Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 17, 1990 TAG: 9005160372
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV7 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JEFF MOTLEY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Long
He was going to run at Pulaski County Speedway on Saturday nights and maybe run another race here and there.
But his main objective was to win the track title in the Late Model Stock class at Pulaski.
But a funny thing happened on the way to getting his car ready to mount a challenge for the PCS title: In order to get ready to run at Pulaski, Reedy decided to run a few races at other tracks early in the year to get the car dialed in.
He went to Tri-County Speedway and Lonesome Pine Speedway in Coeburn during the first week of the Mid-Atlantic Region points chase. After high finishes at both tracks, Reedy found himself leading the Mid-Atlantic pack ahead of 240 other drivers.
"We hadn't planned on running for the title at all," Reedy said.
"We went to Tri-County and Coeburn just to get a jump on PCS. Our goal was to run for the Pulaski track title, but that will be tough now."
Strangely enough, Reedy stands fifth in the hunt for the Pulaski County Speedway title because of misfortune in his early races.
In his first three outings at PCS, Reedy was spun out once, cut a tire down in another race and didn't have the car dialed in for the third. The results were 10th-, 15th- and ninth-place finishes.
But the Roanoke driver's luck here has finally changed: He has won three of the last four races and is finally making his move up in the track standings.
Even though Reedy has the lead in the Mid-Atlantic race, winning that will be extremely tough. The points race is based on the 20 best finishes during the course of the season. The best strategy is to get the 20 races in as quickly as possible and then go back to your home track and concentrate on winning there every week.
The chase for the Mid-Atlantic title isn't the only motive for Reedy to cut back on his racing schedule as soon as possible.
"We are weekend warriors, so to speak, and those days are going," Reedy said. "My first responsibility is to my family. The Friday nights down at Tri-County will be coming to an end. It is hard for me and my crew to try and work a 40-hour a week job and then try to get a car ready to race three nights out of the weekend."
Being the top dog at the track is new to Reedy, and so is the operation he drives for.
"I was never a real threat on the track until I hooked up with this new crew," Reedy said. "Ralph Wingfield owns the car and all I have to do is drive, sit around and look pretty.
"Before, I owned my own car and had to do a lot of the work on it. This is real nice."
There is more to this driver, though, than just getting in car and racing; he is a riot in the pits. During Saturday's drivers' meeting, Reedy read a racing magazine while track steward Lynn Carroll discussed the night's schedule. Then, when a couple of drivers became confused about what Carroll said, Reedy was the first to poke fun at them.
"I'm always the jokester," Reedy says. "I don't take anything too seriously. I like to laugh and have fun.
"This isn't a job; it's like a business on the side so to speak so why not enjoy it and have fun with it."
For all the joking and ribbing that Reedy dishes out, his friend, former crew chief and current PCS driver Clay Highberger got even with him three years ago.
"We were at Martinsville in 1987 and we had a Firebird that Tink was going to drive," Highberger said. "So we just took a little power off the brakes and every time he went into a turn, he didn't know if it would stop or not.
"It scared the fire out of him. But he told us later that if we hadn't done it, he probably wouldn't have made the field."
While most drivers who start racing are barely out of their teens, Reedy was a relatively old man when he started in 1984 at the age of 28.
But the second-generation driver was no stranger to the track. He began going to drag races at the age of 4 and in 1968 started watching races on the ovals.
His father, Orvil, was racing on some of the short tracks and spent several years on the Late Model Sportsman circuit, which is now the Busch Grand National tour.
Orvil Reedy still races occasionally at PCS and is a frontrunner at Franklin County Speedway in Callaway.
"Dad was racing and I was always around the track," Reedy said. "It was something I always loved since I was a kid. He helped me get started to a point and then I was on my own.
"That's what I needed was to get my foot in the door. Because when you do it on your own, it makes you appreciate what you've done a lot more."
Probably before the century comes to a close there will be a third generation of Reedys on the track. Tink's son, Brian, is already fired up and ready to race even though he is only 9 years old.
"He wants to drive right now," Reedy says. "But I will do him just like my daddy did me. I'll help him, but only to a point."
But the only points that Reedy is interested in right now is the Mid-Atlantic points and for that he will need a lot of help, and a little luck.
by CNB