SEMORA, NC :: “I want to win.”
That was the statement made by Travis Kiker when I asked him a question yesterday. The question was in reference to the new driver for his car heading in to the Myrtle Beach 400, the Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park and ultimately, the 2014 season. “Why did this move happen” was the question, and with the driver being defending two-time National Champion Lee Pulliam. “I want to win” was as appropriate as you could possibly get.
The surprise move is the biggest news within memory in the Late Model Stock world as Pulliam has been the most dominant driver in some time, possibly ever. Always driving for his family team, no one really thought about him driving for someone else, but at the end of day the move makes perfect sense for both parties involved.
“The timing was just right,” said Kiker, owner of Kiker Motorsports. “With my dad getting hurt and me having to run the family business by myself now, and not having a crew, I was thinking about selling out. Then me and Lee got to talking and put it all together, he will keep the cars and work on them and I’ll take care of the rest. The plan right now is to run the beach and Kenly then we are about 99% sure that we will go into 2014 to run for Lee’s third consecutive National Championship.”
Kiker was impressed by the passion Pulliam showed and things will be a little different going into 2014.
“Lee wants to run at places he has never run at before and I’m all for that,” Kiker explained. “I told him that we just need to run good these next two races, I’m not expecting you win your first time out.”
Pulliam responded to that, saying, “I want to win these two races, not winning is not acceptable.”
Kiker likes his attitude and they look to be good right out of the box.
On the Pulliam side, the fit seems perfect also. Although he has won everything there is to win over the past two seasons, the price of winning hasn’t come cheap. With the input not remotely equaling the output on finances over a season, a family team can only do this at this level for so long. With Kiker keeping his racing going and Pulliam doing work in-house to cut expenses for Kiker, both sides come out winners.
Kiker is a racer at heart and he wants to win, and he has stars in his eyes.
“I told Lee I’d love to see him 3-peat as the National Champion,” said Kiker. “I mean this was not a hard decision, it’s like Jimmie Johnson driving for you. He’s the best there is, why would I not run him? I just want to have fun, and winning is pretty fun. I’m going to give him whatever he needs to accomplish that within reason.”
The duo of Kiker and Pulliam might be new to the racing world but it looks to quickly be something everyone will be talking about. It could fall flat on its face or it could keep rolling as Pulliam has been doing the last two years. We will see next weekend at Myrtle Beach, a track Pulliam has never raced at. It won’t be from not working to get there as he is working on the car as this is being written. Either way, whatever happens all eyes will be on Pulliam this weekend as he starts the next chapter of his career.
