Winning the 18th Annual Skylar Trull Memorial
4/24/2018
I have felt like Carolina Speedway owes us a win after getting so close so many times. Yes, we drivers hold grudges against tracks… I don’t mean the track owners or the staff or the tech guy. I mean there are some tracks out there that us drivers just want to beat with a shovel because we feel like it stole a win from us. Ok, fine, maybe that’s just me. The point is, Carolina Speedway and I are squared up after winning the 18th Annual Skyler Trull Memorial this weekend.
Winning any race is great but let me tell you that this one was special. For starters, setting fast time and leading the entire thing flag to flag is fantastic. The amount of cautions we had kept us all bunched up giving the rest of the top 5 a shot at the lead on a few occasions. Thankfully, we caught a couple cautions in the right place and are car was good enough to stay out front when it counted. Michael Brown, G.R. Smith, and Ben Watkins all made it next to me at one point and kept the pressure on to say the least. The amount of anxiety is hard to describe.
This win being dirt super late model win #2 for us, is another reason why this victory is special. Its simple. You do something once, it can be easy to dismiss as a fluke. Do it again, and it becomes repeatable.
The final reason why this win was so special has to do with why the race is put on in the first place. Skylar Trull lost her life 18 years ago on March 14th. Every year since her family has put on this race at Carolina Speedway. The first time I competed in this race I didn’t have my daughter Charlie, and honestly wasn’t thinking about kids at all. This Skylar Trull Memorial was the 1st one I have competed in since my wife and I had Charlie. When I got out of the car, the 2nd person to me was Skylar’s dad. What it meant to win that race hit me hard right then and there. This family suffered a loss that can’t be described and here they are, working to put this race on year after year. Happy to see fans in the stands and cars on the track. I was fortunate to get to shake Mr. Trull’s hand twice that night. Once for the pole award and then again in victory lane. Winning Skylar’s race and have the chance to share it with my wife and daughter was and will always be special.
It really was a great weekend. We carried the momentum from Carolina Speedway to Dixie Speedway Saturday night. The results weren’t quite as good, but I’ll take a top 10 on a track I’ve never seen before any day. The continued support of Broward Armature & Generator, Simpson Race Products, Molecule, Race-Fan, Air Shok, Fishwithme.net, SoVa Motion, SoVa Dat, Wiles Driveshafts and Dirt Wrap is just awesome. Can’t wait to send out the victory lane pictures!
Things are in a good place right now for myself, Harold, and Rum Runner Racing. We are looking forward to carrying the success to Modoc Speedway, Saturday April 28th to compete with the Ultimate Super Late Models for the 3rd weekend in a row.