Jonnie Varga

Seven Time Champion

2/26 Jonnie's partial racing schedule is now posted. More dates will be posted by the end of March. We are excited to visit some new tracks this year and look forward to many Florida race dates also!

2/16 The national points season starts in less than four weeks. Team Valvoline is not sure where our first race will be yet. Our plan is to race the bigger races and get some seat time at some different tracks. Check back soon for a complete 2010 Racing Schedule.

2/11 Team Valvoline is not happy about missing the Winter Nationals at Orlando Speedworld but our driver had to be at school for the yearly FCAT testing. It turns out the the crew chief had to be in North Carolina to take care of some business anyway. Unfortunately the weather has not been the best for the racers but at least it beats the snow in the northeast!

2/10 We are working on the 2010 racing schedule and should have it completed by March 1. This years schedule will include Concord Motorsport Park, Lowes Motor Speedway, and Rockingham!

1/28 Above you can see just a small portion of the Penske Racing shop. Penske's shop was incredible! When we were there we saw crew chief Steve Addington and driver Brad Keslowski hanging out in the shop area. We had just missed Kurt Bush, driver of the famous #2 (thank you Rusty). The Penske stock car racing stable includes the #77 of Sam Hornish, #12 of Brad Keslowski, and the #2 of Kurt Bush.

1/28 Last Saturday Auburndale Speedway hosted a winter series race. It was not much of a bandolero race since the #2 was the only bandolero there! Jonnie ran some practice laps and was able to post his fastest time ever! So I guess it was worth the trip to get in a little practice and see some good legends car racing. The banquet followed and Team Valvoline took home the 2009 track championship and placed in the top 5 for Auburndale Speedway's favorite driver competition!

1/19 Team Valvoline had a great time in Charlotte this past weekend. Our weekend stay included Saturday night's INEX banquet at the Speedway Club overlooking the speedway. Jonnie received an award for the Florida Points Champion and an award for finishing 7th in the National Points. It was a great event and we hope to return again next year! We found some time to visit the following race shops. Hendrick, Roush, Earnhardt Gnassi, JR Motorsports, Michael Waltrip, and Penske. We were very impressed by the Penske shop and were fortunate to see crew chief Steve Addington and driver Brad Keslowski hanging around the shop. We were told that we had just missed seeing Kurt Busch!

1/9 Well this is a first for us. Racing was canceled today in Auburndale, Florida because of the cold temperatures and freezing rain! The temperatures were in the 30's all day long. Just as well because we prefer our racing weather to be hot!

1/7 Above you can get a peek of the 2010 version of the Blue Deuce. The new body has been painted and is ready to roll. Weather permitting there will be a winter race at Auburndale Speedway this Saturday at 1pm. We will participate in a few of these races as we prepare for the 2010 Winter Nationals at Orlando Speedworld. Next weekend is the INEX International Awards Banquet in Charlotte NC, see ya there!

11/21 Jonnie has wrapped up his first season in the bandolero. This season has been nothing short of incredible. Jonnie has moved on into the bandolero without skipping a beat. His natural talent as a driver makes my job easy as he seems to be able to drive just about anything that I give him. As a team we have made some good notes for next year and as a driver I think he is just getting started. We would like to thank our sponsors for their support in helping us complete a great season and clinch championship number seven! Here are the #2 blue deuce's sponsors.

Valvoline          Valvoline Car Care of St. Cloud       Gold's Gym       Bell Racing        

Hoosier Tire          D&S Log Cradles          IBEW        NECA

11/15 I want to let you know that I don't make this stuff up! Here is the short version of our last points race at Auburndale Speedway last night. The heat race would feature five cars with Jonnie starting in the second row on the inside. The pack of cars wouldn't even make it through turn one without "the big one" happening on the very first lap. Four cars would be involved in the turn one crash and one would need to be towed from the track because of contact with the wall. Jonnie would need to be pushed out of the infield grass by the tow truck and I was hoping there wasn't much damage. When he came rolling by turn three I could see the right rear rim was pretty bent and that couldn't be good. An impact like that usually bends the axel. The heat race finally got started and we were a little slower than before but we would end up winning the heat race. When we got the car back to the hauler we began the damage assessment. We would find that we had two slightly bent front spindles, bent right rear rim, and of course the biggest issue would be a bent rear axel. Jonnie and I immediately started the quick fixes. We needed to just get the car good enough to run a few laps and park it. Jonnie really just needed to run one lap and finish last to win the 2009 track championship. It was now time for the feature event. I told Jonnie if the car was way off the pace just pull off the track after one lap and we would be fine. The race began and to our surprise the blue deuce as hanging on to the third position and only a couple tenths off our fast practice times. Just about three quarters of the way through the race the 65 car would make his move under the 83 car in turn three to try and make a pass. Jonnie kept a little distance from the action in front of him anticipating the worst. Sure enough the 65 and 83 came together and both cars spun out as Jonnie went high to miss them. The race would restart and Jonnie would take the damaged #2 to the limit to try and hold off the field. Jonnie would take the white flag and need to hold on just one more lap. The 38 car was giving him a good challenge but our driver would get the job done and win our last points race of 2009 at Auburndale Speedway! Jonnie drove around the track for his victory lap as the crowd applauded him a young race fan would step up to the fence and give Jonnie a standard "peace sign" which is now the standard "GO #2 sign"!

Check back for the official announcement of #7.

11/8 Just two more races and our season will be complete. Just two more races and the chances are real good that there will be one more championship posted! Bandolero Bandit rookie Jonnie Varga has been making winning look easy but trust us it's not that easy. This is Jonnie's fourth year in racing and there are many other racers with just as much experience and not even once championship. Team Valvoline has always worked hard for every win and every championship. We carefully plan and prepare for each race day well in advance. Just before each race we talk about the car set up, track conditions, and what to due during the race. We have always worked hard at our racing and as we continue to improve so does the competition. We hope to carry our momentum on into the 2010 season and place in the top five nationally. Our goal next year will be to win a regional or national event while going for the top five in the national points. 

11/7 Auburndale Speedway is the next race (11/14).

11/2 Today the Florida Touring Series announced that this Saturday's final race in Desoto would be canceled. Team Valvoline was looking forward to the season finale but I guess we will now celebrate early. With 7 straight wins in the series we are proud to announce the 2009 Florida Touring Series Bandolero Bandit Champion is Jonnie Varga!

11/1 Next Saturday Team Vavoloine with take the #2 Golds Gym Bandolero to the Desoto Super Speedway for the last Florida Touring Series race. Jonnie is currently leading the points in the bandit division and has won every race at Desoto. Jonnie will need to simply start the race to claim another 2009 Championship!

10/24 Auburndale Speedway hosted the Saturday night races last night. Team Valvoline showed up with plans to simply finish the race and protect the points lead. After one round of practice and some decent lap times I could see it was going to be tough to slow down the #2. Jonnie easily won the heat race and finished only a couple feet behind a Young Gun to win the Bandit feature race. The heat race win gave Jonnie his 50th career victory and by the end of the night it would be 51! Just three races remaining at the Auburndale Speedway for the 2009 season.

10/18 A couple wins last night in Auburndale puts Jonne at the 49 win mark. The bandit car count at Auburndale has hit rock bottom. The race last night featured two Young Gun drivers and just two Bandit drivers. Jonnie usually loves to go after the older Young Gun drivers but we are just playing it safe until the end of the season right now. We need to just finish well in order to win the track championship. With just four cars showing up it could be a bit easier to get that 50th win and to keep the car in one piece for next season. The next race is Auburndale on 10/24.

10/13 The driver of the #2 Valvoline Gold's Gym bandolero approaches  the 50 win mark. Jonnie has just seven races remaining in his 2009 racing season. He currently has 47 career wins and hopes to make it an impressive 50 before the end of the year. Team Valvoline plans on simply finishing good at the remaining events to lock up two more championships. Wins will not be needed but we wouldn't mind just three more!

10/11 There was not a bandolero race at Auburndale this week so Jonnie was off. Jonnie did have a football game and was a huge part of their win. This was their third win in a row improving the team record to 5-2. Jonnie caught a pass for a touchdown and as always was big on defense. If the blue team can do it again on Tuesday they will be making an apperance in the Saint Cloud Youth Football 2009 Superbowl!

10/4 Jonnie wins his 5th racing championship! The 600 Racing national and state points season runs from the first of March through the end of September. During this time period Jonnie was able to compete and finish well in enough point races to give him the most points of any driver in the state of Florida. Congratulations to the 2009 Bandolero State Point Champion!

10/3 Team Valvoline wins it's 7th in a row for the Florida Touring Series! It was a nice evening up in Inverness, Florida last night. The green flag flew for the feature bandolero race around 8pm with the temperature near 80 degrees. There was a good crowd on hand to watch the #2 win the heat race and the bandit feature. The track announcer from the Desoto Super Speedway was at the track to fill in for the regular announcer who had just recently passed away. While walking through the pit area he spotted the Blue Deuce and came over to introduced himself to Jonnie. He wanted to meet the driver of the #2 car that has won every bandolero bandit race this year at Desoto. Jonnie was happy to give him the latest edition of his "hero card" and Tony the announcer was happy to give the crowd all kinds of information about our driver during both races! If was a good night of racing and this win marks Jonnie's 47 career win.

10/1 The St. Cloud Blue Team is looking good! Big Blue has won the last two games and hopes to win two more next week and a trip to the playoffs. Jonnie has seen a lot of action playing both offense and defense. His favorite position is on the defense where he continues to dominate with his size! The quarterback likes his height for the middle of the field passes. Jonnie's brother Beau is playing on the offensive line and he too is having a great time. Big Blue is 3-2 so far.

9/28 The Florida Touring Series rolls into Citrus County Speedway this Saturday. Team Valvoline has only been to this track once before but we consider it a favorite. This track has some really nice banking and is very wide on the backstretch. On our previous visit there the #2 finished #1. We hope to do it again this Saturday, October 3rd. See the Florida Touring Series standings at www.legendscarsofflorida.com  click on schedule.

9/27 Today is the last day to win points towards the 600 Racing state and national championships. It has been a struggle to win a lot of points here in Florida due to the rain outs and recent low car counts. There was not much of a car count last night at Auburndale Speedway but for the cars that did show up to race it was a good show. Jonnie ran hard against the older Young Gun drivers and picked up another win for the Bandit division. We will wait a few days for an official INEX points posting before we announce yet another championship and a possible top ten finish in the nation. Check back in a few days for an update.

9/19 Tonight's race at Auburndale didn't quite go as planned. It seems that our young rookie bandolero driver made a mistake due partly because of the pressure the crew chief put on him to win the race. With laps winding down the #2 was running in the second spot and it didn't look like we had enough car to make the pass. Six laps went by and the #2 followed closely. The white flag flew and the #2 new it had to be now. Our driver came into turn one and two with a lot of speed but not enough skill to pass the #54. The two car wrecked the #54 and himself on the last lap which ended up with Jonnie being DQ'ed from the race. I will take the blame for what happened due to the fact I didn't explain to my driver that a second place finish is fine. I never told him to play it safe if he had too and protect his points lead with simply a good finish. I told him to win, I told him to drive hard, and I even promised him a nice reward for a first place finish. Tonight's DQ and zero points is the fault of the crew chief. I sincerely apologize to the Tanner and Joel for the results to tonight's race.

9/13 Just about one year ago Jonnie took at test drive in a bandolero. The bandolero was the #12 owned by driver Critter Saile. Critter won numerous championships with this car but they would be parting with the car at the end of the 2008 season so that they could move up to the Legend car series. With three seasons of quarter midget racing under our belts, Team Valvoline agreed to the purchase. The car was handed over and Jonnie drove the last points race of the season for the Ellis Mechanical Team. It would be Jonnie's first bandolero race ever at Orlando Speedworld. Jonnie drove all the way from the back row that night and finished 2nd in his very first race! The 12 became the 2 and here we are today. Jonnie currently leads the points at Auburndale Speedway, he leads the Florida Touring Series, sits at number one for the INEX 600 Racing state points, and is currently in the top ten of the INEX 600 racing national points. We are very happy to have made this purchase from Mike White and the Ellis Mechanical Team! Thanks Critter!
 
9/12 Auburndale Speedway rained out!

9/10 Just three weeks are left before the national points season closes. The last day to win points towards the national championship is September 27th. Team Valvoline will do everything we can to gain some more points before that date. Jonnie is currently in 7th place for the national points with a total of 150+ drivers competing.

9/4 Jonnie wins his 6th Florida Touring Series race in a row. Last night the touring series stopped at the Desoto Super Speedway. There were not too many cars or race fans due to the holiday weekend we are guessing. It looked like it would be a short night. Then the announcement was made that there would only be feature races and no heat races. So we would have just once chance to have a good set up in our #2 Valvoline Gold's Gym bandolero. The one chance is all Jonnie would need as he cruised to another win in the Florida Touring Series race. This marks Jonnie's 44th career win!

9/4 Orlando Speedworld rained out and now closed until October!

8/29 After a couple weeks off Team Valvoline finally gets in a race. Last night the weather was just right for a good night of racing at the Auburndale Speedway. The blue deuce had some brake issues during the heat race and feature race and was lucky to have finished first in both races. During the feature race Tanner Cornwell was all over Jonnie's bumper showing him that his machine was very fast. As the laps winded down Tanner showed some great patience and sportsmanship as he cruised to an easy second place finish securing his position in the Auburndale Speedway points race. Tanner is currently 8th in the INEX national point standings.