Matt Hawkins Racing Journal - 2005 Championship Season

In all, 2005 was a pretty good year. We accomplished a lot of what we set out to do.  Things really began to change for the better once we switched crew chiefs.  Once Jody Wilkerson came on board, things improved.  The chemistry between us, with his knowledge of Super Late Models and ASA cars (Jody worked with Joey Clanton during his National Championship year in ASA), helped me adjust in my first year of Super Late Model racing.

We started out strong with a good run in the Southern All Star Series at Lanier National Speedway (GA) in April with a 4th-place finish.  It was a strong run, but to tell you the truth, I wasn’t happy with fourth because I really wanted to win at my home track.  That was in our backyard and it was an important race for us.  A lot of people who are important to me were at that race and I wanted to do well for them, but sometimes you have to crawl before you can walk and that was our first race with the series.

Our next race was at Lakeland, Florida.  We went down there with high expectations; qualified 8th, led the first 90 laps.  I overdrove the

car a little and wore my tires out.  That was a rookie mistake, but I learned from it.  It was the first race I led in 2005 and I was very happy with my 5th-place finish.

In May, we raced at Montgomery Motor Speedway and their BAMA Super Series.  I had tons of mechanical problems in practice and did not get a lot of track time.  We qualified fifth and led most of the last 40 laps by a straightaway.  We had the race won, but as they say, anything can happen in racing and it did.  The caution came out and Auggie Grill, who was in second, had 20-lap fresher tires on than me.  He knocked me out of the way on the last lap and we wound up finishing second.  I was not happy, yet satisfied at the same time that we ran that well. 

We also ran a few Georgia Asphalt Series races in 2005.  The first was at Peach State Speedway, another track very close to home.  I had never been on this track before, but adapted to the place pretty quickly.  We had a pretty good racecar and qualified second out of 35 cars.  By the time the race came, the track had changed and the car went away, so we finished fourth.  I was really disappointed with the finish.  I thought we had a pretty good car and we should have won the race based on how well we ran all day.  I was hoping to get my first win, but we learned a lot there too. 

The next race we went to was an SAS race at Lanier.  We had a rear end go bad in practice and couldn’t figure out what was wrong.  The car had a very bad push.  We couldn’t believe it, but we qualified dead last.  We changed the rear end before the race and came all the way up to sixth and was quicker than most of the leaders, but we ran out of time.  That was cool passing all those cars, though.

We went back to Peach State after that and I was excited.  It was the big Governors Cup race. We qualified fourth out of 46 cars and started second.  We led the first 50 laps and had a pretty good racecar.  We were second at the halfway point, but after a red flag my car would not restart!  That was frustrating!  After unsuccessfully trying to restart the

car several times, we called it quits. I was really disappointed because it seemed like every chance I got to win a race, something happened.  At the same time I had to be pleased with how well we ran, but that only goes so far.

The last two races of the year were even more frustrating.  We went to Nashville for the All American 400 weekend and had a terrible racecar all week long.  That’s all we need to say about that.  Then we went to the Snowball and had about the same results.  The engine wouldn’t run in qualifying, and we were relegated to run the last-chance race.  But without an engine there was nothing we could do.  Those are two races that I am looking to come out of with much better results in 2006.

All in all it was an all right year, but not the year I wanted to have by any means. I am not happy with a year that we don’t win races.  We did run consistent enough to win the Southern All Star Series championship and rookie of the year all in the same year.  That is a pretty decent accomplishment considering it was my first full year of racing a full-size racecar.

We are looking forward to a great 2006 and we have some announcements coming up shortly.  Hopefully we’ll win some races in the new ASA Late Model tour and go after another championship.

Merry Christmas to everyone and best wishes for a Happy New Year.