TSRS Late Model ‘Young Guns’ grabbing headlines heading into Saturday’s “Rebecca Cooper CPA 75″ at Thunderhill Raceway
July 9, 2009
The “Young Guns” are dominating the trip to the Texas Super Racing Series (TSRS) Late Model Victory Lane in 2009.
Jake Kruger (Bastrop, TX) is 16 years old. Cody Smith (La Vernia, TX) is 19 years old. Their combined age (35) is one year younger than Robert Barker (Boerne, TX), the 36-year-old TSRS veteran who’s the only driver to get between Kruger, Smith and complete domination of the last seven TSRS series races.
Youngsters Jake Kruger (#14) and Cody Smith are potential TSRS Late Model winners every time out
Starting with the 2008 season-ending race (the Texas Stock Car Spectacular), Kruger, who turned 16 on June 25, has won four of the last seven TSRS races. Kruger won the ’08 Spectacular and has won three more races this season. Kruger is the reigning series Rookie of the Year.
Smith, who turns 20 on Aug. 17, has won two races this season, including the March 28th and May 23rd feature races at Thunder Hill Raceway (THR) in Kyle, TX. Smith, who’s also running in ASA and other late-model series, was the 2007 TSRS LM Rookie of the Year and runnerup champion.
Barker, meantime, won the ’09 series opener – the AllState Texas Thunder 50 at THR. Barker, who sits fourth in the ’09 points standings, is joined by fellow racing “veteran” Bobby Teer, Jr. (who turned 32 on April 2) in the Top-5. Kruger leads the pack with 994 points, followed be Teer, Jr. (27 points back), Smith (70 points back) and Barker (73 points back). Dillon Spreen, another TSRS LM “Young Gun,” holds down fifth place in the points, 88 points behind Kruger.
Spreen could be considered the “wildcard” factor for TSRS. The Boerne, TX resident, who turned all of 15 on May 29, is in his second season with TSRS and is well overdue to win his first series race at any time. In fact, Spreen – a seven-time champion Quarter Midget champion – is good enough to reel off a couple wins in a row once he reaches Victory Lane the first time.
Still, Barker and Teer, Jr. are ready to knock their younger counterparts from their perch.
“We’re making adjustments all the time but I think we’re going back to the basics,” Barker stated. “We were trying to make some small adjustments but now we’re going back to what worked for us at the beginning of the year. “
“We’re ready to win a race,” said Teer (Comfort, TX). “We keep getting close and I thought we had the car to do it (at the race) in Houston. We want to win the championship but we’re working to win races.”
Both “older guys” expressed respect for the younger guys. “I’m still racing old late-model equipment,” Barker remarked. “I am working hard with what I have but I think those guys have better equipment, they have great help and their crew chiefs have a ton of experience. They also test a lot – hey, they probably have run more laps at Thunder Hill than I have. I’m not making excuses at all – those guys are very good drivers. But we’re going out to win again this weekend.”
Teer, Jr. added, “They (Kruger and Smith) have really good cars and equipment. You have to hand it to them – they’re doing what they need to do. They have great crew chiefs helping them out as well. And they’re both really good drivers. But I’m learning on the fly as I work on my car – we’ll have something for them.”
For more information about TSRS Late Models, please visit www.manracingpromotions.com. For information about Thunder Hill Raceway, visit www.thunderhillraceway.com.
TSRS All-Time Feature Races Win List
Driver # of feature wins
Tommy Gural 8
*Chris Schild 8
Bobby Joe New 6
Jeff Pollard 5
*Cody Smith 5
*Jake Kruger 5
*-denotes active driver
by Chuck Licata
Photo by Jeff Garvin
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