Christian Eckes has been off to a hot start during the 2017 season. Thought he doesn’t have one in the ‘W’ column, he has two straight runner-up finishes. Of course, there is nothing more the 16-year-old driver would like than to change that, and he hopes to do so this weekend at The Rattler 250 at South Alabama Speedway.
“It would really mean a lot,” said Eckes. “We’ve been in some kind of drought as far as wins the past couple of races, as we’ve finished second the past two races. We’ve been in contention in every race, it just hasn’t fallen in our favor just yet. I’m excited to try to make that change this weekend with my Fury Race Car/Toyota Racing team.”
The Greenville, New York driver earned a third-place finish in his first Rattler experience a year ago. After qualifying 11th, the young driver worked his way as high as second before settling for a third place finish.
“We actually were in contention for the win most of the day and we kind of faded back late, but I think that’s definitely one of my strong points as far as race tracks so I’m really looking forward to getting there and trying again,” said Eckes.
Last year marked Eckes’ first ever trip to South Alabama Speedway (AL) and with that experience under his belt he’s confident in what lies ahead this weekend.
“I learned a lot last year,” said Eckes. “Track position is huge at South Alabama, so we’re going to have to keep that in our mind going in. Now that I’ve been to the track it’s going to be easy to get back to a rhythm there.”
While a win on Sunday might not be the biggest of his career, those honors belong to winning the Snowball Derby in December, Eckes says it would definitely be a highlight. However, if he does pull his No. 15 Fury Race Car into Victory Lane, he might not be as happy for the rattle snake presentation as other past event winners.
“I don’t think I’d be able to do that,” said Eckes. “I think I’d have to stand on the other side of the car while they do that, but like I said, I’m really excited to try again there.”
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