Morris Closing In On Win No. 200
Published: Jul 12, 2007
ADVERTISEMENT
More from this channel:
Search for more information:
Wayne Morris of Mulberry is approaching a milestone in local racing: his 200th victory.
The 38-year-old has 178 wins, including double-feature victories last week at Auburndale Speedway's grand opening under new ownership.
He won the Lakeland Speedway and Auburndale street stock championships in 1994 on his way to 25 feature wins that year. That performance led to a driver of the year award, the first given to a driver in the street stock class.
"Racing at Auburndale all my life has helped me win a lot of races at other Florida asphalt tracks," Morris said. "Short of St. Augustine and Five Flags speedways, I've won at every asphalt track in the state."
Morris doesn't worry about wins in today's local racing as much as he did earlier. He now judges his finishes by his competitiveness and consistency.
"I'm running the new ASA South Division this season, and let me tell you, you've got to be on the ball to even finish up front in this thing," he said. "I'm running seventh in the points and really working hard to keep it close."
Wayne's father, Billy Morris, started racing in 1968, the year Wayne was born. The younger Morris worked alongside his father in their backyard shop until 1988, when he took over the family's late model. Two years later, money ran short and Wayne went back to street stocks and began to win frequently.
When he returned to late models in 1996 when the Hooters Limited Late Model Series was born, Wayne captured rookie of the year honors. Hooters became the Hooters Pro Cup of today and sold the limited series to Rick Day. That's when it became the Southern Automobile Racing Association series. Wayne was a three-time runner-up during the SARA's seven-year history.
While third-generation driver Brandon Morris is learning the craft in the Auburndale street stock class, Wayne Morris says he is not ready to retire.
"I'll make another five or six years, I'm sure, but it may depend on my son Brandon," Wayne said. "I'd like to enjoy his racing a little more already, but he's not ready to take on the Late Model classes just yet, and I kind of wanted to turn the driving duties over to him, like my dad did for me."
DESOTO SUPER SPEEDWAY: The track hosts the Tampa Bay Area Racing Association and points leader Troy DeCaire. Also on the schedule are sprints, magic 4's, bombers, pure stocks, street stocks, modified minis and a special 50-lap DeSoto Truck Series event.
CITRUS COUNTY SPEEDWAY: Super Late Models are back after the holiday break, joined by the sportsman, mini stocks, street stocks, pure stocks and V8 thunder stocks.
EAST BAY RACEWAY PARK: The track continues its limited summer schedule with Gene Lasker leading the limited sprints on the clay. Also on the schedule are open wheel modifieds, street stocks, outlaw 4's and 4-cylinder bombers.
