88-Year-Old Pappy Powell Nabs Senoia Victory

On a night that featured double main events for all five of Senoia Raceway’s divisions, 88-year-old Pappy Powell stole the spotlight with a feature win during the first round of features for the Bomber division at the Senoia, GA speedway.

Powell started racing in 1943 and has won close to one hundred races in his seven decades behind the wheel of race cars, but this was his first at Senoia Raceway since the Moses brothers returned it to it’s original dirt surface.

“I raced here at Senoia the very first night it was opened,” said Powell in victory lane.

Hence Pollard and his wife opened the 3/8ths mile Senoia Raceway track in 1969.  Powell was a seasoned short track veteran of twenty-six seasons that night.  He was 45 years old on that very first race night.  He never imagined he would be winning races at the same bull ring some forty-three years later.

Other winners on this special opening round of Jewel Series racing featured Joe Armistead, jr. clean sweeping the Jodeco Auto Sales Late Models.  Marcus Caswell and Chris Arnett splitting the action in the Newnan Bonding B Cadets while Blant Duke and Clifton ‘Hog Head’ Moran each nabbed victory in the Summit Racing Equipment Hobby Stocks.  Joe Spencer won his first career feature in the Mini Stock night cap while Brandon Bright picked up the laurels during the first go around.  Jonathan Hemmings won the final Bomber race of the night after Powell’s victory in Bomber feature #1.

Powell started the first Bomber feature in the back row, but by the fourth lap he was battling with George Purgason for the third place position.  Powell nudged Purgason in turn four to take over that spot before setting his sights on race leader Michael Mills.

On lap six, Mills broke and dropped out leaving Powell in the top spot.  The 88-year-old driver from Hoganville held off Newnan’s Jonathan Hemmings and Griffin’s David Johnson to win his first race at Senoia Raceway since the late 1970’s.

Powell exited his race car for the post race interview to many fans standing in honor of his accomplishment.  He called for his long time pal, Petey, a jack Russell terrier, and on command, Petey took the young race fan die cast car giveaway in his mouth and delivered it to a lucky young man in the grandstand.  The lucky winner was some eighty years younger than the driver who won it for him.

Senoia’s Joe Armistead, Jr. used his lucky draw to start on the pole for the first of twin 20-lap features for the Jodeco Auto Sales Late Model division.  He and outside pole sitter, Shane Fulcher of Thomaston, ran side by side for two straight laps before Armistead inched in front going into turn one on lap three.  Armistead would never falter picking up his fourth win of the season over Locust Grove’s Racin’ Jason Williams and Thomaston’s Laddie Fulcher.

Jason Williams was racing Saturday night with a broken wrist.  An injury suffered two weeks earlier in a first lap crash at Senoia Raceway.

Armistead needed a little luck the second go around for the high powered machines.  LaGrange’s Tod Darda shot past Stockbridge’s Trey White and Carrollton’s Carey Smith to snare the lead early.  Darda would continue to lead until his engine let loose on the sixteenth circuit.  Second place driver Glenn Morris was caught up in the massive oil slick and slammed into the turn one wall.  Morris was able to continue and retained his spot as he was not the cause of the caution losing his position due to the mess created by Darda.

Morris was eyeing his first career feature victory at Senoia Raceway, but slid up the track a little coming out of the third turn on lap 19.  That slight bobble was enough for a tough fighting Armistead to sneak past at the white flag and then move past to post the clean sweep.  Morris would finish second ahead of Laddie Fulcher, Williams and Shane Fulcher.

In the Newnan Bonding B Cadets, Newnan’s Marcus Caswell used a good draw to his advantage in the first round of main events.  Caswell jumped out to the race lead at the drop of the green and then did an excellent job of holding back Greenville’s Thomas Mewborn for the checkers.  Lake Spivey’s Dow Kirkland was third.

The second feature saw Alabama’s Chris Arnett scoot past West Point’s Charlie Garrett to snare the lead.  Arnett then held off Mewborn for his first career win at Senoia Raceway while Alabama’s Roger Arnett charged through the field to finish third ahead of Caswell.

Mewborn’s pair of runner-up finishes gives him five second place finishes in six races.  He remains shut out of victory lane at Senoia Raceway.

“I think I have second place down pretty good,” Mewborn posted on his Facebook page after the second round of features were completed Saturday night.

Griffin’s Mike Parker nabbed the lead at the drop of the green flag in the first of two 12-lap features for the Summit Racing Equipment Hobby Stocks.  Parker held the spot until lap seven when a battle with Whitesburg’s Blant Duke ended with Duke snatching away the lead.  Duke would win his first at Senoia Raceway with Parker second, 2012 LaGrange high school graduate Dusty Jones third, Grantvile high school student Austin Horton fourth and LaGrange’s Lee Traylor in fifth.

“I’ve hit the wall here, there, but I have never won one here,” said Duke on the front stretch for the post race interview.  “Now, let’s go win the next one.”

Easier said than done.  On the start of the second feature, Duke was caught up in slower traffic on the top side of the track and faded back.  Lee Traylor was the race’s first leader until defending division champion Clifton ‘Hog Head’ Moran powered past on a lap five restart.  Moran would hold off Dusty Jones for the win with Austin Horton third.

Moran missed the first feature as he hustled to the track from a family wedding.  The missed race cost Moran the Summit Racing Equipment Hobby Stock points lead.  It is the first time since April of 2011 that Moran will not be the divisional point leader.

Newnan’s Brandon Bright won an action packed feature race #1 for the mini stock division.  Bright held off point’s leader Stephen Hill of LaGrange for his second win of the season.  Douglasville’s Erik Hogsed was third ahead of Newnan’s Brandon Creech and Barnesville’s Gary Parker.

The second feature saw a first career feature winner with Newnan’s Joe Spencer besting the field of nearly twenty four cylinder stock cars.  Spencer did a superb job of keeping Hill at bay for the second time on the night.  Parker nabbed third while Hogsed ended up fourth and Senoia’s Robert Caldwell fifth.

‘Lil Jon’ Jonathan Hemmings won the night cap in the crash-filled Bomber feature #2.  George Purgason finished second ahead of Franklin’s racing lady Terri Thomaston.

Senoia Raceway will celebrate Memorial Day weekend with a special racing card featuring all five weekly divisions and the Modified Minis.  The holiday weekend event will close out with a huge display of fireworks.

For additional information, visit senoiaraceway.com.

Senoia Raceway – Senoia, GA
Race Results – May 19, 2012

Late Models
Feature #1:
1. Joe Armistead, Jr.
2. Jason Williams
3. Laddie Fulcher
4. Glenn Morris
5. Tod Darda
6. Steven Nicholson
7. Carey Smith
8. Trey White
9. Brandon Miller
10. Shane Fulcher
11. Donnie Whatley
12. Troy Tyson

Feature #2:
1. Armistead
2. Morris
3. Laddie Fulcher
4. Williams
5. Shane Fulcher
6. Miller
7. Tyson
8. Darda
9. White
10. Smith
11. Nicholson
DNS: Whatley

B Cadets
Feature #1:
1. Marcus Caswell
2. Thomas Mewborn
3. Dow Kirkland
4. Anthony Meadows
5. Roger Arnett
6. Jeff Carter
7. TJ Joiner
8. Josh Pitt
9. Justin Clark
10. Bobby Slawson
11. Johnny Stinchcomb
12. Mike Johnson
13. Charlie Garrett
14. David Chapman
DNS: Corey Payton

Feature #2:
1. Chris Arnett
2. Mewborn
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4. Caswell
5. Slawson
6. Stinchcomb
7. Johnson
8. Pitt
9. Kirkland
10. Garrett
11. Clark
12. Carter
DNS: Payton; Joiner; Chapman

Hobby Stocks
Feature #1:  
1. Blant Duke
2. Mike Parker
3. Dusty Jones
4. Austin Horton
5. Lee Traylor
6. Rusty Johnson
7. Kerry Carden
8. Bill Brown
9. Mike Jenkins
10. John Landrum
11. Hunter Worley
12. Zack Sockwell
DQ: William Blair
DNS: Clifton Moran

Feature #2:
1. Moran
2. Jones
3. Horton
4. Parker
5. Carden
6. Traylor
7. Brown
8. Landrum
9. Johnson
10. Duke
11. Jenkins
12. Blair
DNS: Worley; Sockwell

Mini Stocks
Feature #1:
1. Brandon Bright
2. Stephen Hill
3. Erik Hogsed
4. Brandon Creech
5. Gary Parker
6. Dorough Bright
7. Tim Collier
8. Chase Townes
9. Robert Caldwell
10. Michael Spencer
11. Rocky Johnson
12. Richard Blume
13. Bo Chambers
14. Brandon Libri
15. Billy Jack Jenkins
16. Trey Wood
17. Randy Brady
18. Tyler Salls
DNS: Joe Spencer

Feature #2:
1. Joe Spencer
2. Hill
3. Parker
4. Hogsed
5. Caldwell
6. Johnson
7. Michael Spencer
8. Blume
9. Jenkins
10. Salls
11. Wood
12. Townes
13. Brandon Bright
14. Creech
15. Chambers
16. Libri
17. Collier
DNS: Dorough Bright; Brady

Bombers
Feature #1:
1. Pappy Powell
2. Jonathan Hemmings
3. David Johnson
4. George Purgason
5. Jonathan Archer
6. Terri Thomaston
7. Michael Mills
8. Taylor Cozad
9. Steve Davis
10. Josh Roddy
11. Jesse Wilson

Feature #2:
1. Hemmings
2. Purgason
3. Thomaston
4. Johnson
5. Archer
6. Powell
7. Mills
DNS: Davis; Roddy; Cozad; Wilson