BYRAM, Miss. (AP) — Car racing fans admittedly get a thrill out of the wrecks, so let’s start there.
Jason Cliburn, 37, 0f Star recalls his 2006 crash at the Jackson Motor Speedway in Byram: “My left front tire ran up on top of the right front tire of another car. When that happens, you do a wheelie. One minute I was racing, the next I was looking straight up at the stars and my car was in the air. When it landed, it took me straight into the wall. It was like somebody had hit me in the head with a two-by-four.
“I was out cold for about a minute. When I came to, I heard somebody asking, ‘Are you all right?’ and I wanted to tell them yeah. But nothing would come out. After a couple of minutes, I was able to say, ‘I’m OK. I’m good,'” Cliburn said.
Racing returns Saturday at 7 p.m. to the Jackson Motor Speedway. The Lucas Motor Oil Late Model Dirt Series, based in Corona, California, brings its national competition to Byram with two of the sport’s top drivers: Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tennessee; and Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tennessee.
Season points leader Jonathan Davenport is also scheduled to race. Two cars owned by NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer are entered.
The most recent Lucas Oil race at Byram was in 2012. Wet weather forced cancellations in 2013 and 2014. Saturday’s race was originally set for March 27, but rain washed it out.
Track owner Don Cliburn, 59, didn’t give up. All involved are praying for dry weather.
“We usually want to race Friday and Saturday nights,” said Rick Schwallie, assistant series director for Lucas Oil. “It’s pretty expensive for the drivers to travel across the country for one night of racing. But they know Mr. Cliburn has tried hard to put this event together. He has a great reputation, and he has more than done his part.”
Don Cliburn is paying $1,000 to all 24 drivers who make it through the heat races and earn a spot in the feature race. The winner will earn $12,000. Most shows pay the winner between $5,000 and $10,000.
The owner of Cliburn Tank Lines in Florence, Cliburn has been a race fan his entire adult life. He began racing on asphalt tracks in 1982.
He switched to dirt track racing and welcomed the opening of Jackson Motor Speedway in the early 1990s.
He purchased the quarter-mile racetrack, along with the 64 acres surrounding it, in 2007 for $325,000, and then spent another $350,000 on upgrades.
“According to my sons (Jason and Jimmy), I’ve spent all their inheritance on it,” Cliburn said. “But everybody has a dream. We race as a family. We’ll race on Saturday nights, and then go home and watch the race on tape, talk about what we did and didn’t do. I wanted to keep that alive. I feel like if I hadn’t bought it, the track might have closed.
“And I’m happy we can bring 40 to 50 late-model competitors in here Saturday night from all over the country. We call them the NASCAR drivers of dirt. They’re really good.”
There will be a local flavor on the track, too. Jimmy and Jason Cliburn are entered.
“We don’t get to race as much as we would like because we all work for the family business, and me and Jimmy are both married with kids now,” said Jason, who won six feature races in 2007.
“Naturally, it would be nice to finish first. But I just want to make the 24-car (feature race) field. I think that would be a pretty good accomplishment, considering the quality of drivers coming here.”
Jimmy Cliburn, 41, learned to race watching his dad.
“I can remember when I was 7 and Daddy was racing on asphalt in Clinton,” he said. “You had to be 15 years old to stay in the pit area when the race was going on. So I’d have to leave right before the race started and go sit in the grandstand. I would be mad as a hornet.”
His goal Saturday is lofty: “The last time we had a (Lucas Oil) race here, I finished eighth. This year, I’m shooting for a top-five finish.”
Jimmy believes a “home track” advantage may help: “All tracks are different. For instance, the fastest way around our track is up near the wall. But a lot of drivers don’t like to run that line.”
So the fastest way around the Byram track is the longest route?
Could he be playing mental games with the out-of-town drivers?
“Now would I do something like that?” he said. “Let’s just leave them thinking on that one.”
