Tony and Dave Jackson of Jackson Race Cars in Palmdale have once again shown why they continue to be one of the most successful car builders in racing. They’ve won countless championships and races with many different drivers. More than 30 years after they started building cars, they are still dominating the competition in 2008, and not just in race cars.
In August of 2007, J&M Racing, owned by Loyd McGhee, hired the Jackson’s to maintain and crew chief his Auto Club Late Model at Toyota Speedway. With Nick Joanides as the driver, the team won four the final six races of the year. Following that success, McGhee wanted to move up to the premier AC Delco Super Late Model Division at Toyota Speedway, keeping the team of the Jackson’s and Joanides together.
A new car was built during the off season and since the second race of the season, the Jackson’s have been sweeping the board. So far, they’ve set fast time in three of the four qualifying sessions of 2008. Two weeks ago, Toyota Speedway at Irwindale held their first Twin 50 event of the season. Joanides and the Jackson’s swept both races. This past Saturday, the track held yet another Twin event, and again, they swept both races. Joanides joined former champions, Rip Michels and Greg Pursley as the only drivers to sweep more than one Twin 50 event at the track. “I’m just amazed at how well this car gets through the corners, the Jackson’s are making me look like a hero” said Joanides.
After the invert, Joanides started sixth on the grid in the first main event. He took the second position on lap 6 and began chasing down the leader. He took the lead with an inside pass of Andy Allen on lap 27 and the quickly opened up more than a one second lead.
After another invert, Joanides started the second main event in the fifth position. He wasted no time getting to the front and passed Dan Moore for the lead on lap 7 and never looked back, taking his fourth consecutive win in the division. Michels, Pursley and now Joanides are the only drivers in division history to win more than three consecutive races.
In the past four races, the team as jumped from 22nd in the point standings, all the way up to 4th, just 30 points out of the lead. One would think that a team would be satisfied with their accomplishments at one race track. However, the sweeps didn’t stop at Toyota Speedway.
200 miles to the north, another Jackson was sweeping up at another form of racing. Chris Jackson, the 13 year old son of Tony Jackson, apparently paid close attention to his father and grandfather (Dave) as he was growing up, quickly learning the formula for winning races.
In October of 2007, Chris’ parents wanted him to try BMX racing. At first he was reluctant to do so, but after a little encouragement and a second place finish in his first event, he quickly got the bug for racing. He and his family have been traveling around the state ever since.
In just six short months, Chris has shown that he truly has the Jackson blood. Through his first 20 events, he had already won 9 mains. This past weekend, he entered the American Bicycle Association BMX Racing U.S. Nationals two day event in Tulare, CA. On Saturday, May 3rd, he dominated the events, beating out 20 other racers to win his preliminary race, semi-final and main event. The following day, he again won his preliminary and semi-final races. The main event however, was not such a sure thing as it finished with an exciting side by side battle that required a photo finish. The officials reviewed the tapes and after several minutes, Chris was declared the winner. The win gave him a clean sweep in his first U.S. Nationals event.
Chris now has 11 main event wins in just 22 events. At this pace, with his competitive fire growing day by day, it won’t be long before he trades in the handle bars for something with a steering wheel and a whole lot more power. When that happens, you can bet that drivers will have yet another Jackson to chase around the track!
The team would like to thank all of their sponsors for their support: J&M Construction, Mr. Crane, Santa Rosa Developers, Western Concrete Pumping, White Cap Construction Supply, NMC Group, Ahern Equipment Rentals, Kramer & Lawson, Malins Pools and Performance Motorsports. More information is available at the team website: www.joanides.com
