FDJ Motorsports Power Rankings — September 2011

Content by: Langley Austin ~ [email protected]
List Compiled by RACE22.com Staff and Industry Experts

Roanoke, VA(September 9, 2011) — The FDJ Motorsports Power Rankings for Late Model Stock Cars has become a staple here on RACE22.com.

The drivers want to see where they stack up, whether they make the list, whether they’re ahead of their rival and they want to see where their peers are.  Fans want to see where their favorite drivers are listed and the drivers that aren’t at the top of their list and both the drivers and fans are passionate about where they stack up.

We often get emails, posts on Facebook and see remarks about how drivers and fans don’t like where a guy is ranked and drivers in particular aren’t shy to make a smart comment about it in person.  Believe it or not, we actually prefer you talk about it, it lets us know that you’re paying attention and we know the drivers are certainly paying attention and it’s good to see we can get the fans riled up a little too.

Well here’s another month’s worth of FDJ Motorsports Power Rankings to either brag about or to complain about.  There was certainly some moving around amongst the Top 22 Drivers and there are some new faces to talk about so check it out and let us know by going to our FaceBook page what your thoughts are.

22nd – Taylor Doggett #20/South Boston & Orange County
Many of you may not even know the name, Taylor Doggett, in fact unless you’ve been hanging around South Boston Speedway for the past few seasons I’m sure you don’t know who he is.  However, this season he’s began to put himself on the map a little as he started the season as a driver for FDJ Motorsports winning a race at Orange County Speedway and now drives for FDJ’s nemesis, Jim Dean Motorsports at South Boston Speedway.  Most recently he finished one spot ahead of his former boss, Frank Deiny, Jr. and couple that with some other strong finishes and you can see why he made this months Top 22.

21st – David Polenz #33/Old Dominion Speedway
David Polenz is another name that might not be that familiar to our readers, that is unless you follow Old Dominion Speedway on a regular basis.  This is another kid starting to make some noise, not only at his home track where he won the two most recent races at, but he’s about to strap himself in an FDJ Motorsports prepared car and tackle Motor Mile Speedway.  While his wins to date have put him on the staff’s radar, it’s what might be coming up for this youngster that has us keeping a closer eye on him as he makes his Motor Mile debut this weekend.

20th – Brandon Brown #68/Old Dominion Speedway
Brandon Brown first made the FDJ Motorsports Power Rankings list last month with a couple of wins at Old Dominion Speedway.  He stacked up 19th last month and while since then he hasn’t really done anything of note, he did manage to keep himself on the Top 22 list and if he can get his program together away from his home track of Old Dominion he might just make a splash as he climbs up this list.

19th – Robert Tyler #88/Caraway Speedway
Robert Tyler has seen his share of the list here on the FDJ Motorsports Power Rankings for Late Model Stock Cars this season.  Robert is one of the top racers week in and week out at Caraway Speedway and is noted by his competitors(good or bad) as being the best with a crate engine on the 4/10 mile track.  Tyler picked up a win recently and put his name back on the list here, but to climb up he’ll have to race somewhere else a time or two and perform like he does there.

18th – Bobby Measmer, Jr. #14/Concord Speedway
Concord Speedway hasn’t had a lot of drivers make their way on to the FDJ Motorsports Power Rankings for Late Model Stock Cars … after all the car counts there are short and the racing has been less than stellar.  However, there has been one bright spot for the track or at least for one driver, Bobby Measmer, Jr.  He’s been dominating the d-shaped track this season and now has nine wins to his credit.  Something we can’t just ignore, but he needs to take his ride to other tracks to get the notice he deserves.

17th – Greg Edwards #21/Langley, South Boston & Franklin County
Greg Edwards started off the 2011 season looking to be one of the drivers to watch in the region.  However, since opening the season with a pair of wins, he’s been playing second fiddle to CE Falk, who has since won 11 races.  Edwards however has been the second guy there week in and week out and he has been strong in starts at South Boston.  To move up now though he’ll have to make his way back to victory lane.

16th – Jeb Burton #27/Ace and South Boston
Despite a recent NASCAR suspension for throwing a cone at another competitor at South Boston Speedway, Jeb Burton has been on a roll at Ace Speedway.  Weekly he’s been one of the top guys to beat on the 4/10 mile d-shaped track and has racked up three victories since moving down to Ace Speedway to compete.

15th – Anthony Anders #86/Greenville-Pickens and Anderson
Anthony Anders started off this season ranked number four on the FDJ Motorsports Power Rankings for Late Model Stock Cars and he’s still one of the winningest drivers this season.  He has won 12 races total with ten at Greenville Pickens including the win in the SH Carter 125, $10,000 to win race.  He also has two victories at Anderson Motor Speedway, but hasn’t had quite the success there as he has Greenville.  He’s had a great season, but now he’s just not on it like he was early on in the season.

14th – Randy Porter #32/Greenville-Pickens and Anderson
Randy Porter hasn’t had quite the season that his rival, Anthony Anders has, but he’s not falling off as the temperatures begin to fall a little.  He has six wins at Greenville Pickens with three at Anderson, but he’s started to hit his stride this summer and looks to be the man to beat in UpState South Carolina this fall.

13th – BJ Mackey #98/Caraway Speedway
BJ Mackey has had an incredible 2011 season, but as the winds of fall begin to blow he has fallen like a leaf that has began to change colors.  Mackey won nine races, almost every start he’s made this season, but on July 30th, Lee Pulliam stopped his streak of wins and Mackey hasn’t seen a victory lane since.  Certainly not the time you want to have your streak come to an end as big race season comes upon us.

12th – Mike Darne #14/Old Dominion and Caraway
Mike Darne isn’t enjoying his first stretch run of success, but this season he’s had a great run not only winning at his long time home track, Old Dominion, but also picked up a win at Caraway.  Darne has six wins total with one at Caraway and the other five at Old Dominion and he still has several chances at victory including the “Big One” at Old Dominion.

11th – Brennan Poole #7/UARA-STARS Series
Brennan Poole has fallen from grace …. starting at the top of this list back in April, Poole has steadily fallen from there to now being just outside of the top ten.  Poole hasn’t run bad however as the young driver hasn’t finished worse than fourth all season in the UARA-STARS Series, but now he isn’t winning races.  Poole however will probably easily win the championship in the series after having one stole from him last season.

10th – Frank Deiny, Jr. #5/South Boston and Motor Mile
Frank Deiny, Jr.’s name is synonymous with winning Late Model Stock Car races throughout the region, but this season has been an entirely different tale.  The veteran driver with five track championships and a ton of wins to his credit has finished second ten times this season with most of those coming at Motor Mile Speedway with Lee Pulliam winning all of them.  Deiny has had an incredible season however, with only one of his starts ending with him in victory lane, albeit a controversial win.

9th – Garrett Campbell #12/UARA, Caraway, Motor Mile & South Boston
Garrett Campbell is another driver who has had a great season, but not many trips to victory lane.  He does have four wins(three trophies) to his credit though as he’s won at Newport Speedway in the UARA, Ace Speedway(though he was disqualified) and two wins at Caraway Speedway.  Garrett has a bunch of strong finishes all over the region and especially in the UARA-STARS Series, but has yet to have a great run at a Virginia track.

8th – Barry Beggarly #82/Ace and South Boston
Barry Beggarly is a Late Model Stock Car racing institution … he’s been winning races since …. well, he raced against Ben Hurr.  Beggarly has an official number of wins of over 200 in a Late Model Stock Car and this season he’s been winning regularly at over 60 years of age.  Beggarly has won five races this season at Ace Speedway, a track he’s been winning on for years and he’s still one of the toughest customers in Late Model Stock Car racing.

7th – Lee Tissot #27/Kingsport and UARA-STARS Series
Lee Tissot didn’t have quite the season that he wanted at Kingsport Speedway, the track that he made his home this season.  He did however win four races and had a chance to win the track championship heading into the seasons final race.  He did also win the second of two UARA-STARS Series races held on the 3/8 mile concrete track, his only UARA start of the season.  Tissot had a great season, but with Kingsport done for the season, I don’t expect him to move up this list any further.

6th – Ronnie Bassett, Jr. #04/UARA-STARS Series
Ronnie Bassett, Jr. hasn’t been the winningest of the Bassett brothers from Winston-Salem, NC this season, but he has had a great season and most recently he’s been winning all over the region.  Bassett, the elder of the brothers now has two “official” UARA-STARS Series wins and three trips to victory lane.  The youngster is making a name for himself and he might just climb a little higher this fall with a handful of UARA races left and some big races coming up.

5th – Jesse LeFevers #43/Hickory Motor Speedway
Jesse LeFevers has been one of the drivers that everyone has been looking at, he’s been the winningest driver at Hickory Motor Speedway this season.  He has eight wins so far this season and has had a dream season for a young driver.  He’s hit the pinnacle for him on this list however as without going to other tracks to compete he can only slip down this list.

4th – Nate Monteith #44/Kingsport Speedway
Despite only competing at one track this season, Nate Monteith has reached inside the top five on the FDJ Motorsports Power Rankings for Late Model Stock Cars.  Monteith did make one other start at Motor Mile with mediocre results, but his performances at Kingsport have him as one of the top drivers this season.  His season is done at Kingsport now so he’ll be slipping down the list unless he ventures out to other venues before seasons end.

3rd – CE Falk III #40/Langley and South Boston
Ordinarily at this point in the season we’re talking about CE Falk III having run three or more tracks with starts usually at Langley, South Boston, Motor Mile and Caraway, but this season he’s only ventured to the first two and without a win at South Boston, third is as high as he can get.  However, his 11 wins at Langley Speedway are impressive enough to carry him to the top of this list with a third place effort behind the seasons two winningest drivers.  Look for Falk to make a splash this fall in the “big races” if he wants to go back to the top spot here where he spent much of the last two seasons.

2nd – Philip Morris #26/South Boston, Motor Mile and Langley
Ordinarily it would be hard to put a guy with 19 wins in second on a list about the most powerful drivers, but Philip Morris has had all his wins come on one single track despite starts on several venues.  He has a couple of starts at Langley in twin races and four at Motor Mile, where he’s finished second to our Most Powerful driver three times and his other finish is 15th.  And those finishes is what separates him and the number one driver …

1st – Lee Pulliam #1/Motor Mile, South Boston and Caraway
Lee Pulliam found himself atop this list for the first time this season last month as he was the number one driver in the FDJ Motorsports Power Rankings for Late Model Stock Cars.  Pulliam got the top spot after winning for the first time at South Boston and backing it up with a win at Caraway in only his second start at the track.  He has since picked up two more wins at Motor Mile upping his number of wins there to 14 and to 16 overall.  He’s the best of the best this season, but by a small margin over Philip Morris and one slip by Pulliam could put Morris to the top.

Movement Inside the Top 22 …

New to the Top 22:
19th – Robert Tyler
21st – David Polenz
22nd – Taylor Doggett

Out of the Top 22:
20th – Kyle Moon
21st – Davin Scites
22nd – Tommy Lemons, Jr.

Biggest Movers:
8th – Barry Beggarly +8
9th – Garrett Campbell +8
7th – Lee Tissot +3

Biggest Losers:
13th – BJ Mackey -9
11th – Brennan Poole -6
15th – Anthony Anders -6

The “Best of the Rest” ….
Of the drivers not making the FDJ Motorsports Top 22 Power Rankings, that we feel deserve a little recognition are the guys listed below and short reasons why. Hopefully this gives some of the guys who haven’t been dominant this season a little reason to think they can break into the Top 22 with a little time in victory lane.