Bubba Pollard wants to race early and often this season.
t’s been a little more than a month since the Snowball Derby, but Bubba Pollard wouldn’t consider the break from Super Late Model racing an offseason.
Joining The Bullring this week, Pollard explained how he has stayed plenty busy in the past month, preparing for the new season both as a racer and with his family’s operation of Senoia Raceway.
“I don’t know if you can call it an offseason,” Pollard told Racing America. “We’ve been wide open trying to get things going, working, a lot going on at the race track getting prepared for the season here.
“We really sat down after the Derby and really want to go back racing like we used to. Race a lot, that’s the only way you’re going to get better is to race and build a notebook. It’s going to be a tough couple of weeks, but we’re excited for it.”
Pollard plans to stay busy this season, going to plenty of the biggest Super Late Model races in the country. This weekend, he’s headed to Irwindale Speedway in California for the SRL National and SRL Southwest Tour Series’ All-Star Showdown.
Whether it’s with SRL, the ASA STARS National Series, or the ASA Southern Super Series, Pollard wants to be at the track as often as possible in 2023.
“The way the schedules worked out, I tell you what, they’ve done a great job. I feel like, as a racer, they’re working together to make it where we will run all the SRL races, all the Southern Super Series races, all the STARS races and some in between. We’re doing all three series and then some Midwest Tour races, some dirt races. We’ve got a busy schedule.
“There’s a group out there that run more than 120 races last year. Sitting here, I only ran 30, I think, which is a lot. To be able to compete at that level, you’ve got to build a notebook and momentum. Momentum in racing is huge. Being in the seat, everything has to gel and work out perfectly.”
When he’s not on the road, Senoia Raceway will still keep him and his family plenty busy. Pollard admits operating the dirt track has been a learning experience for him.
“We took this thing over in 2021, and we didn’t know what we were doing. We still don’t know what we’re doing. The last two years, we feel like the race track has been in a good place.
“We’ve learned a lot and got a lot of great people that have stepped up to help us. I feel like we’ve got the right people in place to go out and race some more and be able to compete.
First and foremost, Pollard is a racer, and he wants to be a racer for a long time. He hopes that the introduction of series such as the SRL National Tour and ASA STARS National Series will be viable national options for pavement competitors, similar to what is in place for Dirt Late Model and Sprint Car racers.
“I don’t want the SRL or the STARS to be just another series. I feel like I get that vibe. Hopefully, I’m wrong. I want it to be the caliber of a World of Outlaws or a Lucas [Oil Late Model Dirt Series]. I was disappointed neither of them have a TV deal with MAV or something to spotlight short track drivers.
“That’s what the ASA was. You have to get people excited about going to their local track when the stars come in. Hopefully it works out. I will support short track racing, I’m a racer no matter what. I just don’t want this to be another series.”
-Story by Racing America