Story by: Langley Austin ~ [email protected]

December 15, 2010 — In racing, there really is no off season. Unless you count the week around Thanksgiving and Christmas, when no one does a whole lot, the “off season” is sometimes a busier time than the season itself.

There maybe no racing going on, well except for in the Super Late Model and dirt worlds, but there is always plenty of people out searching for new options and looking to make their next season, their best season. Everyone’s out to improve their situation, from crew chief swaps to new chassis’, new engine programs, hiring more experienced help and just simply making moves to make their programs better.

We’ve been working on some new stories about some of these happening and while we haven’t been approved by the teams to release some of the information that we have, we are able to give you some of the stories of wheels turning.

IN THE HUNT …
When the season opens at South Boston Speedway for the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock Cars, there will be a new member of the FDJ Army in the number 42 entry. Frank Deiny, Jr’s, FDJ Army, continues to grow and continues to pick up top notch young talents as he tries to develop the next generation of up and coming drivers.

Sam Hunt, is one of those young talents that has got hooked up with Deiny for the 2011 season. Sam made his debut with the FDJ Motorsports team on a trial basis at Orange County Speedway and before he got to his final race of three with FDJ this season at Caraway, he and his family had decided that FDJ Motorsports was the right fit for the young driver.

Sam currently is slated to compete full-time for FDJ Motorsports at South Boston Speedway and both he and Frank are excited about their endeavor together and the youngster is expected to be a top talent. Sam is also expected to make starts at Motor Mile in other bigger events throughout the region.

WELCOME MATE …
When the first green flag of the season drops at Hickory Motor Speedway for the UARA-STARS Series, there will be a little bit of Australian flair as George Miedecke has his sights set on becoming the first Australian born driver to win the series title. Miedecke, who competed on a part-time basis at Tri-County and Hickory as well as a couple of UARA starts as Coleman Pressley’s teammate, joined Jamie Yelton’s, Fat Head Racing at the end of the 2010 season.

With Fat Head Racing, he instantly began seeing results as he won the first race he entered with the team at Tri-County Motor Speedway in a regular season race. Miedecke then backed that up with another victory, this time in the prestigious, Bobby Isaac Memorial race at historic, Hickory Motor Speedway on Labor Day weekend. Miedecke’s third and final race came at Myrtle Beach Speedway in the Myrtle Beach 400 and while he had to take a provisional to get in the race, he proved he was worthy of the honor, by racing competitively until getting taken out of the race.

With the quick success that the young Aussie saw with Fat Head Racing, it just made sense for him to return to the Forest City, NC based team and with the departure of Brennan Poole, who has yet to release his 2011 plans, Miedecke had the chance to move up to a full-time entry in the UARA-STARS Series. Meidecke will certainly be one of the more interesting characters to follow this season.

INVADING THE UARA …
Up until the 2011 season, Frank Deiny, Jr’s, FDJ Army has had little to no presence in the UARA-STARS Series other than a few one-off starts in the series by Deiny himself. And, while Deiny has won a UARA-STARS Series race, his most recent foray ended with him crashed out of the race early on and he didn’t return.

This season, he’ll have his chance to rewrite FDJ’s history, not as driver, but rather as a driver coach, chassis builder and consultant. Frank’s FDJ Army will be welcoming its newest member and a formidable competitor from the 2010 season, young Clint King. King, who was the most impressive rookie driver overall in the UARA this past season, but had the worst luck this season, but he’s hoping that the move to FDJ Motorsports will keep the mechanical failures at a minimum.

King, has also hired on veteran crew chief, David Adams to handle the day to day operations at their Thomasville, NC shop this season. Adams, whose career accelerated as he worked with Shane Hmiel from Late Models to the Nationwide Series, has also worked with well known veteran Late Model Stock Car driver, Doug Godsey in recent seasons. Adams will bring veteran leadership to King and his team and with a great relationship already with Deiny, he is a perfect fit with King in the transition to FDJ Motorsports.

King will be running FDJ Chassis’ this season with driver coaching and consultation from Deiny and will have Adams to keep the car up day to day as they look to build a solid team for the young driver. King, who won his first UARA-STARS Series race in his third start in a Late Model Stock Car last spring at Kingsport Speedway, will have one of his best chances to have consistent, solid runs week in and week out.

NOT A ROOKIE ANYMORE …
When the 2011 season kicks off in the UARA-STARS Series, several of the rookie drivers from last season will find themselves behind the wheel of different vehicles with different people turning the wrenches, like Clint King above. Ronnie Bassett, Jr. is another of those rookies, who will become sophomores when the season starts and Bassett is following in the footsteps of the most successful driver of the 2010 season, Brennan Poole.

Bassett will join Jamie Yelton’s Fat Head Racing team for the 2011 season replacing Poole, who vacated the seat of the FHR car a few months ago. Bassett, who had a hit or miss rookie season on the UARA-STARS Series, which loosely mirrored Poole’s rookie season in 2009 and Bassett will be taking the reigns as the driver with the most Late Model Stock Car experience at FHR.

Bassett will look for his sophomore season to mirror that of Poole’s as the second year driver turned in six wins in 16-starts on the ultra-successful UARA-STARS Series. Bassett should have all the tools that he needs to make a run at the UARA-STARS Series championship and could easily find himself as the most successful sophomore under the direction of Jamie Yelton.

WHEELS KEEP TURNING …
While some of these moves were unexpected, it seems that all four drivers and both teams have bettered themselves and improved their programs for the upcoming season … or at least they hope so.

Don’t worry … we’re not done with announcing some big moves this off-season as theres still some drivers and teams making some moves and we hope to be the first to bring you all the stuff coming up in the 2011 season.