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FREMONT, Ohio (Sept. 21, 2021) – Confidence has been brewing throughout the last month for Greg Wilson, who has been piecing together successful outings since teaming up with Seeling Motorsports.
If there was any doubt remaining, the Hercules Tires, Ohio Logistics and DNC Hydraulics backed competitor burned it last weekend when he swept a pair of FAST on Dirt Winged 410 Sprint Cars shows in his home state of Ohio.
“Honestly, almost part of it doesn’t seem like it happened,” he said. “The thing that’s been a lot different is I’m going to races with a different perspective and a drive to get to the point to compete for wins. The last month things were trending in the right direction.
“To go Friday and win, to get the monkey off your back, was big and then you’re rolling into Fremont with more confidence. It’s a place where Andy (Potter) has had fast race cars and I’ve been good. You think if you are as good as you were the night before you should have a shot. Then to pull it off from 11th was awesome. It’s huge for my confidence and was cool to get my wife and girls, who are such a huge part of my career, some wins and to see those smiles on their faces was priceless.”
Not only did Wilson win both features, his triumph on Friday at Moler Raceway Park in Williamsburg was his first during 410ci winged sprint car action since May 2016. Approximately 24 hours later he returned to Victory Lane at Fremont Speedway.
“From my standpoint Friday night was cool because it got the monkey off our back,” he said. “It was a young guys race track. It was tiny, rough and wet. You had to run four wheels above the cushion. All the things people think I can’t or wouldn’t do. It was cool to get the job done and race with Cole Macedo, who is a talented and young guy coming up. Then Fremont is 40 minutes from my race shop. I’m an Ohio guy so it’s always been one of the mainstays in terms of 410 tracks. I’ve been fortunate to have a good fanbase. Andy is from Fremont and I know how much that means to him. With all of that combined and coming from 11th, for multiple reasons it was a big shot in the arm.”
Wilson opened the weekend by qualifying third quickest in his group at Moler Raceway Park. A heat race win preceded Wilson lining up on the outside of the third row in the main event.
“The cool part was we were a little better at the beginning of the race than I anticipated,” he said. “We’ve been good from the middle of races on lately. The way the track was it wasn’t something we’ve raced on much. We got a good start and up to fifth right away. We picked one off and were cruising in fourth. We got into traffic and got another spot. We had a restart and I got another spot. I think I was riding third and we got to traffic again. I passed Cale Conley and Cole was out a little bit, but I could see we could maneuver a little better. He was doing such a good job running where he was running and it was the line I needed to be in so you’re probably going to have to do a dirty deal to pass him, which I’m not willing to do. When I got close I thought if I could show him my nose maybe that’d create an opportunity. I could tell he’d run it into turn three harder. All you can do is hope for a mistake at that point. Fortunately for us he made a bobble in turns three and four on the last lap and I made a really good lap and was able to get by for the win.”
Saturday was another solid night from start to finish as Wilson timed in sixth quickest in his group. He gained two positions to place fourth in a heat race, which lined him up 11th in the main event.
“The first five laps I wasn’t sure we’d be all that good,” he said. “As we started going the track cleaned off a little bit and made it to where you could run multiple lanes. I kept changing my lane and bumping my wing back. Finally it started going. I got by two or three and the caution came out. We were sitting eighth or ninth. We fire off on the restart and I got three cars right away. We had another caution that got us bunched again. I got one more and then we ran quite a few laps and got another. When I saw five laps to go I got to second. Nate (Dussel) was almost a straightaway ahead of me. We were way better than I thought and the car came alive. We got to him with a lap and a half to go. We got into traffic and it was one of those deals it was better to be sitting in second. It played out perfectly. Sometimes you need some racing luck and we got a little bit. I could go through the middle and then whether you needed to cut to the bottom or go right to the cushion I could do that. I was hoping they would part and I could go right between them. The lapped car peeled to the bottom and Nate went to the cushion. I just drove right between them.”
Wilson made a late-race pass for the second straight night to earn a trip into the Winner’s Circle.
He rides the momentum into a pair of races at Eldora Speedway near Rossburg, Ohio, this weekend. Wilson will tackle the BeFour the Crowns Showdown with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series on Friday before running the FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions portion of the Four Crown Nationals on Saturday.
“When you come off a weekend like we had you’re a little more confident, but you also understand that the level of competition we’re going to now and with so many things factoring into Eldora, you have work to do,” he said. “We haven’t been very good on the half-mile tracks yet. We’re going with a better game plan. You want to go win, but right now I’d love to go make both races, run all the laps and have the ability to work on our half-mile stuff.”
QUICK RESULTS –
Sept. 17 – Moler Raceway Park in Williamsburg, Ohio – Qualifying: 3; Heat race: 1 (2); Feature: 1 (6).
Sept. 18 – Fremont Speedway in Fremont, Ohio – Qualifying: 6; Heat race: 4 (6); Feature: 1 (11).
SEASON STATS –
66 races, 3 wins, 13 top fives, 25 top 10s, 31 top 15s, 40 top 20s
UP NEXT –
Friday and Saturday at Eldora Speedway near Rossburg, Ohio, for the BeFour the Crowns Showdown and the Four Crown Nationals with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series and the FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions
UPCOMING HERCULES TIRES DEALERSHIP VISITS –
TBD
MEDIA LINKS –
Website: http://www.GregWilsonRacing.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/GregWilsonw20
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GregWilsonRacing
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Gear Off Road
Gear Off Road, which is based in Southern California, is dedicated toward building wheels for the off-road enthusiast. For more information, visit http://www.GearOffRoad.com.
“Gear Off Road has been a big part of the growth of our team,” Wilson said. “Not only do they offer a top-notch product, the process is geared toward customer satisfaction. We’re thrilled with our partnership with Gear Off Road and look forward to success together for many years.”
Wilson would also like to thank Hercules Tires, Ohio Logistics, DNC Hydraulics, Lubbock Wrecker Service, Kinsler Fuel Injection, All Pro Cylinder, MagTech Ignition, Simpson Race Products, Banshee Graphics, Hepfner Racing Products, Nagy Equipment Sales, Winters Performance, Real Capz, Mark Wolford Garage, Burns Petroleum, Inter-State Truck Repair, ATL Fuel Cells, Sandridge Customs, Cooper Custom Powder and Benson Marketing for their continued support.