Jason Fraser is a name many may not have known until this year. Quietly making his way into the late model scene, this 32 yr. old of Monroe, Wa. has made his presence known. Although Fraser is new to late models, he is far from new to racing. Fraser started racing motorcycles and did so for 5 years. He was the rookie of the year in 95' and followed that up with State Championships in both Oregon and Washington in 96' followed by National Racing for a Honda team. Jason also tried go carts for fun before he hopped into a bomber owned by his good friend Naima Lang.
"I raced Naima's bomber one weekend out at Monroe and I was basically hooked after that. I bought a late model last summer and competed in 6 events where I was crowned rookie of the year at Evergreen Speedway," says Fraser.
Moving into the late model division at Monroe seemed like the natural progression for Fraser as he was interested in racing the fastest cars he could. The learning curve was sharp but Fraser adapted quickly and became a front runner just as quick, finishing 2nd in championship points for the 2005 season.
"We've definitely learned a lot this season," says Fraser, "I expected to adapt quickly because I expect a lot of myself. I knew we had good equipment and a good crew and those are essentials."
Fraser's crew is led by Ken Hamlin, father to Nascar Busch Series competitor Kevin Hamlin, along with Jessie Jensen, Ryan Hyatt, Adrian Craig, Tom Diebolt, and Thomas Fraser, Jason's little brother.
"All of the people involved with this organization are just really neat people all the way down from the sponsors to the crew to the families. We just love racing and it's really fun when everyone is in it for the same reasons," says Fraser.
The Fall Classic was the most recent event for the Fraser team which brought great results once again. The original Fall Classic weekend was a rain soaked one, but the Late Model 125 lap main event snuck in producing a winner again in Jason Fraser followed by Naima Lang and John Zaretske.
Fraser started 9th of 36 in the rescheduled 200 lap main event, which took place this past Sunday, and patiently hung around the top 10 eventually making his way in to the top 5 for the second half of the event. Fraser worked his way around lapped traffic and lead lap competitors like a veteran, leading the race with 20 laps to go. Eventual race Winner Jeff Barkshire made the pass with 15 to go and never looked back. Jason crossed the line in 3rd, but was later given 2nd place after post race tech disqualified the 2nd place finisher.
"I'm very happy with the results from the Fall Classic. We won the late model event last weekend and then finished 2nd here and I don't think I could ask for much more. This field had a lot of talent in it and I think we faired well," says Fraser.
2006 plans for Fraser include a limited Nascar Autozone Elite Division Northwest Series schedule where Jason will compete in events where he is familiar with the track. Other tracks the series travels to, Fraser will first take his late model in order to prepare himself.
"There is a lot more competition in the tour and I want to make sure I'm ready for it. I expect myself to do well but at the same time I respect the level of competition there," says Fraser.
One thing is certain, Jason Fraser will be a force in anything he competes in making plenty of friends along the way.
Jason Fraser would like to thank: Rich's Car Corner, Speedway Chevrolet, Bel-Red Auto Refinishing and Northwest Diferentials for their continued support throughout the 2005 season.
