NEW TEAM, NEW SEASON, NEW GOALS
and try and get something going,
offered Wayne Maffett, Jr.,
recently as he was unloading the Lucas-Day Racing #1
Swartz Race Car.
We're not going to stick to any one track,
just bounce around and get some experience
and try and run a few different places.
Maffett's seat in the Lucas-Day Racing
just started a couple weeks ago.
Audie Swartz was the pilot
last season but when the Lucas-Day team
went looking for a new driver,
they found a good candidate
in championship winning racer Maffett, Jr.,
a second generation champ
who spent the past previous seasons
aboard Leroy Hall
Glenn Wright's Hall's racing Central #240 Swartz Race Car,
where he achieved considerable success.
We want to run some of the Sunoco (ALMS) shows
and some MACS stuff,
continued Maffett.
We'll do the MACS at Wayne County and other places.
Hit the TRIPLE CROWNS at Lakeville,
and we'll run all the shows at Eldora.
We want to get more track time at Eldora.
I've won there in Bombers and stuff,
but we want to get as much track time as we can,
especially for THE DREAM and the WORLD (100).
You need laps there if you want to do any good there.
We've been up to Eldora
and missed the transfer up there by one spot,
for that Sunoco show.
We went to Attica and had a heating problem,
then we went to Lakeville.
We got off to kind of a slow start
but we're hoping to pick it up.
One thing Maffett has to his advantage
is the fact that the Lucas-Day Team uses Swartz Race Cars,
powered by Huntley Racing Engines,
a chassis the Mansfield,
OH racer has been in for several years.
It's a new Swartz car, revealed Maffett.
That's what he's been running and what I've been driving
so we thought we'd stick with something we know.
We've had good luck with Swartz cars.
I think you can have them all on the money or off,
it's just a matter of getting
the driver and car together on the same page.
Audie will help you
as much as he can with them.
He's trying to get more of these cars out.
Jackie Boggs is really running good with his
with the Renegade series so maybe
we can get a few more of them out there.
Maffett was asked what it would mean to win
a sanctioned event,
such as a MACS race.
Oh, that would be great if we could win something like that,
responded Maffett.
It'd be nice to go out and win some local shows
and run decent in some of those.
But it would be great to win one of those
and that's a goal and dream we're shooting for,
trying to win something like that.
Another positive factor that Maffett has on his side
is that his car owners and crew are all experienced.
We've got Donnie Carnes from the 240 team, said Maffett.
Steve Day and Rod Lucas, the car owners,
and Jeff Smithberger came with me from the Hall's car.
And my son, Justin, and a few other friends.
Like I said, I'd just like to win a couple races
and get something going
and run the whole season, stated Maffett.
You can count on it.
Sunoco American Late Model Series (ALMS) dirt Late Model racer
Wayne Maffett, Jr., does both on and off the track.
The hard driving second generation racer is a fixture on the Sunoco ALMS
series and has already scored a Sunoco ALMS feature several weeks ago at
Fremont Speedway and is now poised to attack the second half of the season
with not one but two chassis in the stable.
Maffett, Jr., is in his third year as the driver of the Lucas-Day Racing dirt
Late Models that now carry the Maffett family number #40.
A long time Swartz Race Car runner, the team went with a new CJ Rayburn
to kick off the year and just a couple weeks ago
took possession of a new Swartz Race Car.
Catching up with Maffett recently at Lakeville Speedway
(“I Started racing here at Lakeville back in 1989 in Pure Stocks.
I’ve always liked Lakeville and always had pretty good success
running around here.
I always feel good racing here.”) the friendly Mansfield, OH
racer was candid about his season thus far.
"It hasn’t been too bad, there’s been some ups and downs,” revealed Maffett,
who has been racing dirt Late Models since 1996.
“We were running a new Rayburn and that was a lot different chassis
than we were used to but we just got our new Swartz car out here
so hopefully we can pick things up a little bit.
We ran the Rayburn all the way up ‘til last week, the first night out
with the new Swartz was at Wayne County.
Rayburn is a great car but we never ran a swing arm suspension
and we knew four bar and we were struggling every night
to try and keep the car consistent.”
“We had some great nights. We won one up at Fremont with the car
but we were just having trouble keeping it every night.
You’ve got to run good every night.
We’ll have both cars available because we feel that at some tracks
the Rayburn is better and other tracks the Swart is better.
We’ll take whatever car we feel will do the best that night and that helps.”
A wide grin appeared on Maffett’s face when asked about
his Sunoco ALMS victory at Fremont Speedway recently.
“That was really something on Memorial Day,” said Maffett.
“That was one of my Dad’s tracks and everything.
Really enjoy running up there.
We’ve had some good runs up there before, we’ve ran third a couple times
before but we finally hit it that night and ran away with it.
It really felt good.”
It was even sweeter to Maffett due to the tremendous
competition he faces at each Sunoco ALMS event.
“It’s tough!
Patterson and Yoder and Matt Miller and (Jeep) Van Wormer
and all those guys are tough to beat.
You’ve got to have everything on the money to be able to run with those guys.
We hit it right that night.
These cars, it takes everything.
It takes the driver, the crew, the set up, the tires,
the gear selection, the springs, it’s whoever gets it right is the winner that night.”
Maffett is also a strong proponent of the Sunoco ALMS organization.
“I can’t say enough about it,” stated Maffett.
“It’s a good series, it has a good payoff,
it has good competition and clean racing.
I really enjoy running it.
We had some trouble with our truck earlier in the year
and had to miss a couple shows so we’re down in the points
right now but we’re still going to run it.”
Maffett is also happy with the recent runs he has had at Eldora Speedway,
a track his late father tamed more than once
during a long and storied career.
“We finished in the top ten out there,” explained Maffett
about his last appearance at Eldora with the Sunoco ALMS.
“We’re picking up our program little by little out there.
That track is something.
I’d like to make one of those two big shows out there someday.
No one from Mansfield has ever made one of those big shows
and I’d like to be the guy to make one of them.
We’re trying as hard as we can and we think we’ll make one of them.”
After three years driving for car owners
Steve Day and Rod Lucas Maffett feels right at home.
“It’s our third year and we have Griff’s Engines
and Reedy Racing Engines,” explained Maffett.
“We have Richland Lumber as a sponsor,
Hydro Spray Car Wash, Mason Racin’,
Swartz Xtreme Race Cars, Rod Eddleblute’s Garage, Finish Line Bar & Grill and we’re looking
to pick up a new sponsorship deal with Hurricane Construction.
We also have Eddie’s Sunoco on this year.
We’re getting more and more people to come on board.
We’re trying to get as many sponsors as we can,
it takes a lot of money to run these deals.”
“But we’ve come a long way since day one.”
