Despite sitting third in the points battle at the Kokomo Speedway and second at Gas City heading into last weekend’s action, Scotty Weir and the Edison Motorsports team have opted to go different directions for the remainder of the season.
“Monte [Edison] and I spoke Saturday night and we both agreed that it was probably best for us to go in different directions,” said Weir. “I have some options so I think I’ll be able to still run quite a bit. This car [No. 77 J and S Consulting], I know I will be in at least every other week. The owners of the car work on a NHRA team so they are racing themselves every other week but plan on racing this car those weekends they aren’t at an NHRA event. We’ve talked about me taking the car for a week while they are gone and I’ll take care of it and race it.
“As it looks right now, there might be just a couple of nights I won’t be able to be [at Kokomo] racing,” Weir continued. “This is a good race car. In all the races I’ve competed in this year driving it, we’ve never finished outside the top six. I think things are going to work out fine.”
The combination of Edison and Weir won the Kokomo title in 2008 when Weir replaced Cottle in the seat for most of the season when Cottle elected to chase the USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Series championship driving for the Contos Racing team.
While Weir was on the track competing Sunday, Edison was on hand as a spectator after his No. 10E car was damaged pretty heavily after Weir flipped it Friday night at Gas City. On Sunday, Weir finished second to Justin Grant and that coupled with then points leader Coleman Gullick and second place in points Kyle Larson both competing elsewhere, the Marion driver took over the top spot in the points chase at the local bullring.
“I really thought that Scotty drove a very good, smart race,” said Edison of Weir’s performance Sunday. “I think the big thing that might have hurt him driving for us was that he was trying too hard and putting a lot of pressure on himself.”
Despite going different directions for now, Edison noted that the pair might get back together again down the road. That statement put to rest a couple of rumors — one being that Edison was finished fielding sprint cars and secondly that there were hard feelings between the two following the split.
“I went down and talked to [Weir] after the race on Sunday and told him he did a good job,” Edison noted. “There are no hard feelings at all. We just felt like it was best for us to each do something different.”
There has been no shortage of phone calls inquiring about the empty seat. Edison noted that the calls have ranged from drivers with little experience to some pretty prominent names. A few calls have been from drivers who already have full-time rides, but want to run the car when scheduling allows. However, there have been a few calls from some very recognizable names who would like the opportunity to wheel the car full time.
“Right now we are waiting for some parts to come in so we can put the car back together,” Edison said. “If the shocks make it in soon, there is a chance we can get it back together and possibly be able to race Friday at Gas City. We are hoping to for sure have the car ready for Kokomo on Sunday.”
Edison went on to say that fans shouldn’t draw any conclusions by who is wheeling the car this weekend should it get put back together, simply stating that it would be a one-off deal for the weekend. He said he plans on naming Weir’s replacement next week.
• Brett Bowman may be reached by email at brettbowman29@aol.com or through the sports department.
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