| For Joe Boyd, Persistence Finally Pays Off in AACS | By Jack Smith
 It was the middle of the 1990s and Joe Boyd was busy winning races at DeSoto Speedway in the (Limited) Late Models and Modifieds; and in fact Boyd won a track Championship at DeSoto, as well as racing in the SARA series before eventually moving to the Super Late Models in 2002.
The All American Challenge Series was reborn last year and the Boyd Motorsports team made a commitment to the series, finishing sixth overall and experiencing some very bad luck along the way.
In 2002 it seemed that if minor mechanical problems didn't take out the black number 5, Boyd seemed to find himself getting involved in on-track skirmishes that left the car disabled.
"The rotor quit, ignition went bad, getting run over, you name it, it happened to Joe last year," lamented Boyd's publicist Scott Hawkins.
The team has good equipment and Joe knew he would finally catch a victory in the AACS if he stayed with it. The car was put together by Frankie and Augie Grill of Grand American Racing Chassis and previously run as the number 92 of Dick Anderson.
Boyd is known by many racers as always being under control and as Scott Hawkins says it, "Joe just never, never, ever gets rattled".
The new year brought promise as the team prepared to put the disasters of 2002 behind them and gain from the experience the previous season had brought them. However, the first two races of the 2003 AACS campaign began to look like a repeat performance with two dismal outings and a sixth place finish their best show.
Joe Boyd had a few second place races in AACS in 2002
All the grief of 18 races, many of which the team and particularly Joe Boyd felt he could have won, finally was relieved on Saturday, March 29 when Boyd started on the outside pole, got by James Glover early in the race and led the rest of the way for a dominating win in the third race of the young AACS season.
"I have a good shot at the championship if we don't have the kind of luck we had last year", Boyd said. Sponsored by Sky Comm USA and Boyd's Auto Center Joe Boyd has reason for high hopes for the 2003 season ahead, "maybe the rest of them (the wins) will come easier."
The Boyd Motorsports team, headed by Joe's father Brady Boyd, is a family affair typical in the Florida racing scene. During the days Joe Boyd is working in the family business, Boyd's Auto Center.
Boyd would like to travel a bit this year, mentioning perhaps a trip or two to Ocala late in the year and the Governor's Cup at New Smyrna.
For Boyd it's been a long road from winning championships in Karting and winning races and championships in Late Models and Open Wheels. The next step is a Super Late Model crown; don't count out this determined race car driver from Riverview, Florida in the AACS this year.
Have an opinion on this story? Post a message on our Message Board!
<news@karnac.org>or send a letter to the editor!
|
