COREY LAJOIE "UPS AND DOWNS OF RACING"

(By Alan Piquette / The Racing Times) 

Rick Ibsen Photo

With the start of the Pennsylvania 400 set for 3:00pm I had a chance to talk with third-generation driver Corey LaJoie. Scanning the 25- year- old resume I found it to be quite impressive.  First was tabbed as a Developmental Driver with Richard Petty Motorsports, ran the Xfinity Series with JGL Racing and is running the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series presently for BK Racing.

Having a two time Xfinity Series Champion as his dad (Randy LaJoie) you think he would be guiding his career. “He helps a little but he tries to let me figure it out on my own. Taking all the ups and downs as a driver. Plus, if you look at how different the cars are since he raced he really can’t say much and the tracks are either repaved or reconfigured. But when he does tell me something I make sure to put a mental note of what he said,” LaJoie said about his dad.

It all began for LaJoie in 1996 as he took down 19 wins in Go-Karts. What was impressive about that he was running on both asphalt and on the dirt. Winning just continued for LaJoie as in 2003 he moved up to the Inex Bandoleros. He saw the checkered flag 12-times and capped off the Summer by winning the Summer Shoot Out Championship.

The 2005 season LaJoie moved into a Legend Car and then quickly moved into the Aaron’s Pro Challenge Series as he won 10 out of the first 12 races in 2006.

After his accomplishment in 2006 it was time to move to the URAR-Stars Late Model Series. LaJoie took down only one win in the Series but mustard 10 top 10 finishes in just 17 starts in the series.

Cory wasted no time moving up as made his Camping World Truck Series debut as his very first K&N Pro Series east start at Thompson Speedway (Connecticut). LaJoie remained running both Series throughout the 2012 season scoring his first win at the famous Bowman Gray Stadium and added four more wins to cap off a runner up spot in the final points battle. The end of the season Cory was named to the 2012 NASCAR Next Class.

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For the 2013 season LaJoie found himself behind the wheel of Tommy Baldwin's Xfinity Series Chevrolet on a limited schedule and then joined Richard Petty Motorsports as a Development Driver. Towards the middle of the season Cory found himself in the ARCA Series and he won on his second start at the Chicagoland Speedway and took the checkered one race later at the “Tricky Triangle” of the Pocono Raceway.

The 2014 season found Lajoie running the Xfinity Series for Diagi-DenBeste Racing for five races and to cap off the 2014 season LaJoie made his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start at the N.H.M.S. in Randy Humphrey Racing.

After a mishap on LaJoie part that we won’t get into, Cory returned to the Xfinity Series in the JGL Racing Team for the 2016 season.

So, you can see LaJoie’s resume can stack up with the best of them. I had a few questions for Corey on his maiden season.

LaJoie wanted to explain his first season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. “It’s been pretty rough and it sure had its ups and downs. Lately I’ve been trying to figure out how to get the car setup for the race, we need to work on the long run speed. We got to take it one week at a time and just go from there,” comment Lajoie.

Rick Ibsen Photo

With a lot of new tracks for LaJoie to face in 2017 I wanted to know what his “WOW” track was. I was expecting Daytona or Talladega would be his first choice as I was thrown back on his comment. “The best I was ready for a race and had a good car for was at Kansas. I had to say it was a pleasant surprise till we blew a tire, everywhere else we are pretty good but Kansas was a very comfortable race for me,” Lajoie mentioned.

With basically all the tracks but a handful being new for LaJoie, what can you do as a young driver as he hits these tracks? “I watch a bunch of tapes, I’ll use the Toyota simulator. When you’re at the track you really don’t get a lot of time on the track. You run some laps in qualifying trim and a few in race trim. It’s very challenging as a young driver,” finished up LaJoie.

BK Racing usually gives out one or two-year contracts for their drivers but talking with team owner Ron Divine, who is very high on LaJoie and is expecting a long relationship with Corey as his driver in the #83 Toyota entry. “I want to run as many races with them (BK Racing) as I can. Ron has given me at great opportunity here and hopefully we can both go in the same direction and start to get top finishes," stated LaJoie on racing for BK Racing.

“He gives me a car to drive and he has confidence in me. We are all in this together and we are all in this together. We are trying to build something together. As a team, we had a lot of good runs but unfortunately don’t have the finishes to show for it. We just have to take it one race at a time,” Lajoie said about team owner Ron Divine.

Looking around at the long straight away and the tricky turns on the monitor we both chuckled, Lajoie looked at me with a grin and said “I haven’t figured it out yet in a Cup car. It’s very difficult and a beast. You ride around hit the bumps and then you hit these long runways and hit a different turn, it’s tough. You need a strong motor to compete here, you got to just make the best of it and see what happens.”

With the midpoint of the season coming close and with that its round two of the tracks he already ran at and with that said, LaJoie jumped right in “I’m excited about seeing Kansa and Texas again. Places like that is where we ran good at. We had good setups for those tracks and I’m getting more knowledge and knowing alit bit more on the way the track changes,” LaJoie commented.

So overall all I wanted Corey to tell me his 2017 highlight of the season to date. “It’s just being where I am right now, racing with the likes of (Jimmy) Johnson and (Dale) Earnhardt Jr. It’s pretty dam cool running with those guys. Hopefully one day I can be up with those guys battling for the win,” explained LaJoie.

Rick Ibsen Photo

It was a nice time chatting with one of the up and coming drivers and listen to the stories from a 25-year-old battling the super stars of the sport.

Thanks to Ron Devine and his hospitality and the BK Racing Team.

Check out bkracingteam.com for mor information.

 

RONNIE WILLIAMS "EATING EARTH IN 2017"

(by Alan Piquette / The Racing Times)

Ronnie Williams has a new look for the 2017 season, mainly having a number change and new paint scheme that represented his Grandfather's modified from years back. But there are some things you don't change and that's his Crew Chief in Stash Butova. What is it like to drive having a successful Crew Cher in Butova?

"I think over the years, it just doesn't happen in a couple of races but over the years. we both know that going into race day how we want the car to be, a certain feel after practice. It comes to a point now that before he comes over to the car and before I even tell him something about the cars he already knows what's going on. It's coming to the point that I don't even have to tell him anything and if he does need input I can tell him the car is doing this or that. I think this year we differently have great chemistry, it's almost like he can read my mind. I know as well what he wants from the car in the daytime and how its going to change in the night time. We are going to be golden, or Stash's new saying, We are going to eat earth. We just have a great team and great chemistry as a team right now," commented Williams.

The 2017 season for Williams just before the season started they had to revamp the season and make some changes. Not only was Ronnie running the family owned SK, but they added the Jenson's #179 MRS modified as well as last years car to the Tri-Track schedule. Then a couple of races in they added the JR Bertuccio's Modified in the mix at the Riverhead Raceway to a limited schedule. " Yeah the good thing about that is your not going there to run for points so it takes the pressure off and it fun just to race. It was like Waterford last year we came to race with no pressure. If we had a bad night, who cares? If we won it's awesome. Going to Stafford our main track is a little more stress full then we head to Riverhead where we never raced there before and have a good finish then another good finish so it was just fun. Having the road trips together like the three hour drives with my spotter Steve and another great crew member Cody, whose been doing a great job this year for us. These trips are bringing the whole team together. It's differently fun going to tracks like this racing different divisions. Stash has never set up a car at Riverhead and I never raced there. We both went into this not knowing what to expect. He (Stash) knows what to do he's been in the sport a long time," explained Williams on his up-dated package.

Photo by Ryan Gilbert

A couple weeks back was the first time Williams ran a full weekend of racing, running three different type of modified. According to Williams its not really the car but the track that you got to get adjusted to, "Yeah I thought it was funny thinking back on that weekend. "We ran Stafford, Riverhead and then Thompson. For Stafford we ran allot of races there so I can tell how the car is in two laps and be good about it.  Then we headed to Riverhead a tiny track and we kept wanting more practice throughout the day, I was looking for all the seat time I could get. Then we headed to Thompson, the biggest track that I race on. After the first four laps I'm like whoa, whoa.Then I'm telling myself I got this, I can do this. It was a little weird for me. We ran a very fast lap in practice which we didn't care about but showed us we were there. I knew we had much more in the car after four to five laps. It was a new experience for me. I think we made good gains that weekend," explained Williams on his first three full days of racing.

William's schedule will include the first Tri-Track Series event at Seekonk Speedway. It will be Ronnie's first race there and one other thing about Seekonk, Butova's worst track setting up for is Seekeonk.  The car Buyova had allot of success with last years modified (#57) is the care they will be running in the Tr-Track event."We never raced there during my career and we care going to fire Stash for that race (laughing Williams) since Butova said that was his worst track to set up for. I'm joking Stash will be there. Out realistic goal for the races is to win, Honestly I want to go out and win admitted Williams. Every race we go to we want to win, every driver feels like that. I'm not going to beat around the bush and say i want to finish 10th. I know he says he struggles there but there is allot of components on a race. You don't always need to have the best car to win, I've seen it happened this and last year. When it comes down to it, I don't want anybody else to set up my car that him (Stash) I have complete trust in him and I'm not worried at all about it,"William's commented on his first Tri-Track race.

Photo by Ryan Gilbert

A few years back William's ran Teddy Christopher's back up car at the Fall Final at the Stafford Speedway. When asked about running the Tour, it was more running events than Tour events. "When I was 12 years old my goal was to run the Whelen Modified Tour. Now, I just want to race as many events I can race in. The plan for this year was we were planning on running for the National Championship. We run good at both Stafford and Waterford and Thompson had a few monthly events so that was the plan. But the issues at Waterford scrapped those plans and maybe we'll look at running a couple of tour events in the Bertuccio's #2 Modified. That team has a great crew and is a great bunch of guys so I would hope it will be with them I run for," Williams responded to the Mod Tour schedule.

Talking with Butova nd how he likes to use soft front springs I want to ask Ronnie how he likes the soft springs and other things that Butovawants to try. "He wanted to try the soft springs on the Modified of Bertuccio at Riverheard and I thought they worked and like I said before his new saying is Eating the Earth. I thought it was pretty funny when over the headset I hear Stash saying did you see that the care was Eating the Earth. I think that the different things he brings to the different tracks and what he's trying seems to be working," commented Williams.

With the many tracks the two are going to, the laps are all different for the features, Stash already commented that he likes the longer races and I wanted to find out what Ronnie likes better. I'm a fan of the longer race but I guess it really matters on the race. If I'm leading on lap 30 I want the checkered flag to wave on lap 30. The other week at Stafford I finally made it to the front but there was only five laps to go and I didn't have any time to do anything. Another time I got to the front in twenty laps and had twenty laps left to battle with. So it really depends on the race. I know he knows how to win the longer races, he said it went off of Frank Ruocco but I think he was controlling Ruocco. He tells me some things and he controls me and he shows the confidence with that I have the confidence as a driver as well,"Williams said.

Williams has his own style he brings tro the track One thing Ronnie really won't chat on the radio unless something happens to the car, so if you have a scanner and want to listen in, the majority of the time its pure silence. When asked what his least favorite track is, he commented Thompson. The reason is he's still figuring it out. With Thompson running monthly and only six events its hard to get into rhythm and a feel for the track. This is something Williams is working on. 

Photo by Ryan Gilbert

Besides Stafford which he has visited Victory Lane  before what other track would William's like to visit? "I would have to say Riverhead. You got the Solomitos, Rogers and Ryan Preece. Stash says your going into there track and if you can win there you did something right," commented Williams. The one track that Williams is looking forward to racing at is Loudon, he's been attending the race every year and will be taking the green one day in his career.

The biggest thing right now is winning this year with his Grandfathers paint scheme.Its going to be tough, I'll let you know when It happens. Its going to be tough on my mother and Grandmother, when it happens its going to be an unreadable Victory Lave," Williams said about his first win of the year at Stafford.

If you get a chance stop by Ronnie Williams Face book page and you'll see pictures of Ronnie and Stash doing things outside of racing like going to the Boston Redsox games and that what makes these two special and why their chemistry together is so special. try and find a tighter group than the Williams clan, I bet you wont be able to.