The race is scheduled until January 24th-26th at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Florida – where is likely won’t be too chilly at all.
The young Texan really can’t wait to be racing again, and Speedfest is the perfect opportunity for that. In 2007, Lawler’s #31 Super Late Model was among the quickest cars at Speedfest, but an early wreck kept his team from showing just how good they could be in the race.
“We’re excited,” said Lawler. We were fast down there last year and just had some bad luck. It’s a fun racetrack and I like it a lot. I can’t wait for us to go back down there.”
Lawler hasn’t been out of the race seat for very long. He competed in last month’s Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. His finish there was respectable considering that some of the best short track teams in the country were in attendance at the race, but coming just shy of a top 10 result is not exactly what the young champion wanted.
“We ran 11th at the Snowball Derby and that isn’t really bad, but we like to run better than that wherever we go. So we’ll try to kick off the season with something good and go out there to get a win.”
In 2007, Lawler raced all over the map. He won the Winchester 400 in Indiana. He toured the South during his PASS South championship campaign. He also competed in ASA Late Model and ARCA RE/MAX Series events. He entered races in 10 different states all in all, so getting acclimated to a different cast of drivers to race against each race might seem to be difficult and Speedfest attracts plenty of drivers from North and South. But Lawler doesn’t see that as a challenge, but rather an opportunity to learn.
“It’s not a whole bunch different. Anywhere that you go, racing is racing. They might race a little bit different when it comes to some of the side-by-side stuff, but all in all, most of the guys everywhere really race the same.”
The 100-lap qualifying events for SpeedFest 2008 will be held Friday, January 25th, with the 200-lap, $10,000-to-win Super Late Model feature set for Saturday the 26th.
