Eight years ago Blake Stallings sustained serious injuries in a motorcycle accident. For many people the injuries he sustained would have been the end of a budding racing career – but it wasn’t for Stallings.
Through diligence and hard work in his recovery efforts Stallings was able to get back behind the wheel of a racecar by the middle of 2017. His comeback in racing was solidified by winning the annual Rodney Cook Classic at Ace Speedway. He went on to win the dual-track championship between Ace Speedway and Tri-County Speedway. In addition, he captured the track championship at Ace Speedway in 2018.
Stallings achieved another major milestone last Saturday night at South Boston Speedway, snapping a five-year winless streak by scoring his first career South Boston Speedway NASCAR Late Model Stock Car Division race win. The Danville, Virginia resident earned the win by edging two-time NASCAR national champion Peyton Sellers in the first of the double 75-lap races for the track’s Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division.
It was a priceless moment.
“When I cleared Peyton and was driving down the front stretch and dove off into (Turn) One, I thought I had lost the car because I about teared up,” Stallings said. “It means so much to me that I could do that for my guys and everybody that works so hard on the car. It was very emotional, very emotional. It’s like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.”
Stallings’ father, Steve Stallings, a former racer and co-owner of R&S Race Cars, ranks his son’s win last weekend as a major milestone accomplishment.
“The win in the Rodney Cook Classic was probably the biggest win of our career,” Steve Stallings pointed out,” but this win ranks right up there with it. The Rodney Cook win was special because for us back then because Blake had come back from his wreck.”
Saturday night’s win was a popular one, and congratulations poured in from near and far.
“It was super nice to see all of the people that came to Blake to congratulate him, not just drivers, but people like H.C. and Bert Sellers and some of those people that you look up to as well as fans,” Steve Stallings noted. “All of the texts and messages we have gotten is pretty incredible. It’s almost like you won a big race somewhere. It’s pretty neat to see.”
The win provided a powerful family moment.
“I’ve won races at South Boston Speedway in the Limited Sportsman Division, but we’ve always chased a Late Model win,” Blake Stallings noted. “My dad has always wanted us to win here because this was his home track too.”
“Our goal this year was to win a race at South Boston,” Steve Stallings added. “I never won one down there as a Late Model driver, but won in Limited, and Blake has won in Limited. We always say if you win at South Boston Speedway you can win anywhere. It’s probably the toughest place there is to win at. It’s huge.”
Both Blake Stallings and Steve Stallings feel the win will provide a big boost of both confidence and momentum.
“I hope it gives us a huge push of momentum,” Blake Stallings remarked. “This (winning a race) was our goal. We want to compete for the championship, but number one on the list was to get a win. To get that out of the way early in the season, I feel like we can buckle down and try to fight for more wins and fight for the championship. If we can put some more wins on the calendar throughout the year, we hopefully will have a good chance at it.”
“A win will give you confidence,” added Steve Stallings. “We’ve raced sporadically since 2018, so this win, not only gives you a boost of confidence, it gives you the drive to want to go back and win some more. Momentum is key in racing. It goes a long way when you’re talking about running for points. To me, momentum is about as big as anything you can have on your side.”
Last Saturday night’s victory and a fifth-place finish in the second race was a continuation of a great start to the 2024 season for Blake Stallings. He has a win, is tied for the division points lead, and has finished in the top five in all three races to date at South Boston Speedway. His three Top-5 finishes are the most Top-5 finishes Stallings has had in a single season at South Boston Speedway since the start of the 2019 season. Since the start of the 2019 season, he has had a total of seven Top-5 finishes in 25 regular-season races at the .4-mile oval.
Stallings will look to continue his hot start to the season as NASCAR racing returns to South Boston Speedway this Saturday afternoon, April 20, with a 100-lap race for the Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division as the headline race of the Viny’s Italian Restaurant & Italian Delight Family Restaurant Race Day event.
Although the 100-lap race will be a day race and 25 laps longer than the race he won this past Saturday night, Blake Stallings says he feels good about his prospects for the upcoming race.
“Another 25 laps adds a little different aspect to it,” Blake Stallings noted. “I feel pretty confident of the car being a long-run car. I was looking at some of our lap times and it seemed like we were pretty steady on the long run. We didn’t fall off a lot. Hopefully that will play into our hand. We didn’t have any major damage to the car so we can clean it up a little bit, set it on the scales, and get it ready to go.”
In addition to the 100-lap race for the Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division Saturday’s Viny’s Italian Restaurant & Italian Delight Family Restaurant Race Day event will include double 30-lap races for the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division, a 25-lap race for the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division, and a 20-lap race for the Virginia State Police HEAT Hornets Division. Fans will also see the competitors of the regional touring East Coast Flathead Fords Racing Association in action in a 25-lap race.
The event schedule for the Saturday afternoon, April 20 Viny’s Italian Restaurant & Italian Delight Family Restaurant Race Day has registration and pit gates opening at 8:30 a.m. Frontstretch spectator gates will open at 10:30 a.m. Practice will run from 10:30 a.m. until 12:15 p.m., qualifying is set for 1 p.m. and the first race of the afternoon is set to get the green flag at 2 p.m.
Advance tickets for the Viny’s Italian Restaurant & Italian Delight Family Restaurant Race Day event are priced at $12 each. Advance tickets may be purchased online on South Boston Speedway’s website, www.southbostonspeedway.com or by calling the speedway office at 434-572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540 during regular business hours.
Tickets at the gate on race day will be $15 each. Seniors ages 65 and older, military, healthcare workers, and students (with ID) can purchase tickets for $12 each at the gate on race day.
Fans and competitors can find the latest news and updates from South Boston Speedway on the speedway’s website, www.southbostonspeedway.com, by calling the speedway office at 434-572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540 during regular business hours, and through the track’s social media channels.
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