50 Winners!

50 Winners!

April 23, 2007
Lou Demian

Over a year since his least news article, President Lou Demian sits down to salute 50 winners in Lucky Dog Racing's Cup Series.

Last weekend at Phoenix Intl. Raceway, Team Bow Tie recorded his first win. What makes this special? For lead driver Jordan Hunt it's a momentous occasion of course, but it also marks a special moment in Lucky Dog Racing's history. With Jordan's first career win, Team Bow Tie became the 50th different team to win a race in the Cup series.

50 different race winners in just over 3 seasons of Lucky Dog Racing... Quite remarkable. Anybody in the league can tell you that winning a race here is no easy task in any of the three series. For a time, some teams may develop winning streaks, but it never seems to last. Some teams might win a race within their first couple of starts. Some teams can spend their entire career looking for a win. Just ask Green Flag Racing! This team has been in the league since its beginning and Carol Siddens is still looking for her first Cup win. As of Phoenix in April 2007, the streak has now reached 111 races. Luckily for Carol, she just recently won her first Truck series race not too long ago.

Yes, everyone wants to win, but winning isn't everything. Three of our top five most winning teams have never even made the chase yet. Winning is nice, but consistency is the key. You can have both, like Jeffjoeracing. Lead driver Troy Wiggins won 5 races in 2006 which tied the record for most wins in a season. Troy looked to be unstoppable until the start of the chase last year. He fizzed out a little but gained strength at the end to finish in 2nd place. In his rookie year, Troy was a little shaky at times but really seemed to find his groove halfway through the year. In the 2005 season he missed the chase but finished as the highest non-chase team. In 2006 he finished 2nd. He hasn't won a race since last July but is still going strong. Troy currently is in 3rd place, just a few points from the lead. He is definitely one of Lucky Dog Racing's most consistent teams and is a favorite to win the championship this year.

Jeffjoeracing and June Bug Racing have had their own race for quite awhile now.. that is to get to 7 wins which would tie them for 1st place. Former champion Jerry Jones Racing still holds that record, but since he left the league last season, won't be adding to that total any longer.

The past 2 years provided breakout winners each season. It was High Octane winning 5 races in 2005 and Jeffjoeracing winning 5 races in 2006. So far nobody has stepped forward in 2007; all races have been won by different drivers. Perhaps this season will be more reflective of the 2004 season when wins were more evenly distributed.

So with our 50th winner, let's look back at some of our past winners over the past 4 seasons.

As mentioned, the 2004 season had many multiple winners. We did not have a full 43 car field, so winning may have been a little more easier. The first winner was Trapt Racing who won the league's first points race at Texas. It would be over 2 years for lead driver Chris Robidoux to finally earn his 2nd win.

Four different driver each won three races in 2004; that was the most any team would win. Jerry Jones Racing, Dodge Boys Racing, June Bug Racing and NASCAR Fan Racing, Inc. were those teams. Intimidator Racing, Ron Racing, Syracuse Alpine Racing and Pitbull Racing were the other teams to have multiple wins that year. Bump And Go Racing won his first race in 2004, but is currently still looking for his 2nd win. Nineteen different teams won that year; Nine of them are still with us today.

2005 was our first full season, which meant more race winners. 23 of them as a matter of fact. This time there were more multiple winners though. High Octane flew out of the gate with 4 wins by early May. He would add a 5th and final win in July. Armchair Racing, Inc. had a surge of 4 wins from June to August. He currently holds the record for that many wins in that short of time. 4 wins in 8 weeks... anybody would love to have that. Still, he ended up missing the chase since he wasn't consistent the rest of the season.

Defending champion Jerry Jones Racing kept his winning ways going that year as he added another 3 wins to his career total. He would add one final win in the 2006 season and then left later on. Who knows how many more he could have added had he stayed on.

The other teams to have multiple wins in 2005 were Pappy's Drivers, Shawnda's Redneck Racing and June Bug Racing.

What turned out to be interesting was that the champion, Miller Motorsports, did not even win a race that year. So as I said before, winning isn't everything.

Miller did finally get his first win in the 2006 season and repeated again as championship. Unfortunately he departed from the league as well, so he did never get a chance for a 2nd win.

Jeffjoeracing owned the regular season with his 5 wins. Nobody else came close to him in terms of wins, but a number of drivers had 2 wins each. Speed Demon Racing, Jeff Burton Racing, Warpigs, Gasitnpassit, West Coast Racing, Inc. and Suezbele Racing, Inc. all had 2 wins each.

This year we are still looking for the first repeat winner in any of the three series in Lucky Dog Racing.

The Busch Series could possibly reach 50 winners in a shorter amount of time than the Cup Series. After 75 races, the Busch Series has 39 winners while the Cup Series has 50 winners after 111 races. Every 1.9 races, there is a new winner in the Busch Series while the Cup Series has one every 2.2 races.

It has been announced that we will have a new scoring format next season. The new format was designed to have a larger point margin between top 20 finishing drivers and those that finish towards the bottom. How will this affect winning percentages? Those drivers that have a better picks averages should be able to pick up more wins.

Will we have any more breakout drivers? Time will tell. Yes, winning isn't everything.... but damn is it fun. Who doesn't love to see their name in large print on the site?

Congratulations to all the winners and future winners of Lucky Dog Racing!

17 Feb 2004