Plenty of Motivation Leads Young Racer to Third-Career PASS South Win
MOORESVILLE, NC (June 4, 2007) – Ryan Lawler did not need much motivation to want to win the “South Carolina Clash” PASS South event on Sunday afternoon. Lawler has been fast at every track he’s visited in any form of racing so far in 2007, but with only one win in the first PASS South event of the year at Hickory Motor Speedway (NC) mixed in with an ample supply of bad luck in every other race, Lawler was hungry to go two-for-two in PASS South at Anderson.
But a couple extra boosts of motivation didn’t hurt Sunday at Anderson. Lawler is now two-for-two on the year in PASS South after taking victory in the “South Carolina Clash” 125-lap event at Anderson. The victory can thank in large part not only to some good luck and hard work but also maybe in part due to the lucky “PASS Cow” stuffed animal affixed to a rollbar inside his #31 Super Late Model. That cow also helped guide Lawler to the win at Hickory. The memories of a fallen friend, Charlie Bradberry, made the win even more special.
“The cow’s coming with us to every PASS race now,” said Lawler. “At least until we don’t win one; then we’ll have to retire him and switch to something else.
“But seriously, this feels great, especially knowing Charlie won this race last year when it was at Florence. I got to know Charlie a little bit last year and my dad knows Charlie’s brother Gary pretty good. It means a lot to win this race. Hickory was pretty special, but this one is just really cool to win.”
Lawler’s victory was the third of the young driver’s PASS South career, but this one wasn’t as simple as checking out early and cruising late like his win earlier this year at Hickory. Lawler had to fend off the challenges of local driver Gary Greenwood Jr. and an abundance of lapped traffic late in the race to take the win.
“Greenwood was down here when we came and tested. If he hadn’t been here when we tested, we wouldn’t be here in victory lane because we got to see the line he was using. He was a track champion here, so he knows how to get the car around here on the bottom. We saw we needed to get the car going on the bottom and it worked.
“I knew I was going to have to be good on the bottom, because that’s where I was beating them at Hickory. Here, you just have to putt through those corners. I felt like I was going slow, and then I came up on those lapped cars and I almost ran over a few of them. If I saw a spot where I could go to the high side and get down in front of them, I’d go to the high side. But if there was a line of cars on the bottom, I wasn’t giving up the bottom. I was going to stay there until somebody moved up. I think I’m starting to get a little bit of seniority with these guys too. I think some of them are willing to help me out when I come up on them too.”
Everything may have gone Lawler’s way on race day, but things did not start out so smoothly during the race weekend for the Lawler Motorsports #31 team. Lawler was quick in practice on Friday, but engine woes forced the team to swap motors before practice on Saturday. Saturday was also supposed to be when the “South Carolina Clash” event was to take place, but weather forced the feature events to be pushed to Sunday. Once the engine problems were rectified, it was time for Lawler to continue his early-season dominance on the PASS South tour.
“I never would have thought that I would start the year like this in PASS South. I can’t say enough about my guys. They changed the motor yesterday morning and it really paid off. The one we actually ran has more power. I think we would’ve been even better at the end with the first motor. But we ran this one at Iowa (in an ASA Late Model event) and we use the other one at the short tracks, but it worked out pretty good for us today.”
That backup engine that Lawler put into his primary car and took the #31 to victory came off the trailer that once belonged to Charlie Bradberry. The Lawler Motorsports team totes their equipment to and from the track in Bradberry’s old hauler, keeping the memory of the fallen SLM great fresh in everyone’s mind every week. As Lawler reflected on his hot start to the 2007 season, winning the “South Carolina Clash” event, the same event that his fallen friend won last year, made standing in victory lane at Anderson even more special.
“It was a big loss for everyone last year when we lost Charlie, but it’s a great honor to be able to win this race. We hung out a little bit here and there, and he was a real great guy. He was always ready to go out of his way to help you, and I really appreciated that. He was just an awesome guy.”
For more information on Ryan Lawler, contact Matt Kentfield at (704) 788-2134 x 5 and be sure to check out www.ryanlawler.net.