Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 24, 1990 TAG: 9006240183
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E-9 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: JEFF MOTLEY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
Two weeks ago, he was involved in a multicar collision that did severe damage to his vehicle. Saturday night, he found himself in victory lane.
The driver from Oak Level started from the outside pole, grabbed the lead in the first turn of the first lap and never let up as he cruised to his first Late Model Stock victory at Pulaski County Speedway in the Meadow Gold 200.
"I had almost decided to give up the sport before the year started," Seay said. "But I'm just glad that when Bruce and Barry Sweeney [the car owners] needed a driver they found me.
"Two weeks ago we tore it up pretty good, but we could have made it last week, but I had family visiting and decided that sometimes the family comes first."
The rest of the field probably wished his relatives had stayed a little longer. Floyd's Jeff Agnew chased Seay's car all night before finishing second for the second week in a row.
Seay's car always has been competitive at the track, but little problems always seemed to prevent him from winning. He thought it would happen again Saturday.
"When we first got here, we had a miss in the engine on the second practice session," Seay said. "But the crew got in there, got it fixed and we had a great qualifying effort."
Even so, it was two-tenths of a second behind points leader Ronnie Thomas. But when Seay blew away Thomas at the start of the race, he knew it would be a good night.
"When that green flag dropped and I shot into the lead, I was completely at ease," Seay said.
Thomas either dropped a cylinder or blew a head gasket and was forced out of the race. Roanoke's Tony McGuire finished third.
It was a big night for Oak Level drivers as Ray Young rode to his first victory in the Street Stock division. Young led all 35 laps en route to a victory over Shannon Tate and Mark Akers.
Christiansburg's Ricky Jefferson took the checkered flag in the Modified Mini race. Tim Walker was second and Dale Sutphin third.
Mark Smith won the Mini Stock race that featured a six-car pileup under the flagman's stand at the completion of the first lap. Ronnie Byrd took the Pure Stock event.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB