Coto De Caza, Ca
Austin Reed, the 16 year old driver of the #14 Approved Memory, Kalgard, K&N Filters, Ringers Gloves, (RBP) Rolling Big Power, Vitamin Water Legend car, normally competes at the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. Recently the team made the decision to race the last two races at the Las Vegas Bullring. The team set out for Nevada to run in the October 31 race as a test/prep event in anticipation of the big Open race that took place November 6th and 7th.
During the October 31st race Austin practiced, qualified and raced really well resulting in a 5th place finish. Austin shares his thoughts on the event, "we really worked hard on getting our car to come off the corner and for me to try and keep it on the bottom of the race track. I had a new crew chief, Brian Kizer, from Las Vegas and long time friend of my Dad. Brian gave me the confidence in the race car that I needed and the set up was really good we only made a few minor changes all weekend."
Brian was a crew member and great friend of Chris Trickle. Brian picked up on similarities between Austin and Chris's racing styles. Noting that Austin just needs more seat time, something the team is working on over the winter while racing in the winter racing series at LVMS in his Legend car. Spending the past two weekends at the pavement Bullring along with gaining road course experience while racing in 2-3 races there in December and January will keep the momentum building.
The most recent event November 6th/7th Open Comp race was a big event at the Bullring with over 31 Legend cars showing up from all over the western states. There was a ton of good drivers at the track. Austin started out practicing on Thursday evening and was in the top ten in all sessions. Friday, while searching for more speed the team made some changes that weren't successful but did manage to get close to what they had from the previous race that felt pretty decent. Austin qualified 21st which was not as good as the team had hoped but everyone knew he had a good car for long run. The top ten qualifiers were locked in and the remaining cars had heat races Friday evening to determine their official starting positions. Austin started 4th in his heat race consisting of 15 laps and raced his way to 2nd place. That finish moved him up 6 spots for Saturday's main even starting in 15th place.
Austin had a good start and made it three wide with him in the middle going into turn one when 4-5 cars got together in front of him and the caution came out. Austin made it through the cluster of cars without damage. The race director called for a full restart. The 40 lap main event had some great racing all over the track. While Austin was moving up he managed to dodge spinning cars and crashes in front of him while picking off cars one at a time. With 2 laps to go he moved into 11th position and when the leaders got together coming to the checkers he was able to squeeze by two cars for a ninth place finish.
Austin is currently in 8th place in the traveling National points in the Young Lions Division. He is 94rd overall in Young Lions out of 230 drivers and in the top 20 at Irwindale Speedway with three Hard Charger Awards this year.
Austin Reed is 16 years old and in 10th grade attending Frontier High School in Bakersfield, CA. Austin is the son of Dave Reed, former NASCAR championship car owner in the Southwest Series. For more information please check out Austin's web site www.austinreedracing.com, http://www.youtube.com/AustinReedRacing, http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/austinreedracing?ref=ts, www.600racing.com, or contact Dave Reed dreed@approvedmemory.com and Derrick Shannon derrick@djssportsmarketing.com
Legend Cars from 600 Racing are 5/8-scale fiberglass full-fendered versions of the famed NASCAR modifieds driven by legendary drivers such as Fireball Roberts, Buck Baker, Curtis Turner, Speedy Thompson and Banjo Matthews. Legend Cars have a 1250cc Yamaha sealed motor, Wheelbase 73", overall length 10'6", 122 HP and weighs in at 1300 with the driver, BF Goodrich Tires Comp TA, Coil over suspension with speeds over 100 MHP. Young Lions Division which is designated for the drivers between the ages of 12 and 16. Since the car stays the same from division to division, it is the driver that makes the difference!
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