RPW Column: Larry Wight’s Planning Another Busy Season In ’20; Plans To Help Grow Fulton’s 358-Mod Division

RPW Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – PHOENIX, NY – The 2020 racing season may see Larry Wight be a very busy man again. However, it may not always be with him behind the wheel of his potent Gypsum Racing machines.

This past year saw the Phoenix, NY driver collect five DIRTcar Big Block Modified wins, six Small Block Modified wins, the Brewerton Modified Championship, the Fulton 358-Modified Championship, the Florida DIRTcar Nationals Championship and take home a fourth-place finish on the Super DIRTcar Series trail.

Can’t forget about the two Empire Super Sprint A-Mains he won as well. During this coming season, Wight plans to make a small tweak in his driving schedule.

“We’re going to scale back a bit on weekly racing,” Wight said. “We want to focus on the Super DIRTcar Series more so we can try to get stronger.”

While doing that, Wight also has plans to take on a new role at his Saturday night home.

“I may do some more on the promotion side at the Fulton Speedway this season,” he said. “I want to try and help grow the 358-Modified division at the track. It’s a great class there and I want to see that continue to get bigger.”

Back in the driver’s seat, Wight collected two big Super DIRTcar Series wins during the 2019 racing season. The first came on July 1st at the Plattsburgh Airborne Speedway when he took advantage of a mid-race restart to drive around Matt Sheppard and went on to collect the $10,000 payday along with a guaranteed starting spot for Super DIRT Week.

His second victory on tour was a race that may go down as one of the greatest in Series history. Wight went toe-to-toe, once again, with Sheppard as well as Gypsum teammate Billy Decker to claim the win at Autodrome Granby on September 6th. The trio raced wheel-to-wheel for 100 laps, battling for the lead almost non-stop.

In the end, Wight took the win, using his patented topside line. He was able to collect 10 top 5’s and 15 top 10’s as well on tour. Even with those good runs, Wight feels there was room for improvement, and the team finally started to see that at the World Finals.

“I think we were just like Jimmy Phelps and kind of stubborn on the whole Torsion Bar rear suspension deal,” he said. “I think we rode that wave just a little bit too long and finally kicked the bucket down at Charlotte. We put coils on down there and were able to run a little better.”

Straying away from something you understand for the unknown can be unnerving, but for Wight and his team, it was something that needed to be done.

“It was a tough decision to make the change,” he said. “We were a top five car every time we hit the track. Making the change and follow everybody else wasn’t easy. We were just unsure of it.”

The good run down at Charlotte has helped point the team in the right direction as they look at the upcoming year with hopes of capturing the Super DIRTcar Series crown.

“For the 2020 season, I think we’ve got some stuff that we’re going to try and see if it works,” he said. “Focusing on the Series more will hopefully help us too.”

Probably one of the biggest moves for this past season was bringing Billy Decker back into the Gypsum Racing fold. Having a veteran as part of the team can be big when it comes to developing younger drivers, even seasoned ones like Wight.

“We were able to grow the team with adding Billy back,” he said. “We had a successful year with having him as a teammate, getting a lot of wins and top fives. It’s a testament to just how good our team is. We’ve been able to make our program stronger with everything we’ve done and it’s because of those who support our team.”

Being able to start strong in Florida at the DIRTcar Nationals, taking one victory and being named Nationals Champion, was a big feather in Wight’s cap and helped him start his northern season with momentum.

“To even go down to Volusia and get a win, let alone a championship, really helped get things rolling for the year up here,” he said. “We were finally able to get the monkey off our back at Brewerton and get the track title there. It was just a good season.”

Wight was quick to give credit to those who helped him have a successful season in 2019.

I can’t thank my parents enough for giving me the opportunity to do this,” he said. “I have to thank my wife and my daughter for all their love and support. That means the world. I want to thank all of our sponsors and my team. I couldn’t do it without all of them.”

After a season which saw him grab double-digit wins, multiple championships and have a lot of success, Larry Wight still wants more. It’s that drive that may see the Gypsum #99L take home his first Super DIRTcar Big Block Modified Series title pretty soon, and the new season is just around the corner.