DONNY LIA AND HIS TEAM ARE READY TO ROCK SPEEDWEEKS
LMI Team Has Been Restless in the Off Season
Donny Lia hopes that the guys on his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour team can enjoy themselves a little bit when they head to Florida for Speedweeks. Yet, the chances of his #18 team even spending a second treating their trip to The World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway as anything resembling a vacation is, well, pretty slim.
“These guys all have the same outlook on racing,” said Lia. “They would sleep in a tent in the snow just to go to the track. They’d roll around in the mud and do whatever it takes to win. I have no doubts.”
Even sleeping has been a chore for Lia and his team this off-season.
“I’ve never felt as good about going
racing as I do right now,” said Lia. “I was telling my guys that I can’t sleep because I want to go racing again so bad and they all told me that they are the same way.”
Last year, Lia did a little bit of post-season racing and had some big finishes. He won the North vs. South Shootout at Concord Motorsport Park (NC) and finished a strong second in the Turkey Derby at Wall Township Raceway (NJ). He hopes this streak will carry over for the team during Speedweeks.
Donny's #18 and Eddie Flemke's #79 will be two cars at Speedweeks that are familar to Mod Tour fans.
“That momentum from last year has really built up in the off-season,” said Lia. “We’re ready to take out our frustrations of not racing all winter at New Smyrna. You don’t know what to expect going down there and you don’t know what the guys you race against are going to pull out, but I have a really good feeling about this Florida trip. We are good enough to dominate. I know that we can win a lot of races and poles. We’d like to have eight wins and eight poles during the weeks. It’s not really possible, but you’ve got to shoot for it.”
The team has been meeting at their Long Island Lia Motorsports Inc. shop and practicing their pit stops all winter long. They are ready for their trip.
“Everyone is pumped up and ready to go,” said Lia. “We’ve moved a couple of guys around on the pit crew and it’s had remarkable results. Plus, all of our over-the-wall crew is within an hour of the shop, so we get to practice a lot. If the tires fall off any, we’ll probably pit in the 50-lap races just to have some fun.”
But it’s not just about the pit crew, Lia is happy to go to New Smyrna as a driver as well.
“I love this track,” Lia said. “It’s a big track. It’s the size of Thompson, but with tighter turns and more banking. You can really come off the corners and get going here. The cars are just the right speed for running at New Smyrna. They go just fast enough to have some good racing and have some fun while driving them.”The World Series at
The #18 crew are ready to get to work on their car at the track, not just the shop.
The #18 crew has been practicing all winter long.
New Smyrna will start on Friday, February 11th, and continue through February 19th.
In 2005, Lia and the LMI team will return to action on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. For more information on Donny and the team, please contact Matthew Dillner at (704) 231-7613 and be sure to visit DonnyLia.com.
