Jonnie Varga
seven time racing champion
Racing News
1/24 The results have finally been posted from last Sunday's race and Jonnie has officially finished in the third position! Some last lap activities had sent a few cars scattering around the track and the #2 was able to steer clear and finish good. A full field of 15 cars were on hand for the competition. This Saturday is a double header! Two feature races in one day.
1/15 Team Valvoline made some adjustments and picked up a little speed but not enough. The #2 finished 7th for the day. We don't have a whole lot of road course experience but we expected better results. We will try it again next Saturday.
1/8 Jonnie ran his first Outlaw race and first Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course race with a decent set up. Last year's Road Course race was ruined by a car problem which we found many weeks later! Anyway, Jonnie finished 2nd in the heat race and 7th in the feature race. We will make some changes and head back next weekend.
12/23 Jonnie turns Outlaw! Since our driver has now turned twelve he must move up to the Outlaw Bandolero Division. This division is for drivers that are 12 years of age and up. The class is unlimited in age but the average driver is probably about 14 years old. Jonnie will run some races in the Winter Heat at the road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway begining January 6th.
12/11 Not much racing news today. We are waiting for the Charlotte Motor Speedway Winter Heat Series information to be posted so we can gear up for that series. The first race should be coming soon in Januaray. There is a slight chance that we race next Saturday at Ace Speedway. We will keep you posted.
11/20 Yesterday at Orange County Speedway we made changes to the car after every practice. If we had just one more session we know we could have had at least a top three car with one more change. Anyway it was a good race with just sixteen cars entered into our division. Jonnie qualified 6th and would later race to a 4th place finish. He drove as hard as he could but the crew chief needed one last gear change to make the FEC machine faster!
11/7 The next race is at Orange County Speedway on Saturday, November 19th. This race will have cash awards for the bandolero drivers and legend drivers.
10/30 Jonnie finishes 3rd at Hickory Motor Speedway!
This week FEC Motorsports Sponsorship Division hopped on board with an end of the year sponsorship deal for the #2 car. This was Jonnie's first time back in the seat after a three month break and he wanted to show FEC that he could get the job done. As the sun rose up over Hickory Motor Speedway we found ourselves standing in line next to racing legend Donnie Allison. We purposely got close to him to try and rub some of his racing mojo onto ourselves! A few moments later we were talking to John Nemechek, the son of NASCAR racer Joe Nemechek, about his Allyson Legacy racing. John would later go on to win the Legacy race and win the season championship for that series. Once we got into the track and spoke to fellow crew chief Steve Johns we decided last minute to make a gear change. The changed worked good. Jonnie was fast in practice but we wanted to find more speed. We made a few more changes and sent him to the track. It looked like we may have found some speed and then some idiot spun out in turn four causing us to avoid him and hit the wall with the front end on our car. It turns out that this fool forgot to put in the restrictor plate and was going way to fast for his skills. The idiot almost ruined our day. We were able to make the needed repairs to our car. Anyway, our car was fast, Jonnie drove smart, and we were able to placed third after taking some time off and never being on this track before. We had a great day at the track. One final note. If we had a caution flag and another five laps - we could have been competing for a win!
10/11 Hickory Motor Speedway - October 29th! Restrictor plate race.
10/2 Team Valvoline is preparing for the Winter Heat Series at Charlotte Motor Speedway. We hope to get in a couple races before that possibly Orange County or the 5th Mile at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
9/23 Work has begun on the #2 blue deuce. We are getting ready to run a race in October. Racing seems to be safer than football!
8/27 We may be able to find a break in football to head to Concord. It would be easier to take on Rockingham on a Sunday if they would fire that program up again!
8/13 Rained out at Orange County.
7/21 Team Valvoline has signed a new full time sponsor for the 2013 season! Jonnie's #2 car will be sponsored by Jon Beau Electrical Services of Cornelius, NC. It has net been determined what kind of car the team will be racing. It could be a Legend car of a Allison Legacy car. You can check out the Allison Legacy car at www.allisonlegacy.com .
7/3 We hope to get back to racing soon. We know we can finish in the top five but we need a larger racing budget to finish first! We are not interested in 3rd, 4th, and 5th any longer. We are going to find a way to increase our budget.
6/5 Orange County Speedway is a 3/8 mile track with some real nice banking. For the small bandolero cars it is like a super speedway. The cars must use a restrictor plate to keep their speeds down. This is Jonnie's favorite track because of the type of racing and all of the pre-race fanfare. Prior to the race all of the competitors line up on the front stretch and the fans come out onto track. There are all kinds of cars there and even a 15 year old modified driver (former bandolero driver) that has been signed by Kevin Harvick. Jonnie signed his autographs and spoke to some fans and then it was time for the heat race. Jonnie led four laps but came up short and finished 3rd in the heat. In the feature race he ran hard and finished 3rd just about two inches off the bumper of the second place car! We have a blast and watched some great racing later in the evening. We did see one of the worst wrecks ever in the six years we have been racing. A PASS Series modified car crashed in turn four and after sitting there for a couple seconds it seemed ordinary until it burst into flames. The safety crew was just getting there so if seemed like forever as they grabbed their fire extinguishers and headed to the car. In these tense moments the loudest sound to be heard was the screams of his mother nearby in the pit area. We almost saw a castastrophy last night but fortunately the driver got out with the help of the safety crew.
5/27 Concord - rained out. Next race June 4th at Orange County Speedway.
5/22 Team Valvoline attended the All Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway yesterday. Front stretch, third row up!
5/21 The blue duce leads laps at Concord Speedway! We made many changes to the car in the last week and we have finally got something we can
at least drive around the track. Jonnie started on the pole for the heat race and he would lead six laps of the eight lap race. Our car was looking much better but still is not the fastest machine out there. Once the second place car got around him he got stuck on the outside as four cars frieght trained him back to fifth place. For the feature we made just some small air pressure adjustments for the hot slick track. On the first lap the typical turn one game of bumper cars would leave Jonnie coming out of turn two in third place but the yellow flag would come out and the Officals would restart the race with the original line up. Jonnie drove the car as fast as it would go and finish fifth in the feature race. We will work on our new set up and pick up more speed for next week!
1/24 The results have finally been posted from last Sunday's race and Jonnie has officially finished in the third position! Some last lap activities had sent a few cars scattering around the track and the #2 was able to steer clear and finish good. A full field of 15 cars were on hand for the competition. This Saturday is a double header! Two feature races in one day.
1/15 Team Valvoline made some adjustments and picked up a little speed but not enough. The #2 finished 7th for the day. We don't have a whole lot of road course experience but we expected better results. We will try it again next Saturday.
1/8 Jonnie ran his first Outlaw race and first Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course race with a decent set up. Last year's Road Course race was ruined by a car problem which we found many weeks later! Anyway, Jonnie finished 2nd in the heat race and 7th in the feature race. We will make some changes and head back next weekend.
12/23 Jonnie turns Outlaw! Since our driver has now turned twelve he must move up to the Outlaw Bandolero Division. This division is for drivers that are 12 years of age and up. The class is unlimited in age but the average driver is probably about 14 years old. Jonnie will run some races in the Winter Heat at the road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway begining January 6th.
12/11 Not much racing news today. We are waiting for the Charlotte Motor Speedway Winter Heat Series information to be posted so we can gear up for that series. The first race should be coming soon in Januaray. There is a slight chance that we race next Saturday at Ace Speedway. We will keep you posted.
11/20 Yesterday at Orange County Speedway we made changes to the car after every practice. If we had just one more session we know we could have had at least a top three car with one more change. Anyway it was a good race with just sixteen cars entered into our division. Jonnie qualified 6th and would later race to a 4th place finish. He drove as hard as he could but the crew chief needed one last gear change to make the FEC machine faster!
11/7 The next race is at Orange County Speedway on Saturday, November 19th. This race will have cash awards for the bandolero drivers and legend drivers.
10/30 Jonnie finishes 3rd at Hickory Motor Speedway!
This week FEC Motorsports Sponsorship Division hopped on board with an end of the year sponsorship deal for the #2 car. This was Jonnie's first time back in the seat after a three month break and he wanted to show FEC that he could get the job done. As the sun rose up over Hickory Motor Speedway we found ourselves standing in line next to racing legend Donnie Allison. We purposely got close to him to try and rub some of his racing mojo onto ourselves! A few moments later we were talking to John Nemechek, the son of NASCAR racer Joe Nemechek, about his Allyson Legacy racing. John would later go on to win the Legacy race and win the season championship for that series. Once we got into the track and spoke to fellow crew chief Steve Johns we decided last minute to make a gear change. The changed worked good. Jonnie was fast in practice but we wanted to find more speed. We made a few more changes and sent him to the track. It looked like we may have found some speed and then some idiot spun out in turn four causing us to avoid him and hit the wall with the front end on our car. It turns out that this fool forgot to put in the restrictor plate and was going way to fast for his skills. The idiot almost ruined our day. We were able to make the needed repairs to our car. Anyway, our car was fast, Jonnie drove smart, and we were able to placed third after taking some time off and never being on this track before. We had a great day at the track. One final note. If we had a caution flag and another five laps - we could have been competing for a win!
10/11 Hickory Motor Speedway - October 29th! Restrictor plate race.
10/2 Team Valvoline is preparing for the Winter Heat Series at Charlotte Motor Speedway. We hope to get in a couple races before that possibly Orange County or the 5th Mile at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
9/23 Work has begun on the #2 blue deuce. We are getting ready to run a race in October. Racing seems to be safer than football!
8/27 We may be able to find a break in football to head to Concord. It would be easier to take on Rockingham on a Sunday if they would fire that program up again!
8/13 Rained out at Orange County.
7/21 Team Valvoline has signed a new full time sponsor for the 2013 season! Jonnie's #2 car will be sponsored by Jon Beau Electrical Services of Cornelius, NC. It has net been determined what kind of car the team will be racing. It could be a Legend car of a Allison Legacy car. You can check out the Allison Legacy car at www.allisonlegacy.com .
7/3 We hope to get back to racing soon. We know we can finish in the top five but we need a larger racing budget to finish first! We are not interested in 3rd, 4th, and 5th any longer. We are going to find a way to increase our budget.
6/5 Orange County Speedway is a 3/8 mile track with some real nice banking. For the small bandolero cars it is like a super speedway. The cars must use a restrictor plate to keep their speeds down. This is Jonnie's favorite track because of the type of racing and all of the pre-race fanfare. Prior to the race all of the competitors line up on the front stretch and the fans come out onto track. There are all kinds of cars there and even a 15 year old modified driver (former bandolero driver) that has been signed by Kevin Harvick. Jonnie signed his autographs and spoke to some fans and then it was time for the heat race. Jonnie led four laps but came up short and finished 3rd in the heat. In the feature race he ran hard and finished 3rd just about two inches off the bumper of the second place car! We have a blast and watched some great racing later in the evening. We did see one of the worst wrecks ever in the six years we have been racing. A PASS Series modified car crashed in turn four and after sitting there for a couple seconds it seemed ordinary until it burst into flames. The safety crew was just getting there so if seemed like forever as they grabbed their fire extinguishers and headed to the car. In these tense moments the loudest sound to be heard was the screams of his mother nearby in the pit area. We almost saw a castastrophy last night but fortunately the driver got out with the help of the safety crew.
5/27 Concord - rained out. Next race June 4th at Orange County Speedway.
5/22 Team Valvoline attended the All Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway yesterday. Front stretch, third row up!
5/21 The blue duce leads laps at Concord Speedway! We made many changes to the car in the last week and we have finally got something we can
at least drive around the track. Jonnie started on the pole for the heat race and he would lead six laps of the eight lap race. Our car was looking much better but still is not the fastest machine out there. Once the second place car got around him he got stuck on the outside as four cars frieght trained him back to fifth place. For the feature we made just some small air pressure adjustments for the hot slick track. On the first lap the typical turn one game of bumper cars would leave Jonnie coming out of turn two in third place but the yellow flag would come out and the Officals would restart the race with the original line up. Jonnie drove the car as fast as it would go and finish fifth in the feature race. We will work on our new set up and pick up more speed for next week!
2011 Bandolero Results
Date Track Results
1/7 Road Course 7th
1/14 Road Course 7th
1/22 Road Course 3rd
Date Track Results
1/7 Road Course 7th
1/14 Road Course 7th
1/22 Road Course 3rd
Favorite Tracks and Links
www.legendsnation.com
www.orlandospeedworld.org www.uslegendcars.com www.concordmotorsportpark.com
www.ocstrack.com www.desotosuperspeedway.com
www.auburndaleracing.com
www.newsmyrnaqmra.com www.speedtv.com www.drinknos.com www.legendscarsofflorida.com
www.charlottemotorspeedway.com www.rockinghamspeedway.com
www.shangrila-2.com
www.fivemilepointspeedway.com
www.usac.com
www.tbqmra.com
Football News
12/11 Here is the latest. 5' 7" & 166 lbs!
11/20 The new team for the Thanksgiving Tournament did not come through. The coaches cancelled due to the fact that there were some key players that were not available to play. Football is now complete for our 2011 season.
11/7 Jonnie has been invited to join a newly formed Charlotte youth football team in order to play in a large football tournament coming to Charlotte. The tournament will host teams from around the country and from Canada. The three day tournament will take place over the Thanksgiving weekend.
10/30 All-Star practice this week for the game on November 10.
10/22 Jonnie Varga selected for the All-Star game! The Piedmont Youth Football League will match up the leagues best players on November 12. Jonnie and two others on his team have been selected as top players in the league.
10/21 The Colts lost both games last week. One regular season game remaining.
10/8 Colts beat the Raiders 14 - 0!
Jonnie started the game with three tackles, great blocks, and knocking down a few line backers just for the heck of it! The Raiders forfeited the game in the second quarter because of injuries and #99!
10/1 The Colts played the Steelers today and it was mostly a one sided game. The Steelers were able to put up 33 unanswered points in their victory against the Colts. The Colts played hard but missing a key piece of our offense did not help. Jonnie played the entire game on offense and defense even after coming off a recent injury. This was just his second tackle football game ever and he was awarded a game ball for his performance!
9/23 Jonnie went to school today with no boot or crutches! He is listed as probable for tomorrows game at Vance High School!
9/15 Jonnie will be on crutches for two weeks. We hope he will he be ready for next Saturday.
9/14 Jonnie will need to return to the Doctor. He has showed no signs of improvement and will probably miss Saturday's game. I will just say one thing, Jonnie raced for six years now and has never had an injury that required a Doctor's visit!
9/12 Jonnie injured his foot on Sunday and today's x-rays did not show much. He will stay off his foot for a few days.
9/11 The Colts lost against the Titans.
8/27 The hurricane has canceled today's game.
8/19 Jonnie is #99 for the Colts!
8/9 Full pads starting tonight! Jonnie's team has changed from the Raiders to the Colts.
8/4 Practices have been going well. Our driver has been put into an offensive and defensive tackle position. We are still missing some players from practice but right now Jonnie tops the second biggest player by about 20 lbs and 10"!
7/22 Next week is the last full week of linemen/linebacker preseason training! Jonnie has his new Raiders helmet and is ready to start the official season training in August.
7/3 Jonnie completed the week long linemen linebacker workouts this past week and will go back to the regular workouts this week. The season will be here before we know it!
6/17 The preseason work outs are continuing. Jonnie is now attending the work outs three days per a week. Last weeks physical put our little man at 158 lbs, 5' 5" tall.
5/14 Jonnie worked out at the Champions Sports Performance & Training Center home of the Parisi Speed School this week. The trainers help the athletes improve their speed and agility. Jonnie worked out with the older boys.
5/8 The Coach says Jonnie's footwork is improving. He was impressed as Jonnie seemed to easily flip the truck tire during a recent strength drill! Team practice is still two and a half months away.
5/2 The Coach has mentioned a few times that Jonnie could very well be a lineman on the team. Strength and Conditioning is two times per week until the season starts!
4/21 Jonnie attended his first Strength and Conditioning session today. He worked one on one with Coach McMahan of the Piedmont Youth Football League. The class focuses on speed, agility, and core strength. Season practice begins June 6th.
12/11 Here is the latest. 5' 7" & 166 lbs!
11/20 The new team for the Thanksgiving Tournament did not come through. The coaches cancelled due to the fact that there were some key players that were not available to play. Football is now complete for our 2011 season.
11/7 Jonnie has been invited to join a newly formed Charlotte youth football team in order to play in a large football tournament coming to Charlotte. The tournament will host teams from around the country and from Canada. The three day tournament will take place over the Thanksgiving weekend.
10/30 All-Star practice this week for the game on November 10.
10/22 Jonnie Varga selected for the All-Star game! The Piedmont Youth Football League will match up the leagues best players on November 12. Jonnie and two others on his team have been selected as top players in the league.
10/21 The Colts lost both games last week. One regular season game remaining.
10/8 Colts beat the Raiders 14 - 0!
Jonnie started the game with three tackles, great blocks, and knocking down a few line backers just for the heck of it! The Raiders forfeited the game in the second quarter because of injuries and #99!
10/1 The Colts played the Steelers today and it was mostly a one sided game. The Steelers were able to put up 33 unanswered points in their victory against the Colts. The Colts played hard but missing a key piece of our offense did not help. Jonnie played the entire game on offense and defense even after coming off a recent injury. This was just his second tackle football game ever and he was awarded a game ball for his performance!
9/23 Jonnie went to school today with no boot or crutches! He is listed as probable for tomorrows game at Vance High School!
9/15 Jonnie will be on crutches for two weeks. We hope he will he be ready for next Saturday.
9/14 Jonnie will need to return to the Doctor. He has showed no signs of improvement and will probably miss Saturday's game. I will just say one thing, Jonnie raced for six years now and has never had an injury that required a Doctor's visit!
9/12 Jonnie injured his foot on Sunday and today's x-rays did not show much. He will stay off his foot for a few days.
9/11 The Colts lost against the Titans.
8/27 The hurricane has canceled today's game.
8/19 Jonnie is #99 for the Colts!
8/9 Full pads starting tonight! Jonnie's team has changed from the Raiders to the Colts.
8/4 Practices have been going well. Our driver has been put into an offensive and defensive tackle position. We are still missing some players from practice but right now Jonnie tops the second biggest player by about 20 lbs and 10"!
7/22 Next week is the last full week of linemen/linebacker preseason training! Jonnie has his new Raiders helmet and is ready to start the official season training in August.
7/3 Jonnie completed the week long linemen linebacker workouts this past week and will go back to the regular workouts this week. The season will be here before we know it!
6/17 The preseason work outs are continuing. Jonnie is now attending the work outs three days per a week. Last weeks physical put our little man at 158 lbs, 5' 5" tall.
5/14 Jonnie worked out at the Champions Sports Performance & Training Center home of the Parisi Speed School this week. The trainers help the athletes improve their speed and agility. Jonnie worked out with the older boys.
5/8 The Coach says Jonnie's footwork is improving. He was impressed as Jonnie seemed to easily flip the truck tire during a recent strength drill! Team practice is still two and a half months away.
5/2 The Coach has mentioned a few times that Jonnie could very well be a lineman on the team. Strength and Conditioning is two times per week until the season starts!
4/21 Jonnie attended his first Strength and Conditioning session today. He worked one on one with Coach McMahan of the Piedmont Youth Football League. The class focuses on speed, agility, and core strength. Season practice begins June 6th.
