Amber Lynn is hoping to have some success in this year’s Southeast Limited Late Model (SELLM) race at Myrtle Beach Speedway after a breakthrough season at Bowman Gray Stadium.
The 18-year-old from Walkertown, North Carolina scored three wins in Bowman Gray’s Street Stock division and was a contender for much of the season for the division championship. Now, with lessons learned, she’s confident she can score a good result at Myrtle Beach Speedway, a track that has not been kind to her the last two years.
“You know, this is our third year running this race and all I can really hope for is to finish,” Lynn said. “That seems like the hardest thing for us.”
In 2015, Lynn had a strong result in the SELLM Challenger race but the 100 lap SELLM Pro race was eventful. Lynn was able to overcome a penalty in the Last Chance Qualifier to make the field, but would ultimately be a victim of one of the multi-car accidents that plagued the event. Last season, her luck was not any better.
“Friday, last year, was not my fault,” Lynn remarked. “I was in the higher lane passing for second and the guy came up and hit me. I got black flagged for that, then I was in a wreck because I was in the rear of the field. That gave me a tore up car for Saturday which wasn’t fast enough, so again, in the back of the pack, I was collected in a wreck.”
“At a track like that, with so many cars, there’s really nothing we can do except be on our toes and, even then, it might not matter.”
Despite being involved in an accident last year, the race itself was much cleaner than the spectacle in 2015. Lynn feels she will come away with a good finish if the race is mostly clean.
“We go to any race to win, but I would be very happy with a top-five,” Lynn stated. “We always do well when people race like they should.”
This past season, Lynn raced at Bowman Gray Stadium, a track that is known for being rough and tumble. During the year, she picked up three wins, and she also learned a lot about aggression, and how to defend herself.
“Bowman Gray made me realize the other side of racing, which after 10 years, this is probably a good thing,” Lynn explained. “I was too nice. I let people run over me and never did anything about it. There, at the end, I fought back. Also, my social skills and my business skills improved. Every time I got wrecked, I got a sponsor. They came to me and all I had to do was close the deal.”
Lynn also learned lessons about how to stay out of trouble at tracks where it may seem otherwise impossible – lessons she will need to apply to survive on Saturday.
“As a driver, I learned a lot, like don’t let your right rear show going into the corner or don’t show your nose unless you want it chopped off,” Lynn commented. “I love the track, but you can’t go over there trying to be the better person. You have to stoop to everyone’s level to fit in.”
The lessons learned at Bowman Gray often came as a result of being the victim of on track incidents. Often times, Lynn feels she was targeted by her competitors because of her success.
“The other drivers often targeted me for more things than one, but what can you expect from a closed circuit track,” Lynn stated. “Someone new comes in and dominates and they targeted me because of it. I just wish other drivers saw it like I do, once you put on a helmet, you are neither man nor woman, you’re the number on your car and I’ll treat you how you treat me.”
After this weekend’s race at Myrtle Beach Speedway, Lynn will look ahead to running at Bowman Gray Stadium again next year.
“We are running Bowman Gray next year,” Lynn said. “We have a better team. My spotter, Brad Newman, who is also my finance, is back this year. We had to take some people off the team and add a few people. More sponsors, bigger sponsors. It should just be a great year because we now know what to expect.”
