RPW Column: A Racer’s Drive To Race; Rick Duzlak Didn’t Let Pandemic Keep Him From Charlotte
Column By: TREVOR GAVIN / RPW – CONCORD, NC – Rick Duzlak is still on track at Charlotte despite the Pro Stocks being taken off the program
You are used to seeing Pittsfield, Massachusetts driver Rick Duzlak turning laps around Lebanon Valley Speedway in his familiar #29 Pro Stock but he has climbed behind the wheel of a new car and new class for the 2020 edition of the World Short Track Championships. Duzlak is piloting the #02 car in the Street Stock division.
“The all came together through social media” he told Race Pro Weekly Friday night. “The guy who owns this car lives down here (Charlotte area) and my sister lives down here now, so we connected through social media and I got the chance to run the car a few times this year”.
Duzlak spend some time in June down south and took the car he is driving this weekend out for a few races at Friendship Motor Speedway (NC) and Carolina Speedway with promising results.
“We had a fourth places finish at Friendship and at Carolina came home 7th or 8th out first time out” he said.
Duzlak original plan for the weekend was to run two divisions, one being his Pro Stock and the other being the Street Stock but when the Pro Stocks were taken off the program along with the DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds (due to New York State travel restrictions) he knew he at least could get one more race in for the year.
“We drove down from home, picked up the trailer and it had the car loaded and everything we needed in there and came right over to the track” Duzlak added.
He found a familiar parking spot too, right next to his former Pro Stock rival from Lebanon Valley, Danny Sanchez, who is in the pits helping his son, Daniel, with his UMP Modified.
The timed hot lap session in the early afternoon Friday was the first time he sat behind the wheel of the car since the summer months and clocked in 20th fastest of 36 cars in the time hot lap session. He kept the car within the top five in his heat race and transferred in to the A-Main on Saturday.
Although the class is called Street Stock there are not too many similarities to the full fender cars that are ever so popular in the north east.
“The car kind of has a newer Pro Stock feel, like the cars that Nick Stone is building, having them on coils” Duzlak explained. “The biggest difference in these cars, in addition to being on coils, is you can have open motor” he continued.
Looking at the DIRTcar rule book, crate motor cars get a 100-pound weight reduction vs a car running the open motor. Most cars in the class opt for the aluminum body option over the stock steel bodies and plastic noses instead of the old school chrome horns. The tires are different too, running Hoosier racing tires instead of a street tire like most other Street Stock classes.
After a strange year of racing due to COVID-19, Duzlak is looking forward to what 2021 will bring for his racing plans.
“I just bought a (pavement) Super Late Model and that is sitting in my shop” he said gleefully. “Tommy Fearn help me get this car and we are going to take it out next rear around Connecticut” he added.
You may recognize the name Tommy Fearn. Like Duzlak, Fearn is another driver from the Commonwealth state, calling East Longmeadow home. Fearn holds the track record at Stafford Speedway for the most all-time Late Models wins with 56.
“It is going to be a lot of run, we are going to try and hit some of the Granite State Late Model tour races, head up to New Hampshire for a big race in April and try all the tracks around Connecticut like Stafford, Thompson and Waterford.” Duzlak explained.
When asked what he felt would make it a good weekend, he said, “We are just here to have fun, one last race for the year and then head back home”.
Racing this weekend means that Duzlak will have to quarantine for the two-week period mandated by the state of Massachusetts. However, with a Pro Stock and a brand-new Late Model to prep for 2021, it seems like he will have plenty to keep him busy over that time.
