(Bill W) March 24, 2009 – Billy Alley is ready to hit the road again and get the 2009 season unleashed! In addition, he is releasing his newly designed website at www.BillyAlley.com in the next day or two! Plans this weekend include the traditional Icebreaker at his hometown track, Eagle Raceway.
Billy enters a new domain in being the sole owner of his race team in 2009. “Everyone is gung-ho and ready to get going!” he says. “I have a lot of good people that have been with me since I started racing. It’s cool to see all those people excited about the season. I really want to thank Dan Buss, Mark Schmit and the rest of the people that have been with me since the beginning…and I can’t forget ‘High Roller’ The Pig Farmer!”
One thing that won’t be new is the equipment and personnel surrounding Billy. He will again be driving a JEI chassis with Wesmar power. Bob “Buns” Richardson will again serve as crew chief. “It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve sat in the same racecar, had the same engines, and the same crew two years in a row,” he says. “Having that stability is a comfort that I haven’t had in awhile.”
Billy is hoping the weather holds out for Saturday’s race at Eagle. He finished second in last year’s opener. “We’re planning to hit the Icebreaker Challenge, and we’d like to be standing in Victory Lane at the end of the day,” he says. “It will be good to start the season in front of the hometown fans.”
Though he has sound partners backing him, Billy is looking for more to join his winning team. “I finally own my own race team,” he states proudly. “It’s an ideal situation on one hand, but on another you need the right partner to come on board so it benefits both themselves and our race team. We have good equipment and good people backing us, so we’ll be o.k. I’ve been working hard on some deals, but the economy isn’t the best right now. I think we all need to keep positive attitudes, and I believe race fans and racers will get to the racetrack. We just need to stick together.”
Billy hasn’t lost sight of the fact he’s living his dream. “I have a real passion for racing,” he says. “I’m fortunate to get to go to the shop and work on a racecar. I do it out of sheer enjoyment! I never want to take that part of it for granted.”
Billy hopes to climb the ladder one spot in 2009 at Knoxville Raceway, where he finished second last season, and was the track champion in 2006. The track has decided that there will be a few “draw” shows this year to replace the regular qualifying format. Billy wonders why the change is taking place. “We’re always excited to run Knoxville, but these new rules are confusing me about it now. Either we are 410 racing, or we’re not. It’s an elite program, so I hope they change their mind about it. I think it will cost a lot of equipment, and in turn cars in the 410 class if they go to a draw system.”
One thing that has separated Knoxville from the rest is the 410 format that Billy considers the fairest anywhere. “That’s one thing that separated Knoxville from the rest of the country, because they knew how to do it,” he reiterates. “I don’t know the reasoning behind it. If it is to make the heats more interesting, then reward the top two finishers with a dash like the Outlaws do. My opinion is there are better ways to go about it, and other things they can do.”
Billy is also launching an updated version of www.BillyAlley.com. The site is a work in progress, but you can check out Billy’s upcoming Schedule, Bio and Partner Spotlights. Eventually, there will be more Photos and many more updates coming!
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