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From Bristol to Orange County, 14-year-old Tyler Townsend continues on with his
rookie season in the ASA Late Model Series.Posted August 9th, 2007
14-year-old Tyler Townsend looks to contend for his first ever ASALMS Southern
Division Feature Win this Saturday August 11, 2007 at the Orange County (NC)
Speedway in Rougemont, North Carolina in the running of the Orange County 125.
(ASALMS File Photo)
By Total Performance Driver Development/M.P.H. Promotions
Longview, Texas (08/09/2007): There’s no better education for a young driver than
to do things himself and turn those repetitive laps in an effort to gain the
experience necessary to move on to bigger and better things in their respective
careers. For 14-year-old Tyler Townsend, school has been in session throughout
the 2007 season!
For the remainder of the 2007 season, Townsend is running the full schedule of
events within the ASALMS Southern Division with hopes of capturing the 2007
ASALMS South Rookie of the Year Title. In addition, Townsend is also making
select appearances in the ASALMS Challenge Division including the last two and
the next two, which will close out the 2007 season in “America’s Premiere Short
Track Series”.
Townsend and his Total Performance Driver Development Team is preparing for
the Fifth Race of the 2007 Season in the ASALMS Southern Division. The Orange
County 125 on Saturday August 11, 2007 at the Orange County (NC) Speedway,
located just South of the North Carolina/Virginia state line and North of
Raleigh/Durham in Rougemont, North Carolina.
The last race was by far the biggest of the young Texans career as him and his
TPR Driver Development Team traveled to the historic and newly concreted Bristol
(TN) Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee for the ASALMS Challenge Division’s
Ninth Race of the 2007 season, the Benson International/Crate American Race
200.
After the 200-lap Feature in Thunder Valley was complete, the 14-year-old from
Longview, Texas wiped the sweat from his eyes after a nerve racking, hotter than
hell 200 laps at the famous Bristol, Tennessee speed plant. The Texas teenager
would leave Bristol with a 22nd place finish, three laps off the pace. Yet despite the
finish, he called it a good weekend!
The Bristol weekend for Townsend started off horrible as on Thursday night, he
had a flight at 6:00pm out of Shreveport, Louisiana, which is a two hour drive from
his home in Longview, Texas! At 11:30pm that night, he found out his flight was
cancelled. So Townsend and crew ended up driving all night to Bristol, Tennessee!
After a 13-hour drive, Townsend missed most of the morning practice. Then the
Afternoon sessions brought nothing but problems. The team would just not have
the speed to break in the Top 10 all day long. So Tyler’s dad, Phil Townsend sent
the Texas teenager to his room with dinner and strict orders to go off to bed and
forget about the day and start fresh in the morning.
Saturday Morning turned out to be a lot better for Townsend as right from the get-
go, he would knock off two tenths by merely getting a good nights sleep! Despite
still not breaking into the Top 10 in Practice, the team went into Qualifying with their
fingers crossed!
Townsend’s loyalty to the ASALMS Southern Division was rewarded as despite
qualifying a disappointing 27th out of 43 cars on hand, Townsend received the first
ASALMS South Provisional to lock himself into the Benson International/Crate
American Race 200. After the 200-lap Feature, Townsend will steer his car towards
the hauler without a scratch on his machine!
“I’m so glad to get that one over with, between seeing all the problems with wheels
breaking, tires blistering, and just the fact that a crash here can get you a totaled
race car. we need this car for Orange County!” Stated the 14-year-old as he has
little time to reflect on Bristol before his next event.
As for racing at the Bristol Motor Speedway, Townsend was downright giddy when
describing his experience on the 0.533 Mile Progressively High-Banked Concrete
Oval. “To date, Bristol was the fastest, most intense, and admittedly the most
intimidating race track I’ve ever been to.” Admitted the young Texan.
“I never thought that I would run my ASALMS car at a track wide open. The
physical aspect was amazing. It looked like I just went 12 rounds with Mike Tyson
after I climbed out of the car.: Laughed the Lone Star State freshman. “Overall the
weekend was fun, exciting, intense, exhausting, and sometimes even a little scary,
but the cool part is I cant wait to go back again!”
With little time to reflect on his Bristol weekend, Townsend and crew will now switch
back to ASALMS Southern Division mode as the fast 0.375 Mile High-Banked
Paved Oval of the Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, North Carolina is next
on the schedule for the Orange County 125.
“We’ve been racing this type of track on our off weekends, so we hope to make a
good showing. We’re taking the same car we brought to Bristol, it’s our new Ford.”
Continued Townsend. “It’s not my favorite car to be honest with you, but we are
looking forward to getting it better and making it feel like a worn out old shoe just
like my Chevy.” He added.
Townsend is excited about the rest of the session, realizing that the ASALMS
Southern Division is just reaching the halfway point of the season. The 14-year-old
has about 10-15 events left on his 2007 schedule that began in February during
Florida Speedweeks.
Townsend’s first appearance in any type of a full size Late Model and on pavement
came during the 41st annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at the New
Smyrna (FL) Speedway. The Longview, Texas teenager opened a lot of eyes
during the 2007 Florida Speedweeks!
In six total events for the ASALMS Type Crate Late Models division at the newly
paved 0.500 Mile High-Banked Paved Oval, Townsend shocked the racing world
with his Feature win on Tuesday February 13, 2007, just four days after making his
Late Models debut with a runner-up showing on February 9, 2007.
Over the six races held for the ASALMS/Crate Late Models during Florida
Speedweeks, the 14-year-old teenager never finished worse than fifth in any of the
six Feature events and finished third in the final points standings. By not pre
registering for the 2007 World Series, Townsend missed out on the 50 bonus
points offered to drivers who pre registered for the 41st edition of the World Series.
Nevertheless, the Longview, Texas teenager still finished third in the final
ASALMS/Crate Late Models Final Points Standings with One Feature Win, Six Top
Fives finishes. Townsend finished just two points back of runner-up Dalton Zehr,
and 18 points behind 2007 World Series Champion, Jonathan Beason, despite
missing those 50 extra points.
The 14-year-old Lone Star State driver was the only driver throughout the entire
41st annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing’s three Late Model divisions
to finish every Feature he ran in the Top Five! No other driver during Florida
Speedweeks can boast that fact!
To learn more about Tyler Townsend and the TPR Driver Development team, and
to inquire about sponsorship opportunities for the 2007 racing season, you can
also log onto the teams brand new website at: Tyler12.com
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