ANDERSON, SC :: Ralph Carnes is seeking his unprecedented sixth championship at Anderson Motor Speedway and he will do so with a new car and a new crew chief.  Carnes enters the 2013 season as the reigning track champion.  Along with the quest for his sixth track championship, the veteran driver will compete in select UARA-STARS races.

“We’ve got a new car so hopefully we’ll be better than last year,” Carnes said.  “We won a championship but we only won two races.  We had some good runs in the UARA.  I just want to win more races.”

Carnes will run the full 2013 season at Anderson Speedway, a track celebrating its 50th anniversary season.  He feels he can win another championship and win at least half of the Late Model races at Anderson.

“They only have 12 Late Model races at Anderson,” Carnes stated.  “I’d like to win six of those realistically.  They’ll have truck races we run and some UARA races.  Our truck isn’t finished so hopefully we’ll have it ready for the second race at Anderson.  There are two UARA races at Anderson.  We’ll run those two.  We plan to go to Tri County and possibly the second race at Hickory.”

Among the improvements for Carnes’ racing program are a new Marlowe chassis and a new crew-chief.

“We hired a guy that’s helping us,” Carnes mentioned.  “Billy Poindexter will be our crew chief.  We have a new Marlowe car.  Actually, this will be my first new car ever so we’ve got better equipment than we’ve ever had and better help than ever.  We’re more prepared this year.”

Carnes’ roots in racing come from his father, a former car owner.  He didn’t enter racing at an early age like most.  In fact, the first time he ran a Late Model was when he was 25.

“My father was in racing when he was a kid,” Carnes explained.  “He was a car owner.  He always had an orange no. 2.  I went to the track with my father.  My first race was when I was 25 years old but I ran motorcycles, dune buggies and go karts up until then but he’s the one who got me in to it.”

Carnes will also attempt to compete in races at Greenville-Pickens Speedway and in select races in the SouthEast Super Truck Series.

Carnes is supported by West Utilities, Sue’s Wings, Rick’s Soda Blasting, Fastech Chassis N Rods, Troy’s Muffler and Schaeffer’s Oil.