ALTAMAHAW, NC :: Booing drifted down from the stands as Brian King climbed out of his black and orange number 17 modified in victory lane. He was drenched in sweat and grimacing slightly as he shook hands with his crew and well-wishers. Just a few minutes earlier, his chance at a 13th consecutive victory looked to have ended in dramatic fashion: Contact and a spin with the 45 of Gary Young, Jr., and then Young’s subsequent retaliation under caution that left the 17 sitting backwards in turn 4 while the 45 rolled onto pit road spewing water from a destroyed radiator.
King survived with surprisingly little damage and retraced his steps back through the field to claim the victory. But this most recent win may have marked a turning point in King’s rule over Ace Speedway’s modified division. Although he’s made easy work of the field – even starting from the rear as the rules mandate you must after 3 wins in row – last two marches to the front involved direct confrontation with frustrated competitors.
For the most part, King, a machinist from Gibsonville, takes it in stride.
“Eventually I’m going to get beat,” he says, “And I’m honestly surprised it hasn’t happened yet. The nights that I’ve missed the setup a little bit, so have they.
“I don’t want to give a race away or lose,” he adds, “but I’m tired of starting in the rear. If it was a good race and I give it my all and somebody beat me, I really wouldn’t feel that bad about it, and it would probably give some of these guys some incentive to know that I can be beaten.”
“These guys” in the modified division at Ace Speedway include multiple former champions and host of hungry young drivers whose turn in the limelight has been put on hold by King’s streak.
King’s main rival this season has been Young, the 2011 modified champion and eight-time runner-up to King in 2014. He is a second-generation modified racer and as the second fastest car on most nights has borne the brunt of the frustration at King’s flawless run. That culminated in the August 29 run-in between the two, which occurred while King was attempting to pass Young. for second place.
“I was just riding behind the 32,” Young says, “And the 17 hit me. I got a better run on the outside and he tried to pinch me against the outside wall. Then he picked me up again, and then finally the third time he got me.”
King says the incident was a product of hard racing on a track that was abnormally slick.
“I was trying to stay close to him so I could get a run up off,” says King, “and I got in too hard and saw I was going to hit him so I slammed on the brakes and ran into him and still spun us both out. I tried to spin myself out to keep from hitting him, but I was too close to him.”
After the spin, Young used his front bumper (and radiator and several other parts) to express his anger.
In the pits after the race, he was unapologetic, saying that many drivers and fans are frustrated with King’s dominance and his driving, referring in particular the contact between King and Mike Bledsole the previous race that lead to Bledsole spinning from the lead.
“Everybody else can put up with that and talk about how they want to do something the next week, but that’s not me. I’ll go ahead and get it out of the way,” Young said, although he admits the shot at King didn’t go as planned.
“I had good momentum and I was trying to destroy his car, but when he turned, I was heading at his door. At the end of day hurting somebody is not going to solve anything. So I turned, and it tore my car up worse than his.”
“But I promise you,” he adds, “If he touches me again, he’ll put it on a rollback.”
Up until now, track officials had worked hard to keep any frustrations from being expressed with on-track retaliation. But for many fans and drivers, tensions surrounding King’s dominance had been running high. Earlier in the evening, Young offered a wider perspective on the frustration with King and the competition in the modified division.
“When you used to come in the gate, you knew that you could win,” Says Young. “There was about six or seven of us that could win, and you had to do your part to win. Now when you come in the gate, you have to hope that either he breaks, or the track finally does something about his car. Neither one of those are very likely.”
“This guy is really ruining the class,” he adds. “We had 17-18 cars the very first race, third race we had 15, and it’s dropped from there. Nobody wants to run against him. Nobody wants to spend $60 thousand per year just to run second. I’ve spent more the last two years running against him than I expected to ever spend.”
The modified division at Ace pays $500 to the winner and allows competitors to buy one tire per race. The rules package is designed to limit the cost of participating and mitigate the potential benefits of outspending opponents, but Young suggests that King has been able to bend the rules to his advantage. King understands why some drivers are frustrated, but is adamant that the track has been more than thorough in tech.
“I know it’s not good for one person to win,” King says, “But that’s not my fault. If I’m legal and I’m not cheating and I’m doing everything by the rules, I’m just using the rules to my advantage. And [track officials] do check me a lot, they check four or 5 things a night. They’ve flowed my carburetor, pulled my intake off, pulled my axles out, and checked for traction control. They’ve crawled all over my car.”
King says the keys to his speed lay in flawless preparation by his team and experience gained while touring with the ASA and Whelen Modified Series. He wishes the division had more competitive cars, for the benefit of both the track and him.
“I really hate this time of the year when I’ve won this many,” King says, “Because when it gets to this point it turns into me against them instead of me against 12 individual drivers. People just want somebody else to win. Even the fans.”
Complicating the final few races for King is the fact that despite his dominance, he does not have the division championship locked up. The Ace Speedway point system allows a competitor to drop their two worst point finishes before the final stretch of the season, which means Young, with all his runner-up finishes, is still within striking distance with two nights of twin races remaining.
– Story by: JP Crews, @CircleTrackNerd
