10th — Morris Moves Teammate for SoBo Triumph
Philip Morris’ name appears a lot on lists involving Late Model Stock Cars, but after all he is one of the greatest drivers in the divisions history, so it makes sense. This season was no different for him as he continued to make his mark on the Late Model Stock Car world. In his final race of the season at South Boston, he gave a nudge to his teammate, Lee Pulliam to bring home a $10k payday. It was a defining moment in the legendary drivers career as he proved he could win any race anywhere, even angering his friends to do it.
9th — Morris Boycotts Motor Mile, Show Goes On
Philip Morris … yeah, him again. Morris’ career may well be defined by his wins in not only big races, but his three NASCAR National Championships, but his 2010 season may well be defined by what he didn’t do. What did he not do? He didn’t show up at Motor Mile Speedway, staging a boycott of the track due to a rule made against winners, which added weight to them for two wins in a row. No one expected the tracks winningest driver and winner of more championships than anyone else to miss the race despite rumor of a boycott, but he did.
8th — Campbell Snags Elusive First Win at Concord
Garrett Campbell had already won a Late Model Stock Car race, but the one thing that had seemed to keep evading him was a UARA-STARS Series win. He can tell you first hand that winning a race at a weekly track in Late Model Stock Car racing is no easy task, but compared to winning a race in the ultra-competitive UARA-STARS Series is the ultimate task. Campbell did just that on August 7th at Concord Speedway as he drove one of his best races and found himself reaching victory lane against some of the best competition anywhere.
7th — Poole Dominates UARA, Wins Record 6th
If winning one UARA-STARS Series race is tough, then winning six is impossible right? Well, if you look back through the record books of the UARA-STARS Series, one might believe that winning enough races to get six trophies in one season would be all, but impossible. Brennan Poole proved that and other theories to be false as he not only took home six official UARA wins, but went to victory lane seven times in the series. He also won three races in a row(technically twice if not for his DQ at Tri-County) and he also won his sixth at Greenville Pickens, a track previously dominated by locals in the UARA races held there.
6th — Beggarly Returns to Victory Lane, Dominance
Barry Beggarly could easily be the greatest Late Model Stock Car racer ever and while many thought that his career was long since over, he returned this season to race at Ace Speedway and it wasn’t long before his competition was wishing he had stayed retired. Beggarly thinks that he has won close to 200 races in his illustrious career and this season he added three more to his total. The Legend picked up his first win in nearly ten seasons at Ace Speedway and went on to dominate the final three events at a tough track proving he was still “The Man.”
5th — Dean Bests Morris & Field for First Trophy
Brandon Dean came into this season declaring that he had to win in order for this season to be a success … and he was right. Dean and his Kiker Motorsports team both were in need of a victory and at Motor Mile Speedway, wins are very hard to come by especially when once man(Philip Morris) typically wins half the seasons races. However on a cloudy Sunday evening, he was able to put himself in position for a win, but with the laps running out, Morris stood in his way. Dean on a green, white, checkered held off the tracks winningest driver for his first triumph and went on to win one more before replacing Morris in the tracks championship photos at seasons end.
4th — Falk Bumps Past Cup Star for Biggest Win
The Denny Hamlin Showdown at Southside Speedway has been a big event for the last few seasons, but this season with the race switching to NASCAR Late Model Stock Car rules, it was going to shine brighter than every before. The race pits some of NASCAR’s best drivers like Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart and Hamlin himself against the local hot shoes in an all out war for bragging rights. The race saw mostly the cup stars up front with Hamlin out front for much of the race looking for his first win in an event named for his charity, but CE Falk wasn’t backing down, not even to the races namesake. Falk in a green, white, checkered used the chrome horn to muscle his way past Hamlin for the win on the final lap. It was the young drivers defining moment and biggest win and made NASCAR notables take notice of him.
3rd — Morris Brings Grandfather Clock Home to Clarence’s
Again, here we go with … Philip Morris. The veteran drivers name is all over this list as he was in the middle of some of the seasons defining moments. While his defining moment may have come in his bump past a teammate, Ridgeway, VA will forever know his name as the driver, who finally brought home a Martinsville Speedway Grandfather clock to the town’s most famous restaurant. Clarence’s Steakhouse has been a sponsor in Late Model Stock Car and local racing for what seems like forever and though they’ve went to Martinsville with many different legendary drivers, they have never been able to secure one of the tracks famous trophies, a Grandfather clock. Morris in another of his defining moments dominated the second half of the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300 for his second win in the biggest of all Late Model Stock Car races and delivered Clarence’s Steakhouse’s first.
2nd — Underfunded Rouse Takes Emotional First Win
Micahel Rouse is probably one of the most well liked and respected young racers in Late Model Stock Cars today. He’s a nice young man with a big heart, full of talent, but lacking the funding he needs to race like he wants to. That however hasn’t stopped him from racing and competing with drivers and teams that have unlimited funding and resources. That was never more evident than at Myrtle Beach Speedway in the UARA-STARS Series race as he emerged toward the end of the race as the leader, but he had to hold off one of the best young shoes at the end of the race. Rouse through the final laps of the race had to hold off multi-time UARA winner, Alex Yontz, who had saved his tires longer and many thought Rouse would be toast as the field went back to green. Rouse however took the outside and held off Yontz on his way to his first Late Model Stock Car and UARA-STARS Series win. It was an emotional victory, where every racer there had the same feeling … “If I couldn’t win, I’m glad it was him,” a rare comment from racers.
1st — Deiny Paints Masterpiece with Career on Life Support
Frank Deiny, Jr’s racing career was pretty much finished, I mean after racing full time for many seasons he sat out much of 2008 before returning full time in 2009 at Motor Mile Speedway. That return produced pretty solid results as he picked up two wins and a second place points effort to NASCAR National Champion, Philip Morris. However just when his career appeared back on track it was derailed by an early crash in the first UARA-STARS Series race at Hickory Motor Speedway, which sidelined Deiny for most of the 2010 season. Deiny returned in a three-race deal with Kiker Motorsports, the team he had helped reach their first win with Brandon Dean behind the wheel earlier in the season. Deiny came out in the Mid-Atlantic Championship at Caraway and though he raced solid, he was only a top five competitor.
In his second race with Kiker he was fast in practice at Ace Speedway in the Fallout Invitational, but trashed his car in qualifying when his brakes locked up. It was beginning to look like the end of his storied career, which has seen him visit victory lane often and carried him to five track championships at five different regional tracks. Then in his final race of the three-race deal with Kiker, he hit the jackpot at a race track where’s been dominate before. However, this time he made it magical, when after cutting a tire at halfway in the Myrtle Beach 400 at Myrtle Beach, he ran around at the tail end of the field until he felt it was time to make his move toward the front. He pressed go at exactly the right moment and raced his way into the lead from 25th position in the final 30-laps of the race.
It was a moment when Deiny’s career came back to life and the veteran emerged from the shadows once again with a win in one of the season biggest races.
