Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
GUELPH, Ontario — Black Magic Racing is expanding their driver line-up for 2016, as they’re proud to announce that Tom Houghton will be running five to six races behind the wheel of the team’s No. 35 mini stock at Full Throttle Motor Speedway.
“Tom Houghton was looking for a car to drive in 2016 and with Bobby (Tolton) having his own mini stock and traveling to the sportsman races with me, I was in need of a driver for the conflicting dates,” Tolton said. “So I contacted him to see if he would be interested and after meeting with him and discussing the details, he has been scheduled to run five or six events in our Nissan 240SX mini stock.”
Houghton stated this past week that he is thrilled about the opportunity to drive for Tolton and Black Magic Racing this season.
“I think it’s an honor to be chosen, and I’m pretty thrilled to be running a mini stock because I think there’s a good future for mini stocks in southern Ontario,” he said.
The excitement for the limited schedule is high for Kitchener, Ontario native as he states he love the Full Throttle Motor Speedway track.
“It’s asymmetrical, requires a lot of skill and precision to do laps there and stay out of trouble,” he commented. “It should be exciting.”
Houghton notes that the key to success will be having a good set-up underneath the car so that way it handles in the corner, and allows you to use as least brake as possible.
“There’s nothing more fun than you can just come down the straightaway, get off the gas and turn, and if it works for you,” he added. “It’s a joy and a pleasure to drive that track. A good handling car on the high banks is easy to get around.”
Looking towards the year, Houghton is expecting to have a lot of fun with the opportunity, while hopeful to score some top-fives throughout the year.
“It’s a real treat to have a turn-key car that you didn’t have build, tow, fund, and find the sponsors for yourself,” he said. “That’s gonna be fun for me. I think I’m looking forward to getting to know some of the drivers a little better. I haven’t hardly raced against most of these guys before, so it’s going to be neat to be apart of a whole new crowd.”
Houghton enters this season with a lot of experience under his belt, as he has been driving for a long time behind the wheel as a driver. Last season, he picked up checkered flags at Full Throttle, Sauble Speedway and Flamboro Speedway behind the wheel of a outlaw four-cylinder modified, calling it one of his most successful years in racing.
Unfortunately, though, the season fell short of completion for the series due to dwindling car counts from the amount of big wrecks and engine failures that teams suffered.
“Eventually, we didn’t quite have enough cars to put on a good series, but while it lasted, it was fun,” Houghton stated. “I think we put on some good shows with some real close racing with the high speeds that those cars can run. Overall, I’m very pleased with the results.”
Beyond running the events for Tolton this season, Houghton is hoping to run a couple Enduro events.
“I have a good friend Tim (Hallam) – he owns Festival City Transmission in Stratford,” Houghton stated. “He’s a big enthusiast of the Enduro races and he helped me with my Subaru that I ran in the Sprint into Spring. I’m going to be in touch with him to see what he has planned, and see if I can get involved with him.”
Black Magic Racing’s full schedule for the upcoming season can be viewed on the team’s website at http://www.blackmagic-racing.com. Fans can keep up-to-date on Black Magic Racing’s 2016 season plans by checking back in on the website, and by liking the team’s facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Black-Magic-Racing-241776055978725/?fref=ts.
