1994 National Champion Has No Plans to Slow Down
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| David Rogers' white No. 11 is a familiar sight at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway. |
You couldn’t be more wrong.
In fact, Rogers earned his third consecutive NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Florida championship in 2015, and has no plans to stop racing his super late model anytime soon.
“When I quit enjoying racing, I’ll quit,” Rogers said. “But I still love it.”
Rogers credits his team’s consistency as the key to their current state title run. Despite not winning a race this season, Rogers earned seven top-five finishes and eight top-10 finishes in 16 starts at New Smyrna Speedway. His last points win was Aug. 17, 2013. He won three times that year en route to the Florida title in New Smyrna's first year as a NASCAR-sanctioned track.
This is the longest victory drought in Rogers’ 40-year racing career, and one he isn’t particularly fond of.
“I should have enjoyed those winning streaks a little more I guess,” said Rogers, who finished as runner-up in four of his last six races this year. “I can lose one race, and I’m already tired of losing.”
Rogers has raced alongside the legends of NASCAR, including Dale Earnhardt, David Pearson, Harry Gant, and Jack Ingram. When asked about the differences between drivers entering the sport today compared to his first win at the old Florida State Fairgrounds in 1974, Rogers said he sees fewer young drivers working on their cars.
“It’s enormously different – I was an old man (at 18 years old) compared to today’s standard as far as when they start driving. And if you were racing a car, you were working on a car,” he said.
One aspect of racing that hasn’t changed for Rogers is the camaraderie and friendship he enjoys with his all-volunteer crew – “I buy their dinner and I buy their beer and that keeps them pretty happy” – though his schedule isn’t quite as hectic as years past, when he competed in well over 50 races per season.
Rogers finished third in the New Smyrna Division I standings, 12 points behind champion Anthony Sergi and six behind veteran driver Brad May. U.S. state and Canadian province champions are determined by a drivers best 14 finishes within the state or province.
Rogers will be honored along with other state / province and track champions from across North America on Dec. 11 at the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Awards at the Charlotte Convention Center and NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Established in 1982, the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series is NASCAR’s national championship program for weekly short track auto racing. In all, 58 paved and dirt tracks throughout the United States and Canada participated in 2015.
Connecticut-based Whelen Engineering is the series’ title sponsor. Whelen Engineering is a leading manufacturer of automotive, aviation, industrial and emergency vehicle lighting. NASCAR tracks and pace cars are among the many showcases for Whelen products.
Rogers has raced at New Smyrna since the 1970s. He briefly moved to the newly-paved Volusia County Speedway, a half-mile oval in nearby Barberville, Fla. He won the series’ 1994 national championship with a perfect record of 22 wins in 22 starts. He won four track titles at Volusia before the track moved away from super late models in 1995, and Rogers returned to New Smyrna.
New Smyrna will celebrate the achievements of all of its competitors at their Awards Banquet on Jan. 9 at the Spruce Creek Fly In Country Club.
Rogers says he is still hoping to get that elusive first win in 2015 at the half-mile asphalt oval just ten miles south of Daytona International Speedway when New Smyrna hosts the 50th Annual Governor’s Cup on Nov. 15, a race Rogers has won twice previously.
“There’s nobody at the racetrack who wants to win more than I do.”
- Credit to NASCAR Home Tracks for this article.
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