Posted: February-26-2014 at 6:21pm | IP Logged	Tweet

Woods thankful for time spent working with Roope

PINEY FLATS, Tenn. (Feb. 26, 2014) — The past two years at Hayden Woods Racing for driver Hayden Woods of Piney Flats and his crew chief David Roope was more than just a working relationship. Lifetime friendships were established between HWR team owner Tommy Woods, his son Hayden and the well-respected motorsports veteran Roope.

During the winter off-season, both HWR and Roope decided to go in different directions for the 2014 racing season. Besides Roope being one of the top crew chiefs in NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model Stock racing in the Volunteer State, Virginia and the Carolinas, he also is co-team owner of his own racing operation.

Woods will be racing under the guidance of former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series, and Camping World Truck Series driver Robert Pressley this season, while Roope will once again head up his racing team.

The combination of Woods and Roope over the past couple of seasons saw the duo capture a feature win at Lonesome Pine (Coeburn, Va.) Raceway, along with recording several top-five finishes competing at both LPR and Kingsport (Tenn.) Speedway, plus earning numerous fast-time qualifying pole awards.

Even though it wasn’t a victory, a highlight for HWR occurred last fall at the historic .526-mile Martinsville Speedway in the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300, the most prestigious Late Model Stock event held in the country.

With a total of 87 entries assembled trying to get into the 42-car starting field, the 18-year-old Woods was 45th quickest in qualifying. He barely missed transferring from his heat race and had to run a last chance qualifier, which would fill the final 10 starting positions. Woods started the LCQ from the ninth spot and drove his way to a fourth-place finish to nail down the 36th starting position in the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300.

With Roope calling the shots from the pits for Woods, during the first half of the event the senior at Providence Academy in Johnson City just rode and took care of his equipment, waiting to make a run in the last 50 laps of the race to get inside the top 10. From the elite field of competitors, Woods brought his No. 87 Chevrolet home to an impressive eighth-place finish.

“I still think back to the Martinsville race and wow, that was a great run for HWR and my crew chief David Roope,” said Woods reflecting back on his first-ever attempt racing at Martinsville Speedway. “For our first time racing at Martinsville and finish top-10, that’s awesome. David is one of the best crew chiefs around, period. He’s been involved in motorsports for many years and he’s very knowledgeable. When he came onboard at HWR, with me he was getting an inexperienced teenage driver. I’d had a lot of success racing Legends cars, winning many races and in 2011 winning track championships at both Kingsport Speedway and Lonesome Pine Raceway.

“The time I spent teamed-up with David, I really learned a lot from working with him. You know, we only won the one race, but when you reflect back and think about it, we should’ve won between five to eights races easily. Some of it was just bad racing luck, and some of it was just me being a young driver still learning how to race these Late Model Stock cars. Hey, we always had a good, fast car, though and you could count on us qualifying inside the top five each race. One thing at Kingsport that hurt us was the inverts for the start. You could set fast-time, but that didn’t mean you’d start from the pole position. I don’t know how many times we qualified either first or second, and with the invert we’d be dropped back to starting in the third row. And with the caliber of competition at Kingsport Speedway, getting moved back and then having to try and pass cars you’d out-qualified in only a 50-lap feature, it was tough. But as we go in a different direction with HWR this season, I’m very thankful for the time I got to spend working with David. He’s a super-nice guy and over the past two seasons I’ve really learned a lot about racing from him. I wish David the best this season running his own race team.”

Hayden Woods Racing will concentrate its efforts this racing season competing for the track championship at legendary Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway, which will be the 63rd year of racing at the “The Birthplace of the NASCAR Stars.” The season’s first green flag will wave on Saturday, March 8.

Besides running full-time at Hickory this season, HWR will also race some at Anderson (S.C.) Speedway, Kingsport Speedway, and other NASCAR sanctioned facilities.

For the upcoming racing season Hayden Woods will chauffeur the Murphy Inc. Millwright & Rigging of Johnson City, Roadrunner Markets, Champion Chevrolet-Cadillac of Johnson City, Rustic Ridge Landscaping of Johnson City, Stay and Play at Home, Turbo Blue Racing Gasoline, Lone Star Super Gas Inc., Hy-Tec Specialty Coatings, Hedgecock (Race Cars) Racing Enterprises, Kowalsky Racing Engines, No. 87 Chevrolet.

To keep up with Hayden Woods, visit his website at www.HaydenWoodsRacing.com or follow him on Twitter @hwr87.

To contact Hayden Woods Racing, you may reach Tommy Woods at (423) 946-3188.

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Press Release Prepared By:

Walden Motorsports Communications
Johnson City, TN