Ricky Weiss picked up the biggest win of his racing career at Florence Speedway
Weiss details the win in the 2018 North/South 100
Ricky Weiss took home the $50,000 check on his way out of Florence Speedway in Union, Kentucky on Saturday. The Sweet-Bloomquist #7 held off Hudson O’Neal in the closing laps to take the win.
The driver is based in Headingly, Manitoba, Canada. He’s picked up 100+ career victories throughout his racing career.
A few weeks ago I talked to Ricky Weiss about the status of his racing program. He said, “We’re kinda just jumping all over. We did some open stuff in Arizona and down by Scott’s shop at the beginning of the year.”
“When the Outlaws came a little closer to home, we jumped on that.”
Ricky Weiss in based north of the American bored in Canada. The touring deal for the #7 team is a bit more difficult than most.
“It’s a lot of traveling. And a lot of expense that way. But, if we can run 2-5 races in a row, then we try to take advantage of that.”
“This is probably one of the busiest years we’ve had. We scaled back on our WISSOTA stuff to try and work on our Super program. Both cars seem to be top notch. Wherever we go we can lineup with the best of them.”
That was a month ago at Brown County Speedway. Ricky Weiss ran 4 LOLMDS events in a row that week as the tour landed close to his home base. He managed a best finish of 2nd which came in the Silver Dollar Nationals at I-80 Speedway.
Now, Weiss has just claimed the largest win of his career over the weekend.
What won the race for you?
“Patience and just this car,” Ricky Weiss explained to RacingNews.co after the win. “Wherever we point it … Just the people involved in it, they’re so smart.”
Weiss is in a Sweet-Bloomquist chassis. The car is powered by Vic Hil l Racing Engines and balanced by Penske Shocks.
“It just fits our driving style and our race team perfectly. We’ve been doing it for many years now. And we’ve got everything the way we’d like it. If we just keep this going I think we’re going to be running top-1o anywhere we go.”
Earl Pearson Jr was the car to beat from the early point in the race. However, while leading, Pearson suffered a flat tire.
“To be able to follow Earl there… I could kinda go up high, go down low and cut the corner. I could judge off of him if it was better or worse.”
“That really helped me out. If I had been out front earlier… It’s tough as the leader to judge the race track. Maybe I should move up? Or not? Not every lap you can look at your guy and see where he’s telling you to go.”
“It sucks that Earl had a flat. We were better at times than him. And he was better than us at times. We definitely would have been good in the long run against Earl.”
“Having Hudson cut underneath me there, I definitely had to pick up my pace. Just glad that we could stay on top.”
Hudson said he got into you and then he apologized. I didn’t see it. Did you feel it?
“Oh yeah. We rubbed barely going into turn one. Then, the next lap he come in a little hotter and moved me up the track,” Weiss said with a laugh.
“It’s just one of those deals. It’s a lot of money [to win]. It’s his last race for the year. He was on the inside. I might have come down a little. He might have went in a little hotter.”
“It’s just one of those deals. He didn’t K.O. me, he coulda. I’m just thankful that we didn’t get no flats or anything.”
It was a $50,000 win. How much does that change your racing program?
“Oh, that’s going to help us so much. We’re going to put every penny back into this race car. Hopefully we can build a couple more and have a fleet of these things.”
“Well keep replacing our parts. To where they’re newer, they’re not older and repaired. Hopefully, we’ve opened some eyes to some people and we can pick up some sponsors and some product stuff.”
“We’ll just keep going forward.”
I heard you mention in victory lane that you were considering a tour. So what’s holding you back on that? Just funding?
“Just funding, yes.”
“We’re going to work hard this winter and regroup our cars. Sell some, buy some.”
“Really, it takes so much to get these rigs down the road. Diesel fuel, race fuel, tires on the car, race engines, everything.”
“We’ve got most of the equipment. What we don’t have, we’re going to have this winter. If we can just get a little bit behind us, I think everything will be great. Everything will fall in line.”
Next up, Ricky Weiss will head to Batesville Motor Speedway for the Topless 100.
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Related: Ricky Weiss discusses the droop rule
Related: 2018 North/South 100 Results
