Limited Rookie, Bryan Reedy Excels in Late Model Debut at Martinsville

Story by: Kenny Lang

Ridgeway, VA(October 24, 2012) — Bryan Reedy had been to Martinsville Speedway many times in his life. As a very young fan of his grandfather Orvil. As a fan and later on as a crew member on his father Tink’s Late Model Stock Cars. This past weekend, he was in the driver’s seat.

Bryan was a rookie campaigner in the Limited Sportsman division at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, VA in 2012. He garnered one win and finished seventh in the points after missing the final two races due to the birth of his second child to wife Susanna.

The team traveled to Martinsville on Wednesday October 3^rd to get the third generation driver some seat time at the famed oval. The day went so well for the team that they decided to give making the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 starting field a try.

The team worked hard to find sponsors to help with the weekend tire bill and to rent an engine to run the race. Generous sponsorship from Rick Woodson Honda of Roanoke,VA, Brambleton Imports of Roanoke, VA, Euro-Specialty, Inc. of Roanoke, VA, Line-X of the Blue Ridge of Salem, VA and Billy Hartman Trucking made the trip possible.

When the practice began for the race weekend, those laps would be the first ones ever for Bryan with a full blown Late Model Stock Car set up. The team and driver were looking for comfort first and speed next. The driver adapted well in the first practice session and the team made changes between sessions to find more speed in the car.

The second practice session went even better, as the car was about a tenth and a half of a second faster than the first practice session.

When qualifying began, Bryan sliced another two tenths of a second off of his fastest time of the day. The lap turned would place Bryan 48^th fastest out of the eighty cars to take time. That lap would land Bryan a 12^th starting position in his heat race to be ran on Sunday afternoon.

A spin resulting in toe-in problems in the front-end would relegate Bryan to a 14^th position finish in his heat race. Only the top eight in each heat made the feature. The driver and team had one last chance to make the 150-lap feature. That was through the 50-lap last chance race held right before the feature race. Repairs were made to the car and the driver was ready to go in the last chance race.

Bryan had to start 24^th after his finish in the heat race. A plan was made to get behind Late Model Stock Car veteran Frank Deiny and follow him to the front. The top ten finishers would have a spot in the feature, and the task was going to be tough to come from that far back.

With Deiny opening holes, the rookie driver slowly worked his way to the top 15 with about ten laps remaining in the race. A few cars tangled late and that placed Bryan ninth with a green, white, checkered finish on the horizon.Bryan tucked in between Deiny and another veteran, Chad Harris, and made the feature event.

A rookie, with less than thirty at speed laps at Martinsville in a LMSC before the day started, would now make a start in the super bowl of Late Model Stock Car racing. That is quite a feat in itself.

Starting 41st in the 42 car starting field, Bryan would run as high as 22^nd after the halfway point, before front end damage from a car spinning in front of him on a restart would end his day with an overheating engine.

What started out as a weekend to get seat time in a Late Model Stock Car, turned into one of the feel good stories of the Martinsville Speedway Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 weekend. It made it all the more special to Bryan knowing his grandfather and father had done the same exact thing in the past.