The 2008 will be a mile stone for the #4 Super Late Model Team. It will mark 20 years of racing. Rich Eaton started the team in 1988 as a driver/owner and continues to do so with co-partner Jones Financial and crew. This year will be a special season in many ways. We are finishing up a new 'state of the art' Super Late Model for the Pro All Star Series North Tour. Teaming up with veteran 'Busch East' crew chief Jason Janvrin for a half dozen shows; 2 races at White Mountain, 1 race at Thompson, 1 race at Allstar Speedway and possibly a couple of the Beech Ridge races. Also on the agenda will be a full blown assault on the Allstar Super Late Model schedule in hopes for a championship. we will be running our newly updated 2000 Howe car for these events and possibly run both cars with a second driver to be announced for the two major events in June and October. This race season is gearing up to be one we would hope to refer to as a 'Dream Season'. With people like Watts, Janvrin and Jones this 'Dream Season' could become reality.
"SEE YOU AT THE RACES!"
A LITTLE BACKGROUND
In 1988 Rich picked up a PROSTOCK chassis, once driven by Buzzie Bezanson. This car, along with pieces from the incomplete street stock, became his first Late Model in the Bud Light division, ready to race in 1989. At age 20, with no sponsors and not much help, Rich completed half of a season. Then in 1990 another partial season at Lee Speedway. In 1992, very determined, Rich completed his first full season, finishing 10th in the Bud Light division. And 1993 was another successful season finishing within the top 10 positions. In 1995, construction began on a new PROSTOCK. With high expectations, Rich started the 1996 race season as a rookie PROSTOCK driver. The next few years, while working and attending college full time for his Mechanical Engineering degree, Rich worked his way up and earned two ‘Most Improved Driver’ awards; he also finished top five in points, three years in a row at Star Speedway. The first career win came in 1999, with multiple wins thereafter in 1999 and 2000.
In 2001, the newest PROSTOCK car was built, but with anything new, it takes a few times around the track to shake out all the bugs. The car ran a few times with the old motor while the new MacMaster motor was being built.
In 2002, a partial season was run at Lee Speedway and a couple of PASS Tour shows at Star Speedway. The first PASS show had a solid top five run going until a cheap shot from the #84 car ended that around lap one hundred. The second PASS show at Star Speedway was another strong run, but not for long, an incident on the fourth turn ended the day for the #4 race team. Lee Speedway held their Final 150 Lap $10,000 show in 2002. The R.E. Autoworks Prostock time trialed 4th giving the qualified team a top five starting position running second at mid point until once again a late race mishap ended yet another strong run for the R.E. Autoworks team. The Oktoberfest Race at Lee Speedway produced a 7th place finish to end the 2002 season.
In 2003, a very limited race schedule was on hand for the race team with a new building for R.E. Autoworks being constructed in the busy Route 1 area of Seabrook, NH. But none the less a little racing had to be squeezed into the summer. A newly remodeled Prostock with a 2003 Monte Carlo body rolled into Oxford, ME for the 250 in mid July. A near miss in qualifying sent the new Prostock home missing the big race by one position. Later in the season a PASS race at Speedway 95 was attempted, winning the last chance race. Near midway through the 150 lapper the tires had experienced too many heat cycles and the handling began to fade. A DNF at Speedway 95 ended the 2003 season for the R.E. Autoworks race team.
In 2004, now that the new collision repair facility had been finished an attempt was made to run a full season at Maine’s Beech Ridge Speedway running as #14. On the third race meet into the season a wild feature win was finally earned and well deserved for the crew of the #14 race team. The crew never gave up with all of the disappointing mishaps over the past couple of years. But as mid season approached another disappointing experience at the Oxford 250 ended the season with the exception of one last hurrah at Lee Speedway for the Oktoberfest Race, finishing just outside the top ten due to a right rear tire problem.
In 2005, the race season began at Oxford for the July 3rd. Pass 150. A mid pack time trial run reduced the chance of getting in the show. the heat race was missed by one spot and the consi was even more disappointing with a little help from a fellow competitor the #4 car was backed into the back stretch wall. The second race was run at the Whitemountain Speedway for the Pass 150. Arriving late at the track due to 2 flat trailer tires, most warm-up sessions were over. The car was fairly close time trialing and nearly won the consi. The 2nd. place consi finish offered a 22nd. starting spot in the main event. By lap 40 the #4 car was in twelve position. A faulty re-start ended the day for the R.E. Autoworks Prostock team placing 20th. The third race of 2005 was none other than the TDBanknorth 250. Drawing 22nd. for the heats, starting 9th. behind Kyle Busch in the 2nd. heat. Quickly getting into the 5th. position hanging tight to Busch's rear bumper until the #8 car decided to drive threw rather than under or around our #4 car. The consi was started near the tail end of the pack with little gain. That left only the last chance race once again. Starting deep in the field the #4 Prostock car was starting to shine alittle, by lap 30 we were closing on 4th. place and then a blistered right front tire sent the R.E. Autoworks/Jones Financial Services Prostock to the pits without qualifying yet again.
In 2006, the race season kicked off late because of cancellations due to weather conditions. The first race was at Canaan Speedway with the PASS Outlaw Late Models. This 100-lap event had many cautions. We ran in the top 10 most of the night until a broken tranny ended the night for us. A number of rainouts interfered with the Outlaw race schedule. We didn't run again until the August show at Riverside Speedway. We had a very strong car there, running in the top 3 most of the way until mid race pass bent the right trailing arm which sent us to the pits for repairs. We came back out a number of laps down still running strong until a late race accident that broke Rich's wrist in several places. Rich finished the last 10 laps with one hand and a torn up racecar. Surgery on Rich's hand would require 6 pins and a cast. We missed the next event at Canaan but Rich insisted on running the Beech Ridge show with the pins and cast intack. Rich couldn't shift on restarts but still qualified for the show and posted a 10th. place finish in the main event. The final Outlaw race was held at Star Speedway. Rich had the pins removed from his wrist finally but still had the cast. He was able to shift for this race but a late race left front flat dropped us back to a 10th. place finish. The 2006 season did not go as planned.
In 2007, it was exciting to return to our home track after several years away, 2001 was our last year at Star Speedway. Now under new ownership and some impressive remodeling taking place we were pumped to run for a championship but an early race schedule conflict with a prior family commitment prevented any championship contention. With that in mind we decided to run as many shows as possible and just have fun with it. We ran most of the races with some good strong finishes and a couple of 'almost' wins. Until the 100 lap show where the racing got bad. It was the worst race in 20 years of racing we had ever experienced. A 20-car field turned into less than 5 in a hurry. The worst wreck almost cost a driver his life. With a handful of red flags and too many cautions to mention, we parked the car on lap 30 while it was still able to move on its own. We decided to scrub the remaining point races and possibly came back for the 150 in October but as the 150 got closer the crew didn't seem to be as pumped and the decision was to work on the 2008 season with a new 2008 Howe Chassis in process for the PASS North Tour. An 8th. place point finish was achieved with less than half the races attended. Hard to believe!
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2008 RACE SEASON
PASSNORTH & ALLSTAR SPEEDWAY
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