Hampton, VA – A championship effort in any form of racing is difficult. It takes countless hours in the shop to make the car better. Precise movements on the wheel and throttle from the driver during qualifying. Endurance, skill, and strategy during the race that lines you and your team up for success during the feature. What if two of those three previous points were taken out of the picture and you had to win a championship by starting in a random position every night, do you think it is something you could do?
Pungo, Virginia’s Stephen Flinn was able to manage just that in 2022 when he earned his first Parts Barn Enduro Series track championship collecting three wins, nine top fives, and ten top ten finishes in as many starts.
“The division is very unique and most nights it’s better to be lucky than good,” Flinn said. “Winning the championship at Langley is one of the most meaningful accomplishments of my racing career. I have been racing since 2014 and to be able to put a championship season together is an amazing achievement for me.”
A unique feature of the Parts Barn Enduro series is drivers do not have total control of where they are going to start like most tracks across the country. The Enduro’s, Langley’s most inexpensive introduction series, starts all of their races with a random pill draw. Drivers pull their starting positions out of a bucket and are sent to battle for thirty laps. Flinn’s 2022 performance was enough to finish seventh in the nation under NASCAR’s Division V tier (seventh in the Southeast region).
“A championship is a collective effort,” Flinn went on to say. “We race as a family and it’s a great feeling to be able to win the championship and celebrate with everyone who helped me.”
To celebrate with Stephen Flinn, the entire Parts Barn Enduro series, as well as all twelve division champions, make sure to reserve your 2022 banquet ticket by calling the track office Monday through Friday at (757) 865-7223. Tickets for this year’s banquet at the Hampton Convention Center Friday, January 13, 2023, are $50. Social hour will begin at 6:30 PM the banquet to follow at 7:30 PM.
