Road
Jason
By: T. J. Layne
HUNTINGTON, WV-The 2008 season saw “Racin” Jason Perry and the Perry Racing team debut a new Tomahawk Race Car with a totally different look from previous years. With the new chassis, a Lemley Racing Engine, and a slick graphics scheme, the season was a much anticipated one for the Perry Racing Team.
The 2008 season got underway on Friday, April 18th at the Rocky Top Raceway in Coal Grove, Ohio for their “Season Opener”. The night started out perfect for Jason as he set quick time right out of the box. After a fourth place finish in the dash, Jason was on the move and took the lead on lap five of the feature. Once in the lead, Jason began to pull away as it seemed like the win would be his until the unthinkable happened. On lap fifteen, the left rear tire rolled off the car causing Jason to spin and retire for the night. Even though the result didn’t show it, everybody knew from the get go that Jason was going to be tough to beat all year long.
Following the Opening Night disappointment, Jason was back in action at Rocky Top for a regular show on Friday, April 25th. This time around, Jason started fifth in the feature and again made his way to the front early on. Jason was running down race leader Todd Robinson and stayed right on his rear bumper all race long and came home with a strong second place finish. A week later, Jason put together a strong second place finish in the 201 Speedway “Season Opener”.
Throughout the month of May Jason continued to run very strong as he ran up front and lead several races. Unfortunately, the results wouldn’t show any of that as bad luck struck every race during that time span, resulting in four straight DNF’s. Whether it was a freak mechanical failure or getting caught up in another drivers wreck, the bad luck took away what would of potentially been two wins and four top five finishes in that time span.
While several teams would get discouraged by the bad luck streak, the Perry Racing Team persevered and came back with a strong month of June. “Racin” Jason competed in six races during the month and picked up three top three’s, four top fives, and five top tens. A second place finish in the “Terminix Modified Nationals” at Rocky Top and a top ten in an O’Reilly Battle of Bluegrass Modified race at 201 highlighted the strong finishes.
The month of July unfortunately saw the bad luck streak continue. Because of mechanical failures, “Racin” Jason was only able to compete three times during the month . As the month of August came, the team rebounded strong with Jason putting together a second and fourth place finish on August 1st and 2nd. The following week on August 8th, Jason ran strong again and finished second in a $1,000 to win show at Rocky Top. The finish also locked Jason into a strong second place points finish at Rocky Top.
On August 15th, “Racin” Jason competed at the Willard Speedway, a track where he has won at several times, for their re-opening. Finally, everything worked perfect as Jason grabbed his first win of the season! That momentum continued into the month of September as Jason won September 13th in the season finale at Rocky Top. That win was a big one for the team as they had come so close so many times during the season to getting a RTR win. The win came on a night that RTR had it’s second largest car count of the season.
As the season started to wind down, the wins started to rack up as Jason concluded an excellent month of September with wins September 19th and 27th at Willard. With a number of top five finishes to go along with the three wins, Jason was able to rack up the 2008 Willard Speedway Modified Track Championship!
Despite some bad luck, 2008 ended up being an excellent season for “Racin” Jason Perry. Jason ended up with one track championship, a second place points finish at Rocky Top, four feature wins, sixteen top five finishes, and seventeen top ten finishes. “Racin” Jason and the Perry Racing Team will be back strong again in 2009 as they look to continue on their success from this year!
“Racin” Jason Perry would like to say a special thanks to all of his 2008 sponsors which include Hallmark Motor Company, Tomahawk Race Cars, CB&H Auto, J&J Race Products and Fabrication, Lavalette Cycle and ATV, MC Elliots Trucking, South Huntington Animal Hospital, Stanley Haddix Race Cars and Parts, Lemley Racing Engines, and QueenofthePits. For more information on “Racin” Jason Perry visit his official website at www.racinjasonperry.com.
