Last season looked like the end for JoJo Watson and his big-block modified career dating back to 2008. But his supporters wouldn’t let him give up, raising $50,000. Their efforts resulted in a win for JoJo last week at Delaware International Speedway.
Toward the end of 2025, JoJo’s car owner C.W. Warrington informed him that last season would be his last fielding a car. JoJo had won at least one feature every year since 2008, except for 2025.
“I said to myself, ‘I don’t want to go out this way,’” JoJo, of Milford, Delaware, said. “I had won every year except last year — I wanted to go out a winner.”
JoJo needed a ride, though.
C.W. offered his longtime driver an engine in exchange for promoting his business, Auto Gallery. However, JoJo needed to come up with everything else. He tallied up the numbers: JoJo needed $50,000.
“I started in December, with a lot of talking and asking friends and family to help by sponsoring my car,” JoJo said. “It took a lot of nos to get enough yeses to raise $50,000.”
JoJo’s cousin Casey Lynch owns Kleen Energy. He quickly said yes.
Two of his best friends, John and Joel Sullivan, and their Sullivan’s Landscaping & Maintenance came on board, too.
Family friends put JoJo in touch with Gene’s Auto Sales. Then Lindale Plumbing joined in. Longtime helper Kenny Coverdale also stepped in as a sponsor.
A total of 13 sponsors pledged their support to keep JoJo racing.
In victory lane, many people from the village who helped JoJo Watson celebrated with him. The effort was worth it.
“I was thinking about all the people who helped me get here — new friends, old friends, my extended family,” JoJo said. “I want to get through this season — it may not be the last — then we can see about next year. Everything may be running well now, but you are always one hit from being set down — it’s just the risk you take being a racer.”
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.
