RPW Column: Like An Old Pair Of Shoes, Billy Decker’s Reunion With LJR Racing Just Seemed To Fit In 2019
RPW Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – SYRACUSE, NY – The 2019 racing season may not have been the winningest season of Billy Decker’s Hall of Fame career, but it was definitely a successful one for the “Franklin Flyer.”
After a 2018 season that saw him finish 12th on the Super DIRTcar Series and go winless in DIRTcar competition for the first time in a number of years, Decker reunited with John & Laura Wight, Scott Jeffrey and the LJL Racing Team. This past season, he showed, as the saying goes, that he was home again.
Decker started his season with a bang, winning the opening event of the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park for the Modifieds. He then picked up two more victories in Big Block competition along the way. One of those came at the Brewerton Speedway on August 9th while the other was his only points-paying victory on the Series, the finale during the World Finals in Charlotte.
Though the team didn’t visit victory lane a lot this past year, Decker was up front on many occasions, collecting 10 top 5’s and 19 top 10’s in the 22 series races. That’s a model of consistency that the Unadilla, NY driver didn’t have in his final season driving for Mike Payne and the Page Trucking team.
“We came out of the box strong at Volusia,” Decker said. “It felt good to get back in the winner’s circle and honestly, we were solid all year. I really can’t thank everyone at LJL Racing and the Gypsum Wholesalers team enough for doing such a great job for me.”
Decker only finished out of the top 10 on three occasions during the 2019 tour and he feels his cars were good. However, he feels he still had a lot to improve on if he was to contend with Mat Williamson and Matt Sheppard for the title.
“We were pretty strong and competitive this season for sure,” he said. “We just hung in mediocrity for a while and had to learn how to win again. We’re certainly tickled with the way we finished the year and think we have some momentum in the final couple of races.”
It was that momentum that helped the #91 team push forward and make a late-season charge to finish third in the Super DIRTcar Series standings for 2019.
“I thought we were a threat to win the last four or five Series races,” he said. “I think we now have something to build on so we can look forward to 2020.”
One of those final races that he was able to run well at was the two-night World Finals at the Dirt Track in Charlotte. He was fast all weekend and was able to capture the win in the Saturday portion of the event. If not for a flat tire on Friday, he could have easily swept the weekend.
“Honestly, Charlotte’s been a pain in my side for quite a while,” he said. “To not have a win on the series to that point was awful for us. To scratch a victory out there felt pretty good. I felt like we had a pretty good shot to win both, but given our past history, maybe we should be happy to get away with one.”
While Decker captured three DIRTcar Big Block wins this past season, those weren’t the only times he visited victory lane this year. He was able to drive from 13th to win in the Short Track Super Series North Region ‘Lightning On The Mountain’ event at Thunder Mountain Speedway on May 26th.
However, probably the biggest win of his season had to be during Super DIRT Week at the Oswego Speedway when he captured his seventh career ‘Salute The Troops 150’ 358-Modified Championship.
“It’s just nice to win whenever you can get the chance to,” he said. “However, it’s extra special to win during Super DIRT Week. I want to add more to that number (seven), obviously, but any time you can get your picture taken at the end of a race, you’re doing alright.”
After three seasons away from the LJL Racing Team, it was like old times for Billy Decker in the red and black #91 machine during the 2019 season. He was fast. He was consistent. He knew how to get the job done, and the continuity between he and his team will only get better as the 2020 season rolls around.
