LUCAMA, NC – Hard luck has defined the start of the 2017 season for veteran racer Adam Murray, but he hopes to turn his luck around on Saturday at Southern National Motorsports Park.
The 41-year-old from Wilson, North Carolina has a brand new Late Model, which was built during the offseason with the help of Jamie Yelton and Fat Head Racing. However, he has yet to start in a feature race after a variety of different issues. On March 26th, electrical issues sidelined him after setting the quickest lap in practice and then, two weeks later, he withdrew after getting a sub-optimal set of tires before the race.
This weekend, Murray, who has around 50 career wins at Southern National Motorsports Park, is determined to get back to victory lane.
“We’re coming to win, we’re going to win,” Murray said confidently. “We’ll sit on the pole and win the race. Last race, we had a bad tire deal and left. I mean, we’ve got a brand-new Forrest Reynolds Racing Chassis, Fat Head Racing is helping us and we’re going to go Saturday morning and be there all day practicing and racing.”
Prior to this season, Murray has largely been working on cars for his 15-year-old daughter, Kailey Murray, a multi-time winner in the Bandolero division at Southern National. Now that she is taking a little time off from racing, the elder Murray is back in the saddle regularly.
“We built a new car over the winter after Martinsville,” Murray explained. “Kailey decided to take a year off and, when she decided that, I decided to give it a good try. We never built a new car before and I always wanted to build a new car, have the best of the best and run for points but we didn’t have the car ready the first race and the second. So, we’re just going for wins now.”
While Murray is focused on winning this year, he is also preparing for Kailey, who turns 16 in July, to start racing in Late Models next year.
“Me and her decided I would run full-time this year and prepare her to drive next year and let her practice some through the year,” Murray elaborated. “Next year, maybe she’ll be ready to run Late Models in the car I have now.”
Outside of the car, Murray owns the successful Quality Pre-Owned used car lot in Wilson, North Carolina.
“We started it 10 years ago and it grew and grew and grew,” Murray remarked. “We just built a new facility in Wilson and we’re probably one of the top smaller used car lots in Wilson.”
Through Quality Pre-Owned, Murray has also supported other racers at Southern National Motorsports Park throughout the years.
“We sponsor a lot of other people,” Murray remarked. “We really to help the people who really need it. We like to be part of the racing community.”
Adam Murray is a former four-cylinder champion at Southern National Motorsports Park and has 50 wins at Southern National Motorsports Park – 11 in the Late Model ranks.
The Summerfest 300 at Southern National Motorsports Park will feature a doubleheader for the Late Model division. In addition to the Late Models, the Pro Late Models will take to the high banks for the first time in 2017. Chargers, Mini Stocks, Legends and Bandoleros will also be in action at the Springfest 300, which goes green Saturday night at 7pm.
For more information about Southern National Motorsports Park, check out SNMP’s website at www.snmpark.com, “like” Southern National Motorsports Park on Facebook or “follow” @SNM_Park on Twitter.
