Rivalries Are Born at Hickory

NEWTON, NC :: It was a tame night at Hickory. While most nights there are exciting with some controversy, last Saturday just didn’t have that feel all night.  The races were clean and green and the cars up front won like they were supposed to.  You’ll get that sometimes. But all that went out the window in the last 50-lapper for the Late Models as two different rivalries were born, a photo finish decided the race for a first-time winner and a speech was made to the crowd in epic proportion.

In the first Late Model race of the night, the field was set by their first lap of qualifying; the second lap set the field for the second race, a unique thing done at Hickory. 2012 Champion Austin McDaniel would lead the field to green with Fathead Racing driver David Garbo, Jr. to his outside. McDaniel would lead the first twin race flag to flag without problem with Garbo coming home second; actually he was the only car in the same zip code as McDaniel. The most excitement in the race was Matt Piercy tangling with Ashley Huffman, something that would bring motivation to race two.

In the second race it would be Venezuelan driver Christian Calvo up front with McDaniel to his outside with Jesse LeFevers and Jack Madrid right behind them. This race would be much different than the first as the action started on lap one with Shane Lee getting a terrible start and stacking the field up. In front of him, the battle for the lead looked like it was for the win on lap three as Calvo roughed up McDaniel into the high groove taking the top spot and putting the defending champ back to the fourth position.

The man on a mission in this race was Ashley Huffman, and you could see it from the start. After getting into it with Piercy in the first race and spinning around, he was determined to get up front, he had a good car and he knew it. Huffman had moved into the second position behind Calvo when the first caution came out at lap 14 as a fading McDaniel got put into the wall after contact from CJ Hulsey. This was the first of many friends Hulsey would make on the night.

On the next restart Huffman and Calvo would race side by side for five laps before Huffman fell in behind Calvo. For fourth, Hulsey has a hard charging Garbo, who showed he had a fast hotrod in the first race, on his rear but not for long. Garbo would start ninth in race two, but on lap 36 he used the bumper and moved Hulsey to take over the fourth spot. Next in his sights was LeFevers, and that would take a turn for the worse later on.

The field got bunched back up on lap 34 as Piercy looped his car around off turn two running towards the back.  The car had been pushing so bad he was about to knock the wall down and he headed to the pits with a nearly flat left front tire as the culprit. The ensuing restart aw some of the best racing of the evening as Huffman and Calvo once again went at it with Huffman this time clearing Calvo and behind them a near wreck when Garbo and LeFevers were getting warmed up for third as they got all sorts of crossed up leaving Hulsey the inside to pass both of them.

The next corner is where it all went wrong. Garbo jumped back to the inside on LeFevers and the two drivers made contact several times, LeFevers was now sideways….still making contact…..ok we are on the frontstretch now…..finally Garbo’s car jumped over the front of LeFevers and they wrecedk hard into the outside wall going into turn one. LeFevers quickly exited his car and made a B-line to Garbo who is 300 feet away nearly in turn two but was intercepted by Catawba County’s finest and taken back to the pits. It got even more crazy there as the Fathead team of Garbo as coming down pit road to check on their car and runs across the fuming LeFevers and his crew. More pushing and shoving, some well wishes to Fathead racing owner Jamie Yelton with them giving them right back … it was entertaining to say the least. When it was all said and done, Garbo said he didn’t have a problem with LeFevers and said he hoped he could race with him clean in the future. Not to be on anyone’s side or to sound impartial, I told him knowing who was involved and what happened, that was probably not going to be the case. Hey it’s the truth … the rivalry is born.

On the next restart, Calvo lined up the inside with leader Huffman outside, it didn’t matter as Hulsey in third would lift the back tires of Calvo up before they even started allowing Huffman to jump back out in front easily. This mix up allowed diversity driver Jack Madrid to virtually come out of nowhere and challenge Calvo on the outside for second with Hulsey still tucked up behind him. Calvo would finally get away from those two with eight laps to go and sets his sights on Huffman for the lead, he could catch him but getting around him was another story as Huffman would run the high line and pull Calvo by three cars down both straights each lap.

With five to go and good race up front, it hoy rough for third as Madrid had it but Hulsey was doing everything to get it. Hulsey knocked Madrid high entering the corner, but he hung on, he knocked him high off the corner but he hung on, he knocked him sideways down the straightaway but he hung on…….after seeing all this happening, the stock in jack Madrid had went up 150% by him just not wrecking.

As we came to the white flag, it looked as if Calvo has nothing for Huffman who was well on his way to the win. Behind them Hulsey finally got beside Madrid but pinched him into the wall hard down the frontstretch. Madrid obviously was not amused and pile-drived Hulsey and himself into the turn one wall, destroying both cars. If you ever want to see someone wreck someone on purpose, find the video of that, it could be an instructional video on the topic, although killing your own car is usually frowned upon but in this case I don’t think Madrid much cared.

As they bickered and about fought down pit road, we thought the race is over, but, did the leaders take the white flag? Well it looked as if they did, but the caution lights were turned on setting up a green-white-checkered, needless to say Huffman was not impressed with this call by the officials. They would go at it once more for two laps, Huffman would use the high line to jump out front but Calvo kept pace and stayed just a few feet back on his inside. One lap to go and Calvo was there in the corners, but the momentum was giving Huffman a half car lead by the end of the straights. As they entered turn three for the final time, Calvo drove it in deep and it stuck and his exit off the corner looked to be his best all night. His car would stick and jump off turn four to even up with Huffman as they crossed the line with the crowd on their feet.

Who won? It was that close. It was well over five minutes before the official winner was announced,  In this time Huffman had already run all the way to the race directors box at the top of the tower to voice his displeasure over the caution at the end of the race but the door was locked and he was not let in. Calvo, in his Lee Faulk Racing, ride would pick up his first win in dramatic fashion as he beat the crowd favorite to the line by just inches.

While victory lane was going on, the weirdest thing happened. As the top three drivers were being interviewed on the PA as they are every week, it got to Huffman then it took a turn. Huffman gently took the microphone from the announcers hand and began walking around talking to the crowd about what happened, called the tower out for making the call and not talking to him, and vowed to never return if they don’t want him there, all in a classy way. It was something I had never seen before nor is it something I will ever forget, it was a pretty epic speech to say the least.

Just as I thought my luck of exciting races at Hickory had ran out finally, they didn’t let me down. While the first few events may have been tame, the final 50-lapper for the Late Models gave everyone their money’s worth … and you can bet they will be back again to see where these next rivalries and races will lead, I know I will.