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Hamrac Eyes First Career Title at Five Flags, Hopes to Hold Off Cotto on Whataburger Night of Champs

By Chuck Corder

Donnie Hamrac has been racing stock cars for a long time.

A grizzled veteran of 16 years, Hamrac’s long career has certainly had its moments of triumphant, but it has also been a hardscrabble effort.

It was just last year when the 39-year-old driver from Semmes, Ala., endured one of the more horrific crashes seen in Five Flags Speedway’s many decades during an Allen Turner Pro Late Model Series 100 lapper.

Almost 14 months later, Hamrac will try to lock up his first career track championship at the famed half-mile, asphalt oval inside his David Jones-owned red No. 8 Alabama Pipe and Supply Modified during the Whataburger Night of Champions on Friday.

“This would mean a lot,� Hamrac said. “A lotta people don’t know I’ve never won a championship in Pensacola. I’ve just raced here and there and always the Snowball (Derby).�

Four drivers will be crowned among the Allen Turner Pro Late Models, Modifieds, West Florida Coatings Sportsmen and Butler U-Pull-It Bombers in a program that originally was slated for Sept. 28 before rain spoiled the evening.

While she won’t be competing for a title, Nationwide Series rookie and hometown girl Johanna Long will be in the Allen Turner PLM 100 field, adding more sizzle to the Whataburger Night of Champions, which begins at 4 p.m. Friday when the gates open.

Admission to the grandstands is as follows: $15 Adults; $14 Seniors; $12 Military/Students (12-17); $5 Children (6-11); Under 6 is Free. Passes to get into the pits are $25.

“This year we set out to win a championship,� said Hamrac, who has two of the four Mods features in 2012. “As long as nothing crazy happens, we should get it.�

He holds a seemingly comfortable, 24-point lead against Chris Cotto. Less anyone think this title is in the bag, Hamrac’s closest competitor certainly has the chops.

Cotto won the May 11 feature earlier this season. Plus, the driver from nearby Milton has some recent history of championship comebacks at Pensacola’s high banks on his side.

Just last month, Randy Thompson came into the Super Stocks season finale trailing Bubba Winslow by 22 points. Thompson, with some misfortune on Winslow’s part, erased the deficit by the close of the evening and was hoisting his fifth track title.

“We got a pretty good points lead,� Hamrac said. “But anything can happen. I think we’re going to win, but we’ve gotta be smart about it.

“This year, Chris has been real competitive. They’ve been at the top of their game. We have a couple better finishes than he has and that’s why we’ve got the points lead.�

Hamrac hopes he has little reason to sweat come Friday.

He knows championships don’t come easy. His many trips around ovals have taught him that.

But Hamrac, on the precipice of a crowning achievement, seems poised for greatness.

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