Lawrence wants to get stronger

By Ed Turner For the News & Messenger
Published: August 7, 2008

Willard Lawrence is having an excellent season in Late Models at Old Dominion Speedway. Not only is he 93 markers ahead of second place Adam Brenner in the points’ battle, but Lawrence has also collected nine wins and 14 top twos this season. 
  Lawrence was not expecting to have such a strong season even after hooking up with car owner Sam Beaty, who has won at least six track championships and more than 400 features as an owner.

“You don’t ever expect this kind of season,” said, Lawrence, who finished fifth in points last season, with one win and 12 top fives. “But you always hope for it.

“It’s tough to win one race, let alone two or three races in a season. To win a couple of races a year is a good season, and to be where we’re at right now is an incredible season.”

Lawrence has had only one DNF this year. And that was because a couple of cars in front of him got together after a lap car drifted into them and he had nowhere to go and busted his radiator.

“You can’t be perfect all the time,” Lawrence said.

But he has been near that mark this year, with his 14 top twos, including sweeping twin races twice and collecting eight poles. Last year, Lawrence had no poles.

“I was definitely frustrated when I was driving my own car in qualifying,” he said. “Sam’s car handles really nice. It reminds me of my old Grand Stock car in 2004. You could do anything with that car: high line, low line, in between. Wherever you put that car, it just worked. Sam’s car reminds me of that.”

But in the season opener, Lawrence had trouble with the ignition on Beaty’s car and he had to jump in his own car, which wasn’t dialed in. Despite an ill-handling car, Lawrence was still able to battle to a second place finish.

“I kind of slapped it together,” Lawrence said. “The seven was just there for backup. It was actually toeing in the right front tire too much. But we were lucky enough to finish second.”

Lawrence noted that winning in his seven car later in the season was also satisfying and among the highlights of the year.
  “All of the wins were very satisfying,” he said.

Even though Lawrence won rookie-of-the-year honors in 2005 and has run pretty well in the division since coming in, he was not quite as strong as he wanted to be on the track.

“We were just missing a couple of pieces in the seven car, which we’ve gotten back now,” he said.

Lawrence said his confidence level even dropped because he wasn’t running stronger. He wasn’t sure whether it was his driving abilities, the car, or what. But he wondered why he wasn’t doing better.

“But it gave me confidence when I jumped in Sam’s car and had good results right away,” Lawrence said. “I could do all these things with that car: get in the gas sooner, drive it in harder, and then do all these little things once I had the confidence back.”
  Beaty’s contribution has been a significant plus this season. “With Sam’s racing experience and knowledge, he’s probably forgotten more than I’ll ever know,” Lawrence said.