Jay Fogleman surprised even himself when he drove his JFco Motorsports Ford No. 4 Super Late Model to victory on Sept. 6 in the Daniel Boone Classic 125 PASS South race at Newport (Tenn.) Speedway.
“We really ran good,” said the short-track racing veteran from Durham, N.C., a regular in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series. “We were running third late in the race when the leaders got tangled up in front of us; I think someone had a tire go down. They got together and we were there to take advantage of it.”
Until this season Fogleman had never driven an offset chassis, straight-rail Super Late Model, building his career in Late Model Stock Cars before running some in what is now the Nationwide Series and settling in Pro Cup. But there’s nothing like a win to keep a racer coming back for more.
“I really enjoy running with PASS,” Fogleman said. “I’m not running for points, so it’s pretty low-key, and there’s no stress. It’s me and the guys in my shop going racing.
“It’s extremely competitive,” Fogleman continued. “There are seven to ten serious operations over there. The series fits me because it’s a tire-management series, and I learned how to manage tires early in my career; when I raced Late Models at Orange County and South Boston the features were 150 laps. And the double-file restarts make it exciting for the fans and fun to race.”
Fogleman’s using an old car he obtained from Gary St. Amant to run in PASS this year, but he may have something new in 2009.
“I’m going to have to buckle down to do more PASS racing next season,” Fogleman said. “This old car served its purpose, though; I really didn’t expect to win so soon. That just shows what a good job Jeremy Upchurch and Will Bradford have done at the shop and helping me at the track. We’re definitely going to do more of this next year when it doesn’t conflict with my Hooters deal.”
The Mason-Dixon 500 at South Boston Speedway and the Thanksgiving Classic at Southern National Raceway Park are next up on Fogleman’s PASS schedule.
“I’m looking forward to those races,” he said. “I like the tracks, and I think we’ll run pretty good. Mostly I think we’ll have fun.”
PASS South takes a two week break before returning to action on Saturday September 27th at Hickory (NC) Motor Speedway for the Over the Mountain 150.