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CONROE, Texas (April 10) -- The JEGS ProMod Challenge has featured its share of impressive winning streaks. Shannon Jenkins started 2002 with back-to-back victories and later ran off three wins in a row en route to the '02 title. Von Smith doubled-up at the end of 2003. Mike Ashley pulled off a trio of successive wins in 2005, followed almost immediately by Josh Hernandez's pair of wins at the conclusion of the season.
But if current points leader Joe Baker, the winner of the first two races of 2008, wants to earn the all-time mark for consecutive victories he'll need to stay perfect for three more events. Only then would he pass Hernandez's record run of four straight wins, which started his march to last year's title. It's both the longest winning streak in the seven-year history of the series and the longest run of wins to start a season.
"I truly wish Joe and that group the best of luck," Hernandez said. "I know how hard it is to pull off back-to-back wins out here, let alone winning two races in a row in two different cars. My hat's off to those guys. What they've accomplished already is very impressive."
A last-minute alternate for the season-opening Gatornationals, Baker rolled his '41 Willys into Gainesville Raceway with zero testing data and high hopes. His team was further hampered by the loss of Friday's action to rain, but they still managed to make the 16-car field on the bump.
Come race day, good fortune and some steady driving put him through to the final where he won his first JEGS ProMod Challenge event after Ray Commisso got loose and tagged the retaining wall.
Two weeks later, Baker went to Houston Raceway Park and did it again, this time as a fill-in driver for Roger Burgess in the powerful ProCare Rx Corvette.
"It takes a little bit of luck to win any event," Hernandez said. "We sure got our fair share last year. But I'll tell you what, Joe is driving great and he deserves everything he's got right now."
Currently fifth in the JEGS points, Hernandez is 111 pts behind Baker and facing the prospect of missing the next event in Atlanta due to a previous commitment. Yet the reigning series champion still likes his chances to defend his title in his AMS Staff Leasing Camaro.
"If the series ended right now I'd look at it as if we're 0-2 and we didn't have a very good year," Hernandez said. "But you have to remember to relax and take these things one race at a time. We want to win every race; that's always been our mindset. But I never look at a season in it's entirety until it's over.
"We're on a bit of a learning curve with an entirely new crew and crew chief, but I'm 100-percent confident we'll be just as strong as we were last year. We've already shown glimpses of it."
Proving his point, Hernandez and his Jim Oddy-led Tommy Lipar Racing crew managed to score the $1,000 Ohio Crankshaft Low Qualifier award in Houston. It was the eighth pole of his career, which tied him with Fred Hahn for the series lead with eight.
"This car will run down a dirt road," Hernandez said. "She's always been very good to me. It's a superb piece. We'll have our chances to make up ground and contend for the title. It's just a matter of coming together as a team. You can have all the best parts and components in the world but if you don't have the right people to put them together, then you have nothing.
"We're on the brink of big things. Houston could have been much better for us but the proverbial 50-cent part broke in Round 2. It happens. The key will be how we handle ourselves moving forward.
"Tommy has a vision of how he wants this team to succeed and so far it's worked out very well. It blows me away to see my stats right there next to Fred Hahn and Mike Ashley, two of my idols growing up. Even so, I still see our best days ahead of us."
Series champ Hernandez still the one to watch in JEGS ProMod Challenge
CONROE, Texas (April 10) -- The JEGS ProMod Challenge has featured its share of impressive winning streaks. Shannon Jenkins started 2002 with back-to-back victories and later ran off three wins in a row en route to the '02 title. Von Smith doubled-up at the end of 2003. Mike Ashley pulled off a trio of successive wins in 2005, followed almost immediately by Josh Hernandez's pair of wins at the conclusion of the season.
But if current points leader Joe Baker, the winner of the first two races of 2008, wants to earn the all-time mark for consecutive victories he'll need to stay perfect for three more events. Only then would he pass Hernandez's record run of four straight wins, which started his march to last year's title. It's both the longest winning streak in the seven-year history of the series and the longest run of wins to start a season.
"I truly wish Joe and that group the best of luck," Hernandez said. "I know how hard it is to pull off back-to-back wins out here, let alone winning two races in a row in two different cars. My hat's off to those guys. What they've accomplished already is very impressive."
A last-minute alternate for the season-opening Gatornationals, Baker rolled his '41 Willys into Gainesville Raceway with zero testing data and high hopes. His team was further hampered by the loss of Friday's action to rain, but they still managed to make the 16-car field on the bump.
Come race day, good fortune and some steady driving put him through to the final where he won his first JEGS ProMod Challenge event after Ray Commisso got loose and tagged the retaining wall.
Two weeks later, Baker went to Houston Raceway Park and did it again, this time as a fill-in driver for Roger Burgess in the powerful ProCare Rx Corvette.
"It takes a little bit of luck to win any event," Hernandez said. "We sure got our fair share last year. But I'll tell you what, Joe is driving great and he deserves everything he's got right now."
Currently fifth in the JEGS points, Hernandez is 111 pts behind Baker and facing the prospect of missing the next event in Atlanta due to a previous commitment. Yet the reigning series champion still likes his chances to defend his title in his AMS Staff Leasing Camaro.
"If the series ended right now I'd look at it as if we're 0-2 and we didn't have a very good year," Hernandez said. "But you have to remember to relax and take these things one race at a time. We want to win every race; that's always been our mindset. But I never look at a season in it's entirety until it's over.
"We're on a bit of a learning curve with an entirely new crew and crew chief, but I'm 100-percent confident we'll be just as strong as we were last year. We've already shown glimpses of it."
Proving his point, Hernandez and his Jim Oddy-led Tommy Lipar Racing crew managed to score the $1,000 Ohio Crankshaft Low Qualifier award in Houston. It was the eighth pole of his career, which tied him with Fred Hahn for the series lead with eight.
"This car will run down a dirt road," Hernandez said. "She's always been very good to me. It's a superb piece. We'll have our chances to make up ground and contend for the title. It's just a matter of coming together as a team. You can have all the best parts and components in the world but if you don't have the right people to put them together, then you have nothing.
"We're on the brink of big things. Houston could have been much better for us but the proverbial 50-cent part broke in Round 2. It happens. The key will be how we handle ourselves moving forward.
"Tommy has a vision of how he wants this team to succeed and so far it's worked out very well. It blows me away to see my stats right there next to Fred Hahn and Mike Ashley, two of my idols growing up. Even so, I still see our best days ahead of us."
