When "Awesome" Austin Murphy made his official debut in the BSR Super Late Model division, June 7th at the Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino-California, a couple of highly significant circumstances were created. First off he won the ASA sanctioned feature race in a high powered stock car he had never driven before. Secondly he created a new page in the Orange Show Speedway's record book by being the only driver to make a debut in three different divisions and winning his first race in all of them in the same season. Finally he managed to convince even his strongest critics that he's not a flash in the pan, he is indeed the real deal and he really is that good of a driver.
The circumstances that led to Murphy's BSR Super Late Model debut on this night were also highly significant; He was placed behind the wheel of a car that was built and driven by Richard Hooper a well known and highly regarded southern California car builder and stock car driver. Sadly it's also now well known that Hooper is currently undergoing some extremely strenuous treatments for cancer. Prior to race day he contacted Austin's parents, Jeff and Paula Murphy, explained to them that he was not feeling very well and asked if Austin might be interested in driving his Super Late Model Chevrolet. He didn't have to ask twice.
The fact that Hooper made that telephone call to begin with should not surprise anyone who has ever met him. In addition to his accomplishments behind the wheel of the cars that he has built, he's also equally well known for helping drivers and teams. His highly regarded business, Hooper's Rear End Exchange, is legendary for providing sponsorships and car parts to teams from all over the southwest.
But one has to almost think that even Hooper might have been a little surprised over 15 year old Austin Murphy's Super Late Model debut. With a great deal of patience and skill he maintained his preferred racing line and worked his way to the front. To accomplish this he had to out run some of the best Super Late Model driving talent in the region. While Hooper supervised in the pits, that winning effort was also greatly enhanced by crew chief Alex Anderson along with team members Jimmy Bird and John Reiman. Making the win even more impressive was the fact that, by the time the car was transported to the track, Murphy only had a very brief amount of time to drive it during the practice session.
When the Orange Show Speedway's 2008 season began Austin Murphy was set to make his debut in the ASA Lucas Oil Late Model division. His car, a Chevrolet sponsored by Rox Pro-Frasier Masonry-Lucas Oil, was ironically built by Hooper and later was purchased by the Murphy family's Lancaster-California based team known as After Hours Racing. Murphy made a stunning Late Model debut and won the feature race. Since that time he has added two top five finishes to his statistics and is currently third in the division's points standings just only 20 points away from first. He's scheduled to return to his Lucas Oil Late Model ride this Saturday night, June 14th, when the series returns to action.
Murphy's second series debut win came a few weeks later at the Orange Show Speedway during an evening when he had time on his hands. The Late Models were not runnng on this night and the Murphy family was there to race their Legend Car driven by Broc Murphy. Austin managed to score a ride in an ASA Factory Stock mini truck owned by the San Bernardino based Rouse Racing. By the time the race truck was transported to the track and went through the tech inspection procedure, Austin had to get in line for qualifying and missed setting the fast time by one one-hundreth of a second in a vehicle he had never even seen before. He topped that performance by winning the feature race.
Meanwhile older brother Andrew Murphy has set his sights towards a successful showing in the Orange Show Speedway's CEC Street Stock division in a family owned Chevrolet Camaro. After spending time driving in the Bandolero and Legend Car divisions, Andrew made his debut in the much larger and heavier Street Stocks on May 31st and scored a top five finish.He followed that up with another top five this past Saturday night and is in the process of racing his way up the points standings despite having missed the division's opening night race. When asked about making the transition from a Legend Car to the larger Street Stock car he laughed and said "it's like trading in a Porsche for a Cadillac."
Completing the trio of drivers for After Hours Racing is young Broc Murphy who handles the wheel of his Legend Car like a seasoned veteran. In a sheer note of irony Broc had the night off last Saturday and, just like his older brother Austin a few weeks ago, managed to score a ride in Jimmy Rouse's ASA Factory Four mini truck. The truck was transported to the track but was late making its way through the tech inspection line. That meant young Broc had to line up last in the division's heat race and main event. Despite having zero track time in this racing truck, Broc charged his way to the front and won both events and turned in yet another stunning Murphy family series debut on the same night.
At the head of After Hours Racing is Jeff Murphy who is currently experiencing a very proud moment in fatherhood. His sons are following his footsteps in the family racing business and making that situation even sweeter is the fact that all three are doing a very good job. Paula Murphy also has the right to be very proud of her racing family. She spent several years in the role of a racing wife and now will be spending many years to come as a racing mom. In addition to celebrating the on track accomplishments of their sons last Saturday night, Paula and Jeff were also celebrating their 23d wedding anniversary. Paula would later say "the date June 7th has always been very good for our family."
It should also be duly noted that when Austin Murphy parked Richard Hooper's race car in the Orange Show victory lane last Saturday night a highly significant amount of pretty young girls arrived at the scene and many of them wanted to have their picture taken with the race winner. That also is going to be part of Austin's racing future.
