After a Consistent Start to the 2016 Season, Friesen and the Halmar Racing Team Are Coming On Strong; Set to Make First-Career Bristol NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Start
Story By: MATT NOLES / RACERSGUIDE.COM
Photos By: RACERSGUIDE.COM PHOTO STAFF
SPRAKERS, NY- August 16, 2016- There’s nothing simple about starting a new race team.
With the announcement shortly after the conclusion of the 2015 season that championship modified driver Stewart Friesen and the Halmar Racing Team would be joining forces the following year, expectations were high; almost to the point of being unrealistic.
There’s no shame in what Friesen and his new-found race team accomplished at the season-opening DIRTcar Nationals in Volusia this past February. However, given the incredible amount of success the driver from Sprakers, New York had garnered the previous five years, some were left wondering if his new enterprise could be as successful as his previous ventures. Since the end of June, those questions have been answered in dominating fashion.
Though the young pilot has been good and consistently good at that for the majority of the season, the driver of the Halmar International No. 44 has been exceptionally dominant over the past month and if his previous performances are any indication, he’s only going to get better.
When the Super DIRTcar Series rolled into Cornwall Motor Speedway, Friesen rolled out with the victory. He then followed up his first tour victory with another in Brett Hearn’s ‘Big Show 8’ at Albany-Saratoga, the tour stop at Mohawk the following night and most recently his triumph at the Ransomville Speedway. Simply put, for over a month now, he’s been on a tear.
Friesen, who now sits a mere 23 markers behind Sheppard in the Super DIRTcar Series big-block modified point standings after the Hall of Fame 100 at Weedsport Speedway last Tuesday night, acknowledged that there were some obstacles to cross when the 2016 season began only six short months ago.
“Moving to Halmar was a big change,” stated Friesen. “For the first time in years we kind of unified everything as a race team and now we’re racing under one roof. We just needed to get everyone and everything on the same page so we could make a good run at the series this year and it’s been good. It took us a little while to get rolling and get some good baseline setups started but everything has kind of been rolling from there.”
Matt Sheppard, the current Super DIRTcar Series point leader, has been nothing short of phenomenal this season. That’s a fact that hasn’t slipped by the attention of Friesen as he continues to try and chase down the driver of the famed No. 9 Bicknell chassis at every series stop on the tour.
“Matt [Sheppard] has had just a spectacular season,” continued Friesen. “We’ve had a great series but his has just been spectacular so we’re just going to try to keep pace and see how it goes. All of these races are really tough and the competition is so good right now so to be second in points at this point in the season is good for us.”
After decimating the competition at Fonda [Speedway in Fonda, New York] and garnering four consecutive track titles at the famed half-mile oval driving for Tadd Parks, Friesen has moved his talents to the historic Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, New York on Saturday night’s. Needless to say, the change of scenery has been interesting for the championship-winning driver.
“It’s been good,” He stated enthusiastically. “We’re really close to the point lead there as well, it’s just a tough place to race. Without doing the three week ‘sleeper’ deal to start up front and try to win a race, it’s tough but we’re looking at the big picture there and trying to win a championship and put our best foot forward with that.”
It hasn’t just been the change of teams that has kept Stewart Friesen in the news this year and it hasn’t been the success he and the Halmar Racing Team have enjoyed either; it’s also been the change from center-steer dirt modified racing to the foreign world of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competition that has amassed the attention of the dirt racing faithful.
With a very respectable top-five run going during the Mudsummer Classic at Eldora [Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio] before mechanical issues sidelined the Ontario native, Friesen’s one-time truck run has turned into more than he could have ever bargained for including a stop at the famed Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee this weekend.
“I never thought running the truck would turn into what it has,” explained Friesen. “We kind of talked about doing that Eldora race and then everything transpired really quickly with it and now we have some momentum with the truck program and some great people involved as we get ready for Bristol, New Hampshire and couple more events at the bigger tracks at the end of the year. It’s really exciting.”
There is one downside to being a rookie in one of NASCAR’s premier touring series’; he’s a bit older than most of the rookies he’s racing against. “I never thought I’d get this opportunity with being a little older than most of the kids that run that series,” said Friesen. “When I did the rookie meeting at Eldora, I felt like I was in a high school class with all those kids but to race at that level with all of them and the seasoned-veterans isn’t something that I thought I’d ever be able to do.”
It’s safe to say that Stewart Friesen owned Super Dirt Week on the mile in Syracuse over the last five or six years the event was run on the historic mile at the New York State Fairgrounds. He was also on the short list of drivers to watch for some of the satellite shows that went on during the racing-filled week. However, now that the event has been moved to the Oswego Speedway in Oswego, New York something in his schedule had to give due to the added travel time.
“We are going to miss out on the Short Track Super Series race at I-88 [Speedway in Afton, New York],” Friesen concluded disappointedly. “Doing this much racing, something had to give and that was it. I think the world of Brett [Deyo], his series is awesome and he has some really good momentum going and some great sponsors and it’s a shame to have to drop out but it looks like we’ll probably run the World of Outlaw [Sprint Car Series] race at Fulton that Saturday night instead.”
Matt Noles is a contributing writer for Racers Guide, Dirt Track Digest and Speedway Illustrated. He currently resides in Sprakers, New York and can be reached via e-mail at matt_noles@yahoo.com.
