Connecticut’s Jesse Pruchnik Heading To North-South Mason Dixon Challenge

Story By: RYAN HILL / JESSE J RACING – NEW MILFORD, CT – 14-year-old Midget driver Jesse Pruchnik is loading up his Spectro Oils #42 machine and heading south this weekend. Jesse and the family operated Jesse J Racing team will join the Lucas Oil Southern States Midget Series for their North-South Mason Dixon Challenge on September 15th and 16th.

Friday Jesse will race at Crossville Speedway in Crossville, TN and on Saturday the team will travel to Boyd’s Speedway in Ringold, GA. The Jesse J Racing team has chose to travel to the national event for many reasons, but the priority for the team is family racing, and they aim to take the opportunity of racing and learning as a family this weekend.

Jesse’s mom Stephanie says that “We have decided to take this trip to further challenge ourselves on the wingless platform, but also to take the opportunity to hop in the truck and see some tracks that we have never seen or raced at” Stephanie adds that “This is a national event, so we are going into it with realistic expectations. We will be happy to qualify for the race, but a top ten finish would be amazing, but honestly we have no idea what to expect, and that is ok, we are looking forward to a little adventure and fun.”

Jesse is very excited for the trip down south outside of his comfort zone “I am interested to meet the other drivers and what it’s all about down south. I believe we will be able to learn about a whole other side of midget racing.”

Jesse’s dad Frank is also looking forward to the adventure and hopes to learn how other tracks run, while looking to learn from racers in a new area for them. “Our goal is to make the race, and put together the best weekend of racing that we can. We haven’t raced as much as we would have liked to this season, but in the racing we have done I have seen improvements in how our team operates.”

The ’17 racing season has had its share of difficulties for the 42 team. An early season wreck with significant damage plus a blown motor while running a midget exhibition at Fonda Speedway was difficult enough, but considering that both the Empire Lightning Sprints and the Outlaw Midget Series struggled to find car counts and venues willing to work their type of car has dampened what was hoped to be a summer full of racing.

The Jesse J Racing team is as enthusiastic about young drivers entering and flourishing in the sport they love as anybody you will meet. This is reinforced by Stephanie as she adds “I would love to see more of our youth getting involved in racing, either driving or learning the mechanical aspects of racing. I believe it is vital to our sport. We hope that by having a young driver (Jesse) sharing his adventures and realities of racing we can inspire another young person to get involved in racing.

The Lucas Oil Southern States Midget North-South Mason Dixon Challenge kicks off 9/15 at Crossville Speedway (TN) continued on 9/16 at Boyd’s Speedway (GA).

Race information can be found on the Lucas Oil Southern States Midget Series Facebook Page. To follow along with Jesse Pruchnik’s southern adventure you can follow along on the team’s Facebook page Jesse J Racing, and their Instagram page @jessejracing.