Story by: Corey Latham ~ [email protected]
Winston Salem, NC(January 25, 2013) — We love all sorts of racing here at RACE22.com. While we focus mainly on the Late Model Stocks, we love to get back to our roots and give the little guys some love. Fact of the matter is though, at any weekly track, while not the feature division, they put on the best show more times than not. We’re talking about the Mini-Stocks folks, and especially Andrew Sanders taking his second consecutive title at Caraway Speedway.
Sanders, if you follow racing, you know the name. The patriarch of the group, Archie, has been racing for over 50 years and at 74 years young, he has a new car and will race this year sometime again. His son, AJ Sanders, is known far and wide as the king of the Mini-Stocks. While he did race all sorts of cars at some time or another, his success has come in the 4-cylinder ranks as he has won on nearly every track within 300 miles and averages about 25 wins a year with more championships than we can count. Now enter Andrew, at 26 years-old, he too is starting to carry the Sanders name on in racing as he is starting to make championships a habit.
In his 12 starts at Caraway in 2012, he amassed an impressive six wins, 11 top-five finishess and three poles. That’s right on-par with his championship season in 2011 with eight wins in 14 starts and 12 top five finishes. The competition at the Asheboro, NC track was always exciting. Eith a little fisticuffs involved at times, these Mini-Stock guys are just as serious as any other racer. In my experience, they are usually more passionate than anyone.
That was the case many times at Caraway this season as it came to a head one week when another competitor threatened to do harm to the elder Archie. Words were exchanged and a fight or a punch ensued, leaving people lying on the ground. That is one thing about the Sanders clan, and they are a clan, as with any racing family, if you mess with them you better be prepared.
Andrew’s season was not just limited to Caraway though. On his off nights he ventured to Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston Salem, NC where his father, AJ, was running the full season for the championship, finishing third in points. Andrew only made four visits to the famed quarter mile but was able to score two wins and three top fives in his limited time there. At Bowman Gray, they run two different races with over 20 cars in each event every Saturday; drawing for starting spots, winning isn’t easy.
After moving from go-karts, where he scored an impressive 214 win,s Sanders has already racked up 21 Mini-Stock victories and looks to keep the family name going strong. He has some big shoes to fill for 2013 as his grandfather will race some, his father will be a title contender once more and his younger brother Stephen once again looks to be at Bowman Gray weekly. Whew, for sure if you’re racing a Mini-Stock in 2013 in the NC region, there will be a Sanders near you … usually in front of you.
