GOLDSBORO, NC :: Clay Jones is both “excited” and “nervous” about heading down to Five Flags Speedway next week as he hopes to make the field for the 47th Snowball Derby – his second Snowball Derby attempt.
Jones, who dominated the season at Wake County Speedway en route to a track championship this season, made the field in his lone Snowball Derby attempt back in 2006. He started the race in the 16th position and had a solid run going before being swept up in an accident and finishing 32nd. This time, Jones hopes he can once again make the field against some of the very best names in short track racing.
“I’m excited and nervous,” Jones said. “The first thing is just making the race. I think we’ve got a real good shot. We’ve got some real good equipment with Curtis Venable and Wear Crete Racing. I think we’ve got a good shot and that’s the biggest thing. We’ve got such great competition; you’ve got the best of the best down there. First thing is making the race then we’ll work on long runs and that stuff.”
Jones hasn’t raced in a Super Late Model in nearly a half-decade, but he feels optimistic after testing at Southern National Motorsports Park recently.
“I haven’t run a Super Late Model in five or six years. I practiced a little bit two weeks ago at Kenly and ran some good lap times. It’s just a whole different ball game down there. You have to be on your game the whole time down there.”
He reminisced on his 2006 Snowball Derby experience, talking about both being there for the first time and racing there for the first time.
“Anybody that knows anything about racing knows that race is like the Daytona 500,” Jones stated. “Anybody that gets the opportunity just to go down there and sit in the stands, it’s just overwhelming how many people are there in the stands and the pits. It’s like a football game, sold out crowd. Racing there for the first time, it was lot of nerves. You’re around a lot of Cup teams and the best of the best. You’ve kind of got to stay in your own little hole and keep focused on what you’re trying to do and not get overwhelmed by the competition. It’s fun. It’s different from your average short track race.”
Before Jones makes the trip from Goldsboro, North Carolina to Pensacola, Florida, he will run his Late Model one more time in the Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park. Jones finished second in the 75-lap Halloween Spooktacular earlier this month and has 15 wins on the season at two different tracks – three at Dillon Motor Speedway in South Carolina and 12 at Wake County Speedway in North Carolina.
Jones says the transition shouldn’t throw him off too much with testing ahead of next weekend’s Snowball Derby but said there’s a huge difference in the Perimeter cars and the Straight-Rail and how you drive them.
“It’s a big difference, it really is. Thing is, we get a couple days to test before qualifying helps out a lot. With the Limiteds, your momentum racing while with the Supers, the biggest thing is saving your tires. Anybody can take off and lead a couple laps but you’ve got to save tires with all that horsepower. [Pit stops] are another thing that comes in to factor, a lot of these teams will have their full blown Cup pit crews and that’s probably going to help, you gain a couple positions under caution. You’ve just got to have a good car down there. It’s a long race and you have to out of trouble. That’s what happened last time, got caught up in a wreck but otherwise did everything we were supposed to do.”
Jones said he’s thankful to Curtis Venable for the opportunity to compete in the Derby and that there was no way he could get down there without him.
The Thanksgiving Classic Limited Late Model race will be run on Sunday, November 30th and the 47th Annual Snowball Derby will be held on Sunday, December 7th.
