Longtime South Boston Speedway regular and recently-crowned Wake County Speedway track champion Eric Winslow will make his second career CARS Response Energy Tour start in Saturday’s season finale at South Boston Speedway.
Winslow, who hails from Pehlam, North Carolina, just outside of Danville, Virginia, has been a mainstay at South Boston Speedway for several seasons. Although South Boston is his home track, he has also traveled frequently to Wake County Speedway, Carteret County Speedway and Southern National Motorsports Park in recent years. This weekend, he will make his second start in the CARS Tour after finishing 10th at Wake County back in August.
“This deal just got together this weekend,” Winslow said. “I hadn’t planned on racing until Bradley McCaskill snapped me [on Snapchat] and needed his number run with the Touring 12 perks. It makes it a no-brainer to go race. Unfortunately, I’ve for my Harrington engine rented out for this weekend but I’ve had good runs there with my 604 so we’re going there with that.”
Winslow doesn’t consider himself a favorite to contend for the win against the elites in CARS Tour competition, such as Bobby McCarty, Lee Pulliam, and Layne Riggs. He just hopes to have a strong showing and maybe pull off a surprise performance.
“In no way are we a favorite to win against the CARS Tour competition or anything like that,” Winslow remarked. “I just hope to represent my sponsors (Solid Rock Carriers and Stallings Collision Centers) well on the hometown stage, run all the laps, and have a clean race. If we do that, we have a shot at a good finish. Thankfully, I have a lot of laps around SoBo so that should help.”
Winslow comes into the race at South Boston after a top-five finish at Carteret County Speedway on October 27th. The AutosByNelson.com 250 won’t be his last race of the season. He plans to compete in a Limited Late Model at the Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park in late November as well.
“I would like to run Limited at Southern National but I don’t know if I will or not,” Winslow commented. “It all depends on if I can get a motor rented or built for it.”
Winslow, who owns the Midnight Performance shop in Danville, is among the last of the dying breed of throwback, independent racers. Nicknamed “The Outlaw,” Winslow is famously passionate for racing – more so than many in the sport. He often doesn’t get the opportunity to race on the big stage, so he will certainly try to make the most of it.
