GREENVILLE, SC :: Tempers flared off the track after the top two drivers in the nation faced off on the track at Greenville-Pickens Speedway on Saturday night. The extracurricular activity came after Anthony Anders swept twin Late Model features with Lee Pulliam finishing second in both races, resulting in Anders increasing his lead in the NASCAR Whelen All American Series National Championship standings.
Following the race, Lee Pulliam’s car owner, Travis Kiker, attempted to protest the droop, which is how much the wheel travels, on Anders’ car. All four corners must travel at least two inches. According to Pulliam and Kiker, Anders’ car had no droop. Once Kiker filed his protest, Anders’ son, Brandon Fox, claimed the motor out of Pulliam’s car. In turn, Kiker wanted to claim the engine out of Anders’ car and was told by track officials he could not do so.
The Anders camp and the Pulliam camp both have conflicting stories on how things went down from there.
“We were in victory lane and I congratulated him on finishing second and shook his hand in front of 3,000 people and told him appreciated him coming and next thing I know, I had a protest,” Anders said. “They protested the droop. I’ve never even heard of it until they brought it out in the tech shed. Well, we have a set of rules so I turned around and said I wanted to buy his motor. My son finished fourth. I can’t buy behind me so my son, who finished fourth, did so. I wanted to buy the motor, that’s an extra $500, tear it to the ground and make sure it’s legit. I blew up at Anderson and I’m in the market to buy a new motor. It’s a Kowalsky Engine.
“So, Lee’s crew chief said it’s Travis Kiker’s car and I need to tell him what’s taking place. He came over there and told the officials that nobody would buy his motor. In the rulebook, if you don’t sell the motor, you forefit the race. They told him that and Mr. Kiker went crazy, pouring fingers in (Greenville-Pickens Speedway track owner) Kevin Whitaker’s face, giving him every word you could possibly think of. He just went in to this unprofessional mode of action… He thought the officiating was unfair and that it wasn’t right to start-and-park cars for a National Championship. When we walked away, Whitaker said the conversation is over and the protest is over and we don’t play this game here and everyone needs to load up and go home. Kiker did try to buy my motor back but it says a Chevrolet can’t buy a Ford motor and a Ford can’t buy a Chevrolet motor. But my son ran a Chevrolet. Well, Kiker not selling his motor is an automatic disqualification so he withdrew his protest.”
Kiker’s version of events differs.
“It was probably the only legal car, that and Marty Ward,” Kiker commented. “The rest were owned by Anders. After the race, we had to hunt down a rulebook. None of the officials had a freaking rulebook. I went back to the trailer (after filing the protest) and they made a claim rule on the motor. If he wants to claim my motor, I’m going to claim his motor. How’s Anders claiming my motor? Well, he owned the third place car so he could claim it. Well, I wanted to claim his motor and it would cost $2,000 more. I said we’d do it but then they said I couldn’t claim him motor because it’s a Ford but he could claim mine. That’s when I got ugly.”
Kiker then went on to explain that he never forfeited the protest and was simply told to pack up and leave.
“I never withdrew our protest,” Kiker explained. “That’s when I was told to shove our money up our ass. That’s why it pissed me off. I said they would not get my motor if I could not claim his. Why can you only claim one guy’s motor if you’ve got a claim rule? How’s that fair? When I told them they couldn’t claim my motor and I couldn’t claim his, they told me I was forfeiting. If NASCAR has these rules, I’ll buy a bunch of Fords, they’re only $5,500.”
Pulliam also weighed in on the protest.
“I felt like we were the fastest legal car there,” Pulliam said. “We protested a simple protest, the droop on the car – it had zero droop in it, it’s supposed to have two inches. We had 20 minutes to protest, we protested within 18. The track owner told us we could take our $300 and shove it up our tail. He didn’t say tail but you get the gist of it. 20 minutes later, they wanted to claim our motor for $6,500. We wanted their motor for $7,500. They said we could not claim the motor because it was a Ford motor. It’s in their rulebook that we can claim their motor. He said, ‘I make the rules and can change them when I want to and you can’t have his Ford’. He told us at that point that we could load our crap up and never step foot again on his racetrack.”
The protest wasn’t the only point of contention between the Anders camp and the Pulliam camp. While the drama was ongoing in the tech shed, Kiker and Anders engaged in a verbal argument about the start-and-park situation that has generated so much discussion during the season.
“I stood outside and [Kiker] told me it was not right we were starting and parking cars in an 18 car field so I stood there with Mr. Whitaker and asked him a few questions,” Anders stated. “If you go to Kenly and look at their lineup, when they’re not there, there are 10-12 cars that start. When Pulliam’s in the house, there are 18 cars. I asked him to explain that to me and he could not explain it. They’ve got ride-along cars and I asked if they started those cars to make points for Pulliam and they wouldn’t answer that question.
“They say it’s not fair for me to start 3-5 cars each week. I’ve won 14 races in 2011 and Morris won that championship with 22 races and I didn’t even make the top 50 because of car counts so I’ve learned that, having gone to other tracks, I’ve learned how to win a national championship because they start and park cars up there. I went to Motor Mile and they had 26 cars. Kenly has start and parked ride-along cars, three of them. I’ve seen them at South Boston with only 13-14 cars and five more cars pull in right before the race… It’s not fair for me to win a race at three different tracks in the south and, down here, this is the south vs. the north the way I look at it, and they compare it by saying they have real drivers down there. I’ve got Randy Porter, RA Brown, Marty Ward and boys winning races off and on all along. You have to win races to win a championship and you have to have a car count so I’ve raced all over and won three championships in a row (Anderson, Myrtle Beach and Greenville) and I don’t hardly rank in the nation, it’s not fair.
I’ve won just as many races, a bunch of races, but I don’t get ranked because we don’t have car counts. So, I’ve learned if I can have five cars, we can pick up points. Now, Lee comes down here in my home and I beat him and they get upset. This damn Travis Kiker guy showed his butt to the point that he got escorted to his trailer by the law.”
Kiker responded to Anders’ comments in an interview with RACE22.com on Monday.
“I don’t own the freaking racetrack,” Kiker said, speaking about Southern National Motorsports Park in Kenly, North Carolina. “When we go, it’s us, Garrett Bunch, maybe Rusty Skewes and GR Waldrop. Yeah, there are more cars. I can’t answer why there aren’t more cars when we aren’t there. We only race the Dirty Dozen races which there are more cars at anyways because of the deal with Motor Mile. I don’t know if we’ve raced one that’s not a Dirty Dozen race or not. That’s why Tommy’s leading the points there. We have no control over what that track does. In the past, Lee may have had start-and-park cars. I don’t know. This year, we have not asked anyone to start-and-park for us.”
During the interview, Kiker called on NASCAR to retroactively strip start-and-park cars of their points.
“I don’t care if NASCAR took every start-and-park out of the points now,” Kiker remarked. “Lee would be leading the points now. That’s what we need to do, take all the start-and-park cars out of the equation. That’s what needs to happen to make it fair. Take all the stat-and-parks out of every previous race. It’s easy to do since they’ve only run one lap.”
Kiker then commented on the track and the track’s management.
“The head official at Greenville-Pickens Speedway (Greg Dodgen) doesn’t even have a NASCAR license. The officials at Anderson that tried to assist us, they pulled it up and he doesn’t have a license and he’s head tech. They had no tools to check carbs. We had to use tape measures to check ride height. They rolled the scales out 20 minutes before qualifying. It’s bad on NASCAR and Whelen. That’s who I’m trying to get in touch with now, Whelen, because their name’s on it.”
Calls to the number listed for Greenville-Pickens Speedway went to the voicemail box of the Upper South Carolina State Fair.
Proving a Point
Anthony Anders felt like he proved a point on Saturday by beating Lee Pulliam but also said that the result would likely be different if he went up to race against Pulliam at South Boston.
“To go up to South Boston and run in his playground, it’ll be a tough thing to do since I don’t race there,” Anders said. “I went to Myrtle Beach, won once. I’ve raced at Anderson. I’ve won 13 races at Greenville. He’s won four straight races at SoBo. He put a fight on last night, shoved me around, I calmed down, got my rhythm back in. I’ve raced there for 20 years. He did a good job. I just outran him on Sunday night.”
Anders said Pulliam had to come to Greenville to try to make something happen but his experience at Greenville-Pickens Speedway made the difference.
“I feel like I prove a point that if you come to my racetrack that I race at every week, you’ve got to be tough notch to be in the game. We qualified close to each other. He came down here because he knows he had to come to Greenville-Pickens and beat me at my ballgame and he tried, it just didn’t happen. It’s that simple. He ran a good race. We qualified within a tenth, 20.64 to a 20.65. It’s just my hometown. I’ve race here 20 years and I’ve got an advantage. If I went to SoBo or Kenly, it’d be a different ballgame. He had to come to make something happen.”
The victories on Saturday night were Anders’ 18th and 19th wins on the season as he extends his lead in the NASCAR Whelen All American Series National Championship Standings over Lee Pulliam. The top-five were identical in both races with Anders winning over Pulliam, Kyle Plott, Brandon Fox and Marty Ward.
