Last Saturday morning in Anderson Ca., 14 year old Jeremy Doss slid into to a very large late model for the first time. The intention was just to get in some practice laps so Jeremy could get the hang of driving a full sized race car, unlike the karts and legends he was used to. Racing is not new to Jeremy, he started racing go-karts’ when he was 7 years old. This changed about a year ago when Jeremy’s father, Mike Doss, retired from full time racing to start focusing on Jeremy’s racing career. Mike’s plan was to have his son start racing on asphalt driving a late model, but Jeremy wanted to start out in something more his size. Jeremy only started racing his legend car at the end of last year; it did not take long until he was in the winner circle. Half way through the 2011 season, after winning four races in a row, Jeremy turned to his father and said he would like to test a late model out. Mike and Dale Dodd, Jeremy’s crew chief looked at each other grinning ear to ear with Dale saying “I will be at the shop early in the week to install Jeremy’s seat”.
On the spotter stand watching Jeremy scrub his tires listening to Mike and Dale coaching him though turn by turn, Mike turns to Dale and said “If he turns a good lap time somewhere around 17 seconds, we should have him race tonight.” By lap 6 Jeremy was turning low 16 second laps and was handling the car like a pro. I have watched Mike race and I have seen Dale in action; this kid is going to be winning races real soon. Back in the pit watching Jeremy getting out of the race car everyone was buzzing with excitement. Mike approached Jeremy and asked if he wanted to race it tonight, with no hesitation Jeremy replied” Oh yes!” This boy is fast and eager. Jeremy still had his Legend to race also, so this kid is going to get a lot of seat time tonight. As Jeremy qualified 2nd quick in the legend car with a full invert, he will be starting in the rear of the field and being a rookie in the late models, he would also start in the rear of the late model field. Jeremy finished 2nd in the legend’s main event, stopping the legend car at tech and running over to his late model to prepare for the 75 lap feature.
At the drop of green flag I knew I was watching history in the making. We had all the AABLM regulars and a few locals such as Eric Gannon, who was on the pole and took an early lead over Junior Roddy. The home town hero Steven Gannon picked his way through the front five and was leading by lap 18. Green flag laps clicked off quickly through the first 40 laps, and Jeremy raced his way to the front five; that’s when the race got interesting. Several single car spins and the early give and take gave way to trading sheet metal. Lap 62 saw 3 unsuccessful restarts result in the front row of Steven Gannon and Trevor Christiani put back a row. This put Junior Roddy and Jeremy Doss in the front row. The last and final yellow came out on lap 72, making the restart a green-white-checkered. Jeremy Doss was holding his own and was leading on the white flag lap, but veteran Steven Gannon was able to make the final pass and took the checkered over Jeremy Doss by a scant 0.175 seconds. It was difficult to tell from the pleased crowd who was garnering more applause, the multi-time track champion and local favorite Steven Gannon, or the impressive young 14-year old Jeremy Doss.
See you at the Track
Bob Cook
