Batesville Motor Speedway
Busy Moyer pauses to take aim at Topless 100
By Joshua Joiner
DirtonDirt.com staff writer
Billy Moyer finds his Victory Circle Chassis dealership can take away from his own racing program. (thesportswire.net)
Heading into last year’s Comp Cams Topless 100 at Batesville Motor Speedway, Billy Moyer of Batesville, Ark., was on top of his game. Fresh off a $100,000 Dream victory in May and six UMP DIRTcar Summernationals wins throughout June and July, Moyer was among the favorites to capture this $40,000-to-win event at his home track.
This year things are quite different for the Hall of Famer this week as he prepares to head back to the 3/8-mile racetrack located a few miles outside of Batesville for the 19th annual Comp Cams Topless 100. | Complete Topless 100 coverage
Since May of this year, Moyer has posted just three victories, compared to 14 during the same time period last year and 10 in 2009. While he may still be winning, it’s at a much slower pace than what he’s accustomed to, and even Moyer admits he’s in a bit of a slump.
“We’ve definitely let things slip away from us a bit,” Moyer, who operates a chassis and parts supply business along with his racing program. “You get off on a few things and a lot of times you go slower before you go faster; that’s kinda where we’re at right now. We’re trying some new things, but now you’ve got these big races coming up and it’s time to get back on top of things.”
Experimenting and tinkering with new setups and technology isn’t all that’s slowed Moyer lately. Moyer, who drives and sells a variation of the California-based Victory Circle Race Cars, has seen a huge increase in demand for his cars, thanks mostly to his strong performance over the past two years. And as he’s worked to meet that demand and keep up with business, he says his own racing program has suffered.
“It definitely takes away from my racing and here lately that’s probably some of what you’re seeing,” Moyer said of his business, which he began late in 2007. “I don’t get to work on my car as much as I did before cause I’m in the office handling UPS shipments or on the phone helping guys with tech stuff. There’s just not enough hours in the day to get everything we need to done on my cars when we’re focusing on business and making sure our customers get what they need.
“We didn’t know exactly what we were getting into when we first started this,” Moyer added. “We were just running wide open building and selling fast race cars. When you get 80 to 100 cars out there, that’s a lot of guys to keep up with. We pledge to provide parts and support for all those guys, so you gotta do all you can to be there for them.”
Scaling back the business side of things may seem like an easy fix to Moyer’s problem, but the 53-year-old racer doesn’t plan to do that any time soon. He’s actually looking at expanding his operation during the offseason.
“Keeping up with it all is a big job. It isn’t something we can’t do, we just need some more help,” Moyer said. “We’ve got four or five guys trying to do it all, but we’re gonna get some more guys in here over the winter. For now we’re doing the best with what we’ve got.”
While he may have to wait before adding more manpower, Moyer isn’t writing off the remainder of the season. Even with the limited focus he has on his own race car, he’s still confident in his ability to win races.
“There’s still some big races coming up and we’re capable of winning any of ‘em that are left. I wouldn’t go if I didn’t think we could win,” Moyer said. “We’ve just gotta get our stuff back to where we had it. Last year every time we unloaded we were pretty good. We gotta get ourselves back in that mode.”
He may not be currently performing at the level he was in ’09 and ’10, but Moyer is at least heading into the Topless 100 with some momentum after he scored his first victory since July 2 last weekend in a Comp Cams Super Dirt Series event at West Plains (Mo.) Motor Speedway.
But even with the victory under his belt, Moyer isn’t convinced his problems are solved. He still wasn’t completely happy with the performance of his race car in the race, which he nearly lost in a battle with his son Billy Moyer Jr.
“Any win’s always good, but you can tell when you’re good and when you’re not,” Moyer said. “I still wasn’t where I need to be. Maybe I’m just too particular, but I feel like we still needed to be better. Little Billy ran my butt off. He was really quite a bit better than we were, he just don’t have the seat time his dad does.”
While his own car might not have been quite to his liking, the older Moyer was happy with the performance of his son’s race car, which is a new Victory Circle from the Moyer shop. Some of the things the Moyers were testing on Moyer Jr.’s car has Moyer feeling good about this weekend.
“We just built him a new car and it was really, really good,” the older Moyer said of his son’s car. “We had some things different on his than mine and I feel like we learned a few things from that, so we’ll incorporate some of his stuff into mine. Hopefully we’ll hit it right on this weekend where we can both run good out there.”
Don’t be surprised if Moyer is able to get things turned around with a strong showing at Batesville. With four victories, he’s won the race more than any other driver. And with the opportunity to score a bounce-back triumph at his home track, Moyer may have some extra motivation this weekend.
“Any of the big races are special to win, but being right here at home it’s a little extra special to us. And this one pays good, so that makes it worthwhile for sure if we could capture it again,” Moyer said. “We’ve been pretty good out here over the years and I think we’re definitely capable of putting together another good run.”
