Joey Throckmorton has been around racing long enough to know there are no givens, so he shrugs off the talk of him being a sure-bet to win this season’s Limited Division championship at South Boston Speedway.
“Danny (Willis Jr.) and Trey (Crews) are moving up (to Late Model) and everybody thinks it’s going to be kind of easy for me this year,” said Throckmorton. “But there are always going to be new people or (Tommy) Peregoy or (Brandon) Jones. You still have to beat somebody. You have to win races.
“I feel good (about the season), as long as I don’t have any bad luck. If you race, you’re going to wreck. And sometimes some crazy people on the track add a little drama. We just gotta do what we did last year.”
And last season was a pretty good one for Throckmorton as he finished fourth in the final Limited Sportsman standings. Considering he missed a couple of races midway through the season and fell out of the next-to-last race with mechanical problems, his fourth-place points finish is impressive. In seven starts he wound up with two wins, five top 5s and six top 10s.
He earned post-season awards for most poles won and most laps lead for the year.
“We do the best we can with what we’ve got,” said Throckmorton, who has been racing in the Limited class since about “2008 or 2009” and has won at least one race a year since he started racing in 2005.
Throckmorton is bringing the same car back this season he piloted a year ago, but with a few changes. It will be sporting a new Toyota body and a few other tweaks.
“We’ve got the same car we ran last year. We put a new body on it. We’ve done some small upgrades to it, but being a smaller team, we have to pick and choose what we do,” said Throckmorton.
Throckmorton hasn’t taken his Toyota to the track yet this season, but expects to be on hand and ready to go for the open practice session on March 5.
“We haven’t finished our car up totally. We should be finished this week with it,” said Throckmorton, who has sponsorship help from Crider Law Office of Chatham, Frutopia of South Boston, Martin Trucking, H and M Logging, Kajeah Enterprises and Creed Home Improvement.
Throckmorton also said he’s been pleased with all the changes that have come out of South Boston Speedway during the off season.
“We’re excited to get back (to the track). All the changes I’ve heard about and see have been good,” said Throckmorton.
Registration and pit gate opens at 9 a.m. on March 5. Practice will occur from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. with a one-hour break for lunch from noon until 1 p.m. Grandstands will be open to fans at no charge.
The South Boston regular season kicks off with the Danville Toyota NASCAR Whelen Late Model Twin 100’s on Saturday, March 12. There will also be a 50-lap Limited race, 30-lap Pure Stock race, 50-lap Modified race and a 15-lap Hornet race.
Adult admission is $10. Children, ages six and under, will be admitted free with an adult.
For more information visit the track’s website or phone the track at (434) 572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540. Information can also be found by following South Boston Speedway on Facebook and Twitter.
