An exclusive to CanadianRacingOnline.com

Rob Graham moved from Delaware Speedway’s Late Model division to the CASCAR Super Series in 2003 and brought with him some very talented crew members, but after two years of racing against Canada’s best, Graham lost the funding to continue on the travelling scene and decided to take a few years off.

Some very important cogs in Graham’s Super Series team were without a car to work, but Darcy Buchannan, James Shaw, Chris Deeks, Ryan Nagle, as well as crew chief Jamie Hartley still wanted to go racing.  They teamed up with Delaware youngster Andrew Thompson for 2005 and 2006, and watched the driver improve as soon as they came aboard, but at the end of the 06’ season Thompson hung up the helmet, and the five-some were again without a car.

Jesse Kennedy started racing a Street Stock at Delaware in the early 80’s, graduating to a Late Model, and making a number of starts in the CASCAR Super Series throughout the 90’s, and early into the 2000’s.  His biggest shot at glory was a near miss during a 1995 Super Series event at Delaware when he was taken out on the final lap as he chased his first career Series feature win.

After that moment, Kennedy took a backseat, struggled to find funding, and became an afterthought to the weekly Delaware Speedway program.  He would post a feature win at Delaware here and there, but the finishes weren’t consistent and he was never a serious title contender.  He also struggled while trying to find good help, a certain mix of people that had the knowledge as well as a commitment to victory.

At the start of the 2007, Hartley and his gang of merry men would hook up with Kennedy and since that time, Kennedy has become every bit the equal to Steve Robblee, Ron Sheridan, and Scott Lindsay weekly at Delaware for the first time in many years.  The group started their run during the Partsource Canada Day 140 in 2007 and ended the 2007 season with Jesse’s first track championship and a victory in the $10,000 to win APC 300 event.

The groups’ success continued in 2008, as Kennedy won features and finished third in the championship standings.  2009 has been more of the same, as through three events, Kennedy has a win, a third (after coming from the back of the pack in the final 20 laps), and now finds himself just 11 markers back of Ron Sheridan in the chase for the championship.  If it wasn’t for Hartley and the gang, many are convinced that Kennedy would still be just a ‘lurker’, popping up for a win here or there, but not having a championship performance every time out like has now become almost the norm for him.

Jamie Ramsay has felt the same type of boost of speed on his CANUSA Chevy this season with one key addition during this past off-season as Artie Gemmell joined the CANUSA racing family.  

Gemmell started his wrenching career alongside Steve Robblee, and worked on the team through many of Robblee’s championships (which number in the teens) until Artie’s son Shae started racing, and Gemmell stepped away from Late Model racing.  This year, looking for some more time at the track, Gemmell joined Ramsay and his crew.

Ramsay finished 12th in the Delaware points in 2007, and eighth in 2008, but has shown remarkable improvement early in the 2009 season.  The Delaware faithful got their first glimpse at the new look CANUSA program during the seasons’ first 50-lap affair.  After getting caught up in an early wreck, he would fight from the back of the back a number of times to bring home a respectable 10th-place finish, but it wasn’t so much the result as it was the run through the field.  He passed a ton of cars, and it was apparently that something was different on Jamie’s car other than a new number on the door.

Ramsay finally got to the top of the mountain on June 12th, as during another double feature night he finished 10th in the opening event.  During the second 25-lapper, Jamie started on the pole, held off Jonathan Urlin on the green, and then kept Mark Watson and his late charge at bay to win his first career Late Model feature at Delaware.

For many, Ramsay was always the guy with a pretty good sponsorship deal, and a guy that might have a top-five if everything went right for him on any given night, but since adding Gemmell to the mix, he’s now a guy with a pretty good sponsorship deal that can win on any given night.

While the drivers get most of the credit when they win, the crew has much more to do with the performance of a car on any given night than most realize or appreciate.  If you don’t believe me, just go ask Jesse Kennedy or Jamie Ramsay.