Chase King
When the subject of Dirt Late Model chassis brands is brought up in a conversation about racing, the names Rocket Chassis and Longhorn Chassis will almost certainly become the main topic. However, the recent Ice Bowl race contested at Alabama’s Talladega Short Track shined a bit of a spotlight on a smaller and lesser known brand as Michael Page pointed to his Stinger Race Car as a key component of his success in the event he has now won on six consecutive occasions.
Stinger Race Cars are built in east Tennessee by racer Chase King.
King has worked in the racing industry essentially for his entire adult life even spending time building race cars in the Mooresburg, Tennessee shop of National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame member Scott Bloomquist. That experience ultimately led him to take the reins of the Stinger operation.
Following his Ice Bowl victory, Page pointed out that the car he was using was the same he had driven to score previous wins in the historic event.
“Stinger Race Cars, Chase King, that little buddy can do it to it,” Page declared to FloRacing.com during his victory lane interview. ” This is an old race car. Everybody told me I needed to bring the other one but this is the one that we won them all with. I’m just going to stay with it until it don’t win no more.”
Page, whose father passed away last fall, acknowledged the toughness of his car. On one of the initial attempts to start the 50-lap feature, the fourth-starting Page had tangled with front row starter Pierce McCarter. The eventual winner acknowledged fault in the incident that ultimately knocked McCarter from the race. At the same time, he stated his near disbelief that his own car was able to continue after the mishap.
“I wish my dad was here with me,” the emotional driver said. “I’ve got to thank all my help, my friends. The car shouldn’t have made it past the first lap. I hate it for Mitch(actually Pierce McCarter). He was turning down and I couldn’t get it, I looped into him. I don’t know how it kept going, I figured it was done but it somehow just kept going.”
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Aside from the performance of his car, Page also acknowledged that another factor plays into his winning of six consecutive Ice Bowl features. At the same time, he insisted that it can sometimes work in a driver’s favor to go against the grain when choosing his race car.
Michael Page in his Stinger Race Car
“It’s luck, man,” he declared. “You can be whatever, but if you don’t have the luck with you, just like right then, I should’ve been taken out and I should’ve been tore up. It’s just a good race car, it really is. Something different is sometimes better than what everybody else has.”
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