HICKORY, NC :: Tyler Church’s two victories in the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) last season give him confidence heading into the 2014. The 25-year-old driver had previously raced at Hickory and Tri-County before moving in to the PASS Series this year.
Church will run the first few races and evaluate what he can do from there though his plan is to run the entire season.
Church scored two wins last season with wins in a PASS South race at Hickory Motor Speedway in October and a PASS National Championship race at Southern National Motorsports Park in November. Entering the 2014 season, Church feels those wins give him confidence to excel.
“I’ll say winning at Southern National gives us confidence,” Church said. “A win in a south race is a big deal and it hasn’t sunk in that was a national PASS race. I’ve only run six or seven races total with PASS and won one of each. I feel good about racing down there.”
Church said he feels he’ll have a top-five car anywhere he goes and should be able to win a couple of races.
“I feel like we can be a top five car everywhere we go,” Church said. “We went and tested earlier and did pretty good. It’s just me and my dad (Steve Church) doing it. He’s a good mechanic and I’m good with what I need out of the car, adjusting on it. The two of us have done well together along with the help of Preston Peltier, Harold Johnson and Ryan Turner. There’s no reason we can’t win quite a few races.”
Church said he got his start racing in go-karts.
“I grew up around races,” Church explained. “When I was little, I had a yard kart out here. I got it running one night. After riding it once, I wanted to go to racing. Once I got a Go-Kart, well, 12 years later, I’m running Super Late Models.”
Church got interested in racing when he was watching NASCAR races on TV as a kid and going to Charlotte Motor Speedway. He said that he didn’t really spend his weekends at local tracks until he started racing Mini-Stocks.
“I didn’t spend much time going to local short tracks on weekends, I always watched the racing stuff on TV and go to Charlotte Motor Speedway,” Church commented. “It wasn’t until I started racing Mini-Stocks is when I went to Hickory and Tri-County every week and then moved up to Limited Late Models at Hickory and Tri-County then started going to a bunch of tracks. The past couple years, we never had much luck. We were quick, just didn’t have luck. Started driving for Preston and thins started turning around.”
Tyler Church is set to race in the PASS season opener at Greenville-Pickens Speedway on March 1st. RACE22.com will have Live Coverage of the race and of the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) throughout the season.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview was conducted prior to the cancellation of the PASS Winter Meltdown at New Smyrna Speedway.
