Wednesday, October 9, 2002
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Wednesday, October 9, 2002 |
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Joey Clanton Wins 2002 ASA Championship Hello race fans! This past Sunday, at Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Indiana, Steve Dale Motorsports won the 2002 American Speed Association (ASA) National Championship. It is the first time in the history of the ASA series a Georgia team has won the title. Our car owner, Steve Dale, is probably the most energetic and positive car owner in the ASA Series. He is constantly praising our team's performance and giving us pep talks prior to the race. This past week, Steve brought to the race a picture of his father for additional inspiration. Steve's father, Dick Dale, was a great racecar driver. Back when Steve's father was running modifieds, he won at Winchester Speedway. In 2001, our team captured the checkered flag at the famed Indiana track. I guess this was just Steve's way of reminding us we had a long winning history at Winchester. Our team felt the championship was ours to lose even though the battle for the title this year has been one of the closest in ASA's history. We started the event with an eleven point advantage over two-time ASA Champion Gary St. Amant. We knew that in order for Gary to win the championship, he would need to finish at least two positions ahead of us. Well, at lap 395 of the 400-lap event, it looked like that just might happen. Our car was strong right from the drop of the green flag. While we probably had a car that could have won the event, our goal on Sunday was to stay out of trouble and drive a clean race. Unfortunately, in the closing 100 laps of the event, we were involved in two separate accidents. Both hits caused severe damage to the No. 83 Chevy. By lap 395, I was five laps down running in fourth place and Gary St. Amant was leading the field. At that point, had the race ended, we would have lost the championship. Fortunately, or not so fortunately depending on who you ask, the left rear tire on Kyle Busch's car blew taking him out of the race. With Kyle out of the event, I was able to advance into third. Gary St. Amant went on to win the race, but it wasn't enough for him to win the championship. We won the 2002 ASA National Championship by just a single point. Following the race, several reporters asked me what exactly gave our team the edge in the end. I guess it was our "never give up" attitudes. Sure we won nine events this year, but most of the remaining races were struggles. If you think about it, with just one point deciding the championship, every moment our team worked to gain track position in the pits, or to get our car back onto the track following an accident was critical. I want to take this opportunity to thank Steve Dale, Camp Fire USA Georgia Council and my team. Without each of these people this year wouldn't have been such a success. Thanks also to the fans and supporters of Steve Dale Motorsports - it's been a great season. Until next time, Joey
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