LAKE CITY, Fla. – The last name Pauch carries a sense of responsibility in Northeast auto racing. It’s safe to say Billy Pauch Jr. is doing the legacy well.
Pauch, the third-generation of the famed New Jersey racing family, enjoyed a successful season traversing the dirt tracks of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware.
The Milford, N.J., driver recorded 10 victories in the modified division amidst his other open-wheel racing endeavors.
Among those conquests was a nationally televised victory with the Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series (STSS) Fueled By Sunoco at Georgetown (Del.) Speedway. Pauch ran down and passed the region’s leading winner – Matt Sheppard – and went on to win the VAHLCO Racing Wheels Blast at the Beach presented by Melon 1 in August.
Pauch won twice on the Georgetown clay, picked up a pair of victories at Big Diamond Speedway in Minersville, Pa., and racked up six Sunoco checkered flags at New Egypt (N.J.) Speedway en route to the championship in the track’s headline division.
Now, with the 2019 campaign fading into the rear view, Pauch has his sights set on a new goal: the inaugural Sunshine Swing at All-Tech Raceway in Lake City, Fla., Feb. 5-8.
The 32-year-old has filed an entry to compete in the Sunshine Swing’aboard the Rick Holsten-owned No. 96 with progressively lucrative payouts: $5,000 on Thursday, $7,500 on Friday and $10,000 on Saturday.
While he has competed in the Sunshine State previously driving a pavement modified and micro sprint, Pauch has never taken part in a dirt modified event on Florida soil. That will change in just more than a month’s time at the half-mile oval located roughly an hour to the south and west of Jacksonville.