Ben Watkins Wins the 2023 Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series Championship

Ben Watkins Wins the 2023 Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series Championship

By Rhonda Beck, WISNC Creations/BeckRacingMedia

11-29-2023

Ben Watkins is the 2023 Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series Champion. The Rock Hill, S.C., native, also won the championship in 2015 and was the Rookie of the Year. He now joins the list of drivers like Ricky Weeks, Dennis ‘Rambo’ Franklin, and Brett Hamm, who also have multiple championships. This season, Watkins won races at his home track of Lancaster Motor Speedway as well as at Cherokee Speedway and Carolina Speedway. He was victorious at this year’s Shrine 100 after also winning it in 2022 for the 50th Anniversary of the race at Carolina Speedway in Gastonia, N.C. He ended the year with five Clash wins and finished second to Chris Madden at the Blue Gray 100 at Cherokee Speedway on November 19, 2023. He topped all series drivers with 1450 points. Gray Parton, this year’s Rookie of the Year, was second with 1268 points and David Yandle was third with 1103 points. Last week Watkins spoke about the Blue Gray 100 and his season.

RB: Ben, congrats on your championship and on finishing second in the Blue Gray 100. Anything to say about the years you’ve known and raced with Chris Madden and how dominant he has been, especially at Cherokee?

BW: Oh yeah. Well, we knew coming in there with Madden, obviously, we know the history. How many times he’s won the Blue Gray alone, much less at Gaffney. He lives very close to there, and I believe they test there a lot. But that’s definitely not taking anything away, because he is a phenomenal driver. We knew that he was gonna be tough to beat, but at the same time, knew we were going to go in there, feeling that at Lancaster we had ran pretty good. To be honest with you, I had it in my mind that we weren’t gonna necessarily be conservative. We were gonna kind of go for it, put our best plan together to try to get the win and not worry about points, really. So that was nice.

RB: Because you knew you had the championship secured after winning at Lancaster?

BW: Yep. But yeah, he drove a pretty flawless race; obviously I got to see most of it. But I was very shocked he made it all the way on his tires, because we came in and pitted and he stayed out. And man, that just shows you how good he is. I did my best to pressure him as much as I could, but he definitely schooled us right there. He kind of laughed with us in victory lane. He said, telling me and Zack, ‘Hey, boys, would y’all, you know. I’m at the end of my career. Y’all have plenty of years left.’ But it was pretty cool. I grew up watching him win races in late models, but we were definitely tickled to death to run second to him.

RB: I remember last year being at the race and Madden was the one that did the pit stop and came out and won. And you did the opposite last year, correct?

BW: Right, yeah. So that was because the year before he stayed out. Two years ago, he stayed out and won it. Well then last year I said, ‘Well, I’ll stay out.’ And I did. Well, he pitted and came back and passed me and Daulton Wilson and I ran third. But I was the only one to stay out on old tires. And here we are the year after that, and he stays out again. And made it work. So it was pretty neat. Like I say, it honestly just shows how good he is on that stuff.

RB: The Carolina Clash teamed up with XR and they did the streaming too, but it also helped with your payday. Do you think that was good this year, how they were able to do that?

BW: Yeah, definitely. ?In my opinion, the Blue Gray, the history behind it and the format of it, I think should pay more than $10,000 for a hundred laps. So $20,000 was very good, for sure. Whatever it took to make that happen, it’s always good to have more eyes on us regardless of who is trying to help get it out there.? But it was nice that XR did that and the Clash teamed up with them.

RB: As far as the Clash championship, you won it in 2015 and were Rookie of the Year. This year you had five wins and according to their records, you’re tied for 8th all-time with Billy Hicks with 12 wins. There were other multiple winners like Ricky, Rambo and Brett Hamm and now you’re the other one. So does that make you feel good?

BW: Yeah, it definitely does. All those guys have been pretty impactful to the sport and icons of the sport; everybody knows their names. So it’s just awesome to kinda have my name in the mix with those guys.

RB: And Gray Parton was Rookie of the Year. He was close to you in points and had a decent season.

BW: Yeah, definitely. With Parton, I think he had a really good year, especially for a rookie year. He had some poles this year and he’s been fast. And I knew one or two wrong things happen to us, and the championship could have easily landed in his hands. But for him to be second in the points, Rookie of the Year and win a race, those guys can’t hang their heads on that. I knew any night that he was in front of me, I knew he was going to be fast. But a little more seat time, that’s just invaluable in these kind of cars. Just the way Madden did at the race, as many laps as he has, it always helps in these cars.

RB: They had the nice tribute to Freddy Smith leading the field to green with those cars at the Blue Gray 100. You’ve known the Smith family and Zack Smith has helped with your team too. Anything to say about them and being there for that?

BW: Yeah. You know, the past couple of years racing with Wesley (Page) and with Freddy’s grandson and Jeff’s son, working for Wesley, we had become friends and kinda close--just through working on the racecar and being around each other. He normally was still working a few hours and sometimes he puts in a few late nights even helping us with the racecars, so we definitely got pretty close to Zack. And then we normally park beside each other when we race at the same racetrack with Jeff. I didn’t really know Freddy a long time ago, but the past couple years it was very cool to be able to hang around him. And for him to be hanging around and just telling a few stories here and there that I’ll never forget. Like after the races, me and a couple guys would end up talking to Freddy and asking him about old races. It was amazing how much he could remember, like the details he remembers from all these races. I’m like, ‘This is crazy, like how does he remember all these little things from all these racetracks?’ But he would tell us about all these races. It was just awesome. That will always be special to me. And Jeff and Zack are really just like Freddy. They’re just so easy to like and become friends with. I definitely reached out to those guys and let them know and I did talk to Jeff. He took me aside before the race even started. He said, ‘Thank you for reaching out.’ And he said, ‘I knew you were there when dad passed away.’ I told them, I didn’t know what to say, but definitely had a lot of compassion for him and his family. They’re just such great people.

RB: That’s great. I missed seeing Jeff at Cherokee, but I talked with Bobby Etters there. He said Jeff was going to come and watch. And Jeff had some good races this year and a win at Lake View with the Ultimate Supers. Plus he ended up fifth in the Clash points.

BW: Yeah.

?RB: You had that good run at the World Finals and wins with the Ultimate Super Late Model Series too. Are you pretty happy with your season?

BW: Yeah, definitely. I just feel like I’ve grown a lot as a driver. Not to say there still isn’t a lot to learn. But I feel like I’ve learned a lot this year and just mine and Wesley’s relationship has continued to evolve. I think that’s a little bit about of what we’re seeing relay over into our results. Him figuring out what I like, and me trying to be relaying what I’m thinking about the racecar inside of it.

RB: And now Tim McCreadie is coming in to work out of Jeff’s shop. Will you continue to work with Wesley and all of those guys?

BW: So Carson (Ferguson) already runs out of Jeff’s shop. And McCreadie, if I’m not mistaken, their cars are there now and the stuff they’re going to run next year will be out of Jeff’s shop. But we’ll still be affiliated with them. It kind of brings us more full circle with them with McCreadie’s stuff going to Jeff’s. Which that’s the thing I don’t know if a lot of people may or may not see. Like Carson is a really talented driver and he helps. The stuff that he races, he tries to figure out. If he feels like, ‘Hey, this is working,’ he relays it to us and we do the same for him. I think it all comes full circle that we’re able to help each other.

RB: Yes, that makes sense.

BW: And I don’t know what next year holds. I honestly don’t know. I mean, we’re planning on racing. I’m just not sure what direction we’re going to go in. I don’t know how much we’re going to race or if we’re going to try to do the Mid-East deal. If it pans out to be what they say, that’ll be a really nice deal, paying-wise. ?And it’s a short season. What I’ve heard, it’s like ten races and each one is at least $10,000 and then a nice points fund. I honestly don’t know all the ins and outs. But now if something like that came along, that would intrigue us. If not, we’d probably just bounce around.

RB: Sure. One other person I wanted to ask you about was Luke Cooper. You see some of these young guys coming up and then, of course, he won with the GM Performance 602 Series at Cherokee Speedway as well as the championship. Is it fun to watch some of these younger guys race?

BW: Yeah, it is. You’ve got Luke Cooper and then you’ve got little Beckham Malone there. So it is cool seeing it. And just man, these kids, to see how talented they are. I feel like I’ve been able to watch Luke kind of progress the last few years and like watching him Sunday, I was like, ‘Wow’. He did a phenomenal job. He did an amazing job. And I was able to watch him. I know his mom and dad and then just seeing him grow up and running around the track and now—I mean, he looked really good out there. And you’ve got Beckham Malone out there and seeing how talented he is behind the wheel. If you didn’t know who he was and you just seen the car--I mean he’s got so much car control to be that young. Both of them do. It’s just amazing. It’s cool seeing those guys, and if they keep their heads screwed on right, they’ve got a bright future ahead of them. They just gotta catch a couple breaks and stay in it and they’ll definitely make it somewhere.

RB: One more thing. Next year the Carolina Clash will celebrate their 25th anniversary. Except for the Southern All Stars, I believe they’re the second longest running regional dirt-racing series. Larry Lee started the series in 2000. Do you remember anything from the early years?

BW: For some of that I was definitely around, but I’m not sure about everything.

RB: Yes. It will be interesting to look back at some of the history. Like you said about Freddy Smith, it’s amazing the memories some of these drivers have, even from 50 years ago. Well, congrats again. Also, who were your main crew members helping you this year?

BW: Thank you. They were Kent Scott, Ed Watkins, Zack Smith and Brandon Laws (aka “Lugnut”). And Wesley Page is my car owner.

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