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Ryan Lawler to kick off Sophomore season in Lakeland, Florida for Speedfest.
Also launches brand new website.Posted January 24th, 2007
Colleyville, Texas sophomore, Ryan Lawler will head down to Speedfest this
weekend on Friday and Saturday January 26-27, 2007 at the USA (FL)
International Speedway in Lakeland, Florida. In all total, 11 teams with ties to the
ASA Late Model Series will be on hand competing amongst the 50 entires.
(ASALMS File Photo)
By 51 Sports
Mooresville, North Carolina (01/24/2007): If Ryan Lawler was enrolled at Short
Track Racing University, the 19-year-old would have earned straight-A’s in his
freshman season behind the wheel of a powerful Super Late Model. Racing
throughout the Southeast and beyond, Lawler grew from a wide-eyed rookie from
Texas, who had already succeeded on the Legends Car circuits, to one of the
most promising short track talents in the country.
With a race victory at Hickory Motor Speedway and a runner-up finish in the
PASS South Super Late Model championship standings, plus two triumphs in the
ASA Late Model competition, Lawler emerged as a top contender wherever he
went. He also ran up front in select NASCAR Elite Division events from coast to
coast, including the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale, CA.
With his impressive first season in a Super Late Model now in his rear view
mirror, it is now time for Ryan Lawler to make sure that his sophomore season is
even bigger than the first. On Friday and Saturday, January 26th and 27th,
Lawler hopes to kick off a stellar 2007 season with a strong run in his first start of
the year at Speedfest, held at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Florida.
“I’m pretty pumped up,” said Lawler. “We’re going down there to test on
Wednesday, and I think we’ll be pretty good down there. I’ve been talking to Bill
Boger, who owns Clay Rogers’ car, about what they ran there last year. Since
they ran real good out there last year, they were a big help to us, so hopefully we’
ll turn it into a good run at Speedfest.
“It would be great to kick the season off with a bang, because we ran good all
season last year, but we struggled in the last couple of races. That was kind of a
bad way to end the season; I think we can get it back going this weekend.”
This year’s edition of Speedfest is the third annual, but Speedfest has quickly
become one of the biggest Super Late Model races in the country. Lawler will
enter the pit gates at USA International Speedway along with talented racers from
across the SLM world, but he is not intimidated by going into the “home turf” of
the Florida racers in one of the biggest races of the year in the Sunshine State.
“This race is probably going to have the best field of drivers that I’ve ever raced
against in one race. It seems like a pretty big deal, so I’m excited about getting
out there. I went and ran down in Florida at DeSoto last season, and I had a
good time racing with those guys. They’re pretty tough.”
Even though Lawler has never been to the .75-mile USA International Speedway,
he has been getting some good advice from a proven racing star while also
counting on his own experiences at big, fast tracks. “I was talking with David
Stremme (NASCAR Cup driver) about the track a little bit because he’s been
testing the Car of Tomorrow down there. He gave me some advice on what the
track was like. Plus, I ran out at Phoenix earlier in the year, so I don’t think it will
be any faster than that.”
Lawler heads into his 2007 season with a completely different mindset than he
had going into last season. Instead of trying to get laps and experience like last
year, Lawler knows that his success in 2006 has made him a serious threat for
victory in the new year.
“I’m a lot more familiar with the cars and the competition level than I was last year
at this time. In my first race of last year, I went out there just trying to get laps and
trying to finish all 150 laps in that first PASS South race at Hickory. Now, we’re
going to tracks trying to win the race, and that’s what we’re going to try to do at
Lakeland.”
Speedfest also marks the debut of Lawler’s brand new website; Ryan Lawler.net
News stories, feature articles, team information, schedules and results will all be
featured on the new site. Lawler’s fans will also have an opportunity to interact
with each other, as well as with Ryan on occasion, through a fan forum, coming
soon to the site.
For more information on Ryan Lawler, please contact Matt Kentfield at (704) 455-
2051 and be sure to check out the all-new Ryan Lawler website at: Ryan Lawler.
net
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