ON SITE: St. Clair continues to make it a family effort at Unity Raceway

If there’s one reason that Dave St. Clair, now 60, still climbs behind the wheel of a race car every week, it’s because he still holds out hope for a generational 1-2-3 finish – on that sees him, his son and his grandson on the podium of a feature event..

On Friday night at Unity Raceway, St. Clair got two-thirds of that equation.

Grandson Josh St. Clair led every lap of the 30-lap Late Model feature, finishing one spot ahead of Dave to pick up his first career Late Model win at the track. Hometown driver Frank Moulton finished third.

"My son (Puncin St. Clair) says he’s taking the year off from racing, but I’d really like to see him out here in a car, too," Dave said. "Maybe next year I’ll have to retire, and maybe that’s what it takes. If I quit, maybe he’ll race. But if he don’t get going, he’s going to be too old to race, too."

Josh St. Clair knows that his grandfather is really just waiting on the historic family top-3 despite his threats of retirement.

"It’s really nice to do this, but we’re really looking for that top-3," said Josh, who posted. 12 straight top-3 finishes in the Sportsman division at Unity in 2007. "That would be quite a thing for history, to have all of us finish in the top-3. That would be really special. I know my grandfather is thinking about retiring and stuff, but he’s just hoping my dad will race with us so he can get that before he’s done."

Josh kept insisting that his grandfather’s car was faster on Friday, but the race certainly didn’t bear that out. After starting on the outside pole, Josh led every lap of the main event.

The only shot that anybody had at taking the lead from Josh was on a lap 17 restart – the race’s only restart – when Dave lined up to the outside. They were dead even taking the green flag and drove door-to-door all the way around the .333-mile oval until hitting turn 4. Josh said his grandfather gave him plenty of extra room to slide up half a groove and keep the lead for himself.

That race took place almost a half-dozen car lengths ahead of Moulton, who lost his brakes just three laps into the race.

"We’ve got different styles on restarts," Josh said. "He likes to shift because of his (horsepower), but I don’t. I knew he was faster than me, but I knew he’d probably give me a lane and give me all the room I needed to move up."

"Well, I’m just happy to be second to him," Dave said. "The car’s in one piece, and they’re all coming out of the same place, anyway."

But the family patriarch also suggested that second wasn’t quite what he hoped for – even accidentally running over his second-place trophy when leaving victory lane.

"I never get tired of racing against my family," Dave said. "But when it comes to racing against my family, I like to beat them. It seems like (Josh) beats me a lot."

Comments

[Brad Bellows]

ok- now for the real story. are you even the least bit curios why I didnt race the feature? well after the heat race the 3 st clairs apparently had a meeting and decided that if I raced my superstreet with their late models they were all going to just load up and go home. this was the ultimatum given to track manager george fernald. it was also said that if I was to race with dave he would wreck me. reasoning- I dont know . I raced a clean heat race from last to second and raced side by side with dave and let him have the win. I guess maybe I should have put him in the dirt bank. anyway - I cant understand why they think that I have an advantage- my car weighs 3100- theirs-2850. I have stock frame front and rear and have rear leaf spring suspension. they have tube frame and coilovers. the engines are close in horse power and the gear rule is the same at 588. good luck with that top 3 next week boys-

From TB:

Brad, you know me better than that. I was with you right up until you went into your "car talk."

What's an "engine?"

[JustAProStockFan.]

Remember, this family does not own the race track. They just can't handle losing. You should go out there and run like you want to. Dave can't afford to have too many more meltdowns. He is running out of tracks that will let him race. He could always go up to Spud and race against himself. Although he could not even handle a head to head race against Jason Witts a year or so ago.