Factory stock racer Scooter Ware (53) overcame a mediocre qualifying effort to win his fourth Battle of the States. He passed Blake McNeill (3) on the final lap (pictured) for the feature victory at Whynot Motorsports Park in Meridian, Mississippi.
Ware time-trialed 10th of 18 cars. He placed the blame for the uncharacteristic qualifying effort on a new carburetor.
“I put on an XP carburetor, which has no choke horns,” Ware, of West Point, Mississippi, said. “I was hoping for better performance, but that experiment backfired — literally.”
Ware swapped carburetors before his heat race. He started fifth and worked his way to the front to win it. That put him in second spot to start the feature.
Ware and his father, Paul Ware, both race in the class. While Total Custom Carbs does Ware’s carburetors and Jay Dickens Racing Engines his engines, the Wares build much of their own cars. That includes fabricating the bodies and suspensions.
“We sold our old cars, and we put this one together for the first race this season,” said Ware. “We decided to try a few different things, the carburetor being one of them. We’ll get back to trying it again.”
During the week, Scooter Ware puts in 10-hour shifts for Ellis Steel Company. He then comes home to work in the race shop every night with his father. Their effort has paid off with Ware scoring 15 victories last year alone, and seven track championships over the course of his career. Winning never gets old, though.
“An opening night win is a big one, especially when it’s the Battle of the States at Whynot,” said Ware. “It’s definitely something to build off of. We now have momentum for the season.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
