Past champions compete for Evergreen Speedway mini-stock title

Published 7:17 pm Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Chuck Richard is comfortable racing in the mini-stock division at Evergreen Speedway.

The reigning champion of the division tried racing one spot up in the bombers, but didn’t like it.

“When you throw a lot of money at a car and expect to win but don’t,” Richard said. “Or you get bumped and have to start from scratch, it just isn’t much fun.

“The fun factor (in mini-stocks) is much better.”

The mini-stocks — which began years ago as the foreign stock division at Evergreen — may be the third tier of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, but the on-track competition is second to none.

And this year, the race for the championship should be closer than ever.

Four previous champions, with 59 main event wins between them, will compete for the 2008 title.

Joining Richard will be 2006 champion Mark Weedin, 2004 champion Nat Barber and 1996 champion Steve Green.

Richard, who has seven wins and “at least 20” second-place finishes over the 12 years he has competed in the mini-stock division, said “there’s going to be some exciting racing for sure.”

Joining the former champions on the list of drivers to watch are husband and wife racers Kris and Mindy Harriss, and Drew Harthorn.

Kris Harriss, the 2007 rookie of the year, finished second in points to Richard and won his first main event last season. Mindy Harriss has been racing mini stocks since 2006 and finished fifth in points last season.

Harthorn, who won the 2006 outlaw compacts title and has a drag racing championship on his resume, is entering his second season in mini-stocks.

Despite the intense competition on the track, the infield atmosphere in the mini-stock division is relaxed, possibly because building and racing mini-stocks isn’t as expensive or time-consuming as the higher divisions.

When they aren’t racing, mini-stock drivers gather together to exchange advice or spare parts, and finding an extra pair of hands to work on a car isn’t hard.

“We run more or less for the fun of it … we don’t have a ton of money in the cars, so if we bump, we can move on,” Richard said. “It’s more fun to help your competitor than watch them sit in the pits with a cracked head.”

Soft-spoken and unpretentious, Richard got involved in racing by helping to take care of Weedin’s super stock in 1982. A few years later Richard began racing himself and a friendly rivalry was born.

“Seriously, Chuck is a true driver! No one drives harder than Chuck,” Weedin wrote in his blog on Evergreen Speedway’s Web page. “I could never drive a car as fast as he can. And I haven’t seen many who can do all that he does sideways and crossed up!”

In keeping with the relaxed atmosphere of the division, Richard has a tradition of letting children sign his race car.

It began when his daughter found a marker in Richard’s garage and began to doodle on the car. Richard then began to let neighborhood children sign the car, he said “partly as a payback to their parents for not complaining when I took it for a test drive down the block.”

After that it was kids at the pre-race autograph sessions at Evergreen who wanted to put their names on Richard’s car.

“They seem to enjoy it as much as I do,” Richard said of the kids who take part in his autograph tradition.

The mini-stock division opens its season on April 12 at Evergreen, along with the top-tier super stocks, bombers and figure eight divisions.

The mini-stocks have 12 races scheduled for 2008, including the mid-season championship on Jun 28 and the finale on Sept. 27.

For more information on the mini-stock division, read Mark Weedin’s blog on www.evergreenspeedway.com or visit www.monroeministocks.com.