White Mountain Champion, Crazy Horse Continue Search For Speed
Despite winning a total of 17 races in 2010 and 2011, claiming consecutive Late Model championships and owning the all-time career win mark at White Mountain Motorsports Park, Quinny Welch isn’t one to sit around and admire his trophy case.
In fact, his No. 78 IBEW Local 104 Chevrolet spent the winter months of this past offseason in various stages of disarray at the Crazy Horse Racing building in South Paris, Maine – with Welch working side-by-side with Crazy Horse owner Mitch Green in search of improvement.
Improvement? How could Welch possibly improve on 28 career Late Model wins at White Mountain, twice as many as anybody else in history at the high-banked quarter-mile, and 17 victories in roughly 30 starts over the last two seasons?
“Guys would ask me if I was crazy,” said Welch, who spends his season racing weekly at White Mountain while also tackling the bulk of the ACT Late Model Tour schedule. “They’d look at me, look at my car and ask me why on earth I wanted to change anything.
“I would just look at them and say, ‘Well, how do you think I won 17 races? I didn’t do it just by sitting around.’”
The changes paid off. Welch won the 50-lap Late Model feature on Opening Night on May 26, starting sixth in the feature and taking the lead before the event was 20 laps old and never looking back as he strolled toward Victory Lane.
Make that 18 wins now in two-plus seasons, and 29 career feature victories at the track.
“For me, it’s always a constant battle,” said Welch, a three-time track champion at White Mountain. “I’m never happy with it, even when we’re winning. I’m always looking at the big picture. ‘How can I get better?’ or ‘When is the ACT race coming (to White Mountain)?’ I probably don’t have to change as much as I do, but I’m always looking for more.”
There’s a method to Welch’s madness. He firmly believes that White Mountain Motorsports Park presents a unique opportunity for race teams, saying that if you can run consistently well at the scenic facility in North Woodstock, N.H., those results can translate to virtually any other ACT Late Model Tour track.
And his working relationship with Crazy Horse is especially good for him.
“In the last two years, I’ve seen a lot of growth in Crazy Horse trying to get some better race cars and being willing to learn some things and try some things,” Welch said. “That’s great for me, because that’s exactly how I want to approach things.”
Welch remembered a day late in the 2009 season when he wrecked his race car during a feature event at White Mountain. With his ride destroyed, he figured his racing season – and maybe his full-time career – was finished on a limited budget. It just so happened, however, that Green and his wife, Judy, were in attendance and sought Welch out at the end of the night.
“I definitely wouldn’t be where I am now without them,” Welch said. “I told him I was pretty much done – I couldn’t afford a new race car or even afford to fix that one. They said, ‘Don’t worry about a thing. We’ll take care of it.’
“That’s huge when you’re sitting there with your head in your lap feeling like it all just ended. I found a rolling chassis that was for sale, sent it over to them and two weeks later I won with that car.
“It’s immeasurable what that means.”
It may be immeasurable on a personal level, but the statistics don’t lie. Welch has put an assault on the White Mountain Motorsports Park record books in the two seasons since, a run of 18 victories complete with two of his three career titles that are among the best performances over that span anywhere in New England.
“They’re real people. It was truly a joy the three months I spent over there this winter,” Welch said. “It was worth the ride over there every weekend, just to hang out and learn. Mitch has a lot of talent, in his machine work and the knowledge he has. And it’s not just for their ‘regulars’ – they take the time and they get things done for everybody.”
But this chapter of Welch’s story isn’t finished just yet. After winning on Opening Day two weeks ago, Welch offered a subtle warning to the rest of the competition.
“I think the car’s a tick better this year,” Welch said.
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