If you’re a short track racing fan, you surely have heard of Bubba Pollard. The Senoia, Georgia driver has racked up an impressive resume of wins across the country—including some pretty big-buck wins, like the Winter Showdown at Kern County Raceway ($40k) and just this past month, he knocked down two big wins in two days—the Master of the Pros Pro Late Model race at Birch Run Speedway in Michigan on June 8th, pocketing $10,000—and the next day he was at South Carolina’s Anderson Motor Speedway with his Super Late Model for the Southern Super Series/CARS Tour, where he picked up another $10,000 for grabbing the checkered flag.
Two days later, he was back in Michigan to defend his Super Late title in the Money in the Bank 250 at Berlin Raceway. He came up one spot short—finishing second to Brian Campbell. Finishing anything less than P1 can bring on a whole lot of frustration and hindsight second guessing for any racer, but getting tweeted at from Mark Martin to let you know he thinks you’re a pretty amazing driver had to take some of the sting out of that loss.
“It definitely makes you feel good,” Pollard said. “Mark Martin is one of the guys I’ve always looked up to. It’s cool that Mark, Rodney Childers (Kevin Harvick’s crew chief), and others at the NASCAR level still follow short track racing,” staying connected to their roots.
“It not only makes me and my family—but my guys feel good with all of the effort they put in,” Pollard added.
Much like many short track racers, Pollard’s crew is all volunteer-based. Nobody draws a paycheck. That makes his recent ambitious schedule of Michigan to South Carolina, and back to Michigan in four days even more impressive. It takes a lot of dedicated people to pull something like that off—let alone win two out of three of the races—completely with a volunteer crew.
“Over the years I’ve been fortunate to have good help. I can’t thank them enough. They sacrifice their weekends and weekdays to make it possible for me to race like this. I’ve been really lucky to have great help and sponsors to make it all come together.”
The next big race on Pollard’s calendar that he and the crew will run is back in the Midwest—for the Slinger Nationals—a race that he grabbed the win at last year in just his second effort.
“That first year we just weren’t prepared. Didn’t have the tools we needed. But we did our homework and came back better prepared,” he said. “We’re excited about coming back this year. The fans in the Midwest provide a great atmosphere to show what we’re capable of.”
Pollard says he was reading the names on the trophy again just last week; seeing names like Matt Kenseth, who won the Nationals six times, Dick Trickle, and so many other legends. He’s honored to have his name among them and hopes to have it engraved again this year.
When asked what his favorite track in the Midwest he immediately says, “Slinger.” But then after some thought he adds that he enjoyed Madison—and really loved the atmosphere and the fans at Oktoberfest. He was bummed by the bad weather last year at Oktoberfest and will be back for the festivities at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway again this year to fully immerse himself in the experience again—this time hopefully without the rain—and hopefully be able to put his No. 26 machine into Victory Lane at the prestigious event.
Living in the south, it’s obviously where Pollard races the most—but when pressed to answer what the difference is between racers in the Midwest and the South—Pollard says that the Midwest drivers seem to have a lot more respect for each other, likely because there are a lot more true racers in the Midwest who have to work on their own cars during the week.
He got his first taste of the “Gentleman’s Rule” last year at the Slinger Nationals when he and Ty Majeski made contact and Pollard was able to keep his position when Majeski stopped on the frontstretch and tapped his roof—taking the blame for the incident.
“I didn’t even know what the hell a ‘Tap Out’ rule was,” he said. “It shows what kind of person you are; what kind of racer you are. There are times that I could’ve used a ‘Tap Out’ rule over the years.”
There are several races that are still on Pollard’s “Bucket List” to win: The Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola and the Oktoberfest 200 at La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway.
Both are tracks that many of the great racers from the American Speed Association (ASA) days frequented, and those drivers are a lot of the short track racing heroes that Pollard had grown up watching in Georgia—Gary St. Amant, Mike Garvey, Mike Eddy, and Butch Miller to name a few.
But his dad was probably his biggest hero in racing. It was his dad who taught him to race and is still a major part of his program. Which has us circling back to the volunteer help; Pollard is like many racers who will tell you their first pit crew was comprised of family and a few friends. Generally speaking, they’re the most dedicated ones who are with you over the years. That’s yet another thing that sets racers like Pollard apart from others who run big events around the country.
Pollard says that perhaps the growing disconnect between NASCAR and the short track community stems from racers not becoming hometown heroes and working their way through the ranks, slugging it out like the racers of days gone by did.
And while many of the up-and-coming drivers are “getting the job done,” and are decent racers—the fans don’t really know who these kids are because they’re moved through the system too quickly and don’t have a fully developed fan base from doing it the “hard way.”
Money definitely opens doors, and leaves proven, winning drivers like Pollard on the sidelines when it comes to moving up through the ranks.
“Ty Majeski has been successful, and he deserves a better shot than what he’s got right now. He’s not shown his potential yet, and one day he’ll get that opportunity. He’s had to come up the hard way, because if he had plenty of money he would be at Joe Gibbs or Hendrick right now,” Pollard said.
There’s truth in his sentiment. Many of us can remember seeing Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Sr., Bobby Allison, and more making the rounds in the Midwest and making a name for themselves before they hit the big stage of NASCAR. Of course this was also a time when innovation and creativity helped to showcase a driver’s talent. These days there seems to be a shortcut with financial backing to get the best equipment that someone else innovated. When it’s all said and done, money can’t buy talent; a driver still has to pilot the car and get the job done. And whether we like it or not—times change. It’s a different world we live in now, so we all have to adapt.
Pollard is doing just that thanks to the support of his crew, sponsors, and of course it does help to win big purses like the ones he’s picked up over the years. It begs the question: Does Pollard desire to move up into NASCAR himself?
“I don’t know NASCAR is a fit for me, and my personality, and the things I like to do. I feel like I could do it. I’d like to have a shot to show what I could do.”
But in the next breath, Pollard says that there’s no greater feeling than winning a major short track event, and he thoroughly enjoys doing that.
It’s safe to say that Pollard is cut from the same cloth as Mark Martin and Matt Kenseth—doing it the “hard way,” and all three have their names etched onto that Slinger Nationals trophy. We’ll see if Pollard can add it again come July 10th. Tickets are available online at https://slingersuperspeedway.com.
Slinger Nationals Winners:
1980 Larry Detjens
1981 Alan Kulwicki
1982 Dick Trickle
1983 Dick Trickle
1984 Mark Martin
1985 Dick Trickle
1986 John Ziegler
1987 Joe Shear
1988 Butch Miller
1989 Dick Trickle
1990 Joe Shear
1991 Joe Shear
1992 Rich Bickle
1993 Joe Shear
1994 Matt Kenseth
1995 Butch Miller
1996 Rich Bickle
1997 Lowell Bennett
1998 Tony Strupp
1999 Conrad Morgan
2000 Lowell Bennett
2001 David Prunty
2002 Matt Kenseth
2003 Rich Bickle
2004 Lowell Bennett
2005 Nathan Haseleu
2006 Matt Kenseth
2007 Lowell Bennett
2008 Matt Kenseth
2009 Matt Kenseth
2010 Lowell Bennett
2011 Kyle Busch
2012 Matt Kenseth
2013 Rich Bickle
2014 Chris Wimmer
2015 Dennis Prunty
2016 Matt Kenseth
2017 Bubba Pollard
Originally published in the Midwest Racing Connection
