Red Farmer To Race For Warsaw's ML Motorsports
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
In the words of Red Farmer, old age and treachery beat youth and agression.
Such is life for Farmer, who still lives in the fast lane, or more appropriately, in the racing groove.
Born in Nashville, Tenn. - and don't ask when because he won't say - Farmer later took residence in Hueytown, Ala., where he still lives today, and is considered by many to be the greatest race car driver on dirt.
An original member of the famed Alabama Gang, which included brothers Bobby and Donnie Allison and later Davey Allison, Bobby's son, and Neil Bonnett, Farmer has nearly 800 career feature wins.
He's been enshrined in a laundry list of Halls of Fame and in 1999 was named to NASCAR's list of 50 Greatest Drivers.
While many professional athletes leave their sport in the prime of their careers, or attempt to come out of retirement, Farmer hasn't retired yet and drives with the same passion he did when he drove his first race in 1949.
Believed to be around 72 years of age, Famer races weekly at the Talladega Dirt Track, where last month he qualified on the outside of the front row and led 29 laps of a 30-lap feature.
A lapped car spun in front of Farmer as the field raced down the backstretch to the finish line, leaving him no place to go. Two cars got by and the crafty veteran had to settle for a third-place finish to guys young enough to be his grandson.
This was how Farmer his spent his evening after he spent the day at Gateway International Speedway near St. Louis, working with Jason Jarrett and the Warsaw-based ML Motorsports team.
For the four years that Jarrett has driven the Mary Louise Miller-owned No. 67, Farmer has been there to give him advice, answer questions about racing and even tell a few stories about what it was like running against his grandfather, Ned Jarrett.
But Sunday, at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, friendship will be put aside for a few hours as Farmer will race against Jarrett in the Allen Crowe Memorial 100 ARCA RE/MAX Series race.
Farmer will drive a second ML Motorsports entry, one that is painted in Farmer's recognizable scheme of white, gold and red and bearing the number F97.
While he'll still offer up advice to Jarrett in his role as team consultant, make no mistake, Farmer is going with the idea of winning the race himself. Farmer will drive a second race for the ML Motorsports team on Labor Day at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in DuQuoin, Ill.
"He's pretty pumped," said Atwood's Craig Barnes, who will serve as crew chief. "He told me he was going to go win Springfield and get the car dialed in so he could give Tony Stewart a run for his money at DuQuoin."
Farmer and Stewart are close friends, and it's with the NASCAR star's help, along with sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops and the endless number of hours worked in the shop by crew members like Tom Kirts, Jeremy Marsh, Ron Dopieralski, Tony Barnes, Tim Frantz and Tom Sokoloski that have made it possible.
Stewart and fellow NASCAR driver Ken Schrader competed in the ARCA race at DuQuoin in 2002 and just barely beat the lead-footed Farmer.
On a day when temperatures reached 95 degrees, and at nearly 70 years of age, Farmer finished fourth to five-time ARCA champ Frank Kimmel, Stewart and Schrader.
He was ahead of Schrader the biggest share of the race, and the two wowed the crowd when they traded paint for several laps before Schrader got by with three laps to go.
"He can still do it," said Barnes. "We've been checking the weather forecast and it's supposed to be 75 degrees. The cooler, the better. Red told me as long as we had a water bottle for him and a bottle of blue Gatorade he'd be ready to go."
So respected by his fellow drivers is Farmer, Barnes said that former ARCA driver-turned-car owner Matt Hagans made a $500 bet at a race earlier this season, saying that if Farmer finished he'd be first or second.
"That's a lot of money, $500," said Barnes. "That goes to show you what people think of Red. They think he can go do it. If Red doesn't win, it won't be his fault, he'll get everything out of the car he possibly can." [[In-content Ad]]
In the words of Red Farmer, old age and treachery beat youth and agression.
Such is life for Farmer, who still lives in the fast lane, or more appropriately, in the racing groove.
Born in Nashville, Tenn. - and don't ask when because he won't say - Farmer later took residence in Hueytown, Ala., where he still lives today, and is considered by many to be the greatest race car driver on dirt.
An original member of the famed Alabama Gang, which included brothers Bobby and Donnie Allison and later Davey Allison, Bobby's son, and Neil Bonnett, Farmer has nearly 800 career feature wins.
He's been enshrined in a laundry list of Halls of Fame and in 1999 was named to NASCAR's list of 50 Greatest Drivers.
While many professional athletes leave their sport in the prime of their careers, or attempt to come out of retirement, Farmer hasn't retired yet and drives with the same passion he did when he drove his first race in 1949.
Believed to be around 72 years of age, Famer races weekly at the Talladega Dirt Track, where last month he qualified on the outside of the front row and led 29 laps of a 30-lap feature.
A lapped car spun in front of Farmer as the field raced down the backstretch to the finish line, leaving him no place to go. Two cars got by and the crafty veteran had to settle for a third-place finish to guys young enough to be his grandson.
This was how Farmer his spent his evening after he spent the day at Gateway International Speedway near St. Louis, working with Jason Jarrett and the Warsaw-based ML Motorsports team.
For the four years that Jarrett has driven the Mary Louise Miller-owned No. 67, Farmer has been there to give him advice, answer questions about racing and even tell a few stories about what it was like running against his grandfather, Ned Jarrett.
But Sunday, at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, friendship will be put aside for a few hours as Farmer will race against Jarrett in the Allen Crowe Memorial 100 ARCA RE/MAX Series race.
Farmer will drive a second ML Motorsports entry, one that is painted in Farmer's recognizable scheme of white, gold and red and bearing the number F97.
While he'll still offer up advice to Jarrett in his role as team consultant, make no mistake, Farmer is going with the idea of winning the race himself. Farmer will drive a second race for the ML Motorsports team on Labor Day at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in DuQuoin, Ill.
"He's pretty pumped," said Atwood's Craig Barnes, who will serve as crew chief. "He told me he was going to go win Springfield and get the car dialed in so he could give Tony Stewart a run for his money at DuQuoin."
Farmer and Stewart are close friends, and it's with the NASCAR star's help, along with sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops and the endless number of hours worked in the shop by crew members like Tom Kirts, Jeremy Marsh, Ron Dopieralski, Tony Barnes, Tim Frantz and Tom Sokoloski that have made it possible.
Stewart and fellow NASCAR driver Ken Schrader competed in the ARCA race at DuQuoin in 2002 and just barely beat the lead-footed Farmer.
On a day when temperatures reached 95 degrees, and at nearly 70 years of age, Farmer finished fourth to five-time ARCA champ Frank Kimmel, Stewart and Schrader.
He was ahead of Schrader the biggest share of the race, and the two wowed the crowd when they traded paint for several laps before Schrader got by with three laps to go.
"He can still do it," said Barnes. "We've been checking the weather forecast and it's supposed to be 75 degrees. The cooler, the better. Red told me as long as we had a water bottle for him and a bottle of blue Gatorade he'd be ready to go."
So respected by his fellow drivers is Farmer, Barnes said that former ARCA driver-turned-car owner Matt Hagans made a $500 bet at a race earlier this season, saying that if Farmer finished he'd be first or second.
"That's a lot of money, $500," said Barnes. "That goes to show you what people think of Red. They think he can go do it. If Red doesn't win, it won't be his fault, he'll get everything out of the car he possibly can." [[In-content Ad]]