By Starks Racing PR
Puyallup, Wash.—May 2, 2012 — It takes some drivers an entire career to compete at both the legendary Knoxville Raceway in Iowa and the famed Eldora Speedway in Ohio. For 16-year-old Trey Starks, he’ll accomplish the feat within a week’s time, as he made his debut at Knoxville last Saturday night and will take to the track at Eldora for the first time this Friday night.
The two-night Outlaw Thunder by Goodyear Weekend for the World of Outlaws begins at Eldora Speedway on Friday, May 4 and wraps up on Saturday, May 5.
“I’ve been watching races from Eldora on television since I was a little kid,” said Starks. “It’s pretty cool that I’ll finally get to run there. It’s a big, fast track, where you can run anywhere. I’m very excited and we’ll see what we can do there.”
Starks made his debut at Knoxville Raceway last weekend with the World of Outlaws, winning a heat race for the first time with the series. The native of Puyallup, Wash. lined up on the outside of the front row in that eight-lap heat, which featured four-time series champion and five-time Knoxville Nationals winner Donny Schatz, as well as Danny Lasoski, the winningest driver in Knoxville Raceway history, and Joey Saldana among others. Starks began the night by turning the ninth-fastest lap in time trials, which marked his best-career qualifying effort with the World of Outlaws.
“Running up front at Knoxville certainly boosted our confidence,” shared the young driver. “It showed that we can run up there with those guys that it’s not impossible and it makes you a little less intimidated. It’s just a bunch of race cars out there. You don’t think of them as Steve Kinser, Joey Saldana and Donny Schatz. You are just racing a bunch of other sprint cars on the same track.”
Starks heads to Eldora with one victory this season, to go along with five finishes of 16th or better in eight A-Feature starts. He has competed in 10 events at eight different tracks, including making his debut at Perris Auto Speedway in California and Knoxville Raceway last weekend with the World of Outlaws. The event at Eldora this weekend will mark the second two-night event that he has competed in this season.
“Hopefully we can learn a lot about the track on the first night and have a good opening night and that will prepare us even more for the second night,” noted the third-generation driver, when asked about racing at Eldora on consecutive nights. “I’m hoping with how well we did at Knoxville, that we can kind of apply that to Eldora and get a Top-10 or a Top-Five finish.”
Eldora will be the fourth half-mile track that Starks has competed on this season and the fifth of his career. He raced earlier this year with the World of Outlaws at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, as well as Perris Auto Speedway in California during the series West Coast Swing. He also competed on a half-mile last year at Calistoga (Calif.) Speedway.
“I definitely like racing on the half-mile tracks,” Starks shared. “They are high speed and all about momentum. At Knoxville, we thought we were going fast and we’ll be going even faster at Eldora. I like the high-banked tracks and I have really taken a shine to the half-mile tracks.”
Last weekend, the World of Outlaws event at Knoxville drew a season-high 42 cars, and another stout field is expected this weekend at Eldora. Starks has qualified ninth or better in each of his last three starts. He was ninth in time trials last weekend with the World of Outlaws, and prior to that, he turned in second and seventh-place efforts in qualifying at Hanford (Calif.) Speedway en route to a pair of podium finishes, including a win at the 3/8-mile on April 7.
“Qualifying good will be important again this weekend,” said Starks. “I was able to qualify up front and get in the dash at Knoxville, which is a big key when you race with the World of Outlaws. Putting a whole night together and getting a good finish in the main event will make it a good weekend for me this week. Also, learning as much as I can about Eldora and the surface and what it’s like to race there is something I am looking forward to.”
Trey Starks and Starks Racing would like to thank their valued partners: BR Motorsports, FX Signs, King Racing Products, Masco Petroleum, Northwest Powerdercoating & Sandblasting, Starks Timber Processing and T &C Concepts.
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