Ben Rhodes made his Late Model debut on Saturday, July 23rd, at Hickory Motor Speedway (NC) with Fat Head Racing in a 60-lap event. After starting in the 11th position, Rhodes raced to a seventh-place finish.
Rhodes and the Fat Head Racing team unloaded their car for practice after a few days of testing. The car was immediately one of the fastest cars on the track.
“The car handled really well during practice,” said Rhodes. “Jamie Yelton, Lee McCall and the team got the car really good. I was just working on my line as well as being on the track with other drivers.”
Rhodes entered qualifying looking for a solid time. Even though he timed in a bit slower than he wanted, he knew what he needed to do for the next time.
“I entered the corner too low on my qualifying run, which slowed me down,” explained Rhodes. “With a little more experience under my belt, we should have a better qualifying result.”
Starting from the 11th position, Rhodes remained patient through the first half of the race, learning the track and the line. Towards the end of the event, he was able to use the experience on the track to move forward, finishing seventh.
“Early on I was focusing on my starts and restarts as well as my line. The whole goal was to run our own race and find what works for us. I searched around on the track to find where the car felt good and really worked on that. We were able to stay out of trouble, pass a few cars and race all 60 laps.
“I want to thank Jamie Yelton, Lee McCall and the Fat Head Racing team for giving me this awesome opportunity. I am looking forward to working with them in the future.”
Watch a video of Ben’s day, including interviews with him throughout the event at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBkai0IPFuE