CONCORD, NC :: Bobby Measmer, Jr. is looking ahead to the Caraway Speedway on Friday night to turn his season around after mechanical issues prevented him from competing at South Boston Speedway. Measmer has one top-10 finish in four starts this season in the PASS South Super Late Model Series tour.
“We had to skip out on South Boston altogether,” Measmer said. “We had issues with the car at Southern National and couldn’t fix the car in time. We tested at Concord the morning of South Boston and still had problems. We’ve since found some issues with the oil pump. It kept kicking oil pump belts off. We got that changed and we’ve done some stuff on the car. It was a freak deal. You never know when you’ll run in to something crazy like we had. We ran the same car at Southern National last year and didn’t have any issues. New year, new problems.”
Meamer finished ninth at Hickory Motor Speedway and 11th at Myrtle Beach Speedway the race before that. He was running in the top 10 in the PASS South season opener at Dillon Motor Speedway until contact with another car relegated him to a 17th place finish.
“We were really satisfied after the first three races,” Measmer explained. “We’d been running in the top ten and we’re a Saturday night group of guys trying to run against a handful of teams with full time people. We were running seventh at Dillon and got taken out. I was happy about that run. We qualified well. We’ve raced well. We’re a top ten team if we can get the monkey off our back.”
Measmer said he felt he could have won at Southern National. After issues at Dillon, Southern National and having to sit on the sidelines at South Boston, Measmer said he’s not focusing on points moving ahead from past issues.
“We were looking forward to going to Kenly after last year. Motor and machine has put us behind. I’m satisfied to run with the guys I’m running with, just need to get everything in order. Right now, we’ve thrown the points out of the picture. We’re racing to win and trying to learn what we’ve got to do to the car. Hopefully we’ve got the motor deal fixed. Caraway’s not my favorite place to go. If we come out with a top 10, we’ve run in the top 10 every week except when we’ve wrecked or had motor issues. We’ve talked about going to the Snowball Derby and as many PASS races as we can.”
Measmer is planning on running the remainder of the PASS South schedule even though he considers the championship out of reach.
“I’m planning on running all the PASS South races from here on out. If things don’t go our way, we’re a Saturday night group of guys working day jobs at Stewart-Haas. We’ve got to talk racecars when we get home. With the schedule, it’s still tough to work a couple nights a week and get the car turned around with races two weeks apart.”
Measmer began racing at age 18 at Concord Speedway. He grew up to love racing early when his father and his father’s cousin competed at Concord.
“My dad and his cousin, they started racing at Concord when I was three. My dad was a mechanic on the cars. When I turned 18 and was stupid enough to get a racecar, I ran four cylinders at Concord. The rest is history as they say. We love Concord and I’ve stayed there. It hurts to travel around but we’ve got good sponsors. It helps to travel and get experience. It was something my dad started. He owned cars that his cousin drove. Something got in to me where I wanted to drive. Sometimes I wish I hadn’t. It’s better than doing drugs though.”
Measmer says he wouldn’t mind moving up if an opportunity came along, but he races because it’s something he loves to do.
“I don’t have all the money and the name, but I’ve got good people behind me with Bob Dillner and Kevin Hughes. They’re well-known names in the industry with Speed51 and Racing Electronics. If something came along, even if it was a one race deal, I wouldn’t turn it away. I enjoy what I do. It’s a hobby. I work to race. That’s what I do for a living. It’s pretty much my life.”
Measmer feels he has a legitimate shot at winning at Southern National Motorsports Park when the PASS South Super Late Model Series tour passes through there again on June 22nd.
“Winning at Southern National isn’t out of our reach. The way the start of the year went, the way we were going, we were headed the right direction. We ran a crate motor the first two races. We didn’t plan on running PASS South Super Late Models the whole year. We were planning on running some PASS Pro Late Model races. We just decided right before Dillon to run the Super Late Model races. We re-evaluated after the first three races to get a spec motor to make us better to where I’d be capable of winning. We’ve had issues with the spec motor ever since. It was a freak deal. We’ve learned from it now.
“I finished second at Southern National last year with their weekly deal. I don’t think it’d be out of the picture, us having a chance. I enjoyed Dillon. I look forward to it. We all look at the big picture but, realistically, the past few weeks with motor issues and what we had going on, I’d be happy with a top 10. Anything over that would be a win for us right now just the way the last two races have been.”
Measmer races for Hughes-Dillner Motorsports and is supported by PowerHouse Recycling, Racing Electronics and Speed51.com.
Measmer will be competing on Friday night in the Krazy Kevin Powell 150 at Caraway Speedway. RACE22.com will have Live Coverage from Caraway Speedway Friday evening.
