Goff driven after being 'robbed' of title

By LOGAN NEILL

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 2, 2001

The scene at Citrus County Speedway couldn't have been better scripted by a Hollywood screenwriter.

On the final Saturday of the season last year, Hobby Stock driver J.D. Goff lined up two cars behind his season-long rival as the racers began their pace lap. Goff, who held a one-point margin over teenage driver Chris Hooker, needed to finish within one car of him to capture the division championship.

The huge crowd seemed to hold a collective breath as the cars sped toward the start-finish line. Then, it happened.

Just as the green flag fell, Goff felt the bump from behind that sent his No. 14 Camaro spinning toward the outside wall. Though he tried to regain control, it was too late.

Watching as the left rear wheel of his car wobbled past, Goff knew his race was finished. The chances of winning his first title rode off with eventual champion Hooker. To this day, the heartbreak of that night tugs at Goff. The 25-year-old Brooksville driver shakes his head at the incredulity of it all.

"I felt I got robbed," Goff says of the incident. "Robbed by the track, robbed by people that don't think they can beat you any other way but to take you out. It was very frustrating."

On one point, Goff is certain. That night, some fellow racers, whom he's reluctant to name, were out to get him. Call it animosity, call it jealousy, Goff says, but the driver vows friends and family members tried to warn him before the final race that something was afoot and he should watch out.

Months later, Goff says he carries no hard feelings for Hooker (who has sinced moved to the Sportsman division), nor does Goff suspect the majority of the Hobby Stock drivers he races against each week. But he contends that there appears to be some unfinished business by those who helped thwart his efforts.

"I know the same people are still there this year," Goff says. "But this time I'm going to be watching them closer than ever. I have to."

Though last season's incidents are fresh in his mind, Goff thinks it's time to move on. That's why he has devoted much of the past few months to further perfecting the car that took him to nine victories and nearly two dozen top-five finishes last year.

"I could have rebuilt the entire car, but I figured why mess up a good thing," Goff says. "The new rules allowed us to add some (bumper) bars to the front, so we did that, and I reskinned the body, but other than that, nothing has changed."

The car, which Goff built with help from his uncle, Forest, and grandfather, George, was one of the first Camaro's run in Hobby Stock when it debuted two years ago. Goff considers it perfectly suited for the ever-changing conditions on the quarter-mile track.

"On my heat race last week, we started from dead last and went right to the front," he says. "No matter where I put it on the track, low or high, it goes. It's very consistent."

Consistency is what Goff figures it will take to finally win the Hobby Stock championship he has so long coveted.

The fact he hasn't perhaps is the biggest reason he hasn't moved up to a faster class.

"I like Hobby Stock because I know a lot of the people who run every week," Goff says. "Some of them I don't care too much personally, and some of them just aren't very good drivers.

"I just want everyone to know that I come out every week to race," he says. "If they got a car that can beat mine, or if they can out-drive me, that's okay -- prove it on the track. But if all they want to do is beat and bang on me all night, that's another thing. And it ain't racing."

Citrus County Speedway

WHAT: Short-track stock car racing in Late Models, Sportsman, Street Stocks, Hobby Stocks and Street-Legal Junkers.

WHEN: Saturday. Grandstand gates open at 4 p.m. The first heat race is at 6:30.

WHERE: 2 miles south of Inverness on U.S. 41.

ADMISSION: $10 adult general admission; $8 seniors and students to age 17; $2 children under 10; free under-12 child admission with paid adult; $20 pits.

INFORMATION: (352) 726-9339.

Points standings

LATE MODEL: No points races until March 31.

SPORTSMAN: (1.) Mark Dominique, 43. (2.) Rex Struble, 42. (3.) Mike Veltman, 40. (4.) Sport Wilson, 38. (5.) John Gann, 37.

STREET STOCK: (1.) Travis Nichols, 45. (2). Harley Wilson, 41. (3). John LeVecque, 40. (4). tie. Victor Stanley, Ernie Reed, 38.

MINI STOCK: (1.) Richie Powers, 44. (2.) Rob Wheatley, 43. (3.) Mark Sowell, 41. (4.) Kevin Harrod, 40. (5.) Mike Moore, 35.

HOBBY STOCK: (1.) Richie Smith, 46. (2.) Kreg Belcastro, 41. (3.) Art Bruenginsen, 41. (4.) J.D. Goff, 40. (5.) Roy Perkins, 39.

FIGURE 8: (1.) Bob Hage, 40. (2.) Peanut Higgenbotham, 38. (3.) J.R. Meyer, 36. (4). Charlie Meyer, 34. (5.) Robbie Hage, 32.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright