When Billy Ogle Jr. enters the racetrack at Boyd’s Speedway for Friday night’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series race, fans might think they have stepped back in time. That is because Ogle will be back in familiar colors and a familiar team for 2016.
Ogle will be sporting the familiar black and yellow color scheme that carried him to so many wins and track championships during his 30+-year career. The 51 year-old driver from Knoxville, Tennessee has reunited with car owner Glen Vanover. Ogle drove for Vanover’s late father, Jim, for many years and also drove for the younger Vanover on occasion.
Billy Ogle Jr. in a James Vanover car in 2006 at Atomic Speedway.
The news comes about six weeks after Ogle and Stacey Boles parted ways following a trip to Volusia Speedway in February. The announcement stated it was a mutal decision, but Ogle is still unclear as to way things fell apart.
“I really don’t know for sure,” Ogle said of his departure. “Stacey never really gave me a reason except to say he wasn’t going to travel as much this year. I was disappointed because I was happy driving for him.”
Ogle had no calls about a ride following his departure from Boles’ team until three weeks ago when Vanover gave him a call.
Billy Ogle Jr. following his World of Outlaws Late Model Series win at Tazewell Speedway in 2015.
“Glen went to Smoky Mountain a few weeks ago and noticed I wasn’t racing,” Ogle said. “He called me up and said he was wanting to get back into racing and asked if I wanted to drive for him. He still has a couple of his dad’s cars that I drove.”
Ogle and Vanover will be bringing a Warrior that is over 10 years old in the coming weeks. New Warriors are on the way. Ogle hopes to recapture some old magic until the new cars are ready.
“The car were taking to Boyd’s is an old school car,” Ogle stated. “I think it’s about ten or twelve years old. It doesn’t have many races on it. They’ve updated some things on it, so we’ll see how it does. Running against the Lucas guys is as tough as it gets.”
Vanover took a break from racing following his dad’s death in 2009. He ran a couple of races following his father’s death, but has remained mostly on the sidelines.
“I’ve been thinking about getting back into it (racing) for some time,” Vanover stated. “I went to the races a few weeks ago and saw Billy wasn’t racing and I called him to see if he was interested.”
Vanover said he has several cars, two new open motors, and a “525” crate motor. He is committed to running on a regular basis.
“We’re going full-fledged into the deal,” Vanover said. “Our plan is to run at Boyd’s on Friday and to be at The (Smoky) Mountain on Saturday if we don’t run into any problems on Friday. After that, we’ll pick and choose our races that’s nearby. Billy wants to run a series, so we’ll see how we get started and get into our new cars.”
The car Ogle will be driving this weekend will have the familiar black and yellow cars he ran for years under the Vanovers.
“We just got the car wrapped today,” Vanover said. “It’s going to look a lot like Dad’s cars when Billy drove for him. We’ll have a picture of him holding a checkered flag on top of it in memory of him. It’s a pretty big deal for all of us because Daddy loved racing.”
