The season at Bowman Gray is over, it’s a short one, running from the end of April till the end of August. It’s a grueling week after week affair, with 20+ car fields and tons of repairs to do nearly each week because of the close confines of the tight quarter mile flat track. That grind puts most racers only racing at that one track, most don’t venture out before or after the season. Tommy Neal is breaking the mold on that.
After winning his first Sportsman championship this season (Limited Late Model) after finishing second in the points a mind boggling nine times, Neal has decided to run other tracks for fun. Racing at Bowman Gray since 1990 winning two Stadium Stock titles, then moving to Late Models, Limiteds, Modifieds and back to Limited, the racing can become monotonous at times so Neal thinks it’s time to relax. And by relax that means more racing.
“We just want to race and have fun” said Neal. “We went to Hickory a few weeks ago and had a good time, missed the setup a bit but enjoyed ourselves. Went to Caraway the next week and nearly won the race with a good field to boot. Now we’re headed to Tri-County for this big Limited race and I’m really excited about that”.
Neal is looking forward to the track in Hudson, NC as he has won there before. “I love racing at that track, we won some six cylinder races there back in the day and there is a ton of room to race” Neal explained. “They haven’t raced there weekly for a few years now so we should be on a little more level playing field than new tracks where we are racing against guys that have been there for years. Racing different places and different people only makes us better for the next place we go”.
“We are going to run the North South Shootout and then going to try and do the big Limited race at Myrtle Beach” said Neal about his future plans. “I just enjoy racing around, and where I’ve been racing lately and where I’m going I think, we can really race around those people at those tracks because they have respect. It’s fun racing when at the end of the night we only have a few tire marks and can load the car into the trailer. I’d like to see more drivers come out and race different tracks. Not sure if they get burned out or what, but to me it’s pretty refreshing to break the norm.”
In a day where racing is on the decline, it’s good to see drivers like Tommy racing at different venues. It boosts the numbers all across the board, for the fans, for the car count and for the tracks. I urge all drivers to come support different tracks, no pressure of points and racing can be what it is meant to be, fun. Come check out Tommy and some of the best Limited Late Model drivers across the region at Tri-County Motor Speedway this weekend with racing starting at 7pm, only $5 to get in.
