It’s gotten pretty tough to find adjectives to describe the late-model racing career of Gary Lewis.
The 39-year-old from Snohomish has won multiple championships, both locally at Evergreen Speedway and regionally in NASCAR and ARCA touring series.
Fresh off winning the Montana 200 for a third year in a row last weekend, this Saturday Lewis will attempt to win at Evergreen Speedway’s Washington 500 for the second straight year.
“I love racing on my home track,” Lewis said of returning to the five-eighths mile oval at Monroe. “I love the big track, the higher speeds.”
The 175-lap ASA Northwest Late Model Tour event which Lewis is slated to take part in is part of a packed weekend at Evergreen Speedway with six races on four different tracks.
Saturday’s program begins at 5 p.m. with the Northwest Legends racing for 50 laps on the three-eighths mile oval, followed by 100 laps on the figure-eight course with Evergreen Speedway’s Super Figure Eight division, and the Super Late Model and Street Stock divisions going for 125 and 50 laps, respectively, on the five-eighths mile oval.
The 175-lap tour race caps the Washington 500, but isn’t the end of the action. The Western Washington Racing Association will run a 100-lap endurance race on the speedway’s road course at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Ticket information for the Washington 500 is in the box at right; the WWRA event is free and will include a 50/50 raffle to help offset the association’s operating costs.
With just three Northwest Late Model Tour races on the schedule after Saturday, Lewis has two wins but trails leader Brent Harris of East Wenatchee by six points in the standings. Harris is winless so far this season, but hasn’t finished outside of the top five, including recording two runner-up results.
Lewis won the tour’s most recent race, on June 28 on the road course at Pacific Raceways in Kent, and the second race of the season on May 9 at Spokane County Raceway.
ASA Northwest Late Model Tour director Scott Ellsworth said Wednesday there were 22 drivers pre-registered for Saturday’s race, including three regulars from Evergreen Speedway’s late-model division: defending track and NASCAR state champion Naima Lang, Jeff Knight and NASCAR Drive for Diversity racer Natalie Sather.
Also expected to compete is Jason Fraser of Snohomish. Fraser, who is racing a limited schedule this season, finished second to Lewis in the Washington 500 last year.
“Brent Harris has been rock-solid every single race, and there’s a handful of other drivers who can win this race, like Fraser,” said Lewis, assessing the field. “(Fraser’s) not running every track, but he’s good at the places he is running. Whenever he shows up, you know it’s going to be a challenge.”
Should Lewis win this weekend, he’ll be two-thirds of the way to repeating last year’s sweep the Montana 200, Washington 500 and Idaho 200. Lewis, who has won the past two Idaho 200 races, will go for the three-peat of that event on July 31 at Stateline Speedway in Post Falls, Idaho.
“I haven’t gone into this season points racing — I just want to win races,” Lewis said. “We’re taking each race one at a time.”
Lewis won the Evergreen Speedway Street Stock, formerly Bomber, division title in 1986 and the late-model championship in 1992. He won NASCAR Northwest Division touring series titles in 1998 and 2006, and the ARCA West Late Model Challenge Series championship in 2007.
The ASA Northwest Late Model Tour was created late last year when Ellsworth and Jerry Losch agreed to combine their two touring series, Ellsworth’s Northwest Tour and Losch’s Late Model Challenge Series. The merger of the region’s late-model touring series ended competition between them for drivers, race dates and venues.
Ellsworth and Losch developed a limited schedule — originally 11 races but the season-opener at Evergreen Speedway was rained out on March 28 — that would not overstress the finances of teams and give them time to compete in big-money open-competition events like the Montana 200 and Idaho 200.
The Northwest Late Model Tour also pioneered the use of the competition cone after caution periods. The cone, which was adopted by Evergreen Speedway, allows drivers to choose to restart in either the high or low groove, adding an element of strategy and suspense.
“We’ve been averaging about 20 cars per race, which is very good in this day and age,” said Ellsworth. “We’ve been satisfied with our car counts and the racing, and the crowds have been loving it. People aren’t leaving their seats until that checkered flag — and the promoters have been loving that,
too.”
NOTES
Saturday will mark the second straight race that Lewis will have a new sponsor on his car, SEFNCO Communications of Buckley. Althought Lewis said the sponsorship is on a race-by-race basis, the additional support has been welcome.
“It’s been real tough for us to get sponsors anyway,” said Lewis. “Even when the economy was good, we struggled finding good sponsors.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
