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YOLO! Jones Returns to 5 Flags, Eyes Defense of Allen Turner PLM Title After Trip Across Pond

By Chuck Corder

Remember the first day to a new school year.

Everybody catching each other up on their wild summers. These days, thanks to Twitter and Instagram, who has time to wait?

Instead, Garrett Jones’ classmates can click his updates to discover the 14 year old is having one of the coolest summers a teenager could dream up.

And that’s saying something for the Mooresville, N.C., private school — located in the heart of NASCAR country — Jones attends alongside a student body made up of future racers.

They, no doubt, saw his No. 88 Pro Late Model breakthrough for his first career win in the latter half of the May 9 double feature at Five Flags Speedway.

Jones is ecstatic to be returning to the famed half-mile asphalt oval on Friday night when the Allen Turner Pro Late Models resume their season with another double feature (20- and 30-lap races).

“It has turned everything around and has been such a confidence booster,� Jones said of his win more than two months ago. “You’d never think one race could make it happen, but since we won in Pensacola, it has made the whole race team work harder.

“I think I’m going (into Friday’s) race with the most momentum outta anybody that will be there.�

The Pro Trucks, Beef “O� Brady’s Sportsmen and Butler U-Pull-It Bombers continue their seasons when the gates open at 4 p.m. Friday. Admission is $15 for adults; $12 for seniors, students, military; $5 for children ages 6 to 11; and free for kids 5 and under.

The series’ defending track champion, Jones currently sits third in the Allen Turner PLM standings, trailing recent NASCAR Nationwide Series driver and hometown she-ro Johanna Long by 25 points.

“Johanna’s gonna be tough competition, but I think we can beat her,� he said.

If his followers celebrated with Jones after his monumental May win in Pensacola, imagine how they reacted last week when the sandy-haired youngster was a part of a record-setting run in England. Yes, England!

Tagging along with Jamie Skinner, his crew chief, and Mike Skinner — dad to Jamie and winner of 28 career NASCAR Camping World Trucks Series races — Jones got a firsthand look at the Goodwood Road and Racing Club’s Festival of Speed at Lord March’s estate in West Sussex, England.

“It was a unique experience,� Jones said of the international event, which is in its 22nd year. “I’ve never even left the states before. Going out there for the first time, to one of the biggest parties around for racecars? That was crazy.

“It’s a lot more up close and personal with the fans. We were in a tent, and fans could walk around the cars the whole time. You just had to ask ’em not to touch. It felt like an auction.�

Jones estimated more than 4,000 cars were at the FOS, which attracted some of motorsports’ giants. Everything from F1 to NASCAR to rally to muscle cars (you name it, it was there) were represented.

Mike Skinner, in the truck he won with in 2004 at Bristol, clocked in the fastest time among the NASCAR drivers that competed on a 1.16-mile “hill climb� through the Goodwood Estate.

Skinner’s time-trial run of 51.75 seconds, in his truck remember, was .05 seconds faster than Max Papis, who ran one of Austin Dillon’s Sprint Cup cars.

Michael Waltrip couldn’t get it done in one of the Toyotas Clint Boyer drives for him. Neither could Kerry Earnhardt, who wheeled the same, legendary No. 3 that his father Dale Earnhardt Sr. finally steered to Victory Lane at the 1998 Daytona 500.

“Everything was basically the same,� Jones said. “The only thing they swapped out was the seat. There was still a piece of tape with a Bible verse written on it from that day.�

The wide-eyed Jones is still trying to wrap his head around the surreal week that felt more like fantasy than reality.

He can forever say he rubbed shoulders with NASCAR royalty after warming up “The King’s� car.

Richard Petty did not compete, but delighted his legions by being present. Each time Petty tried to escape his hauler, he was, naturally, mobbed by fans.

So Mike Skinner asked Petty if the kid could fire up the winning car from the Firecracker 400 in 1984 — the same race President Reagan delivered the “start your engines� command from Air Force One before landing at NASCAR’s birthplace in Daytona Beach mid-race.

“I got in and cranked it up,� Jones recalled. “It was awesome! I didn’t know how far you sat down in that thing. I had a blast.�

And collected a lifetime of memories and stories that can’t be contained in 140 characters or less.

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