2019 South Sound Super Late Model Champion Heads to Vegas for SRL Debut
2019 South Sound Speedway Super Late Model Champion Austin Thom will head from Dundee, OR to Las Vegas, NV to participate in the $10,000-to win “Retro Custom Metals 137” on November 21st. Austin visited the LVMS Bullring and Dirt Track in February of this year, finishing ninth in the “Star Nursery 150” Open Comp for Super Late Models. He will now make a return trip to participate in his first Spears Srl Southwest Tour Series event.
Austin is the son of Chris (Willy) Thom, who was a Super Late Model racer in the early to late 2000’s. He got his start in Super Late Models during his Junior and Senior years in high school. He took six years off racing to attend college. In 2019, Austin came back, racing a Super Late Model for Jason Dickerson in the Chilly Willy 150. It was a season that found him behind the wheel in 32 races with four different teams. He scored seven Super Late Model wins at two different tracks. The season included the track championship at South Sound Speedway.
The 2020 season found Austin running a very limited schedule, due to Covid-19. He managed two starts at South Sound Speedway, winning the season finale in his Super Late Model. He also participated in two ARCA CRA Super Series Late Model events, both at Anderson Speedway. He finished 22nd in the “Redbud 400” after a broken oil line, and 11th in the “Tom Wood Honda 125”. He had earlier opened his season in the Chili Willy 150 at Tucson Speedway with a fourth-place run, and the aforementioned ninth at the Bullring.
Thom will now head back to the Bullring, for possibly the biggest asphalt Super Late Model event on the West Coast in 2020, boasting a 45-car pre-entry. It will be Thom’s first start in the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series. A start he has been looking forward to for some time.
“I’m very excited to be able to get a chance to run with the SRL Series, as it’s been one of the series I wanted a chance to run in”, Thom stated. “Being it’s a very stout field, I know it’s going to be a lot of work, to be able to run with the best of the best on the West Coast. Being a sport that’s requiring constant progression to run upfront, it takes time, dedication, and working as a team to achieve those goals.”
Thom’s goals for the weekend would see the 25-year-old driver eventually in the top-10 at the end of 137 laps, as he explained.
“Our goals for the weekend would be to qualify in the top half of the field, finish all laps and remain on the lead lap and work forward for a top 10 finish. I would like to gain experience racing with the top-level teams and drivers.”
“I’d like to thank all my family for their constant support and efforts to see me competing again, as well as my wife Nicole Thom, for her support and willingness to accept me being out in the race shop late at night, for the last month preparing for this event,” Thom began. “I’d like to give out a big shoutout to VRD (VanDoorn Racing Development) for making it possible, helping get the chassis dialed in, and constant support, as well as Race Car Supply, making sure everything is gone through, to insure we’re ready to rock, and making sure whatever parts/equipment we need. He’s got us covered.”
Thom continued, “I’d also like to thank my sponsors for this event; Sherwin-Williams, Finish Line Industries, Realtree Outdoors, HGI ( Hydro Graphics, Inc. ), Race Car Supply, Professional Tire and Ironclad Gloves.”
The “Retro Custom Metals 137” will be run on November 21st, with $10,000 going to the winner thanks to David Nava Mulcahy (Homie) and “Winner’s Bonus” sponsors Tilton Engineering and MPI – Max Papis Innovations. The Spears Modified Series will join the SRL in the event, for the “OPTIMA Batteries 75 presented by FAST – Fuel Air Spark Technology”. Practice will begin on Friday the 20th, with three sessions for the Modifieds, beginning at 3:00 pm (PST), with the Super Late Models at 3:45 pm (PST). Three alternating sessions each will be held, ending at 7:30 pm.
Saturday will find the Super Late Models Final Practice occurring from 11:00 am to 12:15 pm. The Modifieds will practice from 12:15 pm to 1:00 pm. SRL Qualifying is scheduled for 3:00 pm followed by the Modifieds. The Last Chance Qualifier will follow, with feature events rolling off thereafter. There will be a halfway break on lap 68 for the SRL Super Late Models.
For those who can’t attend the event, catch the action live at www.SpearsRacing.TV, with your paid subscription. The event will also be shown on MAVTV and a date to be announced later.
Celebrating its twentieth season in 2020, the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series is a regional stock car series competing on paved ovals in the southwestern portion of the U.S. “The SPEARS Southwest Tour Series…Where the Champions Race”.
PC: Michele Martin
