ALTAMAHAW, NC :: Bethany Stovall Bumgarner has sat out the entirety of the season after having a baby back on April 30th. Now, she’s excited about getting back behind the wheel of a racecar.
Along with the usual duties of motherhood, she has spent her time off helping her father, Johnny Stovall, and her husband, Gary Bumgarner, with their cars. Both Johnny and Gary race dirt at Rolling Thunder Raceway and Friendship Speedway. Having been at the track, she’s now ready to get back on the track herself.
“I’m excited,” Stovall Bumgarner said. “I’m ready to see what it’s going to do. We’ve been working hard to see what it’s going to do. I don’t know if I’ll still be able to drive the thing but my dad says it’s like riding a bicycle. I’m more anxious than anything, just want to get back behind the wheel, see what I can do and leave it all out there on the line.”
Stovall Bumgarner started racing in 2010 in Limited Late Models at Ace Speedway. She had a Limited Sportsman car ready to race on dirt but decided to run asphalt after the chassis rules were changed before she was ever able to race. In her career at Ace, she was finished in the top-10 in points every season she’s raced as well as winning Rookie of the Year in 2010 and the Sportsmanship Award in 2011.
Stovall Bumgarner says it was a struggle not being able to race.
“It was a struggle,” Stovall Bumgarner elaborated. “I was ready to get back behind the wheel but of course my body wasn’t ready. Mentally, I was ready but I wasn’t ready. It was hard being at the track, having the itch for it and not being able to go race. I wasn’t going to run at all this year but the turning point was when my dad let me take the Modified out to roll on the track one night and that’s when we decided we had to run one race this year at least.”
During her absence, she never once doubted that she would return to racing. After all, racing is her life.
“I grew up around racing and it’s all I’ve ever known. My dad’s raced for 30-something years. There was no way I wasn’t going to get back in the car.”
Now, Stovall Bumgarner has set expectations for Saturday’s race and she feels that she should be good enough to make the field for the Third Annual Mischa Sell Memorial.
“I think we’re going to have a pretty fast car. We’ve been working hard on the setup. I think we’ll be competitive. Goal is to start the race, be consistent and finish.”
She says her plans are still in the air for next year. She’d like to return to racing full-time and says she’ll definitely race more next year than she has this year.
