There were plenty of reasons to look forward to the 2016 season in Late Model Stock Car racing and the year did not disappoint. From parity to thrilling finishes to captivating storylines, 2016 was one of the best years for Late Model Stock Car racing in recent memory.
No race was more evident of this than the premier race in Late Model Stock Car racing, the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway. The race was headlined by an underdog story, Mike Looney and Billy Martin, a local duo. Billy Martin, who hails from Stuart, Virginia, is a former champion at Franklin County Speedway – but he had never fielded a car that made the field for the big show.
That changed when Mike Looney, a driver known most for his bad luck, not only made the race but qualified on the pole. Looney went on to hold off two-time ValleyStar Credit Union 300 winner Lee Pulliam in a thrilling finish to score the victory in Late Model Stock Car racing’s crowned jewel event. The story itself was so good, it could have been used as a Hollywood script.
Looney and Martin were known as the “Little Team That Could” after their successes during the regular season at Motor Mile Speedway. “The Little Team” that could relished in the ultimate triumph.
Less than two months later, a new story would be written in the Myrtle Beach 400. Another thrilling finish to an always thrilling race – although, this time, it would be a first-time winner. Christian Eckes held off Josh Berry in a photofinish to score the victory, his first in a Late Model Stock Car in what was his biggest win of his career until some 17 days later.
Eckes’ win at the Myrtle Beach 400 wasn’t the end of his season, it was only the beginning of the Christian Eckes steamroller which rolled into Southern National Motorsports Park the following weekend. Eckes scored the victory in the Super Late Model portion of the Thanksgiving Classic, but the steamroller wasn’t done yet.
On December 6th, 17 days after his Myrtle Beach 400 triumph, Eckes won Super Late Model racing’s biggest event, the Snowball Derby in a finish that was virtually an encore presentation of the Myrtle Beach 400. Eckes held off John Hunter Nemechek in a photofinish to prevail in the race.
The aforementioned Thanksgiving Classic played host to another installment in one of Late Model Stock Car racing’s great rivalries. Justin Johnson spun trying to pass the lapped car of Maddy Ryan Mulligan, setting up a green-white-checkered finish. On the restart, Lee Pulliam ended up going around and crashing off the front bumper of Matt McCall, instantly bringing back memories of the 2011 ValleyStar Credit Union 300, when Pulliam moved McCall for the win. Tommy Lemons, Jr. went on to win the race.
Pulliam was often a storyline in the 2016 season, as he always is in Late Model Stock Car racing. He scored the victory in South Boston Speedway’s 200 lapper for a sixth consecutive season in spite of his early season struggles at the legendary short track. He won many more races throughout the season and scored the championship at Motor Mile Speedway – ending the season with 16 victories.
However, he wasn’t the only dominant racer in 2016.
Any time Josh Berry showed up at the track, he was a threat to win. Berry scored five wins in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour in 2016 – on top of victories at Hickory Motor Speedway (including a win at the Fall Brawl), Myrtle Beach Speedway and Greenville-Pickens Speedway.
Matt Bowling scored wins at several tracks, including South Boston Speedway, Southern National Motorsports Park and East Carolina Motor Speedway, to claim the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national championship. Bowling won an impressive 14 races in 2016, making starts at eight different tracks in the regular season. This was the sixth consecutive year a Late Model Stock Car driver from the Carolinas or Virginia has won the national title.
Nick Smith was the dominant force at the newly opened Dominion Raceway in Thornburg, Virginia – picking up 12 victories at the high banked 4/10 mile speedplant. Meanwhile, Chase Purdy was a dominant driver early in the season racing for Hawk-McCall Motorsports, scoring a total of 10 victories racing at Greenville-Pickens Speedway and Myrtle Beach Speedway. In Coal Country, the dominant racer was Kres VanDyke, who scored 12 wins – predominantly at Kingsport Speedway in Tennessee and Lonesome Pine Raceway in Coeburn, Virginia.
Eastbound and Down, the newly opened Carteret County Speedway was fast becoming a track known for fantastic finishes and thrilling races. The season didn’t start out with optimal car counts, which grew throughout the year, but the track did not lack in action. Chris Burns and Joshua Yeoman, who both became first time winners, were staging extraordinary duels on the track. The early races which featured numerous lead changes weren’t even the peak of the iceberg.
On August 6th, Virginia racer Eric Winslow picked up his first career win in a photofinish over Zachary Marks. However, Winslow’s celebration would be unconventional after he and Marks got together after the race, sending Winslow’s car in the wall in turn one. Winslow celebrated his win with a victory lap on a motorized scooter. Winslow, however, would get redemption on September 24th with a victory, driving a car loaned to him by Chris Burns.
For the women in Late Model racing, 2016 was one of the best years yet. Tasha Porter Kummer scored her first Late Model victory in March at Greenville-Pickens Speedway. A few weeks later, at Hickory Motor Speedway, third generation racer Kate Dallenbach would go on to score her first win – a win that was seemingly overdue for the 19-year-old.
Meanwhile, popular Bowman Gray Stadium competitor Taylor Robbins scored three wins at the iconic track in a Street Stock and a Limited Late Model victory in a 602 Super Limited Series exhibition race at Southern National. And, at Dominion Raceway and South Boston Speedway, Macy Causey was maturing in her own right as a racer, eventually becoming a top-five competitor.
That success for the ladies of Late Model Stock Car racing carried over into Martinsville. In the modern history of the ValleyStar Credit Union 300, no woman had made the field for the big dance. In 2016, three women would make the field. Macy Causey and Annabeth Barnes-Crum, who had both tried to make the field in the past, raced their way in while Haley Moody, in her first Martinsville attempt, also made her way into the 300.
The three big races that highlight the end of the season demonstrated the parity in Late Model Stock Car racing that was prevalent all year long. The season ending race, the Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National, saw a duel between three different engine packages (Chevy crate and built engines and Ford crate engines). The parity was also evident in the list of 2016 champions.
2016 Champions:
Anderson Motor Speedway – David Roberts; Caraway Speedway – Tommy Lemons, Jr.; Carteret County Speedway – Chris Burns; Dillon Motor Speedway – Averitt Lucas; Dominion Raceway – Nick Smith; East Carolina Motor Speedway – Brenden Queen; Florence Motor Speedway – Archie Adams, Jr.; Franklin County Speedway – Kyle Dudley; Greenville-Pickens Speedway – Dylan Hall; Hickory Motor Speedway – Dexter Canipe, Jr.; Kingsport Speedway – Ronnie McCarty; Lonesome Pine Raceway – Wayne Hale; Motor Mile Speedway – Lee Pulliam; Myrtle Beach Speedway – Matt Cox; Orange County Speedway – Terry Dease; Shenandoah Speedway – Mini Tyrell; South Boston Speedway – Matt Cox; Southern National Motorsports Park – Tyler Matthews; Wake County Speedway – Zachary Marks
Throughout the 2016 season, new faces emerged in the sport and in victory lane while familiar faces also continued their success. It was a year of resurgence for South Boston Speedway, a year of underdog stories and rising stars and a year of fantastic racing.
2017 looks to be a season of change with a new track surface at South Boston Speedway and a new engine package being introduced at many tracks – but the sport itself, and the devoted fanbase and passionate drivers, will not change.
