Ramsay betting luck will hold out

delaware speedway

By Ryan Pyette The London Free Press

DELAWARE — The Delaware Speedway brass won’t like it all that much, but maybe Jamie Ramsay needs to do a rain dance a little bit more often.

Three weeks ago, the London late model racer and his crew didn’t know what to do about their unco-operative No. 22 Chevy Impala. Overhead, the storm clouds gathered.

“The car was junk,” Ramsay said. “We had to start at the back something like 18th. It was brutal.

“That night, we were praying for rain.”

They got their wish. The skies opened. The race was rescheduled.

More than anything, the washout gave Ramsay and Co. some much-needed time to sort out the root of their problem.

“We took that car apart and put it back together again,” Ramsay said, “and we still really didn’t know what it was.”

All he knew was, during last week’s re-race and double feature, he had a different car.

A happier automobile. All they did was take a spring rubber out, then started burning rubber.

It was the racing equivalent of the Toronto Blue Jays or Detroit Tigers falling behind 10-0, getting a reprieve with a rain-out, then rebounding with an early grand slam on the make-up date.

In the opener, Ramsay went from 18th all the way up to fourth. He was a power passer in the race won by Ron Sheridan.

In the second main, no one could stop him. Sheridan gave him a good run, but Ramsay held him off for his first checkered flag in almost exactly one year.

“The same week,” Ramsay said. “The trophy at home from last year (his first late model victory) says June 12 on it and the one right beside it has June 18th. Hopefully, I don’t have to wait until next year to get the next one. But winning is a big boost. . . . in the first one, we came from behind and passed enough cars to get into a good position.”

He had two more cracks at it Friday night in the Maple City Tire twin 50-lappers at Delaware.

All the points counted towards the NASCAR Whelen All-American series. For Ramsay, that table is icing compared to the track championship.

“We finished 95th out of 1,000 (in the Whelen standings) last year and we thought that was pretty good,” he said. “They only keep track of the top 500 so we thought that was an achievement. What we’re looking at is getting into that top five in the standings here.”

It would be a remarkable season recovery.

In the spring, Ramsay started out with terrible luck. Not even a thunderstorm could’ve fixed it.

He blew a tire in the opener. He had suspension woes in the follow-up race.

“It wasn’t a good start,” he said, “but what can you do? That put us down and right now, it’d be nice to have those points back.”

Of course, but on the race track, you have to look ahead, not in reverse. And if nothing’s working, go to the back-up car.

Ramsay’s been bringing two to the track these days.

“If I wax up the No. 22, I have it (the No. 00) race-ready,” he said. “Jamie Cox took it out for me as a tester in a race and I told him just stay at the back, don’t pass anyone. I don’t want anything to happen to it.”

His wheels are going to be big-time when the APC Delaware Summer Showdown zooms in July 7. That’s the 50-lapper faturing Kyle Busch, David Reutimann and Regan Smith in the flesh.

Reutimann will be behind the wheel of Ramsay’s car.

With Busch and Co. in town, there’s only one possible forecast: clear skies and fast cars.