From Daryl Turford
Sunnyvale, Tex. — A win with the World of Outlaws would be a dream come true for any sprint car racer. To win in front of your home crowd at the track your family owns would be indescribable. On Saturday night Sam Hafertepe Jr of Sunnyvale, Texas has an opportunity to do just that as he looks to defeat the World of Outlaws at his family’s Lone Star Speedway in Kilgore, Texas.
“I can’t even imagine what it would be like”, said the 2007 Knoxville Nationals Rookie of the Year as he prepared for the race at his shop. “We’ve worked really hard to put this race on and our team has worked very hard to put ourselves in a position to possibly take the win”.
To those who witnessed Sam’s break out performance at Ohsweken Speedway that saw him lead the opening 12 laps of the feature in 2007 it may come as a shock that Sam has yet to win a World of Outlaws feature.
“We’ve been close several times but it seems like we always just come up a bit short”, explained Sam.
Indeed Sam has been close. Earlier in the year at Virginia Motor Speedway Hafertepe tracked down Joey Saldana and was side by side for the lead but couldn’t finish the pass and had to settle for 2nd.
Ohio fans will never forget the show that Hafertepe, Steve Kinser and Jason Meyers put on at the Brad Doty Classic in Lima, Ohio as Sam led nearly half the feature in a wild battle that saw Sam hit the wall with 11 laps remaining while trying to re-take the lead from Meyers.
Perhaps the race that Sam will best be remembered for however was this year’s $50,000 to win Kings Royal. SpeedTV cameras captured Sam as he charged from 5th to run down leader Donny Schatz just past the halfway point. Sam eventually faded to 3rd when he encountered fuel issues but it was a strong performance in one of sprint car racing’s most prestigious races.
“That race was very important to us as a team”, said Sam. “We probably have the youngest and most inexperienced team on the tour and that race showed that we can run with the best in the world and succeed”.
Since the Kings Royal in July the team has been one of the fastest in the nation and has continued to knock on the door every time they’ve raced with the Outlaws.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that we can walk into Lone Star and get that first win”, said Sam. “These guys are the absolute best in the business and it’s so hard to beat them but if my guys do their job and I do mine we can pull this off”.
The win would be important on so many levels for Hafertepe.
“My Mom and Dad have been behind me in everything I’ve done and have been incredibly supportive of my career”, explained Sam. “To get my first win in front of them after all their support, hard work and effort would be awesome. I know as well as anybody what it takes financially and emotionally to be out here and they do everything they can to give me what I need”.
The Hafertepes have been working a long time to prepare for WoOFest at Lone Star Speedway and on Saturday night they would love nothing more than to see their son in Victory Lane.
“It would be just amazing”, said Lisa Hafertepe. “We’re so proud of Sam and what he’s already accomplished in his young career and I just hope that on Saturday I get to see him take the win”.
The race will also be Sam’s final 410 start of the season in the family owned #15H.
“We’ve landed a ride for the races at Lowe’s”, said Sam. “The team I will be driving for has really nice stuff and I think we can go down there and compete for the win but for now I’m just taking things 1 race at a time and trying to take care of all the details so that we can put this Lone Star Speedway car in Victory Lane on Saturday”.