished a bit more as the season finale drew closer.
The last points race at Magnolia Motor Speedway, though, provided the sweetest memory of 2016: Shaw finished just ahead of Hunter Carroll to clinch the NeSmith Late Model track points title.
Saturday, at the Magnolia Motor Speedway annual points championship banquet at the Trotter Convention Center, Shaw received his trophy and announced he has shut down his race operation.
“I still got a helmet and a driving suit, so I’m not ruling anything out,” Shaw said, “but I have two little babies at home, and I look forward to spending time with them.”
Shaw won a pair of points races at Magnolia last season despite missing a race. He’d already started to sell his equipment and had begun racing for car owner, friend and fellow Millport native Brad Logan toward the end of the year. Shaw had notched two straight third-place finishes driving for Logan at the end of the 2016 season.
“I was very pleased with the year,” Shaw said. “There were a couple of races where we had chances to win that we probably should have won, but we either broke, or got passed with five to go. But kind of knowing this was coming, it made me value the year a lot more.”
Shaw said he, his wife Courtney, and their two children already have a beach trip and spring break vacation planned. While Saturdays are freed up for 2017, the real value of stepping away from racing will be during weekdays, when drivers typically prepare their cars for Saturday.
“It’ll be strange,” Shaw said. “I don’t remember being in this situation since I was old enough to drive myself to the races on Saturday.
“We’ve talked about running with Brad some, like we did last year. But even if I drove every weekend, it’d be a lot less off my plate than when I had my own team.”
Shaw thanked track owner and long-time championship driver Johnny Stokes, who presented his trophy Saturday, for being his favorite driver when he was younger, and later becoming his friend. Shaw said he picked the number “1” for his car because of Stokes.
Shaw also thanked his family and pit-man, Steve Wright.
“Steve has helped me for many years,” Shaw said. “He’s been there each week, paying his own way into the track and has never wanted anything in return. What a privilege it’s been to have his support each week.”
Carroll took second in the NeSmith Crate Late Model track points, while Shaw’s childhood friend, Kyle Shaw, took third. Randall Beckwith took fourth, while Evan Ellis finished fifth.
Hughes wins SS points, announces move to Crates
Spencer Hughes took the Street Stock division by storm in 2016, clinching a points title at Magnolia and a NeSmith Street Stocks national championship.
After winning 22 races in 2016, the 16-year-old Increase, Mississippi native, confirmed Saturday that he has joined Randy Thompson’s race team and will compete full-time in the NeSmith Crate Late Model division in 2016.
“We’re very fortunate to have some people step up and help us out, and I’m looking forward to making the most of it,” Hughes said. “I’d like to thank God, and all my friends and family who made it possible every week.”
Hughes said he’ll still compete in Street Stocks on a part-time basis and anticipates running 25-30 weekends this year.
Thompson has more than 30 years experience as a tuner and car owner in Mississippi dirt track racing. Multiple Mississippi greats have driven for Thompson, including Stokes, Jerry Inmon and David Breazeale.
Hughes won seven out of 10 points races at Magnolia in 2016 and never finished outside of the top 2.
Ray reflects on dream season
Steens native Lee Ray had never chased a state or regional points title prior to 2016.
But after fellow drivers urged him to compete in the Mississippi Street Stocks Series, he thought it’d be worth a shot.
It took nearly every lap of all 10 races to do what many couldn’t in 2016: beat friend and rival Spencer Hughes. Ray received his MSSS championship trophy and Magnolia points runner-up trophy Saturday.
“It was big winning this,” Ray said. “I’d never run a series like this. We traveled, had 10 races, some around here and some out on the road. That was pretty tough because several days, it’d be daylight when we’d get home.”
Ray credited his second-half surge to Hughes and Mike Boland, of Boland Performance, for helping him set up his car, particularly to perform better in corners.
“We probably traveled 30 weekends out of the year, and we normally pitted close to each other,” Hughes said of Ray. “It was great racing against him and getting to know him.
“We had a race at Magnolia where he ended up beating me. We ran about 10 laps side-by-side and never touched. It’s great to be able to race against somebody like that and run 10 laps and never touch. You go to some racetracks and things aren’t always like that. So it’s nice to have that close to home.”
The following points finishers were honored Saturday:
NeSmith Crate Late Models: 1. Jeremy Shaw; 2. Hunter Carroll; 3. Kyle Shaw; 4. Randall Beckwith; 5. Evan Ellis
Super Late Model: 1. Jamie Tollison; 2. Jason Brock; 3. Chad McCool; 4. Phillip Gibson; 5. Ryan Rigdon
Street Stocks: 1. Spencer Hughes; 2. Lee Ray; 3. Terry Taylor; 4. Doug Dodd; 5. Brody Elfring
Factory Stocks: 1. John Beard; 2. Brad Gable; 3. Jennifer Byrd; 4. John Johnson; 5. Brandon Whitley
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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