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Lavender Seventh in Georgia
Mooresville, NC (07/20/10) - Jody Lavender
finished 7th in his first race in the CRA Super Series
at the Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson GA last
weekend. After the race Jody said, "This is the first
time we have been here since they repaved the track and
renovated the facility.
It’s now one of the nicer tracks anywhere around. It is
also one of the faster tracks around. We weren’t
prepared for the changes and all the rain kept us from
getting much practice. I think we were 20th in the 1st
practice, we qualified 14th, and finished 7th. We made 4
pit stops and were improving but ran out of time. The
competition in this series is so tough it’s hard to
"catch-up" if you’re not ready when you get here. We
didn’t win but we got some good experience."
For more information, go to
www.jodylavender.com or
www.craracing.net.
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Lavender to Compete at Gresham, GA on July 17th
Mooresville, NC (07/08/10) - Jody Lavender
will make his first start in the Champion Racing
Association Super Series (CRA) at the Gresham
Motorsports Park (formerly Peach State Speedway) in
Jefferson GA on Saturday July 17th.
Jody said, "I look forward to competing in the CRA
Series. Their rules are similar to the PASS Series and
we have been competitive in PASS. I also look forward to
going to the new Gresham Motorsports Park. I’ve heard
that it’s a nice and fast facility. I raced there when
it was Peach State and we were competitive."
For more information, go to
www.jodylavender.com
or www.hometracks.nascar.com.
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Lavender Strong at Greenville
Mooresville, NC (07/06/10) - Jody Lavender had
a strong run at the Greenville-Pickens Speedway in the
PASS series race. He didn’t win the race but led over
half the laps until a broken rear end dropped him back
to 5th place.
Jody said, "It’s disappointing not to win when we had
such a good car but on the other hand it’s good to know
that we had a car that was capable of winning. This is a
car that we built in our chassis shop - Custom Race
Chassis."
For more information, go to
www.jodylavender.com
or www.hometracks.nascar.com.
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Jody Lavender Heads Back to Greenville on Friday
Mooresville, NC (06/30/10) - Jody Lavender has
said Greenville Pickens Speedway is one of his favorite
tracks. He also thinks the track owes him a win because
he has finished 2nd several times including the NASCAR K
& N East series race earlier this year.
He will get another chance this Friday July 2nd when
he competes in the PASS Super Late Model series race. He
has competed in two PASS races earlier and ended up with
DNF’s due to mechanical problems.
Jody said, "We had a good car at Ace Speedway and
were running 4th when the brakes went out. We’ve had
more mechanical problems lately than usual. We still
have a good car and a win at Greenville is our #1
priority."
For more information, go to
www.jodylavender.com
or www.hometracks.nascar.com.
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Jody Lavender Looks for Change in Luck at New Hampshire
Mooresville, NC (06/17/10) - Jody Lavender
will compete in the NASCAR K & N Series race at New
Hampshire Motor Speedway on Friday, June 25th.
Jody will be driving a new car because the car he
wrecked at Martinsville, VA was destroyed. Jody said,
"We’re looking for a good run at New Hampshire. We have
had DNF’s in the last three races when we were running
in the top-5. We’ve been running good but have had
mechanical problems."
Jody also said he will compete in the July 2nd race at
the Greenville-Pickens Speedway where he had a 2nd place
finish in a race earlier this year.
For more information, go to
www.jodylavender.com
or www.hometracks.nascar.com.
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Jody Lavender Announces May and June Schedules
Mooresville, NC (05/03/10) - Jody’s next two
races will at the Tri-County Speedway in Hudson, NC on
Friday May 21st and the Hickory NC Motor Speedway on
Sunday May 23rd. He will drive his own car in the CRA
Super Late Model Series special events. Each event will
be 150 laps with a special bonus to win both races.
Jody said, “I look forward to competing in the CRA
series for the first time. Their cars are similar to
the PASS Series and most of their races are in the
Mid-Western. We know they have some good, fast,
competitive racing, and hopefully we can make a good
showing for our local fans.”
Jody plans another double weekend when he competes in
the PASS Super Late Model race at Ace Speedway on Friday
June 4th. The last time he competed at Ace Speedway, he
won the Hooters Pro-Cup race. He will also compete in
the NASCAR K & N Series race at the famous Martinsville
VA Speedway on Sunday June 6th.
He also plans to compete in the NASCAR K & N Series race
at New Hampshire Speedway on Friday June 25th.
For more information, go to
www.jodylavender.com
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Lavender Back in a Late Model
By Jim Carson • Late Model Digest Editor •
www.latemodeldigest.net
Mooresville, NC (04/29/10) - In the last two
seasons Jody Lavender has toured with what is now the
NASCAR K&N Pro East Series. Before that he spent four
years with USAR Pro Cup and the old NASCAR All Pro/
Southeast circuit, and even made 21 attempts in the
then-NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
This year he wants to stay closer to home more. A
primary reason is right there on the side of his new
Super Late Model, which he unloaded for the first time
at the Orange Blossom Special at Orange County Speedway.
“The number’s 115 because that’s my daughter’s birthday,
11/5,” Lavender said.
More weekends at home doesn’t mean there isn’t as much
on his plate. Around the time of Taylor’s birth in 2008,
he started his own race shop, called Custom Race
Chassis. A lot of his work has been fabrication for
Truck, Nationwide and ARCA teams; he had a hand in
building trucks for Billy Ballew Motorsports, which was
among the top winning teams in 2009. Lavender also is a
consultant for Pro Cup driver John Gibson, who had his
best career result in the series April 17 at New Smyrna,
Fla.
Now Late Models are back on Lavender’s agenda. He had
his own for the first time at OCS, and the Shark Race
Development cars of team owner Jay Fogleman and
second-year Pro All Stars Series driver Steven Legendre
were also Custom cars.
“I used to build chassis and suspensions when I lived in
Hartsville, S.C.,” Lavender said. “I hadn’t really done
anything in a while. About a year ago I got back into
it, but I haven’t really pushed it too hard trying to
get a lot out there until we knew we had a proven piece.
I wanted to get something to talk about.”
There was plenty of good talk after the first two 2010
PASS South events. Legendre debuted in a Custom car in
the season opener at Dillon Motor Speedway and finished
a career-best third. Three weeks later Fogleman drove
one of Lavender’s creations for the first time at
Hickory Motor Speedway and he came home second, after
being in the mix for the lead until a bleeder problem
kept him from holding off eventual winner Preston
Peltier. The connection between Lavender and Fogleman
was a natural one. In 2007, Lavender’s last of four in
Pro Cup, he drove for the “Short Track Shark,” back when
the team was called JFco Motorsports.
“We’d always been friends,” Lavender said. “When I got
this thing going, we talked about doing one for him, but
he couldn’t at the time. At the end of last year he got
with me to build him a car … and they got it done in
time to go to Hickory with it. I don’t build a
run-of-the-mill race car; it’s not assembly-line
produced. I’m able to start with a clean sheet of paper
and add a lot of design elements to it that some other
guys don’t have. I felt I’ve built a real safe race car;
for example, the door bar heights are a lot higher than
anybody else’s and that adds strength to the cage. Going
through NASCAR’s safety practices and having to add some
things to the Trucks and Nationwide cars I’ve worked on
have helped. We’re also one of the lightest. I weigh
230, and my car still held 260 pounds of lead.”
Safety wasn’t the issue that disappointed Lavender at
Orange County. Fogleman and Legendre had their
difficulties and finished in the mid-teens, and Lavender
was caught up in a wreck. All three were among a group
docked one of two laps in qualifying as they were late
to afternoon tech. “Everybody whose haulers were on the
back straightaway never got the word in time to line up
for qualifying,” he said. “I was trying to finish
getting a piece of lead bolted in the car. We started
further back than we should have. After the wreck I was
able to keep it going, but the car wasn’t really that
good any more. We came in to make an adjustment and the
thing cut off; it wound up melting the distributor leads
on it. My car had never been tested. Some of the stuff
you just don’t know and can’t simulate until you go
racing.
“It’s funny. Out of seven races I’ve been involved in
this season, we had five top-threes (counting Lavender’s
second in the NASCAR East opener at Greenville-Pickens
and Gibson’s two Pro Cup races). At Orange County we
couldn’t even get a top-10.”
The pursuit will continue for Lavender’s first win of
any kind since a Pro Cup show at Ace Speedway in 2005.
He has three more East starts scheduled, including two
at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the home track for his
Maine-based car owner Jim Burgess. He wants to drive in
a few more PASS South shows and go to some of the
remaining Pro Cup events and a couple of test sessions
with Gibson.
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Lavender Moved to 2nd in Greenville-Pickens Race
Mooresville, NC (03/31/10) - When Jody
Lavender left Greenville-Pickens Speedway last Saturday
night, he knew that his 3rd place finish in the NASCAR
K&N Pro Series East was unofficial. All race results are
unofficial until approved by NASCAR Headquarters in
Daytona, Florida.
The official results were issued and Jody was moved
up to 2nd place when the 2nd place car was disqualified
for illegal front shock absorbers. The change also moved
him up to 2nd in points. He also received the
Featherlite Most Improved Driver award.
The race will be replayed on The Speed Channel on
Thursday, April 1st at 6 pm.
More information can be found at
www.localracing.nascar.com.
The next race is scheduled for South Boston, Va. on
Saturday, April 3rd at 3 pm. ssis, and my family. We will run some
races closer to home in the PASS Series."
For more information, go to www.jodylavender.com or
www.hometracks.nascar.com
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