Column By: BRETT HORLACHER / RPW – RENSSELAER, NY – With cold temperatures already idling the racing operations of most race teams in the Northeast, Johnny Rivers is headed south to the Dirt Track in Charlotte, NC in search of warmer temperatures, a little red clay, and maybe a checkered flag in the World Short Track Championship.
Rivers, a native of Rensselaer, NY and owner/operator of Rivers Towing Recovery, finds himself as the Captain of ‘Team Repo’ and is looking to continue the upward trend of his team’s performance at the end of 2021. That performance included a tenth place finish in the Pro Stock 50 at Super DIRT Week at the Oswego Speedway.
Rivers is as excited as they head to Charlotte to get one more race in before getting ready for his busy winter season.
“We are taking both cars and a ton of spare parts,” Rivers said. “We definitely can’t go back to the shop for something.”
True to their word, Team Repo isn’t leaving anything to chance. They are bringing two DIRTcar Pro Stocks to Charlotte. They’ll have a 2018 Stone Manimal at their disposal and an older, but still stout, 2008 EMS chassis to bear against the competition.
A regular at Lebanon Valley Speedway in 2021, Rivers finished seventh in points and picked up his first career victory. He also competed in DIRTcar Pro Stock Series events at Glen Ridge, Weedsport and Can-Am this season. While running all these races, Rivers saw marked performance increase as the season went on.
Of course, he couldn’t do it all without help, both in the shop and financially.
“I can’t thank all of my sponsors for their support,” he said. “That included our great associate sponsors like LAL Customs. I also have to thank this team, led by my head crew guy Ammo. I couldn’t do it without them.”
Rivers, along with several other Northeast DIRTcar Pro Stock drivers, are entering in the World Short Track Championship this weekend at the Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The event, a week before the World Finals, features the Nation’s best weekly dirt racers, with seven division in competition this weekend. Also included are the Northeast DIRTcar Sportsman.
With that, there will be no shortage of Northern talent on display in North Carolina’s Queen City.