RPW Exclusive: Sometimes, Change Is Needed; Jimmy Phelps, HBR Switch To Bicknell

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – WEEDSPORT, NY – Sometimes, you just need a change.

After more than a decade behind the wheel of Troyer Race Cars, Jimmy Phelps and the HBR Racing Team felt like their program had gotten a little stale and wanted to see if they could kickstart their results. That led to a switch to Teo Pro Car midway through the 2016 season.

The team enjoyed success nearly right out of the box, scoring a win at Fulton Speedway in August of that year, just a few weeks after the switch. He visited victory lane a handful more times later that year, including big victories in the Super DIRTcar Series race at Fonda in September and the prestigious Outlaw 200 in October.

Things looked to be on track. However, after only 10 victories the next three years including a single checkered flag this season on May 31st at Brewerton, the team was looking for better results.

Enter, Bicknell Racing Products.

“We really just wanted to see if we can improve our performance,” Phelps said. “We want to get our program better.”

After spending what had seemed like his entire career behind the wheel of Troyer Race Cars, the switch to Teo a couple years back was a surprise to many. However, with the amount of teams moving to the Bicknell camp over the last year, and those new teams visiting victory lane quite frequently, Phelps and company are hoping their move to BRP will help them find the answers they’ve been looking for.

“It’s really hard to say where we’ve been lacking,” he said.

Was this a move that everyone at HBR was ready to do?

“It was a team decision,” he said. “With the way our year has gone in 2019, all of us were ready. It is obvious how hard the guys at Teo are working and they build a great race car. We just felt as a team we needed a spark, and sometimes change can get you back on track. ”

Jimmy and the HBR Team will debut their new Bicknell racecar this coming weekend at Orange County Fair Speedway’s Eastern States Weekend before taking it to the Dirt Track at Charlotte for the World Finals.