Stacy Boles
Two veteran east Tennessee drivers plan to pool their talents in the upcoming 2015 racing season in hopes of scoring wins and earning championships as Stacy Boles has made the decision to add Billy Ogle, Jr. to his team on a full time basis for the coming campaign. The pair intend to race numerous times this season in what can be described as a true two car team effort.
Boles showed last season that the team has the potential to achieve good things. The Clinton, Tenn. driver had gotten off to a very good start in the Ray Cook promoted Southern Nationals mini-series that contested ten races over a two week period during the summer.
“Last year started off real good running the Ray Cook stuff,” Boles said of his Southern Nationals efforts. “We went to Wytheville and had a good run then went to 411 and Modoc and were number one in the overall points.”
Then misfortune set in.
“We got in a wreck at Modoc and had a left front shock break internally and didn’t catch it for two or three races because we were out on the road,” the driver went on. “That put us back in the overall points and we just never could catch up from there. Once we had finally figured out the problem, we just couldn’t get caught back up.”
Stacy Boles will continue to drive the #11 in 2015.
Where 2015 is concerned, Boles will team with Ogle and the two drivers will take on all of the events promoted by Cook. The cars will be carried together in the same hauler when the team goes out on the road.
“As far as this year, we’re going to try to run all of Ray’s Bonus races, the Spring Nationals and the Southern Nationals,” Boles declared. “I think he’s got thirty-nine or forty races and we’re going to try to run all of those and see what we can do.”
Boles secured the driving talents of Ogle for a few races late last season after that driver parted ways with Blount Motorsports in September.
“Billy Ogle is going to drive for us this year as well,” the 45-year-old Boles said. “We just kind of got our feet wet last year with him. We have put together a deal for him to run with us this year.”
Boles may be putting Ogle to work very soon if Mother Nature cooperates.
Billy Ogle, Jr.
“We were going to go to the Ice Bowl(Talladega Short Track) this weekend if the weather looks okay. He’s going to run down there. We don’t have but one motor right now because Vic Hill has everything at his place getting it freshened up.”
From there, both cars and drivers will head further south in hopes of finding warmth and success in the Sunshine State before returning to their home turf.
“We’re going to go to Bubba Raceway Park(Ocala, Florida) and run in the World of Outlaws stuff then we’ll go over to Volusia Speedway(Barberville, Florida) and run the UMP and Outlaws stuff there. Ray’s race at Smoky Mountain will be our first race around here.”
Boles competed in Rocket Chassis race cars last season, but there will be a change coming for his team very soon.
“We are actually going to get Longhorns from Randy Weaver,” he pointed out. “I’ve worked out a program with him for him to help us all this year. We’re going to buy two and maybe three cars from him. We still have our Rocket stuff as well.”
Weaver will assist Boles and Ogle with setups and technical advice, having raced on many of the tracks those two drivers will be competing on in 2015.
Boles hopes this new venture will be successful, but he admits that it can be difficult to plan for what that success will actually look like. Stating goals going into a racing campaign is made virtually impossible when the level of competition is taken into account.
The #201 car Ogle drove for Boles last season.
“He and I have talked about that,” Boles said of discussions between Ogle and himself. “We would like to be at the top of the point standings for the Ray Cook series’ whether it be spring, bonus or overall. We just want to run the best we can and win some races. You can’t really just say you’re going to go out and win five races, the competition is so tough. We’re going to win all we can win and be competitive and run as good as we can. When you’re points racing, you look at things a little different. You look at the big picture.”
Boles admits that he has some concerns as he and his team enter into this new venture. However, the owner of the highly successful Advanced Transportation trucking company knows what it is that paves the way for success.
“My biggest concern going into this was tires and fuel,” he explained. “Those are the two biggest expenses, but I think we have some help in the fuel area and we’re working on some help with the tires right now.
“I have a lot of equipment so bringing on another driver is something we can handle. We’re pretty well set with cars and motors. I’m sure there’s a lot of challenges I’m not even thinking of because I’ve never done this before. This will be the first time I’ve ever had anyone to come on the road and race with me. At the end of the year, I’ll probably be able to tell you a whole bunch of challenges I did even think about, but I’m sure we’ll overcome them. I’ve got good help and good family support.”
