Phoenix International Raceway will play host to the final installment of the Featherlite Southwest Series 2002 season. When an estimated sixty-cars pull in to the garage area, it will be one driver that all eyes focus on. Who is this man? Why none other than Twin Fall, Idaho's Eddy McKean.
McKean, who is currently leading the NFSWS point standing by 43-points over second place challenger, M.K. Kanke, is confident heading into the Cruise America 125.
"We have a good enough car to lead the race and our plan is to try to win it. We are however concentrating on winning the championship. As long as we don't let Kanke get more than 9 - 10 places ahead of us, we will be able to wrap it up,” said McKean. “We have a good enough motor to win the race, but we are going to need to stay up front and out of trouble”
McKean must be breathing a sigh of relief, however to have the championship finish at PIR. While racing is a sport where nothing is certain, the odds are looking in his favor. In his six superspeedway starts over the past two years in the Featherlite Southwest Series, McKean has one victory, four top-fives, and 5 top-tens. The only blemish on his record is one DNF due to mechanical problems in his rookie season.
“We probably could have won the championship our first season, if it weren't for rookie mistakes mostly related to mechanical problems,” stated McKean. “This year it has all come together. Brad 'Freight Train' Peters build us awesome motors, Victory Circle Chassis supplies us a great car, there is no question we have good equipment. We need only to stay out of trouble and finish. I think one of the keys to our success has been that we are not aggressive and don't get in quite as much trouble as some of the other guys. We also have not suffered as much mechanical trouble as some of the teams.”
The competition has been tough this year in the NFSWS, with only one driver winning more than one event; but it is not necessarily race victories that take home the trophy at the end of the year. Sometimes just taking it easy and putting yourself in a position to win is the best thing a driver can do, like the famous phrase goes, to finish first, you first must finish.
Looking back over the season McKean reflected, “We would like to have lead more laps and have added up the poles like Burney Lamar, but then we are first so you can’t look back and do it any other way. Whatever we are doing, it must be working.”
“I won’t say it has been easy, but it has been fun. There were a lot of people that supported the efforts of my team. Victory Circle, HPS Mechanical Iron Clad were big supporters, but I had no bigger supporter than my wife and kids. Without their support I would not be following my dream. We are planning on a vacation in January to celebrate a very successful year of racing. No matter what the outcome is at Phoenix, I know my family my sponsors, and my team gave it all we had. And for that I could not be prouder."
