Lucas Oil 200: Ex-Keokuk racer labors to keep dream alive
09/05/2009
By ROB GRAY - robgray@dmreg.com
Source: Desmoines Register

Newton, Ia. - Call it Corrie Stott's trying circus.

But don't ever dismiss the former Keokuk racer's seat-of-the-pants NASCAR Camping World Truck Series operation as a futile grind cut against the big-money sponsors' grain.

"Heck, we're kind of like a traveling circus," said Stott, who brought two trucks but few sets of precious sticker tires to Iowa Speedway for Saturday's Lucas Oil 200. "We just come into town to do the show and we enjoy it. Like I've said, there's a lot of other ways we can make a living, and you can really get beat down by a lot of these things, but I've been on some of the tallest peaks, too."

Peak one: His birth.

Stott — whose drivers, Dillon Oliver and Andy Ponstein, practiced on used tires from other teams this weekend to ease the budget — was born in Keokuk the same day his legendary father, Ramo, posted one of his myriad race wins at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines.

"We had a full grandstand, plum full," Ramo, who started on the pole in the 1976 Daytona 500, recalled of the $1,000 win in 1961 at Des Moines. "So I said, 'This will buy my son a new pair of shoes, anyway.' "

With the fine footwear came the requisite racing bug — and its hold on Corrie remains strong, despite sponsorship struggles, ups and downs and the ever-present shadow of uncertainty.

"We'd definitely have to be silly if we didn't (have fun)," said Corrie, whose other career peaks include being the shop foreman for Jeff Gordon when he won the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994 at Indianapolis. "I grew up in the sport and it's hard to get away from it. My shop is about a mile-and-a-half away from my house. I get up in the morning and I'm charged up to go to work."

Hard work, sure.

Satisfying labor, without a doubt.

"I was always up with the front-runners," said Ramo, whose other son, Lance, also was helping Corrie out at Newton. "He's been struggling to keep alive on this program — a good sponsor would really help him out, but it's hard to find."

But not impossible.

That's why Corrie, who started Corrie Stott Racing three years ago in Denver, N.C., and has also fielded cars in the ARCA RE/MAX and Nationwide Series, persists.

One big break could change everything.

And when your last name is Stott, the last thing you do is stop short of a lofty goal.

"Sponsorship will really determine where we want to be, or where we can be," said Corrie, who, with his wife, Alison, has two children, Joshua and Amy. "We'd just like to be able to carve out our own little niche, wherever it might be."

Iowa State Fair Speedway
Shannon Anderson of Atlantic earned the hobby stock feature win — and season points title — Friday at the Iowa State Fair Speedway.

Other feature winners on season championships night at the track: Mike Nichols of Harlan in stock cars; Carl Moyer of Ankeny in dirt trucks; Austin Kaplan of Ankeny in SportMods; and Todd Shute of Des Moines in modifieds.

Moyer and Shute secured points titles in their respective classes. Steve Jackson of Polk City won the stock car title and Jesse Sobbing of Glenwood won the crown in SportMods. Todd Cooney of Des Moines had previously wrapped up the track's late model points championship.

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