Carolinians Kick Tail At Nationals

Hair and Stancill Bring The Vegas Trophies Back to North Carolina

By Jason Buckley

A few hundred of the best Legends drivers descended upon Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend for the 16th Annual Legends Nationals, all looking to be one of the three top Legends drivers at the end of the weekend.  Representing multiple states across the nation, drivers wanted to take home the winner’s trophy for themselves, their crew and their state.

While Georgia driver Casey Roderick was able to claim the Pro division win preventing a single-state sweep, North Carolina drivers Clay Hair and John Stancill brought the Masters and Semi-Pro trophies back to the Carolinas with pride.

After winning the 2007 national points championship in the Masters division, most knew Hair was the man to beat at Las Vegas.  Hair has set the bar over the years at multiple tracks across the country, in and outside of the Carolinas region.  Over the Nationals weekend, Hair continued his domination from the moment he unloaded his #29 Legends car until he packed it up to drive back to North Carolina.

“We made a couple minor changes (to the car),” said Hair.  “The track was a little bit different than what I remembered from a few years ago.  We qualified on the pole, started last in the heat race and won it.

“We decided to do a ‘Race of Champions’ like we did last year at Lanier (GA).  They started us according to how we were in the National points.  We made the car a tenth quicker and won that by a little over a straightaway.  We knew the car was going to be good for the next night so we covered it up and didn’t even practice it the next day.  We unloaded the car (for the feature) and led every lap.”

While some of the other divisional races had tight competition, Hair seemed to set his car on cruise for the weekend.

“They just didn’t bring their ‘A’ game I think,” said Hair of his competition.  “Some of the guys I thought would be up front weren’t.  I don’t know if they opted to go with a rental car or what.  We have been driving the same old car that we have since the get go, which is the same car we have been racing at the Shootout (Summer Shootout at Lowe’s Motor Speedway).  We decided to park it because the car worked so good.  When you go to something like the Nationals, you want to be comfortable.  If you aren’t comfortable, it messes you up.  You need the best car, the best motor, the best tires and you can step up your mental game.”

Clay Hair's #29 has been fast everywhere this year, which is nothing out of the norm.  (LN Photo)

John Stancill stands next to his trophy, which is taller than him.   (Stancill Photo)

Over in the Semi-Pro division, Stancill made his presence known all weekend.  Just like Hair, Stancill was fast from the time he unloaded his car, however Stancill was able to get a few lucky breaks during the weekend when his competition had technical issues.

“We went out there and practiced and I had to do a few adjustments here and there,” said Stancill.  “We ended up with some pretty good times in practice and went out to qualify.  We turned out a good lap time and went into the heat races.  I ended up on the pole for the feature because Zach Zimmerly ended up getting thrown out for some reason.”

Early on in the feature, Stancill looked like he was on the way to the Semi-Pro Nationals victory, but his car lost grip dropping him back a few positions.

“The first 20 laps my car was pretty good,” said Stancill.  “As the race went on my car got looser and looser.  The #63 car (Christian PaHud) ended up passing me and the #94 car (Zach Zimmerly) ended up going with him.  I followed them both all race.”

A late race restart had Stancill looking at a third-place finish, until contact in front of him changed the complexion of the race and the finish of the event.

“It was a green-white-checkered finish,” explained Stancill.  “On the start we all stayed in line.  Coming down to the white flag, going into one and two, the #63 gave the #94 a shove.  There was already oil over there because someone had blown a motor.  He got shoved up into the oil and spun out, hitting the wall.  I followed the #63 back to the finish line and they ended up black flagging him, which gave me the win.

“He probably meant to do the bump and run, but I am pretty sure he didn’t mean for him to get into the wall.  There was just oil up there and he hit it.

“This means a whole lot.  I have accomplished a whole lot this past year.  I have to thank my crew, my parents and everyone else for their help.  I couldn’t ask for anything else.”

Both Hair and Stancill drive for well known Legends operations based out of North Carolina.  Hair drives for his own company, Clay Hair Motorsports, while Stancill drives for Nick Pistone Racing.  Both of them bringing the victories to themselves and their teams were special, but also bringing them to the Carolinas Legends realm also ranked high on their accomplishment list.

“Nick Pistone Racing has been with me through the good time and the bad,” said Stancill.  “We kept it together and went for the big win.  It shows North Carolina is some stiff competition.  I am not saying there isn’t anywhere else, but it just shows up here.”

Hair was also a proud Carolinian.

“600 Racing is based in Harrisburg (NC),” said Hair.  “It makes it feels good when you can come out of the home of 600 Racing and go anywhere in the United States and win.  We went out there to Las Vegas to race.  We didn’t go out there for the glamour or the ‘Vegas show’.  We took a race car out there to win and that is what we did.”