RPW Exclusive: Billy Pauch Jr. Skipping The Chili Bowl; Focused On A Full Schedule In ’19

Column By: DYLAN FRIEBEL / RPW – FRENCHTOWN, NJ – December is upon us in the racing world of the Northeast. With that comes Christmas, but also the Indoor racing season.

That season kicked off this past weekend with the East Coast Dirt Nationals in Trenton, NJ. Erick Rudolph won with Billy Pauch Jr. coming in second. I had the chance to talk to the ‘Kid’s Kid’ this recently about this past weekend and beyond.

“It was a good weekend down there in Trenton,” Pauch said. “We ran second. Came close. We won everything but the feature on Saturday. It was a good weekend until then.”

Pauch has now ran his fair share of Indoor races on dirt…three of them to be exact in 2018; the Chili Bowl in January, the Gateway Dirt Nationals in St. Louis earlier this month and then Trenton.

“All Indoor events are different in different aspects,” he said. “Trenton was a little smaller of a track with the way the arena is laid out. It was good when the track was right. However, it was a little hard to pass when it got slick. Gateway was neat and was impressive to watch the late models in there. The Chili Bowl is the Chili Bowl. That’s the race everyone needs to see once in their lifetime.”

Pauch Jr. and company, however, are not making the trek to Tulsa this January for the Chili Bowl. They have decided to skip it, but possibly go back in the future.

“There’s just a lot going on here,” he said. “There are some things you can’t do every year in your life.”

The reason Pauch is done racing this “off-season?” He’s looking ahead at a busy 2019.

We are not changing much up this comign season,” he said. “We’ll race the (Brett) Deyo Series (Short Track Super Series), New Egypt, Kutztown (Action Track USA), and a good amount of events at Big Diamond. That should keep us busy.”

The Pauch’s are racers and have cemented themselves as one of the true racing families of the Northeast. From Grandpa, to ‘Billy The Kid’…even with the ‘Kid’s other kid, Jr.’s sister, Mandee, running her own company centered around dirt racing.

“It’s pretty cool what she has done.” Billy said of her sister. “She started her own company and has built it into something cool and works really hard at it. I also try to avoid racing against my dad at all cost, but sometimes it happens. You run a little differently when you are around each other but you try to run as hard as you can. We both go to win.”

Pauch Jr. even took a stab at running Super DIRT Week in Oswego this past October. As of right now a return to the “Clay Palace” isn’t in the cards for the Jersey native.

“I just did not have fun at DIRT Week,” he said. “We struggled bad. We’ll probably do Charlotte and Eastern States. However, for DIRT Week, it’d have to be a really good deal for me to go back there. We always show up and want to win. That’s always the goal and will be next year as well.”

With 2018 in the rear view for Pauch Jr., he shows no signs of slowing down and is full-speed ahead to cement his name in Northeast Dirt Racing lore…just as his father has.