(NOTE:
Appeared in the Hickory (N.C.) Daily Record in 2014.)
Pressley pursues a different path
By Tom Gillispie
Robert Pressley’s life has been changing rapidly lately.
Pressley had leased Kingsport (Tenn.) Speedway and was
track promoter for three years, but in 2014 he did other things.
“We had a three-year lease, and whenever it come up, we
split by mutual agreement,” said Pressley, the former standout racer in the
Nationwide Series, and at Hickory Motor Speedway and Asheville Motor Speedway.
“I would have loved to have kept going with the track, but circumstances didn't
allow it.”
On what he’s been doing this year, “I was working on race
cars and hot-dog franchises, helping my daughter Shelby. I’ve been living the
dream.
“She took over the hot-dog business, and it’s been
bigger than ever. I was also helping Hayden Woods Racing.”
This year, Hayden Woods was a senior at Providence
Academy in Johnson City, Tenn., and he was racing Late Models.
“I got to talking recently with Hayden’s father, Tommy
Woods,” Pressley said in the spring, “and once we talked about Hayden’s racing,
we just reached a mutual agreement that I would oversee Hayden Woods Racing in
2014.”
Young Woods said he was surprised to work with
Pressley.
“Wow, I never thought when I showed up in 2011 at
Kingsport Speedway to race my Legends car that one day Robert Pressley would be
my mentor in racing,” Woods said on his web site in February.
“I’ve been
working with a 17-year-old boy who was looking for help and coaching,” Pressley
said. “That boy has come a long ways in Late Model Stock, racing at Hickory and
Anderson (Motor Speedway in South Carolina) this year. I kept all his stuff at my
shop” in Asheville.
“He's done for the year, so I’m back to my regular
routine. So I’m looking forward to the holidays.”
Woods raced enough at HMS this year to amass 286
points, putting him 15th in the final standings.
Pressley, 56, says he won’t work with Woods next
season.
“I think next year I’ll concentrate on working with my
son,” Pressley said of 26-year-old son Coleman Pressley, the 2008 winner of the
Bobby Isaac Memorial race at HMS.
“Coleman has been working for Revolution (Rev) Racing’s
K&N team, as the crew chief for Mackena Bell,” Pressley said. “He’s also
been spotting for some (NASCAR) truck teams.”
He says that Coleman has run three races this season,
including a first at Hickory on April 5 and a second at Orange County Speedway
on July 26 in his only CARS X-1R Pro Cup starts in 2014.
As for next season, “We’re not sure; we have a couple of
options,” Pressley said. “He wants to run full-time and go after a championship.
He hasn't won a championship since UARA(-Stars; Coleman was champion in 2010).
He wants to race 25 to 30 times next year.”
It all depends on sponsorship, of course. Pressley
says they’d like to race with a NASCAR truck or Nationwide (it’ll be Xfinity
next year) team. If they can’t afford that, they might even race at Hickory.
“That’s one of the possibilities to look at,” Pressley
said. “It’s the closest short track to us, and I still have a lot of fond
memories of that place. I still live in Asheville, and Coleman lives in Kannapolis.”
As for their short-term schedule, “We'll be at the Fall
Brawl (on Saturday),” Pressley said.
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