One of the contenders for the 2014 DMR Auto Sales & Service Street Stock crown is Justin Cole. The young driver got off to a great start this season and is having the time of his life in Speedway 660’s highly competitive “old-school” division. Wade Wilson recently had a Conversation with Justin.
Talkin with Justin Cole
Wade: Congratulations on winning the first street stock feature earlier this season. Not only that, but you pulled off a Jensen Financial Hat-Trick Award by winning your heat and dash races too.
Justin: Thanks Wade! It felt great to finally get that feature win, we’ve been close a few times the last couple years in the Sharp Shooter and Street Stock, but close doesn’t count. To finally get to victory lane after a feature on opening day in the form of a hat-trick was just awesome! We worked so hard and it was rewarding to everyone on our team as well as our fans. I pretty much destroyed the car last fall up at Speedway Miramichi, then worked all winter in Alberta and didn’t get home until April 1st. So we had a huge job to do in not much more than a month and our team worked their tails off to get ready to go. When we loaded to go to the track, I really had no idea what our car was gonna do. The three wins on opening night sure gave me a boost and the team is focused on a championship run for 2014.
What a way to start 2014! Justin and his team celebrate a Jensen Financial Hat-Trick Award on opening night. Justin’s awesome start led to more good runs and has him challenging for a Street Stock title.
Wade: Winning a feature is great, but it means you go to the back the very next week and it was exciting to see you come up through the pack for a feature finish of fourth. How hard was that?
Justin: Yeah that’s a rule for all divisions, some guys don’t like it, but I think it provides a great show for the fans and gives everyone a fair chance. I was actually pretty excited to see what the car was gonna do in traffic, but there’s also the chance of gettin caught up in a wreck when you start that deep in the field. So you have to be cautious and watch ahead in case something happens. That second week we were pretty happy to go from the back up to fourth in the feature. Since then we’ve gotten back on the podium and have been pretty consistent, which has kept us in the points race.
You gotta love Street Stock racin! Justin Cole (#38) has been right in the middle of all the action this year. He’s lookin forward to running up front in this weekend’s DMR Auto Sales & Service Street Stock 50.
Wade: This weekend the DMR Street Stock Division drivers will run a 50 lap feature which will give you more time to get to the front.
Justin: I’m really excited about the 50 lapper on Saturday night, it’s gonna be fun to share the stage with the Pro Stock on the Best of the Best 150 night. I hope to see some out of town cars show up, there’s some mighty fierce street stock teams around New Brunswick and it would be nice to see some of them come to the Geary Woods. We would like to get a decent starting position, play it cool for the first couple of runs, then be in position to maybe have a stab at the win. The extra laps will allow drivers to be patient and take their time. Hopefully everyone stays safe and puts a great show on for the fans!
Wade: Harvey is a fairly small town with a lot of race fans. I’m sure you get a lot of support from folks there.
Justin: Harvey is beautiful little spot, with some great people, like you say, a lot of race fans, I get a ton of support from my community, a lot of people from home have been coming to the races since the gates first opened in 94. But I have a lot of friends who never went to Speedway 660 until we started racing. It only took a trip or two for them to catch the “racing bug” and now they hang out in the stands down in the turn 1 and 2 area! Also a large majority of my sponsors are right from home in Harvey. They have faith in me and love to help us out.
Justin loves to visit the Riverview Ford Victory Lane. He’s got a lot of support from his home town of Harvey and will be out to do them proud come Saturday night.
Wade: How did the Cole family get involved in racing?
Justin: My Mom Dawn and Dad Nelson started taking me to the races when I was around five years old down at the old Cedar Mills track near St. Stephen. I remember flyin down Route 3 in our brown 86 Oldsmobile Cutless, with Mom and Dad headed to the Mills! That old car is similar to the rig I’m racing every Saturday night. Racing was always something we did as a family and I really cherish those memories. Back then my Dad sponsored Bradley Logan, a guy you might of heard of, and when this place opened in 94, Bradley made the switch to the new “super speedway”. We followed Bradley here and continued to support and cheer for the red 37. Family trips as a kid to Old Orchard Beach in Maine were always planned around the famous Oxford 250. PEI trips were planned around the MPST visit to Oyster Bed Bridge Speedway. Needless to say racing has been a big influence in my life! Back then we were all Scott Fraser groupies!
Bradley Logan, the two-time Martin’s Home Heating Sportsman champ, has been a big influence on Justin Cole. It would be pretty hard to find a better role model than Logan, a Speedway 660 racing legend!
Wade: Your parents are a big part of your racing team.
Justin: They sure are. My Dad runs a small trucking company and we do all of our own maintenance work on Saturdays. So Dad doesn’t get to come to the track to help us during practice, because he’s home doing maintenance and fixing our gear so we can go to work the next week. That’s an important contribution to the race team, because while he’s home fixin stuff, that allows me to go the race track early for practice. But Dad always gets done in time to get to the races before the first Street Stock heat rolls out on the track! Dad and Mom both support our team financially and the bottom line is if it weren’t for them I couldn’t go racing. And they are having a blast with it! And my sister Katie is a huge supporter too! My girlfriend Kelsey never misses a single race and I know there are times she’d like to nail my shop door shut, but come race day she’s the first one packed up and ready to hit the road.
Chad Targett, Brett Urquart, Jamie Painter, Myles Curtis, Ryan Corey, Morgan Saunders, Joe Fletcher, Brad Kantor and Brad Mackay are all members of the crew. I hope they realize how grateful I am for the sacrifices they make for me. We have a lot of fun together on and off the track which is what matters most. I spend so much time with them they’ve all become like family to me.
Shawn Hyslop, Greg Fahey and Richard Atkinson have also played a huge role in my development as a race car driver. They’ve answered a million questions, lent me tools and parts and really deserve a lot of credit for helping a young fella find a little success!
I’d like to thank all of my sponsors including Mom and Dad, Nelson Cole & Son Trucking, Jones Masonry, Martin’s Home Heating, Targett’s Windows & Doors, W.R. Gillespie, Jeff Haslam Trucking, Parker Brothers Roofing, Stray Cat Mechnical, John and Stephen Scott, Jim Gilbert’s-Salesman Justin Roy, Exit Reality’s Jason Munn, MacKay’s Garage, Thunder n Lightning Motorsports, MC Hammer, Barrie Morecraft Trucking, Moffitts Convenience and our division sponsor DMR Auto Sales & Service.
It’s always a great night when you end up on the podium. Justin thanks his family, crew, sponsors, supporters from Harvey and girlfriend Kelsey for making it possible to race at Speedway 660 every week.
Wade: From day one, back in 1994 the Street Stock division has always provided our fans with lots of excitement. Why do you think that is?
Justin: I think a lot of that comes from the style of car we run. It’s a top heavy car running on a narrower tire than the lighter weight Sportsman cars run on. Street Stocks are harder to corner in a neat and friendly manner. So the nature of the car is a big reason fans like Street Stocks. Oh yeah, the drivers come off as the rough and tough type and that makes for a great show for the fans when we all start slamming doors on these steel bodied boats.
Getting ready to go racing! Justin Cole and his team take a lot of pride in keeping their car looking good. They are also dedicated to running hard, winning races and challenging for a championship.
Wade: I always ask the young guys about their future plans in racing. Is this a brief stop for you in Street Stock on your way to Sportsman or Pro Stock or are you content to settle in and race for a few years in this division?
Justin: I knew you would ask me this Wade! I don’t really have any plans set in stone, but I will say my heart has always been with the Sportsman division. I spent a few years wrenching on Bradley’s car and Sportsman has always been my favorite class. I have some friends racing there and someday I hope to get in the seat of a Sportsman car myself. But right now I’m lovin Street Stock because it’s great competition and there’s a good bunch of guys and gals to race against each week. I’m pretty happy where I am right now and our team is focused on winning a championship. So unless someone knows something I don’t, I think you’ll see us stay in Street Stock for a few more years.
Maybe someday! Justin has always liked Sportsman racing, but for now he is more than happy to be riding a wave of success in Speedway 660’s Street Stock division.
Wade: The DMR Auto Sales & Service Street Stock Division has a good mix of drivers. We’ve got exciting young drivers like Luc MacLaughlin, “Hollywood” Madore, Destiny Enkel, Peter Martin, Tyler Seveck and you. And we’ve got some veterans like Rick Cashol, Rob Raynes, Heidi Cooper and Roger Slocum. That makes for some interesting story lines for fans and must be fun for you guys too.
Justin: It’s a great division, loaded with talent. My team is friends with all the younger drivers and crews. I got to know Luc, TJ and Tyler when we all raced Sharp Shooter and making friends with everyone is a great part of this sport! It’s fun for us “younger” ones to put some pressure on those “older” guys. I’m gonna hear about using that “older” word from Roger, you can bet on that! But they are all great to run with and I think the fans like the show we put on for them Saturday nights at Speedway 660. This is the best looking, most competitive class of Street Stocks in the Maritimes and we should all should be proud of what this division has become!
Justin, a young gun in our Street Stock division, respects the veterans at Speedway 660. After all what could be more fun than running door-to-door with five time champ Ricky Cashol!
Wade: Thanks for doing this Justin, good luck this weekend and remember you’ve got an extra thirty laps to get to where you want to be when Joe Barrieau waves the checkers.
Justin: Thanks a lot Wade for choosing me to do this Conversation. I read them every week and I look forward to learning about the folks involved in racing. I wanna thank all the fans at Speedway 660 for coming to the races and the Roy and Foley families for doing a great job providing us an awesome place to race on Saturday nights. And thanks to all the teams, employees and volunteers who make this all possible. See ya at the races!
