Orange County Speedway
August, 15 1998
Twin 75's
By Kathy Ward

Seventeen late models were on hand for the Walker's Auto Stores Twin 75's. The car count was down and the grandstands weren't much better on a cool night that was picture perfect for racing. Apparently, the fact that South Boston was running took it's toll on the feature division.

Ryan Gray was unbeatable in his quest for the pole, as he put his #04 in the lead position for both races. The front four for the first twin were Gray, Scott Kirkpatrick, Barry Beggarly and Ronald Hill. Steve qualified the #41 in the eighth position.

The #91 of Mark Cash was still in the pits as the cars lined up for the green flag. In the next chapter of what has turned out to be a bad novel, the VIP Motorsports team had discovered a cracked head in practice. They sent someone to Reidsville, NC, to pick up a replacement and their pit was a picture of rearends and elbows as they worked feverishly to get it in. They missed qualifying and the crowd was disappointed to hear over the p.a. that they would also miss the first event. Then, in a quick about-face, the hood was placed back on the #91 and Holt & Company proceeded to push the car down pit road and into position on the track. This team wanted some points and the crowd roared their approval!

Mark was able to idle the car around the track for the pace laps and took the green. But what happened next was like a bad joke - the #5 car put him in the wall of turn four. The caution flag waved. The whole thing had turned into a nightmare - the front end of the #91 was now torn up and it limped back into the pits where it was discovered that the left head was now cracked. The bad joke continued...

On the track, Steve was loose - way loose. On the restart after Mark's caution, Steve was still in eighth. The caution flew again on lap eight for an incident involving the #2 car and the #48. The race restarted on lap 13. There were now fifteen cars in the field.

Interestingly, Maurice Hill was running directly behind his son. Would he try to block for him and interfere with the points race? Nope - he passed Ronald and gained track position as well as a lot of respect on lap 14.

Meanwhile, Beggarly and Kirkpatrick were racing each other hard. It continued lap after lap as one would get the advantage and the other would take it away. It was a thing of beauty to watch the two drivers race hard but clean and it appeared that every set of eyes in the grandstands were focused on the battle between the #82 and the #52.

The caution flew again on lap 39 for the #5 car. On the restart at lap 43, Steve was still in 8th. Suddenly, Kirkpatrick started backing up through the field. Then on lap 47, the caution flew for Ronald Hill. Steve made it through the fall-out. Kirkpatrick and Ronald Hill were both in the pits under the caution flag. On the restart at lap 50, Steve was in 6th place.

By lap 52, Beggarly was challenging Ryan Gray for the lead. By lap 56, Steve was really having to man-handle a loose race car through the corners. The #1 car and Ronald Hill got by the #41 on lap 65. Beggarly made it by Gray for the lead just before the caution flew on lap 72 for Gullie. The heavily damaged #01 headed for the pits.

Steve took the restart for the green, white, checkered finish in 7th position. He held that position for the final three laps. Beggarly notched another win with Ryan Gray and Maurice Hill right behind him.

While the other divisions ran their events and in what would turn out to be a "I wish I had known then what I know now" move, Gullie unloaded a back-up car - a brand, spanking new back-up #01 to start the second of the two twin-75 events. Unbelievably, when it came time for the late models to line up, the Cash team pushed the #91 to the rear of the field to take the green again. The crowd again applauded their efforts.

Steve started the second twin in eighth postion. The front four were Ryan Gray, Beggarly, Kirkpatrick and Maurice Hill.

In what can only be described as "just hang on and drive," Steve fought the #41 and tried to hold onto it for 75 laps. He wasn't able to challenge for position, but did manage to hold on for an eighth place finish. The top five finishers were Beggarly, Kirkpatrick, Maurice Hill, Gray and Ronald Hill.

Final thoughts: The back-up #01 of Jason Gullie was introduced to the wall on lap 65 of the second twin. I just cannot believe that anything was worth tearing up two race cars in one night.

And yep, Steve can flat out drive an ill-handling race car. I just wish he didn't have to keep proving it. But he did pull out two more finishes and held onto second in the points race.

Orange County Speedway
August, 1 1998
150 Laps
By Kathy Ward

A smart driver, a little luck and a good race car were all factors in bringing the #41 home in 3rd place in the Sprint 150 on August 1 at Orange County Speedway.

On a beautiful night in front of a grandstand crowd that seemed to be suffering in size from the Saturday run of the Brickyard 400, a full field of late models turned out for the twelfth race of the season at Rougemont.

Steve qualified the Southern Parts Pontiac in the ninth place inside starting position. Maurice Hill, Barry Beggarly, Mark Cash, Ryan Gray and Jason Gullie made up the starting five for the 150-lap event.

Steve maintained his ninth place position for the first 80 laps. On lap 26, Stephen Grimes made a move to get by the #41 which Steve apparently thought about for the next two laps, decided he didn't like, and returned the favor coming off of turn four on lap 29 like he had been fired from a slingshot.

In an eye-opening, mouth-dropping, "cardiac-arrest" move, Steve took the #41 three-wide on the inside of the backstretch on lap 52 for a successful pass which had this fan first wondering if perhaps he had lost his mind, and then realizing with quiet satisfaction that he was making one of his classic "Ace Speedway" moves. It was vintage Hatley and at that point, he served notice to anyone that has followed him over the years that he was going to have a good night.

Mayhem in turn two of lap 84 sent Ronald Hill and the #78 of Troy Woods into the pits. Steve drove through the fall-out and assumed sixth place on the lap 92 restart behind Beggarly, Maurice Hill, Mark Cash, Scott Kirkpatrick and Ryan Gray.

On lap 102, Scott Kirkpatrick made one of his own "classic" moves, sending Mark Cash into the pits. What a major disappointment for the Cash team. The team had spent mega hours getting the car repaired from the previous race, the #91 was hooked up, Mark had a solid third place run going and Kirkpatrick ended it. It was a "wreck waiting to happen" when Kirkpatrick pulled up on Mark's back bumper. The other drivers knew it, the spotters knew it, and the fans knew it -- but, alas, the official "didn't see it."

On the restart, Steve was in fifth.

On lap 110, a strange thing happened. Maurice Hill started "backing up" through the field with apparent engine problems. Cars were going around him on both sides to avoid impact. Steve went around him to take over 4th place.

On lap 115, Kirkpatrick's luck ran out and he started "backing up" through the field. What goes around, comes around, I guess, and Steve moved into third behind Beggarly and Ryan Gray.

The race ran caution-free from lap 121 to the checkers. Beggarly took first, Gray second, Hatley third, and Jason Gullie fourth. Holt & Company did their usual fine job of turning lemons into lemonade, got the #91 back on the track and Cash was able to pull off a ninth place finish. Maurice Hill also came back to finish behind Cash in tenth.

It's amazing to me that fans are already voicing their displeasure at Beggarly's return to victory lane when just a couple of weeks ago, they were actively booing Maurice Hill's dominance. I'm not sure if this crowd is just a "hard-to-please" bunch or they are clearly pulling for the underdogs. I surely would like to see at least one of those underdogs win so I can figure it out!

Some final notes: SHR would like to salute Jason Gullie for his competitive season while dealing with his father's serious illness. Jason has had some bad luck and some bad knocks this year, but he continues to run hard and clean under what has to be incredible pressure. You GO, Jason!

It was great to see the double-zero of Keith Montgomery return to the late model field at OCS.

Thanks for the horseshoe, Brian - it worked!

As for you, Holt, we WILL see you and the rest of the Cash team in the infield on August 15. I know where you live :-)

As always, thanks to Southern Parts, COACT, Inc., Information Retrieval, rec.autos.sport.nascar, Cleo's Auto Repair, Eastgate BP and Lloyd's BP for joining Hatley's Body Shop and Info-to-Go in believing in this #41 team.

Twelve races down, seven to go (including twin-75's on August 15).

by Kathy Ward

Orange County Speedway
July, 18 1998
200 Laps
By Kathy Ward

Coming off a disappointing 11th place finish on July 3 and a subsequent drop to third place in season points, SHR headed back to OCS on the 18th with renewed determination and a new Winter's rearend for the #41 Southern Parts Pontiac.

29 late models were on the asphalt for the start of the Talbert's Building Supply 200. In a field that included the likes of Stephen Grimes, Todd Massey, Stacy Puryear, Scott Riggs and Barry Beggarly, Steve put the #41 in the outside tenth position for the start of the event with a qualifying run of 14.690. Ryan Gray was on the pole with a sizzling 14.454, followed by Maurice Hill and Barry Beggarly.

Two cautions in the first twenty laps saw the majority of the field complete their mandatory pits stops. The SHR pit crew pulled off their best stop of the year, and the #41 was in and out in good time and without incident. On the lap 27 restart, Steve took the green in 15th position - it was already apparent that this was going to be another "loose" night for the #41.

Although Todd Massey was in and out of the pits from the drop of the green, the field really started to fall apart around lap 32 when Richard Bailey headed for the pits. On the track, Steve moved around Jason Gullie and Ronald Hill and then on lap 46, Gary Lloyd headed for his trailer. All the while, the #41 just kept getting looser and looser. On lap 65, Mark Cash headed for his pit with tire rubber causing a blaze under his hood. Three more cautions fell between laps 66 and 90 - Steve was managing to stay out of trouble all around him. He restarted in 12th position.

A major incident on lap 102 saw the yellow fly again - directly in front of Steve. This time, the #22 of Bob Ward (the "John-Boy and Billy" ride) and the #52 of Scott Kirkpatrick got together leaving the #91 of Mark Cash nowhere to go. A wrecker pulled the Cash car to pit road. Holt & Company swarmed the car, assessing damage and jerking off sheet metal in order to get Mark back into the competition. Those guys just do not give up - a lot of teams could learn some lessons from them - they were able to get Mark back on the track..

The race restarted on lap 116. Steve had maneuvered around the incident and took the green in the tenth position - the last car on the lead lap. By this time, most of the field was loose - the only bad news was that the #41 seemed to be the loosest, but Steve continued to man-handle it through turns two and four.

There was another caution for debris on lap 139, and by lap 145, both Scott Riggs and Ryan Gray had added their machines to the growing population of parked cars on pit road. Only four of the top ten in speedway points were still on the track - Maurice and Ronald Hill, Steve and Jason Gullie.

By lap154, Steve was in sixth place directly behind Ronald Hill. Steve had the power to pass him, but he didn't have the handling. What Steve needed to do was hold onto that crazy-loose race car for 46 more laps and finish and that is what he did. "Mr. Consistency" took the checkers in sixth place. Barry Beggarly, Stephen Grimes, Maurice Hill, Jason Gullie and Ronald Hill made up the top five.

I have to say it was nice to see someone new in Victory Lane, so "Welcome back, Barry!" It was also nice to see Jason Gullie have a good run - he and Mark Cash seemed to be splitting most of the bad luck this year. I saw "the look" in the Cash pit post-race and I know the toll that bad luck can take on you. Just keep doing what you're doing, guys, and "believe." It is just bad luck, and you will beat it.

Overall, I think Steve was "the man" of the race. No one had to fight to keep their car out of the wall for 200 laps like he did. And he not only man-handled it, he drove it to a sixth place finish with a fire-hot, leaking, what-appears-to-be-faulty, brand-new $2500 rear-end that you could smell all the way in the stands. Where's a Goody's Headache Award when you need one?

In general, I believe the Hatley team is doing what they need to do. I hope they will heed the advice that was sent to them recently by a wise, racing veteran, "Don't worry about the points, guys...they will come. Just keep finishing races!"

As always, thanks to Southern Parts, COACT, Information Retrieval, Cleo's Auto Repair, Eastgate BP and Lloyd's BP for believing in us. A very special thanks this week to the twenty or so folks from rec.autos.sport.nascar that drove/flew to the speedway for the 2nd annual SHR/RASN Reunion. The "Long-Distance Award" this year went to John Chadwick and his wife for making an incredible drive from Michigan to Rougemont for the festivities.

To Ned and Robbie Combs of the #9 Goody's Dash team, it was great meeting you and you picked up a bunch of new fans this past weekend! Please keep us informed. To the four-cylinders from Wake County Speedway, I WILL follow up on why only two drivers from your division showed up to race at OCS this weekend - you can count on it!

To the #57 team of Jimmy Mullins, if you're out there in cyberspace and reading this, we miss you at the track.

And a final thanks to the "mystery man" that walked up to Steve and Greg and told them how much he enjoys reading this web page. This one's for you.

Orange County Speedway
July, 3 1998
150 Laps
By Kathy Ward

"Same act, different players" pretty much describes the events at OCS Saturday night, and those words are quoted from an Orange County Deputy Sheriff in reference to the continuing on and off-track temper tantrums being thrown by some of the late model drivers at the Rougemont speedway. Fortunately, Steve Hatley Racing is not caught up in the power plays and Steve just keeps driving his heart out. Saturday, he drove through the chaos to a second place finish and a second place position in season points.

22 late models participated in time trials for the Durham Exchange Club LMSC 125. Steve put the Southern Parts Pontiac on the inside of row six to start a race that would become a three-ring circus before the completion of lap two. Ryan Gray, Kirk Leone, Scott Kirkpatrick and Jimmy Mullins qualified in the top four positions for the feature event.

Lap two saw recent history repeat itself as points leader Maurice Hill put the 01 car of Jason Gullie into the wall. Both drivers entered the pits. Hill was able to exit the pit while the field was under yellow but ran through the stop sign of the official standing at the end of pit road - no penalty was assessed. Gullie was unable to return to the speedway before the green was thrown.

The race restarted on lap seven only to be halted again on lap nine with the #5 of Kirk Leone sending a slew of victimized race cars to pit road. While Hatley advanced the #41 to the sixth position for the restart, Jason Gullie was in the infield advancing on foot toward the car of Maurice Hill that was coming on and off pit road. Words were exchanged and from that point on, the fans really didn't know if the officials or the drivers were "running" the race.

There was a claim of oil on the speedway during the caution laps. Speedway officials threw the red flag. Maurice Hill had been picked up by the pace car under yellow and could not pass the official car to re-enter his pit...so he backed off the track onto pit road - allowable under OCS rules. Hill's crew and his son's crew raised the hood of the 07 and went to work under the red. The fans went just "slightly" nutso. The field was under the red flag for approximately ten to fifteen minutes. Just as the Hill crew dropped the hood on the #07, the flag man threw the yellow and cars started rolling. Hill was lined up on the lead lap.

The race restarted at lap nineteen and ran caution-free for the next 20 laps when it was slowed again for the spinning #23 car. On the restart at lap 43, Steve was still in sixth. On lap 44, Steve got by Mark Cash and Ronald Hill. The #90 of Stephen Grimes was coming fast but the SHR #41 was hooked up - even in 90+ degrees. (It's amazing what a new gear and new carburetor jets can do for a race car!) Gullie re-entered the race on lap 46 and on lap 47, the #23 spun again. On the lap number 51 restart, Steve had moved to fourth place.

In the "three strikes, you're out" category, the #23 spun again on lap 73. The race restarted on lap 79 with Hatley still in fourth position, followed by the 01 car of Rodney Cook and the 90 of Stephen Grimes.

Steve was able to hold off Grimes as he got back up to speed. Mark Cash then got around Grimes and started doing some good "holding off" of his own. At the other end of the track, Gullie was showing Maurice Hill how it is done. After filling up his rearview mirror for several laps, Gullie passed him clean on the inside. Gullie is a class act - the crowd roared their approval.

Another caution and restart on lap 100 saw Steve still in fourth. The volcano erupted on lap 123. Jimmy Mullins had gotten by race leader, Ryan Gray, in turn four. Gray then sent Mullins spinning in turn two of lap 124. The #7 of Ronald Hill spun. Steve checked up, went high and avoided the fall-out. The yellow flew. Both Gray and Mullins tried to resume their positions for the restart, but officials sent them both to the rear of the field. Mullins circled the track under caution and slammed into Gray's car. Gray then further held up the race by turning his car around and driving backwards down the front stretch fence, yelling and waving at fans, while the rest of the field was still moving under the caution. Ronald Hill also spun in the incident, but officials said that he spun trying to avoid the crash, and he was lined up first for the shoot-out. Again, a lap was put back on the board so the race would finish under a green, white, checkered. Hatley was in second place and took the checkers in that position.

Ronald Hill, a first-time winner, said in his post-race interview, that he hadn't known exactly what Hatley was going to do in the final laps, but he had known that he would run him clean. It was a little difficult to hear him though because somehow his dad, Maurice, had ended up in third place and the crowd was actively voicing their disapproval.

In the post-race interview, the track announcer joked that Steve "had been sneaking up on everybody in points." This race team doesn't sneak anywhere - the track just wasn't looking.

Thanks to all.

by Kathy Ward

Orange County Speedway
June, 20 1998
200 Laps
By Kathy Ward

It's one thing to finish ninth with a loose race car in a field of 17. I learned tonight it is quite another to get a top-ten ninth place finish in a field of 31!

Steve Hatley is the man! If there was anyone at Orange County Speedway that didn't think Steve Hatley can drive, he made a believer out of them tonight. If not, they just didn't want to believe.

31 late models crammed the infield for the Hospice LMSC 200, together with 11 Southern National Speedway trucks, ten 4-Cylinder Pure Stocks from Wake County Speedway, and a multitude of mini-stocks.

The visiting Pure Stocks were first on the schedule. R.A.S.N's own Bob Hruska was in the field and drew the #3 pill for starting position. 15 laps later, Hruska and his #71 Scirocco took the checkers in fourth place. A great weekend for Hruska as he won the Friday night race at Wake County and scored a top-five in his debut at OCS.

The 200-lap late model race was the grand finale of the evening. Hatley had qualified the #41 in 17th position on a slick race track that saw very few drivers break the 15 second mark in time trials. From the get-go, Hatley's horseshoe was intact. On lap four, Steve went under a car to pass only to have it spin out immediately after he cleared him. That brought out the first caution of the evening. Chaos followed in the pits as this was a mandatory pit stop race. Having learned a lesson earlier this season, Hatley chose to pit at his first opportunity. Scott Neville, standing in for regular crew member Randy Horton, jacked the car up and got Steve in and out of the pits unscathed. The pit stop was behind the #41 with less than ten laps on the board!

The race restarted on lap twelve only to have another caution on lap 16 when Glen Stovall checked out the OCS wall behind turns one and two. A restart again at lap 21 was followed by a caution at lap 45 which appeared to be for debris on the track. The next restart on lap 49 was short-lived when the caution waved once again on lap 50. It appeared that it was going to be a long night.

The race restarted on lap 52 and the #3 of Todd Massey and the #91 of Mark Cash had the best race going on the track for the next forty laps. Chapel Hill fans of both Cash and Hatley held their breath as lap after lap, Mark did an unbelievable job of holding off Massey as Massey tapped him in the rear and tapped him in the left rear quarter over and over again. It was an awesome run by Cash but the fans knew the outcome was inevitable - Massey would spin him out to get by him...and he did on lap 92. Both drivers came in and out of the pits during the ensuing caution laps. Unfortunately, they were pitted VERY close to one another and Cash had to block Massey in his pit to get to his own crew. Massey flew hot, backed up, swung out to get by Mark, floored it and ignored the official's stop sign at the end of pit road. He was subsequently black flagged and penalized a lap. Instead of going down a lap, Massey chose to park it, jumped out of the #3 and headed towards the Cash crew. Massey and his crew lived up to their reputations by threatening Cash and his team for the rest of the evening. Deputy sheriffs were called into position around the VIP Motorsports team. The important thing to remember in all of this is that Massey took Cash out - PERIOD - and then ignored the official's signal to stop. With all due respect to a fellow race car driver, Massey made his own bed and didn't want to lie in it. For someone that has won a race at OCS this season and has been graciously heralded by the speedway, Massey and his team have got a long way to go to become a class act.

After the infield fireworks died down and racing resumed, the caution flew again on lap 101 for a spin by the #6 of Terry Dease. The race restarted on lap 105 and no one had a clue what position Hatley was in. It was one of those moments where you would have given your kingdom for an ESPN field summary. The one thing that was quite apparent was that the #90 car of Stephen Grimes was dominating...until lap 133 when Maurice Hill finally took the lead away from him.

By this time, the Southern Parts Pontiac was loose going into the corners and loose going out, but Steve was holding it. Lap 149 saw another caution come out for the #04 car of Ryan Gray. The race restarted on lap 155, with Steve almost losing it in turn two of lap 157. It was a thing of beauty to watch him gather that car back up and punch it. Another caution flew on lap 158. On the restart on lap 161, Cash dove low and clearly started working to help Steve. The good old fans from Chapel Hill went nuts and what has previously been referred to affectionately as the "Hatley Tower" quickly turned into the "Hatley/Cash Tower". What a team they can make!

Hatley started dicing it up with the visiting #4 car. There was a caution on lap 175 and again on lap 180 when the 4 car spun (no contact from the #41) and Steve had nowhere to go to avoid the incident. The hood of the #41 buckled, the right front quarter caved in, but Steve kept going. Sheet metal could not have been 1/4 of an inch away from the right front tire. Fans were kneeling at the fence trying to see if the tire was rubbing. Thumbs were up in the air to the crew that there did not seem to be any contact. Steve wanted to pit because of the hood, but the spotter told him to stay on the track.

On the restart at lap 188, SHR was still on the track. There was another caution on lap 190. Cautions were starting to work in SHR's favor as concern over the right front mounted. The green flew again on lap 195. The #14 of Wayne Patterson was starting to be a nuisance. He was at least one lap down but wanted to challenge Hatley's limping race car for position. ANOTHER caution on lap 199. The speedway put a lap back on the board to finish the race under green, white, checkered. On the restart on lap 198, Cash was again behind us. He was limping too, but there was no one in the world I would rather have been behind us at that moment than Mark Cash.

Steve took the checkers in ninth place after fighting an incredible battle on the asphalt. Maurice Hill took the win, followed by the visiting cars of Stephen Grimes, Stacy Puryear and Scott Riggs. Steve was the last car on the lead lap.

I have to mention that the Hatley team did not get their motor back until 3:00 race morning. At 6:00, they were at the shop putting that motor back in the race car. MAJOR congratulations to the team for a job well done - they deserve a lot of recognition.

Mark Cash - what can I say? The Hatley fans gained enough respect for you tonight to last a lifetime. We owe you and we won't forget. Major congrats to Holt & Company for keeping their cool in a bad situation in the pits.

The owner of the LMSC #14, driven by Wayne Patterson, tried to get in Steve's face after the race, only for Steve to tell him that he needed to leave the pit "right now" and he did. Hopefully, that will be the end of that, although I never could figure out what they were trying to hold SHR responsible for.

The visitors threw the points race into utter chaos. Steve finished ahead of everyone in the top five in points with the exception of Maurice Hill.

Major thanks to Scott Neville, Wally Matthews and Wayne Herndon for stepping in when some of our crew had business trips and/or Father's Day obligations. Thanks to Randy "Tater" Winslow for doing an awesome job standing in for Greg Ward as the spotter ("you just watch behind me, Randy, I'll take care of what's in front of me" - SH). And as for you, Brian Merriman, thanks for being there, having everything we could possibly ever need with you and reviving me from my repeat heart attacks!

Bob Hruska, it was great to see you and Randy on the track flying the R.A.S.N colors! Thanks for choosing to race at OCS instead of crewing for Kevin LePage at Pocono. The management should be flattered.

Southern Parts, COACT, INC., rec.autos.sport.nascar, Information Retrieval, Cleo's Auto Repair, Eastgate BP - thank you for being on our team. I hope we made you proud.

Orange County Speedway
June, 6 1998
100 Laps
By Kathy Ward

Race six at OCS started on Friday night with LMSC qualifying and an ASA Happy Hour. Only fourteen late models were on hand for time trials. Track officials allowed the cars warm-up laps prior to qualifying, which proved to be gift from above for the Southern Parts Pontiac. Eleven (out of 12) bolts sheared away in the the rearend ring gear of the SHR #41 as it slowly circled the track, and all Hatley could do was limp back on to pit road, load it up and scramble back to the raceshop.

Jimmy Mullins put his #57 on the pole for the start of the Energy Efficient Housing LMSC 100 for the following evening and Maurice Hill qualified his way to the outside position on the front row. Ryan Gray, Ronald Hill, and Mark Cash completed the line-up for the top five. Hatley was assured of a 14th place start because he was present for qualifying. Any additional cars that showed up on Saturday would go to the rear of the field. (Note that does not read - START from the rear of the field!)

OCS followed qualifying with a pit crew challenge. The crew of the #6 of Gary Lloyd smoked the competition with a 24.5 second stop and no penalties. Holt & Company of the Mark Cash #91 took second place with some fancy air hose acrobatics (!), and the crew of Jimmy Mullins (with help from the SHR #41 crew chief and Jason Gullie) took third. Major credit to the speedway for putting on the pit crew exhibition. It was entertaining for the crews and the friends and fans that weathered the heat to watch.

HOT best describes the evening of the feature ASA 300 and that goes for the weather and the run of the ASA #5 of Steve Holzhausen. Adam Petty put his #45 on the pole and Gary St. Amant took the win, but the run of Holzhausen was HOT.

OCS did not seem to cause any problems for the ASA drivers, and Joe Nott was even able to say that they were having "fun" and sang the praises of the speedway as he stood over his demolished race car. TNN covered the race for a tape-delayed broadcast and the drivers put on a good show for the live audience as well as the television audience. The best part - the ASA parade lap. I'm a sucker for a good parade lap and based on crowd response, I wasn't by myself. Didn't quite compare to a good Outlaw Sprint parade lap, but that's only because these cars didn't have "wings." It would be nice to occasionally see the late models incorporate this fan-friendly gesture into their event.

And speaking of late models, the SHR crew worked hard to get the #41 race-ready, and had the car back at the speedway when the gates opened. Only three additional entries showed up for the LMSC 100 which brought the field to 17. Following the ASA event, the late models filed onto the speedway. Hatley started warm-up laps on the outside of row seven. During the warm-up, the #52 of Scott Kirpatrick slammed into the wall on the front stretch. He hit hard, cut a tire, headed for pit road, and didn't come out as the cars started closing up for the start. The drivers on the inside row tightened to fill Kirkpatrick's spot. The drivers on the outside row held their positions. Two drivers that should have started behind Hatley were 3 car lengths ahead of him on the inside when the green flag fell. Did the flagman wave off the start? Nope. Would that have happened in WC or BGN? Nope. The start most definitely should have been waved off, and the drivers lined up correctly, but it didn't happen. As it turned out, those two drivers were never factors in the race anyway, but it still cost Hatley valuable time having to get around two cars that didn't show up for qualifying. Giving the flag man (and the official he was taking directions from) the benefit of the doubt, they might have thought Kirpatrick was coming back out. But he didn't and the green should have never been thrown.

But back to racing. The set-up on the Southern Parts Pontiac clearly did not respond to track conditions and the heat and was loose from the get-go. Make that LOOSE! Hatley did everything he could to keep the car out of the wall for the entire 100 caution-free laps, and an incredible job he did to bring the #41 home in one piece.

It was a relatively uneventful race with the win again going to Maurice Hill, followed by Jason Gullie, Jimmy Mullins, Ronald Hill and Mark Cash. Hatley crossed the s/f in 9th.

The next race at OCS isn't until June 20, but there is plenty going on at the SHR shop. The engine has been taken out for its mid-season tune-up and the crew is making plans for set-up changes to get through the long, hot summer. The June 20th event is a 200-lapper and what we don't need is a loose race car.

Orange County Speedway
May, 30 1998
200 Laps
By Kathy Ward

SHR learned a lesson in pit strategy Saturday night that they most likely won't forget.

The Kawasaki-Suzuki of Durham Late Model Stock 200 was everything it was billed to be and more. 35 late models packed the infield to challenge for the biggest purse of the year. First place prize money was $3000, and $10 was paid for each lap led. Kawasaki-Suzuki sweetened that purse by adding a $1500 bonus to the first place award, $1000 to the leader at halfway and $600 to the pole sitter. The catch? All cars were required to make one live pit stop.

Heavy morning showers, a thick cloud cover and plummeting temperatures left the track green and seeping water in the corners. The SHR team scrambled to get the #41 through tech so they would have a preferred late qualifying position. Hatley's run gave credence to the saying that "loose is fast," as he overcame track conditions to put the Southern Parts Pontiac in the eighth starting spot. The familiar black #82 of Barry Beggarly was on the pole as 32 late models qualified for the field, including the strong rides of Todd Massey, Scott Riggs, Stacy Puryear and Greg Marlowe.

Early laps saw Hatley fighting to get to the inside and losing one position to the 01 of Jason Gullie in the process. The first caution flew on lap 14 with heavy damage to the 29, 18, and 16. There was a wild scramble to pit road as drivers tried to get the mandatory stop behind them. The SHR #41 did not pit with the rest of the leaders - that decision would come back to haunt Mr. Hatley.

Cautions counted and on the restart on lap 21, Steve Hatley Racing was in the lead. Hatley, who apparently has solved his restart problem, held that lead for the next eleven laps, when the Chatlee Boat & Marine #87 of Greg Marlowe got by him. On lap 40, Jason Gullie parked his #01 with mechanical problems - taking himself out as a contender for the evening and throwing chaos into the season's point race.

A caution on lap 49 brought Hatley in for his pitstop, and he was the lone visitor to pit road. The SHR crew got him in, jacked up, and out quickly, but he had to go to the end of the lead lap for the restart...and that was behind a ton of late models - some good and some not so good.

Hatley started working his way up through a field that looked like Interstate 40 at rush hour. Running up front was the only place to be. The flagman was slow throwing caution flags, and several spins (and one car sitting across the track at the s/f line) that could have brought cautions, didn't. It was clear the speedway wanted to let them race. On lap 83, the lead car of Greg Marlowe was able to put SHR a lap down.

Lap 93 saw Todd Massey enter the pits and not come out. He joined Jason Gullie as an unwilling spectator.

The yellow waved on lap 123 for Scott Kirkpatrick, Ryan Gray and the 90 car. Sheet metal was everywhere. Hatley had been running nose-to-tail behind Ryan Gray and he got through the spinning cars on sheer instinct - the SHR spotter didn't even have time to react. Hatley beat the leaders back around to the start/finish line and it was one of those times that you really wished they could race back to the flag...but they can't. He had to try and get his lap back under green.

And that's what he did - he raced to get his lap back from the restart on lap 131 to the checkers at lap 200. By this time, he was the second driver one lap down and nobody in the stands could have told you how many cars were on the lead lap. The 87 of Greg Marlowe, the 82 of Barry Beggarly and the 57 of Jimmy Mullins stood between Hatley and the lead lap. Hatley filled up the mirror of Jimmy Mullins on every inch of asphalt at Orange County Speedway, as Beggarly fought to take the lead from Marlowe. The foursome caught the rear of the field, and went in, around and through traffic like a freight train.

The SHR contingent had to keep reminding themselves that the #41 was a lap down. @#$*@#& that late pit stop!

When lap 200 finally came, it was the #87 of Greg Marlowe taking the checkers, followed by Beggarly, Jimmy Mullins and Scott Kirkpatrick. I wish I could tell you who finished fifth and sixth but it was total chaos (and I wish I knew so I could figure out the points situation). Only six cars finished on the lead lap with Mark Cash going a lap down late in the race. Cash brought the #91 home in seventh, followed by Maurice Hill and Hatley. And other than a few "unsightly" do-nuts, you couldn't tell the Southern Parts Pontiac had just left a war zone.

Interestingly, the first visitor to the SHR pit was the wife of Jimmy Mullins, who thanked Steve profusely for running Jimmy a clean race and congratulated him on his strong run. She and Jimmy were also the last ones to leave the SHR pit, so the Hatley network continues to expand with good people, good will and respect.

You know, it seems to me this Steve Hatley Racing team is just having way too much fun. I actually overheard Mr. Hatley say that he is now "driving for a points championship!"

Did I mention we should have pitted with the rest of the leaders?

As always, thank to Southern Parts, Information Retrieval Systems, COACT, Inc., rec.autos.sport.nascar, Cleo's Auto Repair and Chapel Hill's Eastgate BP for keeping us on the track.

Schedule Update: The late model race scheduled for May 30 has been changed from a 60-lap "Dash for Cash" to a hundred lap event. Practice and qualifying will be held on Friday with the ASA 300 and the late model event scheduled for Saturday.

Orange County Speedway
May, 23 1998
200 Laps
By Kathy Ward

On a night where the weather was a big question mark and the moon showed its face only long enough to make sure everyone knew it was full, Steve Hatley drove the Southern Parts Pontiac to a half car length out of a third place finish.

Twenty-three late models participated in time trials for the Chatlee Boat & Marine LMSC 125. One of the entrants was the familiar black #82 of former track champion, Barry Beggarly, on hiatus from South Boston Speedway. Persistent rains had left track conditions similar to the week before - green and slick. Hatley turned a 14.975 in his fast qualifying lap - beating his time from last week - and laying claim to a twelfth place starting position.

Attrition from cautions on laps 27 and 43, and Hatley passing the #5, #18, and #11 cars placed him in fifth position for the re-start on lap 51. For the next nineteen laps, it was the #01 of Jason Gullie trying to hold off the #41 of Hatley. The respect that the two drivers hold for each other showed as lap after lap, they ran nose to tail with Hatley filling up the rearview mirror of Gullie, feinting to the inside and the outside, and forcing Gullie to run as wide as he could. Hatley moved by Gullie on lap 70 as the next caution fell. On the re-start, Hatley was lined up behind Gullie again, still in fifth position.

Hatley again managed to get by Gullie and on lap 81, Beggarly blew the engine in the #82 directly in front of the Southern Parts Pontiac. Hatley escaped Beggarly's fall-out for the second time this season and restarted in third place on lap 85. The Hatley team needed some green flag laps to finish out the 125-lap feature. Instead, the #18 car of Glenn Stovall caused his third caution of the evening on lap 91. The green fell again on lap 98 with Hatley still holding onto third.

The #52 car of Scott Kirkpatrick was punting Hatley from the restart. Kirkpatrick got by the SHR #41 on lap 101 when a good solid bump knocked Hatley out of the groove and up the racetrack. Hatley gathered it up and followed Kirkpatrick until lap 119 when it appeared that he decided he wanted third badly and punched it. The #41 was all over the #52 for the remaining six laps. Hatley was under Kirpatrick clean in the middle of the fourth turn on the final lap. The #41 got squirrelly, and Hatley held on to take fourth place - a half of a car length behind Kirkpatrick.

Jimmy Mullins took the checkered for the second week in a row, with one of the sweetest, Dale Earnhardt-type passes on Maurice Hill I have ever witnessed. Hill crossed the line in second, followed by Kirkpatrick, Hatley, Gullie, and the incredible Holt & Company-resurrected #91 of Mark Cash, who had suffered major damage early on.

As always, thank to Southern Parts, Information Retrieval Systems, COACT, Inc., rec.autos.sport.nascar (especially to rasn'er Lou Lauer for assuming pit crew duties), Cleo's Auto Repair and Chapel Hill's Eastgate BP for keeping us on the track.

We're so close to Victory Lane we can taste it!

Orange County Speedway
May 2, 1998
125 Laps
By Kathy Ward

Six cautions in the first forty-one laps of the OCS 125-lap late model feature proved that up front was not the place to be on what could have been billed as Demo Derby Night at Rougemont. It was an evening where even some of the strong didn't survive.

Late Models always qualify first at OCS and the cards they were dealt on this afternoon were a green track from the recent rains and an unusually warm day. Qualifying times were slow, and Hatley only managed a 15.002, which put him in a twelth-place starting position. That position would end up being a gift of mercy from the great racing gods.

Fall-out from cautions on laps four, seven, thirty-six, and forty moved Hatley into sixth place, and he had not run many laps at full speed, much less passed a car. The #41 was not handling. It had been "junk" in practice, the crew had made adjustments prior to qualifying, the temperature dropped twenty degrees, and the adjustments ended up being too much for conditions and the Southern Parts Pontiac.

On the lap 41 re-start, both veteran Maurice Hill and his son, Ronald - the OCS tag team - got under the ill-handling #41. Rayvon Clark then blew the engine in his #20, icing an already slick track with oil and the race was red-flagged. The second re-start on lap 41 saw the 18 car of Glen Stovall turn the #91 of Mark Cash into a mangled mass of sheet metal. Hatley was still in eighth position on the third re-start of the dreaded lap 41.

Hatley's car started kicking in after twenty or so green-flag laps, he was running with the leaders, but the cautions continued in the free-for-all and positions were changing faster than you could keep up with them. Maurice Hill put leader Jason Gullie into the wall, rookie Jay Hilliard spun, and Ryan Gray and Kirk Leone, each of whom had an opportunity to inherit the front position from lead-pack incidents, continued their ongoing rivalry and had untimely run-ins with each other and the hard walls of OCS. I'm not sure if there was a car on the track that the #52 of Scott Kirkpatrick didn't hit. Each time, the nose of the #41 came through the smoke unscathed.

Hatley crossed the finish line in eighth place, surviving the chaos with only a wrinkled right front quarter from early contact with the #60 of Richard Bailey. First-time winner and newlywed, Jimmy Mullins, took the checkers in his #57, followed by Maurice Hill, Ronald Hill, and the damaged 01 of Jason Gullie.

As always, thanks to Southern Parts, Information Retrieval Systems, COACT, Inc., rec.autos.sport.nascar (especially to rasn'er Karen Jensen who flew in for the race from Boston, Mass.), and Cleo's Auto Repair for keeping us on the track. Also, thanks and a big welcome aboard to our new associate sponsor, James Spurling, owner of Chapel Hill's Eastgate BP.

by Kathy Ward

Ace Speedway
March 22, 1998
200 Laps - $10,000-to-Win
By Kathy Ward

We woke up Sunday morning to an unusual round orange thing rising in the eastern sky. Greg suggested maybe it was the sun, but we weren't sure - it had been so long since we had seen it.

The first two days of the big weekend at Ace were cancelled because of rain. All of the events related to the MBNA Spring 200 were moved back to Sunday. The guys headed to the track about 8:00 a.m. - pit gates were scheduled to open at 10:00. Greg said they had not been in the pits more than 15 minutes before the first member of the SHR/RASN photography team, Brian Merriman, showed up with cameras and oodles of film. It wasn't too long before he was joined by the other member of the photography team and SHR webmaster, jEff Oswald.

Being somewhat of a "basket case of nerves," I didn't hurry to the track. I knew it wouldn't do me any good to get there early. I hitched a ride with Paula (the ORIGINAL Jeff Gordon fan) and her husband, Don, and we arrived at 1:00. I scooted to the credentials window to get my press pass, and was hassled for a second time about having two photographers. I managed to assure them again that Brian and jEff were NOT "just members of the crew," ran to the fence to signal the team that we were there, and headed around to the "Hatley Tower" on the backside.

Time trials began at 2:00 and Steve was fourth in line to qualify. The first three times were 15.08, 15.07, and 15.18. Steve came out and blew the field away with a 14.84. He managed to hold onto the pole position until the fifth driver from the end, Todd Massey (who holds the track qualifying record and ended up being our nemesis all day long) came out and beat him by two-hundredths of a second - 14.82. We held our breath again when Barry Beggarly came out - half wanting him to be slower than Steve and half wanting him to be faster so we could start on the inside. Beggarly turned a 15.03. We would start from the outside pole.

Lap one saw Steve trying to get on the inside behind Todd Massey and in front of Richard Landreth. Greg called "clear," Steve went down, Todd checked up, Steve checked up, Richard checked up (you get the picture, right?), Richard tapped Steve, and Steve tapped Todd. Spin one. Caution one. Todd went to the rear of the field. Steve was in the lead. It was still lap one.

Steve was most unhappy on the radio that he had spun Todd, and asked Greg to go over and apologize to his spotter. Greg told him that he had already done so, and the spotter called Greg a few unrepeatable names, so Greg told Steve just not to worry about it - that they would take care of it after the race.

On the restart, Steve looked like he was shot out of a cannon. For the next seventeen laps, he led the field and it was a sight to behold. He had as much as a 3/4 straightaway lead on the second-place car. When I could take my eyes away from the #41, I saw that Dean Ward (two-time late model track champion at Ace) was coming through the field, and he was coming fast - as was the 01 car of Phillip Morris (late model track champion at New River Valley Speedway) and the 82 of Barry Beggarly (former national Winston Racing Series Champion, former repeat late model track champion at Ace, and last year's track champion at Orange County Speedway). Needless to say, Steve was in good and strong company. What we didn't need was a caution. What we got was a caution.

When action resumed and things settled down, Steve was running in fourth behind Dean, Phillip and Barry. On lap 50, Todd Massey spun again (although there didn't appear to be any contact), was sent to the back again, and our good friend Michael said to me, "It looks like he wants to be at the rear of the field, doesn't it?" Those would prove to be prophetic words.

Steve was clearly faster than Barry, but Barry is quite the master at making his car VERY wide. Ace is essentially a one-groove track, so unless you want to take someone out, you hope they will make a mistake. In this case, on lap 84, Barry blew right in front of Steve between turns 3 and 4. Flames flew out from underneath Barry's car, he went up and hit the outside wall, and started back down across the track. It really looked like Steve had nowhere to go. But...with what looked like a two-inch clearance, Steve shot under him.

Just prior to lap 100, guess what - Massey spun again. He would go to the rear of the field again just in time for the break and the inversion of the start at lap 100.

So...at the beginning of the second-hundred, Massey was in the first position. Steve would start fourth. The 33 car of Keith Woody got by Steve to put Steve back in fifth. Twice Steve would pass him - both times cautions fell - at laps 122 and 130, and Steve would be put back behind him.

There was another mandatory break at lap 150, and the top-ten drivers had to draw for their starting positions for the last 50 laps. Steve drew second - again on the outside, but we knew at this point that we really had a chance to win this thing if we could go caution-free. Starting positions were: Richard Bailey 1, Steve 2, Massey 3, ?4, Mark Rumley 5, Richard Landreth 6, Dean Ward 7, Phillip Morris 8, Dick Shirley 9 and Keith Woody 10.

By the next caution at lap 152, Massey had taken the lead, and Steve was in second. By the next caution at lap 172, Steve was in fourth position. On lap 179, Steve was still in fourth position running behind Dean Ward. Dean's second set of tires obviously were not to his liking. Steve was faster than Dean. There was no time left to wait for someone to make a mistake. Steve and Dean started dicing it up. There was damage to the right front quarter of the #41 - not major but the tire was rubbing sheet metal in the corners and SMOKING. Geezus - after all this - would we make it to the end?

Steve wasn't able to fight for position in the last twenty laps, but he was able to maintain position. We took the checkers in 5th place. The top five were (you guessed it) Todd Massey, Richard Landreth, Phillip Morris, Dean Ward, and Steve.

So....in a $10,000 race, we took $800.00 for fifth place. But we had to laugh that $800.00 is more than Ace pays the winner during a regular season race! It would ALMOST cover the cost of two tires :-)

Post-race activity was fun. I was tickled to see Steve's main sponsor there and a host of other Hatley fans. Everyone was upbeat. The car was in one piece.

Steve went and apologized to Todd for the first-lap incident, and Todd told him he didn't even know it was Steve that was behind him. They shook hands. No harm, no foul.

Major thanks to jEff and Brian for making the trips from Charlotte and Fayetteville, respectively, to participate in the season opener with us, and catch it on film. Major thanks to Lori and Cliff (Brian's wife and son) for enduring the cold and Massey fans with me in the stands. Thanks and credit to Paula for enduring Steve's dad's repeated cries of excitement, "that's my boy!" (BTW, Tom Duwe, - Tommy sends his regards...) Major thanks to all of the Hatley fans that filled the Hatley Tower, and especially to Michael, Rejina and Holly, our Rockingham buddies, for surprising us with their presence. Major thanks to our friend, Phillip Walker, Ace announcer, for repeatedly recognizing and praising Steve and Greg on the public address system. Major thanks to the Ace officials for working with the team - and not against them - as they tried to adjust the ride height in pre-race tech.

Finally and most of all, major thanks to Southern Parts and NAPA, COACT, Inc., rec.autos.sport.nascar, Information Retrieval Systems, and Cleo's Auto Repair for allowing us the opportunity to race.

It just doesn't get any better than short-track racing! KW

Orange County Speedway - Season Opener
March 29, 1998
By Kathy Ward

Orange County Speedway opened the 1998 season under a new $100,000 lighting system on a night that seemed to be created for the sole purpose of racing.

SHR continued to thrill fans and sponsors alike by turning a 14.609 in time trials - the best qualifying effort ever for the team at OCS which put the #41 in a fifth place starting position. The pole speed was 14.511.

An early caution on lap 12 shuffled Steve back to seventh on the restart. Hatley held that position until Todd Massey, who had been steadily working his way up through the field from a bad starting postion, got by him.

On lap 36, the #41 Pontiac was tagged in the rear by the 7 car of Ronald Hill. Hatley fans were on their feet and afraid to breathe as they watched Steve fight to keep the car out of the wall. After several tense seconds, Steve got the car under control and under way - remaining in 8th position. The Hatley Tower ROCKED!!!!!!!!

The Goodyears on the #41 started coming in around lap 80. From then on, Steve appeared to be piloting a rocket ship and gaining on the leaders with every lap. By lap 104, he had caught the leaders and was passing Ronald Hill, when the 01 car of Jason Gullie tagged the wall and brought out a caution. On the restart, Hatley was once again lined up behind Hill.

A major crash on lap 135 resulted from contact between the Ronald Hill car and the #91 of Chapel Hill's Mark Cash. Hatley was able to avoid the fall-out, and the yellow nose of the Southern Parts Pontiac once again came through the chaos unscathed. The race was red-flagged in an attempt to clear the track and hopefully finish the race under green.

Hatley went into the final laps in the 7th position. There weren't enough laps left for his tires to kick back in and enable him to gain position, but he took the checkers with a strong 7th place finish, ahead of David Humphrey, late model track champion at Southern National Speedway - "sister" track to OCS.

As Humphrey's team was pulling out, a crew member was overheard to yell, "we're getting the heck outa' here!" Welcome to racing at Orange County Speedway guys.

Orange County Speedway - 125 laps
May 2, 1998
By Kathy Ward

If I told you that SHR took 12th in the second race at OCS, you might say, "well...another ho-hum night for Hatley Racing." Yes, SHR took 12th, but in one split second on lap 138 out of 150, the #41 went from challenging for third position to the back of the trailer. Ho-hum is not the way it was at all.

Steve qualified in eighth position under the full moon at Rougemont - now that WAS a little ho-hum, especially since they had been really fast in practice, but Steve took responsibility for the mid-field starting position by saying that he had tried to get more out of the car than it could give.

17 cars started the 150-lap feature, and the #60 car of Richard Bailey was tapping on Steve's back door from the get-go. Steve and the rest of the field managed to make it for 3 laps before the first caution. On the restart, Steve was in 6th position. Lap after lap, Steve held 6th position, leading the second pack of cars and holding off Bailey - but his tires were coming to him - and he gained on the leaders with every lap.

There were cautions at lap 57 and at lap 68. Steve had moved to 5th position behind Chapel Hill's Mark Cash on the lap 68 restart. Greg Ward, SHR spotter, reminded Steve during the caution that Mark was "not going to just LET him by." The #41 was pushing on the restart but by lap 113, Steve had passed Cash, taken 4th and was filling up the rearview mirror of the third place car of Ryan Gray. Greg reported that the spotter for Gray was standing beside him in the tower and yelling, "The 41 is coming, the 41 is coming!" The front four cars were running nose to tail and the #41 was clearly the fastest thing on the track on long runs. Steve was in a strong position for a win. He was faster than Ryan Gray, and Jason Gullie and Maurice Hill were running close and hard for positions one and two.

By this time, most of the Hatley fans had vacated their seats in the "Hatley Tower" and were lined up along the fence.

As last week, what SHR didn't need a caution. Again...what we got was a caution with 25 to go. On the restart, the car was pushing badly. Steve was manhandling the car, hoping the final laps would go caution free. Mark Cash was fast on the restarts and was glued to Steve's bumper, waiting for an opportunity. On lap 138, the #41 was squirelly coming out of turn 4. Steve was able to gather it up, but the movement gave Cash the moment he had been waiting for. Cash had two choices - he could have backed off Steve, and let him gather it up unscathed, or he could dive low and go for the pass. He went low, but not low enough - he clipped Steve on the left rear quarter panel and both cars went spinning down the front stretch.

The #41 hit the last two feet of the pit road wall, with the #91 of Cash t-boned into the driver's side. Cash was able to drive off after the incident. Steve attempted to, but then stopped and backed the Southern Parts Pontiac down pit road, into the SHR stall and onto the trailer. The car wasn't driveable and attempting to stay on the track would not have gained any points positions. Attrition had taken it's toll and only 11 cars were on the track for the final laps. The worst SHR could finish was twelfth. Maurice Hill took the win, with Jason Gullie coming across the line in second.

Damage inventory: possible cracked right front hub, bent ball joints, bent center link, possible bent spindle, minor sheet metal problems.

SHR team was disappointed and fired up at the same time for the same reason - they had come so close! But there won't be a full moon next week and they will be back.

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