73-year-old Williams in top 10 in USAC series

Appeal Staff Report

Although the 2008 racing season began poorly for Carson City midget racer J.R. Williams, he has managed to turn his fortunes around and is looking forward to a strong finish by the season finale at Irwindale, Calif., on Thanksgiving Night.

"We started slowly," the 73-year old USAC midget driver explained. "We missed the first few races this year due to some unknown ailment so we had to reevaluate where we wanted to concentrate our efforts."

Wiliams races in three USAC Series: California Pavement, California Dirt, and Utah.

"I really love the track at Rocky Mountain Raceway in Salt Lake City," Williams said. "It is a large (3/8-mile), fast pavement track, and although I had bed luck at it last season being crashed out both times I was there, I began to really get a handle on it this season, so I decided that as long as I missed some early dirt races at Ventura, I would concentrate on the Utah Series.

"I managed to get a fourth-place finish there a month ago and right now I'm sixth in the point standings, just three points out of fifth and think that a fifth-place finish in that series is a distinct possibility this year."

A few of the Utah Series races overlap with some of the California Pavement races so Williams manages to earn as many points as possible in both series.

"Right now I'm in ninth place in points in the California Pavement Series and may be able to hold on to it if things break my way. I'm going to miss two more of the races in that series as I have conflicting dates in Salt Lake City, but it will all boil down to how many of the California drivers make the long hauls out to Blythe and (Lake) Havasu, Calif., in the fall. The price of diesel is having an effect on some of the crews as the costs are escalating much too quickly for all of us."

There are a few weekends in which the long hauls and elements tend to wear Wiliams out. He drove from Carson City to Las Vegas on July 2 to race there on July 3 where the temperature was 118 degrees.

"That's pretty debilitating," Williams said. "Once you suit up you're wearing long-john fireproof underwear, a two-layer Nomex fire suit, a Nomex head sock, plus your helmet, fireproof gloves, socks and shoes. I do wear a cool-vest that allows me to insert a few ice packs inside the uniform by my chest, but the heat still gets to you."

On July 4, following the races at Las Vegas, Williams drove to Salt Lake City where he competed on July 5.

"I managed to finish 10th, even though I made the wrong choice of right-rear tires. I should have been at least eighth or better."

He drove back to Carson City on Sunday.

"I'm fortunate to have some good sponsors who have stayed with me over the years," Williams said. "Carson Dodge is still servicing my tow-truck that now has 161,000 miles on it, Les Schwab changes all of my tires for me and Carson Cleaners keeps my uniform nice and clean. With the escalating diesel costs, though, it sure would be nice if I could pick up a fuel sponsor as my usual weekend tow is around 1,000 miles and at around 10.5 miles per gallon the costs really add up quickly."