TIMMONSVILLE, SC :: Averitt Lucas won eight races en route to the 2012 Florence Motor Speedway track championship. Now, he is working to help his younger brother achieve racing success in the Late Model Stock Car ranks.
“We’ve got the same cars, just been fine tuning them. We’re going to run Florence and try to run Dillon and go to the Beach. We’re going to try to travel more this year than in the past,” Lucas said. “I’d have a lot more expectations for the season if we could get more money to race other places during the season. I’m trying to get my little brother (Brent Lucas) in to racing a little more so I won’t run as much. He got in to racing last year pretty heavy and I took over at the end of the year. I was going to start running the first part of the year. We’re going to run the same car. I’m going to try to run the bigger races at the end of the year and run the 100 lap races at Myrtle Beach Speedway. I’m not running for a championship this season.
“I’ve got two cars and the car he ran last year, it’s an older car. I just think it’d be better for him to be in the newer car which is what I’ve been running the past three or four years. I’ve got a brand new car. I just don’t have it together yet. It’ll probably be a while before I get it together, probably next year.”
Lucas works for Jay Hedgecock and spends most of his week in North Carolina. When he’s not working for Hedgecock, he’s in South Carolina working on his car and his younger brother’s car.
“I actually live in South Carolina and I work for Jay Hedgecock so I stay up in North Carolina from Sunday-Thursday and drive back to South Carolina on Friday and work on the car and race Saturday. It’s an awkward deal there.”
Lucas got in to racing by watching his idol, dirt track racer Ed Gibbons, race.
“It’s a family thing. If it wasn’t for mom and dad, I couldn’t be racing. They keep up the maintenance part of it and make sure the motor and brakes are fine. When I come in on Friday, I work on it all day and set it up and get it ready to go. I was young and my dad used to take us to Sumter dirt track and we’d watch Ed Gibbons race. His dad, Slick Gibbons, still sponsors me on the racecar. His dad and Ed (who passed away in 2009) lived 15 minutes away so we knew each other real well. That’s who I grew up watching and that’s how I got in to racing. My little brother got in to go kart racing and I got in to it after that. From there, it progressed. I got in the Late Model cars in 2002-2003.”
“Averitt is 26 and his younger brother is 23. Despite only running a partial schedule, he feels he could win more than 10 races and that his brother could pick up some wins as well.
“I would like to win double digits like the past two out of three years,” Lucas remarked. “I’d still like to win that many races. I think Brent’s capable of winning three to five races this year.”
Lucas isn’t concerned about stepping up in to the major leagues like many other racers.
“I thought about major league racing when I was younger but you need the money and backing to get there. I just do it now because I love the sport. I love racing. I’ll be running Late Models as long as I can. My brother’s getting excited about the Late Models. He was actually in to go-karts pretty heavy. We actually steered him in to the bigger cars. He’s learning to like it a whole lot more.”
Lucas is sponsored by Claredon Auto Parts (Slick Gibbons) and by Henry Lucas Garage.
