SNOHOMISH, Washington — Gary Lewis, a three-time late model touring champion in the Northwest, looks at his racing schedule after a successful 2008 campaign and sees just two events left to run, one of which is at his home track of Evergreen Speedway.
This weekend the Sunbelt Rentals/Frontline Security Racing Team will take part in the final race of the 2008 season for the ASA Northwest Tour. The series returns to the site of Lewis’ last victory on their show-a July 26 150-lapper over a strong 19-car field on the .675-mile oval.
Lewis ran last Saturday on the ARCA West Late Model Challenge Series bringing home an eighth place finish, his ninth top-10 of the season.
Collected in a lap 97 incident trying to avoid a spinning Christian Roeder, Lewis’ team immediately jump to work during the midway break to make repairs to his Chevrolet Impala to continue their impressive season.
“It was apparent that my team wanted to get the car back out while I was thinking about saving it for this week but they were doing their job to get it fixed so I just went out and kept doing mine. They work hard each week for me to be able to have the success that we’ve had so I never questioned their efforts.”
The Sign Factory USA pit crew’s efforts to keep Lewis up front have netted six victories in 2008 and a pair of runner-up finishes during the Labor Day Spectacular at Yakima Speedway for the ARCA and ASA events.
After a hot start to their season Lewis takes his second 2008 finish outside the top-3 in stride, he said.
“Hey that’s racing. We have been through the ups and downs a million times so it’s no big deal. We just need to work harder and stick with what we know and that’s running up front and putting ourselves in a position to have a chance to win.”
Wins at Evergreen Speedway rank as special moments for Lewis, he added.
With so many victories in the Super Stock, NASCAR and ASA events he’s run, several races stand out but one in particular brought reflection to the 38-year old as he prepared for this weekend’s event.
“We have so many good and bad memories and battles throughout the years at my home track. One of the best times was a Saturday night race in the Super Stock’s where I passed Rick Hubbard on the last lap to win a big race. As a bonus they had the Bud Light girls there for the trophy presentation and it turned out to be a very good time.”
Lewis expects a strong field of challenges will be out to win Saturday’s main event and the defending ARCA West Late Model Challenge Series champion knows that after talking with a few drivers last weekend the field could be tougher.
“There are so many teams that will be out there trying to win. I spent last weekend talking with Garrett Evans and Jason Jefferson about this race and at the end of the night it sounded like they were interested in coming so I know they’ll be tough to deal with on the 5/8th’s,” Lewis said.
With the Yakima Speedway Fall Classic on the horizon the Sunbelt Rental/Frontline Security team will close out their 2008 schedule in just under a month’s time. The team is already thinking about 2009, Lewis noted.
“The first thing on our agenda after the Fall Classic is to take some time off. After that we’ve talked about putting this car up for sale and building a new one so hopefully that’s what’s in store for the team during the off season as we head into next year.”
Gary Lewis returns to Evergreen Speedway this Saturday night for the season finale of the ASA Northwest Tour. To learn more about the event log onto www.evergreenspeedway.com
More information on Gary Lewis Racing can be found at www.garylewisracing.com
