CONCORD, N.C. — The Iron Man would have been proud.
The inaugural Jack Ingram Memorial for late models was run June 11 at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway, honoring the late, great Jack Ingram. It was a show from the word go.
A full field of late model stock cars was on hand for the day, along with the usual contingent of HMS classes. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who holds late models in very high esteem as a driver and car owner, was there as grand marshal, along with several legendary drivers from the historic track’s past.
You know who else was there?
Everybody!
A very large crowd was on hand for the event, rivaling that drawn by the annual Throwback 276 for the CARS Tour, and every one of them it seemed was on the front straightaway prior to the race to get autographs from past champion drivers who helped make Hickory and the NASCAR Xfinity Series what it is today.
I did not see an official estimate of the crowd numbers, but I can tell you, it was BIG. The autograph session was massively attended, and Earnhardt Jr. anchored the line from a table near the exit of turn four.
Hickory is a very important part of Dale Jr.’s past, as he and sister Kelley raced there as young late model drivers.
One of the major reasons that JR Motorsports exists is because of that history and a quest to help develop the next generation of NASCAR drivers.
As it happened, the two-car JRM late model team was on hand, with Josh Berry and Carson Kvapil up. JRM has been pretty good at Hickory over the past several years, especially with Berry, who has won the Throwback 276, the Bobby Isaac Memorial and the Fall Brawl there.
Berry’s story has been told a lot, since he parleyed his opportunity in the late models into a starring role in the NXS (he has four victories in less than two seasons at that level). Tops among the earlier achievements in late models was a 2019 sweep of the annual ValleyStar Credit Union 300 for NASCAR LMs at Martinsville and the 2020 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship.
In short, Hickory was a giant stepping-stone to the career that Berry will someday craft in the upper levels of NASCAR.
Kvapil, the driver who took over the full-time driving duties for Bryan Shaffer’s late model unit, is cut from the same mold. Son of Travis Kvapil, a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion and NASCAR Cup Series star, the younger Kvapil has been on a roll in the late models of late.
Winning the CARS Tour $30,000-to-win Old North State Nationals at Caraway Speedway in March was a great way to get the season started, and he won again at Franklin County Speedway.
Kvapil ran for the team late in 2021, and in his first 10 races, his worst finish was fourth. A cut tire at Dominion Raceway ended that impressive streak.
The Jack Ingram Memorial was a huge event for Hickory Motor Speedway and a huge one for the sport. It tied the past together with the present, and that’s always a good thing. Earnhardt Jr.’s stint as grand marshal was very well received, and he gave the command to start engines with classic showmanship, engaging the crowd to do it with him.
At the end of the day, Berry won the race with Kvapil second — a fitting end to a very apt appreciation for the heroes of the past.