Jimmy Lang Takes First ASA Late Model Win for a Fallen Friend
Saturday’s ASA Late Model South Division season opener at Bronson Motor Speedway in Florida was supposed to be a reunion for 19-year-old racer Jimmy Lang and his childhood friend Josh Froman. Lang, who had been ever-so-close to victory in ASALM competition at several points in his young racing career, wanted nothing more than to score his elusive first victory with his buddy Josh there beside him in victory lane.
100 laps later, as the checkered flag fell Saturday night at Bronson, Lang had taken that first victory that he and his Lang’s Heating & Air #86 team had worked so hard for. As Lang climbed from his winning mount, he could not help but realize something was missing.
Froman lost his life in a motorcycle accident earlier this month, meaning the thrill of a reunion in Bronson’s victory lane would not happen. With Froman’s passing, Lang drove with even more ambition not just to win his first-ever ASALM race, but to do it for Josh.
Jimmy Picked up Career Win Number One at Bronson. (ASA LM / Chuck Gonzalez Photos)
“I had to win it. I had to win it for him,” said Lang. “I wasn’t able to go to the funeral, but he wouldn’t have wanted me to miss the race. He would’ve wanted me to go to the race and to go win it. I’m proud that we were able to do it. I grew up with him. We went to school together from Kindergarten to fourth grade when we switched schools. I wanted to win for Josh.
“So that’s why it feels good to win one and to win one for him. We had been close to winning so many times before. To do it like this here tonight is really special.”
With a fan of his watching from above Saturday night, Lang rocketed to the top of the speed charts right off the trailer in practice on Friday evening, but the team worked hard to tweak on the #86 even more to set a track record qualifying run Saturday night.
“Friday night, we got it pretty fast in practice, but we knew that we’d have to step it up a bit on Saturday. We did a couple different things with the shocks on the left front, changed the left-rear spring – just little things that helped the thing turn a lot off the corner. I was able to get off the corner really well.
“In qualifying, I couldn’t believe we were able to get the track record. We beat it by five-thousandths of a second, but we set it nonetheless.”
With an up-front starting spot for the second year in a row in Bronson, Lang used lessons learned from his fourth-place finish in 2007 to make sure he’d be in a good position come the end of the race.
“Last year at Bronson there were twice as many cars there almost. We rolled off the trailer and we were third or fourth fastest right off, then we qualified sixth. We started on the outside pole and ran 80 laps in second because we didn’t want to rough drive anybody. That ended up getting us pushed out of the way and we finished fourth.
“This year, we didn’t want to rough-drive, but I knew we’d have to race a lot harder.”
Race hard is just what Lang did. He was in the second spot on a final green-white-checkered restart, but when the leader slipped up, he grabbed extra momentum on the bottom groove to check out for the dramatic victory.
“On the last green-white-checkered restart we made a lap, and when the leader went into one, he drove up in there so hard. He went right up the racetrack, and I had a perfect entry. I went down under him and I was clear of him by the time we got to turn three.”
As the somber celebration ensued after the race, Lang couldn’t help but remember his fallen friend and to look forward to the remainder of the 2008 season now that he has started off the season on top.
“We had the car on a roll all weekend. It meant a lot to win it for Josh, and we’ll be out to do it again at Senoia.”
Lang and the #86 team will now hit New Senoia Raceway for the second ASA Late Model South event of the season on April 19th.
