Story by: Langley Austin ~ [email protected]
Asheboro, NC(January 25, 2013) — Mack Little picked up only a single victory in the Late Model Stock Car division in 2011, but the 2012 season belonged to him right from the start.
Mack Little opened the 2012 season with a victory in the first of twin races sharing the spotlight on this night with perennial contender Robert Tyler. As the season began it was clear that there were four legitimate contenders for the championship including Little, Tyler, Ryan Wilson and Dan Moore with Gene Kepley and Pete Stewart long shots if they were to compete in all the races.
Little and Tyler appeared to have the upper hand with their early victories, but Moore and Wilson would soon throw their names into the ring with victories of their own. Moore would quickly double up on victories becoming the first two time winner on the season by race number five. Little not to be outdone grabbed his second win of the season in the sixth race of the season. On the same night Alex Yontz picked up his first win of the season in one of his few appearances.
Tyler, who was having one of his most consistent seasons, grabbed twin victories on June 2nd to take the lead in number of wins with three. With half the season left to go Little, Wilson and Tyler looked to be the three drivers that would settle the championship. As the Rusty Harpe Memorial 200 took place on July 4th one of the regions hottest drivers brought his circus to town. Lee Pulliam picked up his ninth win of the season and his second in a hot streak during the Independence Day holiday.
Pulliam would pick up the victory in the seasons biggest race and as he returned for Sunday night twins, he was looking for two more wins. Pulliam would pick up the win in race number one after the aid of caution when he couldn’t catch up as it appeared between the Rusty Harpe race and this race that the Caraway competitors had caught up. In race number two, Pulliam looked to be on his way to winning once again, but jumped a restart and was black flagged.
The black flag setup a great race as he had to come from behind in a strong field, but the story of the race was the number of yellow flags that flew and the laps that weren’t appearing on the scoreboard. It wasn’t clear whether the track was trying to help Pulliam with the additional laps or whether they were trying to keep him from winning. There were many opinions on this, but at the end of the race, no matter the bad calls from the tower, Pulliam found himself door to door with Ryan Wilson for the win.
The drama was building and Wilson wasn’t about to back down and Pulliam was ready to put his racer back in victory lane as he was chasing the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series National Title. As the laps wound down, at least the ones that were being counted, Pulliam looked to be on his way to victory but Wilson hung tough on the outside and the two made contact. Pulliam’s car lost control and careened into the inside wall and his night was done and Wilson was on his way to victory lane.
At this point, it appeared that with two wins on the season, Wilson and another two time winner Little would take the championship battle down to the wire. However, Little was ready to assert himself as the top contender, and after visitor Tommy Lemons Jr. grabbed twin wins in the next event, Little put himself in victory lane twice in twin events himself. That put him at four wins on the season, but Little’s victories would be in question as the championship battle would head to the tech shed under protest from Little.
The protest of Little’s engine lasted a couple days extra as it was sent off to NASCAR’s Research and Development Center for further inspection. Despite the need to look further into his engine, Little’s parts were determined to be legal and he was one race away from his first championship. Though Wilson would grab the win in the season finale, it would be Little celebrating the championship.
Through a long season, Little and his underfunded team overcame all odds against teams with bigger budgets and drivers with more years of experience in the Late Model Stock Car division. Little, who already had a Limited (Sportsman) championship at Caraway under his belt, added a Late Model Stock Car title to his resume winning by 24 points.
