One week after a destructive flip apparently ended his Semi-Pro season in the Bojangles Summer Shootout, a crowdfunding effort rewarded Garrett Manes with a new car that he promptly took to Victory Lane on Tuesday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The victory was his first in the annual summer weekly event and was made possible due to fans that rallied to his cause via Facebook and Instagram.
Four laps was all it took for Manes to take the lead and he never looked back. He held off a slew of rivals over the course of several restarts to lead 21 of the 25 laps in his No. 1M Legend. Zach Miller, Zack Wells, and Dustin Rumley were ultimately no match for the raw speed of Manes’ new flat white entry.
Restarts were critical as the caution-filled race required Manes to perform six perfect restarts. He timed his jump perfectly and cleared the field off Turn 2 each time, opening a five car-length gap at one point.
“First off with the invert, when they invert the top six, I was like, ‘ah shoot,’ this is going to be our downfall like last week,” Manes said. “But, I finally made a pass and the car wasn’t about to spin out. That was definitely a plus. In the end, it’s Charlotte. You won at Charlotte.
“Once we got to the lead, we would have a car right on our bumper, driving us into turn one on the restarts. I would catch it, and then start driving away. Then I would make a mistake and they were right back on my bumper. Then we got lucky. The two cars that were beating on my back bumper, I don’t know what happened to them. When the 66 (Wells) got racing he was already eight back, he was right with me until then.”
READ MORE: July 11 Summer Shootout Results
As Rumley hounded Manes for the lead, he found himself in a battle with Hudson Halder. Midway into the race, contact between Rumley and Halder sent the latter spinning into turn one. Officials black-flagged Rumley, ending his day, and Halder restarted in the rear of the field. This effectively eliminated part of Manes’ competition.
Manes admitted that each restart were frustratingly nerve-wracking,
“Every single time we usually get bit by the cautions. I was like, ‘We have a five car-length lead! I can make a mistake right now and be okay.’ That final one, I got a nice shove going into the corner, had to save it, and luckily, I cleared them. It was definitely a race to the finish, one slip up and it was over.”
Manes’ father, Jason Manes had mentioned that he had wiped out the savings account, trying to piece together a car for his son. Between the fans at the track, a GoFundMe page, and the teams’ sponsors (SweetFrog Concord, Foster’s Grill, In Light), Manes not only raised enough money for a new car, but for a brand-new engine.
Had it not been for the kindness of race fans and the racing community, Manes might not have had the opportunity to continue to compete in the BoJangles Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway,
“We had a bunch of fans come together, raised a lot of money for us,” Manes said. “Without them, we would not be here. One in particular, we met in the meet and greet, I had never met him in my life. I told him, ‘My car is destroyed, we will not be here next week,’ and they were disappointed. On the way home the next day, I got a message, ‘I have already raised a little bit of money for you.’ Then I got a Facebook message later explaining what they were going to do with it. Who knew that a fan would do that for me.”
The car came together so quickly and so late, that Manes was unable to put the Autism Speaks logo on his car. However, Manes was ecstatic to be representing Autism Speaks and bringing that cause into Victory Lane.
“It shows that even though Autism may be a struggle, that you can overcome it,” Manes said. “You can do what you want, and you can excel at it. This is a prime example right here. I was a driver up against the odds and I brought it to victory lane. We are actually having a fundraiser at Foster’s Grill Concord on July 29, it’s the final Saturday of July. It will help raise money and awareness for Autism Speaks.”
Now Manes and his family team will look to ride the new-found wave of excitement and momentum into the final four rounds of the Summer Shootout.
