Tafoya Celebrates Birthday With Best Usac National Results

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Eddie Tafoya Jr’s decision to celebrate his 25th birthday 1,600 miles away from his Chino Hills, California home in South Dakota, proved to be a wise one.  While competing in the USAC Nationals at Huset’s Speedway last weekend, he won his first-ever USAC National Sprint Car Series preliminary race and posted a series career-best 10th place in Saturday’s main event.

The prelim race win and 10th place finish only scratch the surface of his weekend showing in the “Mount Rushmore State.”  Beginning with a third-place finish in his heat on Friday, Tafoya looked much more confident in the car while racing against the best traditional sprint car drivers in the nation. 

Tafoya was getting his first in-person glimpse at the beautiful track located in the upper Midwest.  The 2018 Perris Auto Speedway Young Guns champion got off to a good start on Friday when he turned in a lap of 12.721 on the fast 1/3 mile clay oval in qualifying.  That was the fifth fastest in his group and the 12th fastest of the 26 cars on hand.

Tafoya started on the outside of the front row in his Friday night heat race and immediately jumped into the lead. The California-based driver led the first seven laps of his first ever race on the South Dakota track before ending up third in the 10-lapper. In the companion 30-lap main event, the friendly racer started 15th and moved forward two spots to place 13th at the finish. 

The Saturday night program saw Tafoya qualify third quickest in his group and 14th overall with a time of 13.180.  He again placed third in his heat race and started third in the main event.  He ended up 10th, which was his best ever finish against the national series cars.  

The big night of the three-day racing weekend was Sunday.  In his 10-lap qualifier on the night, Tafoya started inside row three in fifth. From there he bobbed and weaved his way up to second and was about to snatch the top spot when the leader’s engine blew. For the restart with three laps to go, the visiting Southern California driver had two of USAC’s biggest stars on his tail. Unfazed and full of confidence, Tafoya pulled away from them and won the race by five car lengths.

“Oh yeah, for sure, every point helps,” Tafoya told a worldwide audience watching live on Flo Racing when asked if the pressure was on for the finale.  “We are tied for tenth. So, we were just trying to better our starting spot. It felt pretty good to weave through the pack like that.  The car has been getting better and better every night.”

Tafoya’s results over the first two nights and Sunday’s qualifier victory placed him third for the start of the 40-lap finale.  To say the least, his performance in the main did not disappoint.   After briefly poking his nose into third at the end of the first lap, the young driver settled into the fourth place position.  He began to battle the third place driver on lap seven and four laps later he had not only made a pass for third in his beautiful #51T, but he had also raced into second.

Tafoya maintained the second place spot until slipping back to third on lap 17. As he came off turn four on the 18th circuit, he got a little wide and slapped his right rear tire off the crash wall by the start-finish line. The contact sent the car onto its left side wheels before the front end snapped around and his right front clipped the wall. Amazingly, and this was pointed out by a shocked announcer, Tafoya continued on!  While he endured, it was obvious something was not right with the car.  He stayed on the track for the duration and came home on the lead lap in 15th. 

Many thought that he may have broken the bird cage.  Tafoya was one of them, but he explained earlier this week that was not the case. 

“Just bent the wheel real bad, so it was shaking (car vibration) me,” the affable driver said.  “I didn’t know at the time if the ladder or anything else was broken, so I didn’t want to sail in on the top for another 20 laps.  So, I just ran the bottom the best I could and rolled the car into the trailer.  We have too many races to go to be wrecking stuff out there.”

Tafoya and the crew get some time off before continuing their attack on the USAC/CRA point standings on August 6th when the Santa Maria Raceway reopens its doors. Two weeks after that, he will return to his home track, Perris Auto Speedway, for the annual California racers Hall of Fame Night.

If you or your company would like to be a part of the Specialty Fastener team’s 2022 season effort, please contact Eddie Tafoya Jr. via phone at (909) 393-3999 or by e-mail at [email protected]. He will be happy to talk to you and lay out the team’s 2022 plans.

Fans can follow Tafoya on Instagram @eddietafoya51. The same contact point can be used to purchase his great-looking shirts via mail.

Eddie Tafoya PR

Speedway Digest Staff
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