Most racers dream of making it to the big-time, which for the vast majority means NASCAR’s Sprint Cup or Nationwide Series.
But very few, unless they have families with some serious money to burn, or, in the case of Joey Logano, a gold-plated reputation, get the seat time needed to demonstrate their ability.
That leads us to J.R. Heffner, the 2007 Lebanon Valley Speedway modified champion and a winner at Hagerstown, Accord and Volusia Speedway Park in rare ventures away from home.
He’s one of a number of drivers in the region considered to be very talented, but lacking exposure on DIRT’s highly regarded modified tour because of a lack of finances and the difficulty of getting time off from work. So, when word came in the fall of 2006 that Heffner would be racing at Daytona Int’l Speedway, many were shocked.
“I’ve wanted to race blacktop my whole life,” explained Heffner recently. “But I don’t have time to run someplace like Stafford Springs to get experience, so we did that.”
“That” was renting a car for the 2007 ARCA race at Daytona, a $74,000 venture made possible by “friends, sponsors, everybody around here. I was totally honored to be helped that much by our local racing people, especially after we told them we didn’t want to take anything away from our Saturday night program, that it would have to be all ‘new’ money.”
Heffner did well in his first superspeedway event, starting 26th and running in that neighborhood until getting caught up in somebody else’s problem and wrecking. Until then, despite some initial nervousness, he loved the experience.
“I think it was just as exciting for the people who helped me get there as it was for me,” he said. “We decided to buy a car and go back this year, so with some help from Rifenburg Construction and Colarusso and Sons, I got a car from DEI. Dave Chenette, who raced here at the Valley for years, works there and he assembled the car for us. We had my dirt crew and Dave in the garage and it was nerve wracking. The car next to us was Rusty Wallace’s and it didn’t qualify, so it was tough.
“I qualified 16th and finished 16th, but we could have done even better,” said Heffner. “We had help from Dale, Jr.’s guys on our pit stops, so we had the best crew on pit road. I came out 12th with tires to go the distance, but got a flat so we had to pit again and lost a top-five or top-10 finish.”
Heffner grinned when kidded that Daytona is banked like Lebanon Valley, only bigger.
“Yeah, and they’ve got the same type of drivers, too,” he said. “Some you can trust, some you can’t. Racing there isn’t easy, because I’m not used to the full-sized car, and the mirrors take some getting used to. But the drafting is really neat. What surprised me most was the logistics, what you have to go through for inspection.”
Now, that he’s more comfortable with superspeedway racing, Heffner will go south again in the fall to race the ARCA event at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
“We’ve got a mile-and-a-half car coming, too, and hope to run one or two races on shorter tracks if we can work it out without messing up our schedule here,” he continued. “I’m going to do all I can do and I hope to win an ARCA race somewhere. If something comes from that, I’ll take it.
“I’m 36 right now. If I was 18, I’d go to Stafford, but I don’t have time to go that route. We’re going to give it our best shot and see what happens.”
Heffner is up against some long odds, but he’s got one thing going for him that a lot of the ride renters hoping to make an impression with strong ARCA finishes lack. Talent.
Whether that’s enough to tilt the scales remains to be seen.