Wall: Blewett Looks to Add Another Win
Jimmy Blewett of Howell, NJ is returning to Wall (NJ) Stadium Speedway Saturday with a victory in mind. The last area Modified race of the season will be the 41st edition of the Turkey Derby. Blewett will drive the Woody’s Roadside Tavern No. 7NY for the 150 lap Tour Modified race and the B&B Paving No. 18 in the 100 lap Wall Modified race.
As a multi-time winner of the event, Blewett knows people expect him to win the event. “We go there every year and we shoot to win,” Blewett said. “That’s the only reason we go.” Blewett understands how ending the year with a strong performance boosts morale.
“You only get to run it once a year, so it means a lot. … This is a race that I wait all year for every year and I want to go there to win every year and every year I prepare to go there to win. Sometimes I feel like I over prepare, but it’s just a prestigious race.”
Blewett believes he has an advantage in knowing his home track. He noted that drivers like Matt Hirschman, Ryan Preece and Les Hinckley have added to the depth of the field. “You get guys there that race week in and week out could be a threat anytime they race there. …You’ve seen that the last three or four years. This year you have Ronnie Silk, Ryan Preece, Woody Pitkat is going to make the trip. You’re going to have a lot of outsiders come down here. You’ve got Matt Hirschman who’s been good there every year and been fast every year, whose won a couple of times already.”
A lease has been signed to keep the historic 1/3 mile oval operating for the 2015 season. Blewett is quick to acknowledge the economic problems many short tracks are facing nationwide. The lease means another season of racing at the Jersey Shore and Turkey Derby XLII.
“Wall’s car counts have been going up and up and up for the past four years since Chris and I have leased it. But like I said, with the economy being bad, you never know if they’re going to come back for another year. … It was nice to hear to see that the track’s still going to be there.”
New Jersey will mandate head and neck restraints next year for oval racers. The Head and Neck Support (HANS) and similar devices prevent the driver’s neck from hyperextending in a crash. Online pricing for HANS devices range from $600 to $1,300. Safety enhancements have been highlighted over the past decade plus in motorsports, but adoption of head and neck restraints and containment seats is not universal.
“For me, once I put the HANS device on, you never really notice it. They say there’s other devices out there now that are even more comfortable than that, but when you’re in the car, you’re not really worried about that other stuff. Like I said, you adjust to it fairly quickly.”
“All that really should be standard equipment in order to race. Racing is a dangerous sport, which we all know, now that the state’s allow up to 16 years of age, nobody should be moving up here without a head and neck restraint nowadays knowing what we know as far as safety-wise. You watch a lot of videos, in car cameras, the crash videos and it just shows what an impact on not having one on can really do to you. … You don’t want to go out there without the proper gear on. It would be like a firefighter going to a fire with nothing on. You should be prepared 100 percent all the time.”
Blewett may be doing more Modified racing at Wall next season with a recently acquired No. 6 car from TS Motorsports. He is anticipating winning a couple of races with the new car.
“(I) worked out a deal with Eddie Partridge to get a car from him and we’re going to, we’re probably going to run Wall with it, selected shows maybe the tour shows when I’m off on dirt. I like to try and support the local tracks as best we can.”
A former NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour competitor, Blewett does not expect to return to the circuit full-time. Blewett will compete at New Egypt for the track championship. If he is out of title contention, he estimates he would enter a couple of races “if the opportunity is there to go. I always leave it open for an opportunity. If the right thing comes about, I would definitely tour again, but I’m not going to step into something that’s not 100 percent.”
“I’m 100 percent focused really on my dirt schedule. … We got a top five this year and we’ve been getting better and better on dirt. It was a tough transition for me. We won some races, but not as many as I liked.”
Blewett sold his cars at the end of 2013 and focused on dirt racing this season at New Egypt (NJ) Speedway. He won on August 23 and finished fifth in the 358 Modified standings.
“It was definitely a transition, but at the end of the day it’s still a racecar and if you can drive, you can drive it. But once I find my comfort level, the rest was really adjusting the car to the racetrack because the racetrack changes so many times throughout the night. At every track you go to on dirt depending on what the temperature is, it could change at any given moment.
Blewett said beating drivers that have hundreds of wins on dirt across multiple divisions like Billy Pauch, Duane Howard and Ryan Godown. Blewett and his late brother John saw Pauch at Bridgeport, East Windsor, Flemington and New Egypt and “watch in total amazement, so to think you can go out there and actually beat that guy you always felt was invincible it’s a great feeling. … To even be halfway competitive next to them guys it means a lot, but to go there, beat them it means a little bit more.”
Blewett believes that racing on dirt has made him “more of a well rounded driver.” He cited that he was leading with five laps to go in his lone asphalt race a few weeks ago. “When I get in the asphalt car now it doesn’t faze me now that I haven’t raced … I’m running probably the best I have been myself as a driver. I’ve ran my own car, I’ve ran for other people, and now I have the dirt on top of it.”
The 2015 Troyer cars were on display at the National Parts Peddler Trade Show last weekend in Syracuse. Blewett pointed to the addition of Matt Shepherd has been essential to Troyer’s success.
“The Troyer dirt car and even the Troyer asphalt car is a beautiful work of art. The guys work hard up there every year. They stay on top of their game and they always seem to come out with something better and better every year. The past couple of years their asphalt cars stayed the same because if it’s not broke don’t fix it. They’re just all around good racecars, and the adjustments that they made to the dirt cars.”
Blewett will race in the upcoming indoor TQ Midget races in Trenton December 19-20 and Atlantic City January 30-31. Blewett may run some asphalt Modified races before New Egypt opens next season.
Sources: Nicholas Teto/YankeeRacer.com