A phone call woke up Jeff Watson from a deep sleep an hour and a half past midnight on Thursday, July 29. He found out a fire engulfed his race shop, reducing it to ash, and destroying his super late model. Fortunately, the crate late model next door survived with some smoke and heat damage. This past Friday, August 6, he took that car to victory lane at Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, Kentucky. Watson experienced quite a roller coaster of fate and emotions within a little over a week’s span.
A Normal Evening Turns into a Nightmare
The evening of Wednesday, July 28, seemed just like any other for Jeff Watson.
“We’re out in the shop every night, working on the race car,” said Watson, 49, a Pepperidge Farm route salesman from Campbellsville, Kentucky. “We left [the shop] about 9:30. I came home, watched TV, and went to bed. The next thing I know my phone was ringing at 1:30 in the morning. My garage was on fire. I live a couple of miles away [from the garage], so I rushed over there. The fire department was already there putting it out. By the time I got there, it was demolished. I didn’t know how long it had been burning.”
Watson lost more than a super late model, which was a newly refurbished chassis from Revolution, with an engine from Frank Ofria.
“That night it didn’t hit me,” Watson said. “But, the next morning, when daylight hit, I’m looking at the garage. It hit me — and it was hard.
“All the material things, you know race cars and parts, you can replace. But, I had a lot of stuff in there that was important to me. My dad, [the late Finn Watson, 2021 National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame inductee,] had all of his trophies in there and memorabilia, and a lot of my memorabilia that he had saved. That was the garage I grew up learning about racing.”
Hope Next Door for Jeff Watson
In the garage adjacent to the burned-down shop was the crate late model that Jeff Watson raced. Louis Brady owns the car. He also fielded rides for Watson’s father.
The crate late model didn’t go unscathed in the fire. While it did not burn to the ground, it incurred heat and smoke damage.
“[Louis and I] checked [the car] out,” said Watson. “He said, ‘I don’t think it’s that bad. We’ll try to get some of this black, burnt smoke off of it.’
“We fixed everything visible. We started it up, and it started okay. Some [spark] plug wires were burnt.”
Fortunately, most of the damage was relegated to anything plastic or plastic-coated, such as spark plug wires, and the plastic body parts, including the front nose.
At Lake Cumberland Speedway in Burnside, Kentucky, the track hosted a benefit for Watson the Saturday after the fire. Watson and Brady thought they should bring their crate late model to it.
“It’s burnt looking, but everybody understands it was in a fire,” Watson said. “We took it over there. We won our heat race and it was really fast. [Then,] came a rain shower and canceled the feature.”
Overwhelming Outpouring of Support
In addition to the Lake Cumberland Speedway benefit, the racing community sought out Jeff Watson to help him get back on track.
“I didn’t know that many people follow me,” said Watson. “I’ve had so many messages on Facebook. There’s been people that come by the garage — they pull in and hand me money. The benefit at Lake Cumberland [Speedway], it was unreal how much money they donated, just the people in the grandstands. I’m very appreciative. It’s hard to put into words. We’re just doing our thing. We race every weekend, somewhere every Friday and Saturday night. As we’re doing that, we’re building fans that we did not know about. When something like this happens, you realize racing is a great thing.”
While Watson does not have a GoFundMe page set up, he said that if you wish to help his efforts, you can see him at the races or find him on Facebook.
Rise of the Phoenix
Last Friday, Jeff Watson and his team took their crate late model to Ponderosa Speedway in Junction City, Kentucky. There they won the 12th feature of the year on their 2016 Swartz Race Cars chassis that’s been through quite a bit.
“That same car, I was leading a race at Lake Cumberland a few weeks ago, and I got in lapped traffic,” Watson said. “A lapped car hit my in the right rear, turned me on the backstretch and I flipped. That car has been through a flip and now a fire.”
As Watson took the checkered flag for his victory, the meaning of the win dawned on him.
“When I racing, I wasn’t thinking [about the fire] much, but when the checkered [flag] hit and I pulled on the frontstretch, [I] had a lot of emotions,” said Watson. “When that fire hit, that night, it was so bad looking. I thought we were done. That car survived, and it was unreal that I’m back at the racetrack and the car is doing as good as it was did before [the fire]. I thought we would have issues for two to three weeks.”
The Future for Jeff Watson
This weekend, Jeff Watson heads to Florence Speedway in Union, Kentucky, to attend the induction ceremonies for his father, Finn Watson, at the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame. After that, Watson will do what he’s always done — race.
“We’re going to finish out this year with the crate [late model],” Watson said. “I don’t know what insurance is going to do on this deal. If insurance doesn’t do anything, there’s no way I could build another super [late model]. I’m pretty confident they’ll pay for the building, but its contents is what’s up in the air.”
Once the fire marshal’s report comes in, Watson will know more. Regardless, Watson encourages people to read their insurance policies carefully and ask their carriers questions on what exactly gets covered in the event of a catastrophe, such as a fire.
“They let me talk at the pit meeting at Lake Cumberland [Speedway],” said Watson. “I told everybody, ‘If you think it can’t happen to you, it can. Take precaution.’ You never know. The last thing I thought I was going to lay down [to sleep] and wake up in the middle of the night with my racing stuff gone.”
The Outside Groove Executive Editor has covered motorsports since 2000. His many awards include the 2019 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Jim Hunter Writer of the Year and the 2013 Russ Catlin Award for Excellence in Motorsports Journalism.
