Jerry Coons Jr.
We went to Perris Auto Speedway in Southern California for the USAC Sprint Car event virtually tied with Levi Jones for the points lead. I had kind of struggled in my No. 69 Hoffman Auto Racing sprinter at Perris in the past, and to come out of there with such a big points lead and almost have the title locked up was something we didn’t quite expect. We had real good runs at Perris and we were real consistent, with our Mopar® powerplants provided by Gaerte Engines running great.
We had such a huge points lead heading to Manzanita for the final two races of the year, we almost would have had to not finish the race and have Levi Jones, who was second in points, win the race to lose the championship. You don’t want to take it for granted, but we were fairly confident. So we knew going into Manzanita that we were in good shape, and we were fortunate enough to be able to close out the USAC Sprint Car title on Friday at Manzy!
I never thought I would have one USAC championship. To get two in the USAC Midget Series (2006–2007), then to be able to back it up with USAC Sprint Car and Silver Crown championships this year, it’s hard to put into words what it means to me. Of course my goal heading into the season was to win championships for all the teams I race for. To win championships in two out of the three series in which I compete is just awesome.
And to see my name now along with the other guys who have won championships in all three USAC Series (Tony Stewart, J.J. Yeley, Pancho Carter, Dave Darland), I almost don’t feel like my name fits in with those guys, when you look at their records and everything they have accomplished. It almost hasn’t sunk in. I have had a really great run with Mopar power, with three straight titles under Mopar power.
I’m not taking off anytime, however. We’ve got an indoor race in Kansas City the week before Christmas that we plan to run, and of course we’re going to run the Chili Bowl in early January in Tulsa, Okla. Then I go overseas to Australia and New Zealand right after Chili Bowl, so I don’t really have a lot of downtime before the 2009 USAC season starts. I’ll try to bring home all three USAC titles in ’09. I mean, that’s always your goal heading into a new season. I’m going to try my hardest to get it done next year.
