Rusty Ballenger’s No. 29 Warrior Race Car
Smoky Mountain Speedway hasn’t always produced the results he may have wanted but with momentum on his side following a win last week at 411 Motor Speedway, Rusty Ballenger is looking forward to this Saturday night’s United Championship Racing Alliance event on the Maryville, Tenn. track. The 28-year-old driver has never scored a top-5 finish at SMS but he believes he has found the formula that will allow him to turn his fortunes around at the historic facility.
After some difficulties during the summer months, the Seymour, Tenn. driver believes that the confidence gained from his recent trip to victory lane offers him a great chance to improve his luck on the 4/10 mile clay oval.
“It does,” Ballenger declared in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “We’ve struggled a little bit this summer but I think we got the kinks worked out Saturday so that’s definitely a positive going to a track I usually don’t run good at. I’m excited to get there and try it out again.”
Setups that had worked in the past simply weren’t working anymore so Ballenger and his father(Rick) decided to make some changes. And after consulting with Mike Nuchols of Warrior Race Cars and fellow Warrior campaigner Ryan King, Ballenger hit on something that has produced more speed in his Crate Late Model. The new setup began to show promise during an August 11th race at 411 until a mishap spoiled his efforts. But this past Saturday confirmed that the No. 29 machine is back up to par.
“It’s funny how that works,” the two-time UCRA champion pointed out. “Me and Mike and Ryan were just talking about how what worked for me back in the spring hasn’t worked in the summer so I’ve been struggling. But this Warrior is a good car and we just made a few changes to do some things different with the car and it has seemed to work the last few weeks. We just didn’t execute the week before last because we spun out and had to go to the back, but we had a fast car. Finally Saturday everything worked out.”
Ballenger works hard on his car in the shop and he refuses to accept less than the best from himself on the track.
“I’m pretty hard on myself,” he said. “When we go I expect to win or finish second or third every time. Fourth or fifth is pretty frustrating for me. But in this sport, one week you can win and the next week you’re not even lining up and you’re a half-second off the pole. It’s definitely a tough sport but you’ve just got to keep digging every week and eventually it will work out.”
Even though Ballenger has won the UCRA title in each of the last two seasons, this will be his first race of 2018 with the series. With a family to consider, he has opted to race closer to home this year.
Rusty Ballenger with wife Macy and son Rowen.
“We’ve just kind of stayed at home this year and not worried about points or anything,” the husband and father stated. “I’ve got a little boy now and he loves to go. It’s just a lot easier for him and my wife to go to these tracks close to home. We’re going to start venturing out and running a few others though.”
With its long straightaways and high speed turns, Smoky Mountain poses a challenge for any racer. And that challenge is increased for those who compete in the Crate Late Model class.
“Smoky Mountain is a different animal,” Ballenger insisted. “You’ve got to keep your car so free there and that’s where I’ve struggled the last couple of years running there with a crate. You’ve got to be so free there to keep your momentum up and that’s the challenge.
“Crate racing is definitely exciting,” the driver added. “We’re all right there on each other. Sometimes that’s not a good thing for drivers because we’re all over each other and it looks like we’re running over each other. You’ve got to be in the gas and you can’t lift when something happens or you’ll lose two or three spots and it can take you a whole lap to get back going, especially at Smoky Mountain because you’re running such a high gear.”
Ballenger would love nothing better than to come away from Smoky Mountain on Saturday night with the $2,000 first prize check following the UCRA feature event.
“I told my dad that I think we’ve got a good chance to win it after what we’ve done to the car and we’re going to try a few other things. We’ll always go to win but we’d feel good about a top-3 or a top-5.”
