FORESTVILLE — Big Diamond Speedway’s 2014 season concludes this weekend, which means Pottsville’s Jeremy Becker is soon ready to put his roadrunner car back in the garage and get his hunting gear out, but not before he hunts tonight for his first track championship.
“It means a whole lot to me,” Becker said. “I’ve been doing this for so many years. I came so close how many years and, toward the end of the year, I always end up having bad luck and fall back to second. Last year, I was running second in points and lost that to my brother-in-law (Marc Berzowski). It’s something you race for every year.”
Pine Grove’s Chris Holland, the only other driver eligible for the championship, gets one 20-lap chance to erase Becker’s 109-point lead. Before rain forced an early halt to last Friday’s program, the roadrunners conducted their heat races, setting the field for the feature. That does not mean the roadrunners will race another full program today. Instead, because of the size of the program, which includes a non-winners’ feature for the 358 modifieds, the roadrunners’ participation today will be limited to just the makeup feature, one last opportunity to settle the points battle. Becker starts seventh in the 22-car field, while Holland starts fourth.
“It all has to do with where you
start,” Becker, who joined Holland with qualifying heat wins last week, said of his chances. “Stay out of harm’s way and try not to get flat tires. My two bad weeks (this season), I had two flat tires. It’s just a matter of luck. I’ll rub somebody, and rubbing’s racing. Sometimes you get flat tires.”
Most of the time, though, Becker has had a strong season, his eighth behind the wheel of a race car. A former street stock driver at both Susquehanna Speedway Park and Big Diamond, his seven roadrunner feature wins include two that have provided him with his cushion in points over Holland. Becker also has three heat wins.
It’s the kind of success he also has enjoyed in the woods of Schuylkill County, where there isn’t much that he hasn’t bagged over the years. The owner of 15 guns of various types along with archery equipment, Becker, 35, said he has hunted a variety of game since he was introduced to the outdoors at age 12 by his father, Ted.
“The only things I never got was actually a turkey,” he said, adding, “I never really went hunting for them or calling for them. That’s one thing I never shot yet. Coyotes are tough, too. I missed a couple of them. I tried.”
But when it comes to deer season, consider Becker an expert.
“Most of the time every year, we get a buck and a doe,” he said. “We usually tag out.”
Becker said he usually hunts with a group of nearly two dozen others from a camp in the Llewellyn area. During one of those trips while conversing with another hunter, Becker shot one of his biggest prizes.
“Out in Blackwood, we got that,” Becker said about the 10-point buck. “We were just walking down the road, talking, and it was standing there like a dumb one. Yeah, it was a dumb one.”
Stunned at their good fortune standing about 40 yards away, Becker took the lead like the Big Diamond points pacesetter he is.
“I just told him I was shooting first,” Becker said to his friend. “If I didn’t hit it, he could shoot at it.”
Becker said he has some hunting trophies at his home, including the mount of a 250-pound bear that he got while hunting with family members during a trip to Canada.
“The wife (Lynn) likes to make it look like a cabin,” said Becker, noting his wife, does not hunt.
Becker said he has tried to interest his three children, including two girls, in hunting, but only his son, Carter, shows an interest in that and racing.
“In a couple of years, we’ll get him out to hunt,” Becker said, adding he is considering a go-cart for his son’s initiation to racing.
Someday, fans may see father and son on the racetrack. After all, Becker has two cars, including the Chevrolet Monte Carlo that he is campaigning in its first season in 2014 with the help of crew members Shawn Mulhall and Ted Becker. By transferring his previously effective setup from his former car to his current No. 97, Becker avoided many of the adjustments some drivers need to make over a season with a new car.
But the current season is almost over, and Becker said his decision about what to race next year will then be made. While Berzowski returned to Big Diamond this year in a sportsman, Becker said, “It takes a lot of money to move up. I don’t have the money to do that.”
But he does have the time to consider any career move while hunting or riding a snowmobile through the wilds of Schuylkill County this winter. For Becker, that’s fun, but it’s his second choice among hobbies.
“Nothing beats being in a race car. It’s something to look forward to every year,” he said.
Racing weekend
Where: Big Diamond Speedway, Forestville
TODAY
When: 8:15 p.m. Gates open at 5 p.m. Warmups at 7:45 p.m.
Program: Coal Cracker 40 for USS Achey sportsmen (40-lap feature, $1,600-to-win, $150-to-start), Non-winners’ race for Mid-Atlantic DIRTcar 358 modifieds, Savage 61 roadrunners (20-lap feature) and enduro dash (20-lap feature).
Admission: Adult grandstand admission, $10; Active military (with identification) and children aged 12-and-under, free. Pit admission is $30 per member and $40 per non-member.
SUNDAY
When: 8:15 p.m. Gates open at 4 p.m. Warmups at 7:45 p.m.
Program: Jack Rich Memorial Coal Cracker 72 for Mid-Atlantic DIRTcar 358 modifieds (72-lap feature, $10,000-to-win, $700-to-start), Coal Cracker 25 for Savage 61 roadrunners (25-lap feature, $300-to-win) and fireworks.
Admission: Adult grandstand admission, $25; Active military (with identification) and children aged 12-and-under, free. Pit admission is $40 while car entry fee are $40 before Sunday and $60 on race day.