Steve
Blackburn: Born to race
By
Tom Gillispie
TRJ
Editor
PINE
HALL — Steve Blackburn remembers going to races as a boy and
telling his dad that he wanted to race. His dad said he couldn't
afford for Steve to go racing.
"My
dad worked and had four kids beside myself," said Blackburn, who now races Super Late Models on the dirt of 311 Speedway in Pine Hall. "He
said there were more important things.
So
he didn't start racing until he got into go-karts at 18. He and wife
Amy married then, and daughter Ashley was born when Blackburn was 20.
"I
worked two jobs for six years to be able to race," he says.
His
first real car was a modified four-cylinder Ford. He's been racing
Super Late Models since '06.
He
did miss a couple of seasons starting in 1999, he says, when he and
Amy had twins Brandon and Jessica, who are now eight. Ashley will
soon be 15.
Blackburn
says Amy is totally behind his racing — "She supports me 110
percent," he said. Same with his sponsors and his car owners.
Actually, car owners Don and Herbert Way were a belated blessing; he
had lived near them in Greensboro growing up.
"Don
and his dad (Herbert) own a construction business in Greensboro,"
Blackburn said. "His dad used to race years ago, then he got
interested again."
But
Herbert wasn't going to race.
"(Herbert)
wanted to put me in the car to drive," Don Way
added, "but I said, 'No, get Stevie to drive it.' "
So
it's worked out for Blackburn and the Ways.
"We
want to give his dad a special thanks for making it possible for us
to race," Blackburn said.
Herbert
Way wasn't at the track Saturday, and he missed some good racing.
Blackburn
finished sixth in the first 25-lap Super Late Model race. In the
second Super Late Model 25-lapper, he tried to pass for the lead on
the outside, lost ground and fell back to fifth before rallying for
the victory. In the Crate Late Model race, he was in a wreck and
finished 18th.
His
black Super Late Model car was brand-new, and it was just its second
time at the track. So Blackburn was thrilled.
"Oh,
yeah, it was a real good night," he said with a smile in his
voice."
But
not all nights are that great. Take opening night this year at 311.
"I
had no power steering," he explained as he waited to qualify
last Saturday. "I knew when we unloaded; we brought the wrong
(power-steering) pump. When I wanted to turn left, it wanted to turn
right."
Blackburn
did pretty well that night, considering the handicap, so he had sore
arms and another good story to tell.
He
races a lot at 311 — he won two Late Model titles there — but
he's also raced at Clary's Speedway in Brinkleyville, Oak Level
Raceway (now Fork Mountain) and Wythe Raceway in Virginia,
Fayetteville Motor Speedway, Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, S.C.,
Wayne County Speedway in Pikeville, Thunder Valley (now Cleveland
County Speedway) in Lawndale, Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, and The
Dirt Track @ Lowe's Motor Speedway.
And
he's had his adventures beyond racing with the wrong power-steering
pump. He raced Sprint Cup driver Clint Bowyer last year, with Bowyer
winning.
"I
battled him for the win, but I dropped a cylinder," Blackburn
said. "It just wouldn't go."
He
also raced Sprint Cup drivers Carl Edwards — "I won that
race," he said — and Casey Mears in '06; in fact, he loaned
Mears his second uniform so he could race. Fortunately, they're the
same size.
All
in all, it's been a dream hobby for a guy who works during the day as
a supervisor for a printing company in High Point. And he doesn't
even have
to work two jobs.
"I've
been busy at it," he said. "It's a passion of mine."
CONTACT: I can be reached at tgilli52@gmail.com or nc3022@yahoo.com. Also, my Twitter handle is EDITORatWORK.
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