Jordon Mallett is tackling the Hooker Hood Classic this Saturday at Riverside International Speedway.
Mallett last competed at the unique dirt oval in West Memphis, Ark., in 2022, when he recorded finishes of seventh, fourth and fifth, respectively.
“It’s somewhere I’ve always held dear to me,” he said. “I always called it my adopted home track. My home track was (I-30 Speedway in) Little Rock, but me and West Memphis got along. We were really good and won a bunch of races there. We haven’t been able to race there as often the last few years. That place is different and I’ve always said if you can get around when it’s mean and it’s got character, you can pretty much go anywhere and run well.”
Mallett captured feature triumphs at the track each year from 2013 to 2017.
“You have to put yourself in a good position there early in the night,” he said. “You wind up in traffic so fast there that you want to be able to control the race or be in contention early on. When you have to drive through the field and then go through traffic it can use up a lot of your race car to get that far.
“What it takes to win there is so much. And the fans are awesome. It gets loud and rowdy. Every time we go there it feels like a homecoming.”
The goal for this Saturday is simple.
“I want to win,” Mallett said. “I want to run well, but it’s a place that when I roll into and if the track is in our favor, we can be a tough race car to beat there.”
SEASON STATS –
1 race, 0 wins, 0 top fives, 0 top 10s, 0 top 15s, 1 top 20
UP NEXT –
Saturday at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Ark.
ILP PR
