Pauch Jr. Poised for Silver Crown Debut at Williams Grove
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Pauch Jr. Poised for Silver Crown Debut at Williams Grove
By: Pete MacDonald
When opportunities arise in the business of motorsports, you simply have to take them while they are in front of you.
Billy Pauch Jr., like most people has a “bucket list” of things he wants to accomplish in this sport.
This Friday night Pauch Jr. gets to cross off another item on his list when the USAC Silver Crown series makes its long awaited return to the Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, PA for the first time in 35 years.
Williams Grove has a very deep history with the Pauch family with Billy Pauch Sr. earning 15 career victories, including the last USAC race held at one of the most historic dirt tracks in the world.
Pauch Jr. is going into this Friday with only having two career starts at the Central PA oval, one in a URC 360 Sprint Car and the other in an ARDC Midget. One familiar thing though will be the car owner whom he’s driving for, Bob Lesko who owns the SpeedSTR that Pauch Jr. campaigns on a weekly basis at the Action Track USA in Kutztown, PA.
“I’ve always wanted to run a Silver Crown car. Bob told me if I won the Kutztown title I can run the Silver Crown car. I tried to do it years ago with the Seals-It deal and it never worked out, then this deal came together and I’m excited about it, it is something totally different than what I’m used to,” offered Pauch Jr. at Grandview on Tuesday.
100 Laps on a somewhat unfamiliar race track in an unfamiliar race car can be quite challenging for some drivers but not Pauch Jr., who will race anything and everything he can as his schedule permits from Modifieds to Micro Sprints to Midgets and Sprint Cars. Pauch Jr’s most recent sprint car experience has come behind the wheel of a North East Wingless Sprint Car at New Egypt Speedway.
“There’s 70-gallons of alcohol behind you so the car is going to change a lot during the race, we just need to pace ourselves and get some laps under our belt and I’ll figure it out as I go along,” said Pauch Jr.
Currently sitting 3rd in Big Diamond Speedway’s 358 Modified point standings, Pauch Jr. knows his work is going to be cut out for him if he wants to secure a second straight championship at the Minersville, PA oval, especially after taking this coming Friday off.
“It’s a shame I’m missing Big Diamond, I enjoy going there but this is one of those things I just didn’t want to pass up and didn’t want to regret not doing going down the road,” revealed Pauch Jr.
When asked if his father (after so many wins there) had offered him any advice going into Friday night’s festivities, Pauch Jr. simply said “No, not really, he’s (Pauch Sr.) probably going to spot for me on Friday night so that should be good.”
USAC Officials released an entry list yesterday that included 22 cars which is on the high-side for a Silver Crown race anymore outside of the Midwest.
Needless to say, this Friday night at Williams Grove will simply be historic and Billy Pauch Jr. hopes to add his name to the list of who’s-who that has conquered “The Grove”.
Any questions, comments or concerns, I can be reached at racersguide@gmail.com or found on Twitter @PMacDonald51. Thanks for Reading!
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