photo by RPM 360
Story by Chris Roy
Thomas Everson of Gilmanton NH will be racing in the #4NH legend car this race season. “We kicked off our 2017 Season at Citrus County Speedway for the US Legends Winter Nationals in February. Five days of racing against many of the top racers from the US and Canada. We left winter nationals sitting 10th in National Points for the Semi Pro Division. Our partnership with Kyle Beattie Racing and Driver Development Program has allowed us to really step up our racing performance. We plan to run a couple more races down south before our New England season begins on April 22nd.”
NELCAR begins their 2017 race season at Wiscasset on April 22nd. “Wiscasset is my favorite track to run on the NELCAR schedule so I am excited to kick off our NE schedule there this week.”
The 2017 NELCAR race schedule 14 races at four different tracks, plus the TNT series. “I’m not sure if we will run the full NELCAR schedule. We’d like to race at some new tracks we haven’t been to before.”
With a number of different race track on the NELCAR Tour, and each oval having its own unique style. So which track is Thomas’s favorite? “My favorite track on the NELCAR schedule would be Wiscasset. I’ve had some of my best runs at Wiscasset with 2 heat wins last season and was battling for the win the last race of the season, finishing 2nd after Chris Burgess. It’s a fast track with plenty of room for racing.”
Every race track is different, which does affect how the teams set up the race car. “To set up the car each week for different tracks we have to decide on which gear is best, springs, tire pressures etc. We keep notes from set up each week and notes made during the time at the track so we can decide what worked or didn’t work. We make changes based on our notes and experiences.”
There is a number of tracks throughout Northeast that race legends cars. “Aside from Citrus County to kick off the season we are raced at Hickory Motor Speedway last weekend, we plan to run at Star Speedway, Lee USA Speedway, Oxford, Bethel, hope to make another trip down south to Charlotte and Dominion Raceway. If our season remains strong we will participate in the Nationals with Kyle Beattie Racing in Las Vegas in October.”
Legends racing has grown over the years, especially here in New England and is great starter series with the Young Lions Division. “We started out in go karts, Tiger Sprints then champ karts. At the point we were ready to move up to a car the legends and bandelaros were just starting to get bigger with NH Motor speedway opening Granite State Legends shop. Many of the racers moving up from karting moved to either bandos or legends. I was 14 years old it made the most sense to go straight to a legend car. We were lucky enough to buy a car from another local racer who was moving up to late models.”
This week the drivers are getting the cars ready for the feature race at Wiscasset. “Each week after racing we go through the car, make changes deciding what worked for us or what didn’t work at that track and make the necessary changes to get ready for the next weeks race and track.”
Thomas would like to thank his sponsors: Everson Flooring, Sanel Auto Parts/Parts Plus, and Kyle Beattie Racing