It would be an understatement to say that veteran Jamie Lathroum was the king of Potomac Speedway’s Limited Late Model division back in the early 2000’s. During his class tenure, Lathroum scored his first division title in 2003, his second in 2004 with his last coming in 2006.
Along the way Lathroum was a consistent winner as he tallied 35 feature wins during that time period. During his rookie season in 2003 Lathroum struggled to find a rhythm in the faster class after moving up from the street stocks. “We weren’t running good at the beginning of the year.” Lathroum bottom lined. “Dad told me I had three weeks to get my act together or he was going to take over driving the car and on the third week, I won.”
So as the years went by Lathroum eventually moved up to the Late Model division collecting 18 Potomac wins and two track titles plus a slew of big regional wins as well. As the 2023 season approached Lathroum’s Late Model program came to a grinding halt as the power plant for his Longhorn no.6 would not be ready for competition until late summer.
With no other viable options to race with the Late Models, Lathroum hooked up with Jonny Oliver to race with the Limited Late Models this season. “Jonny had a car and motor that sat in his shop for nearly two years and I asked them what they were going to do with it and after finalizing the details we got the car ready for this season.”
It wouldn’t take long for Lathroum to find his winning touch as the Limited Late Model’s made their season debut last Friday night at Potomac Speedway and Lathroum would score an impressive flag to flag win for his 36th career division feature win. “It’s great to get a win here tonight.” Lathroum stated. “If it weren’t for Jonny and Doc (Oliver) we probably wouldn’t have raced this season.”
Lathroum’s win on Friday would be his overall 67th career Potomac feature win.
Nostalgic Win for Veteran Billy Tucker-
After a runner up performance the weekend prior, Mechanicsville’s Billy Tucker put it all together and came home with a thrilling win in the tracks strictly stock division. Although it would be a career first for Tucker in the division, back in the early 90s he was a frequent winner in the tracks old Pure Stock class before moving up to the faster Semi Late division, scoring wins with that class as well with his iconic blue and yellow no.66.
Tucker last visited Potomac’s victory lane in 1999 after a Semi Late win, and 24 years later, Tucker would strike again. “I’m just having fun, that’s what racing is all about.” Tucker emphasized. “This is what we can afford right now, so we’re going to make the most of it and just have some fun.” With a first and a second in the past two events
Tucker is the current standings leader as he searches for his first career Potomac championship.
Notes-
Lining the Potomac pit area were, 21 Limited Late Models, 14 Street Stocks, 16 Hobby Stocks, 13 Strictly Stocks and 18 U Cars. U Car racer Faith Lacey had a career night as she won her heat race and would then take a runner up finish in the divisions feature. “Faithy” is the daughter of Late Model car owners Sommey and Ruth Ann Lacey…Defending Hobby Stock champion Austin Lathroum suffered mechanical difficulties with his no.6 and would be the first car to drop out of their feature…Megan Mann had her RUSH legal Rocket no.55 in the Limited line up and was holding her own during their feature until a broken driveshaft forced her from the event…Limited pilot Jonathan Raley lined up 17th for the start with his Battle Chassis no.25 and was working his way toward the front before his car drifted to a stop in turn two. Raley would restart on the tail end of the field and salvage his night with an 8th place finish…After missing the March season opener, Colin long has posted a win and a third place finish in the past two Hobby Stock events with his no.19L…Mikey Latham scored a win in the season opener and a second in the classes second event. This past Friday his luck ran out as mechanical issues forced him from the event placing him 12th at the finish…Mason Hanson was doing double duty and would score his 2nd Street Stock win and then take 6th in the Hobby Stock main…After a grinding crash in last weekend’s Street Stock feature that severely wounded his no.41, Jason Penn had the car repaired and would take a career best fifth place finish in his first year with the class…Limited racer DJ Garrett also produced a career night as he steered his Rocket no.81 to a 6th place finish from his 13th starting spot… The kids also had spotlight placed on them as the battery powered juice-box cars we’re on hand for their second event of the season. A whopping field of 21 cars entered the program and would thrill the largest grandstand turnout of the season.