SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — For the better part of four months veteran racer Mike Looney stepped away from racing.
The car he was driving for longtime car owner Billy Martin had been heavily damaged in a hard crash during the first race of a twin-race event on May 24 at South Boston Speedway and needed extensive repairs.
The crash was not the reason for Looney stepping away. It merely opened a door. His life was out of balance. His team owner was working through health issues. A couple of their team members were dealing with things outside of racing.
“It was a perfect storm, a perfect time to take a break,” Looney said while taking a break from splitting wood in preparation for the coming winter. “I’m really thankful I did.”
When asked what led him to take a break from racing, Looney had a one-word reply – “God.”
“God was guiding me down a path to taking a break. I ignored it for way too long. Finally, He set the parking brake on me. I listened.
“I feel a lot better,” he continued. “Things are really going great. I was able to get baptized over the summer. I’ve always been a Christian, but for some reason I had always put that off until now. I’ve been really working on a lot of personal things in my life.”
Racing had consumed the 2023 NASCAR national runner-up and Virginia state champion for the better part of three decades.
“People don’t know what it’s like,” Looney explained. “I’ve been going as hard as I can racing since 1995. I was still in high school. I gave a hundred percent of my life to racing. I put racing above my job. I put racing above my family and my marriage. I’m on the back side of 40, and this, now, is a part of life I’ve never enjoyed before.”
While the break provided time for Looney to gain a new balance and perspective, other circumstances in play made the break a timely one.
“It was a good break from a human resources standpoint,” Looney noted. “Our team had some health issues. Billy (car owner Billy Martin) is getting healed back up. He wasn’t able to race. One guy is building a house. It was just a perfect time for a break.”
The grind of racing had taken its toll on Looney and his team.
“You can do something fun for so long and work at it so hard that it isn’t fun anymore,” he explained. “That’s kind of where we were, just dreading going to the racetrack, dreading going to the track and practicing, and dreading driving that tow rig for five hours up and down the road. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing.”
There is also the overwhelming amount of time and effort it takes to be competitive in Late Model Stock Car racing now.
“When you’re not wealthy and you don’t have a paid crew that fixes everything for you, you’ve got to work on the car seven days a week, this includes the wintertime,” Looney noted. “These Late Model teams have evolved in how many man hours they can put towards it. Just from a human resources side, we just don’t have the manpower to compete. We’ve got the equipment, we don’t have the man hours.”
Looney and Billy Martin Racing came out of their break in late September to compete in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway. Misfortune and heartbreak struck quickly as Looney was caught up in a multi-car incident right after the green flag waved to start the 200-lap feature. Looney soldiered through the race and finished 17th.
“That was unfortunate,” Looney remarked. “It’s the nature of Martinsville. I’m prepared for that. That made nine years I’ve been driving for Billy at Martinsville. In the nine years we’ve got a win, two seconds, a fourth, and five crashes. It would be interesting to see if anybody other than Lee Pulliam has a better finishing average.”
Looney has entered the State Water Heaters Krush 250 Presented by Rogers Heating & Cooling set for November 8 at South Boston Speedway. The showcase 250-lap Late Model Stock Car Division race will pay $12,000 to win and will carry a $75,000 purse.
The State Water Heaters Krush 250 Presented by Rogers Heating & Cooling is a fund-raising event for The Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit conservation and outreach organization.
Looney is looking forward to competing in the event.
“I’m an avid hunter and outdoorsman, and I really like Jeb and Ward Burton and support their cause,” Looney said. “We love hunting, we love the outdoors, and we love South Boston Speedway.”
Looney has compiled a solid record at South Boston Speedway over the 2024 and 2025 seasons. He had won a pole and earned four top-five finishes and five top-10 finishes in his six starts this season at South Boston Speedway. His combined totals at South Boston Speedway for the 2024 and 2025 seasons show a pole, 14 top-five finishes including seven second-place finishes, and 18 top-10 finishes in 20 starts.
“I’m optimistic,” Looney said. “The last race we ran we crashed early, and I felt it was the best car we’d had in two years there. It was going to be good on longer runs. Hopefully we can pick up where we left off. Hopefully the speed will be there. We’ve still got really competitive equipment, and great sponsors. We just need a little luck.”
