Cody Kinard had a new street stock to drive at Abilene Speedway, but, due to shoulder surgery, he relinquished his seat to a friend. That substitute driver, Michael Maraschick, won with the car during last weekend’s Ice Breaker event.
“Cody is a 40-year-old friend of mine who expressed interest in wanting to drive a race car two years ago,” Maraschick, of Midland, Texas, said. “He’s a late bloomer. We found him an old street stock to get his feet wet. Once he got his lumps by racing it about 10 times, he bought this new street stock.”
Kinard found dirt racing by chance.
“My kids were into roping steers, not race cars,” said Kinard, of Midland, Texas. “I had friends racing on pavement, and I always wanted to try it. Then, the pavement tracks all went away. In 2020, I noticed this weird-looking Monte Carlo race car on a trailer. So, I asked about it on Wednesday, bought it on Thursday, and raced it on Friday.”
That car’s cockpit served as his seat in the classroom of racing. He liked what he learned and wanted more. So, he bought a better car.
“It is a hot race car, so I figured I’d get an experienced driver behind the wheel,” Kinard said. “It would have to be Michael, who helped me get into racing in the first place.”
Maraschick normally races modifieds. He won his first street stock heat race with Kinard’s car on Friday. On Saturday, Maraschick won the feature.
“Jay Grimes, from Jay Grimes Chassis Technology, helped me out, as did Abilene Speedway IMCA modified champ Josh McGaha,” Maraschick said. “We were able to take the lead on lap four of the 20-lap feature, and we never gave it up”
Cody Kinard, however, was not there to witness it. He had to supervise a hunt on his ranch.
“That’s my big regret,” Kinard said. “But, now I know I have a great car for the new season — one that will win.”
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.
