Pro Stock Champion Fahey to Sportsman for 2013, Aspires for PST Ride

The rumors that have been swirling for the last few months are true.

In what may be the biggest move during this off season, St. Stephen, New Brunswick’s Greg Fahey is moving from his familiar Pro Stock ride at Speedway 660. The A.L. Gullison Disaster Kleen-up Pro Stock division has been Fahey’s playground over recent years, winning three championships in the top class in Geary over the past five years, so a move may not have come as a surprise to fans. Where he is moving for 2013 though has caught most of us off guard – the Sportsman division.

Fahey, who ran in the weekly class at Speedway 660 for two seasons (2004 and 2005), will be returning to the class following a recent car swap with Tom Prosser. “With the lack of sponsorship, it was getting too expensive for my team to stay in the Pro Stock class,” said Fahey of the deal. “I still want to race, and the Sportsman class seems to be the best choice. I got an email from Tom proposing the deal, and after thinking long and hard about it, I decided to go ahead with it. The Sportsman is a Fraser built car and they took good care of it.”

The decision was not an easy one to come to for Fahey. While in the Pro Stock division at Speedway 660, Fahey won three championships from 2006 to 2011 while he ended the 2007 and 2010 seasons finishing second. Fahey also earned two Street Stock titles back-to-back in ’02 and ’03. With his combined five titles, he joins Saint John’s Rick Cashol and Nackawic’s Brian Gillespie as the only three drivers to win five or more Weekly Racing Series championships at Speedway 660 since the opening of the track in 1994.

While Fahey will be racing in the Sportsman class in 2013, he has not given up on his ultimate goal and dream, to race on the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour. “I have not given up on my Pro Stock career yet,” said Fahey on the possibility of returning to the top division of stock car racing in Atlantic Canada. “This is just a small bump in the road. My ultimate goal is to find a ride with a good team that runs on the Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour. I know I would be a good fit in the series, I’m a clean driver and I finish races. I don’t tear up equipment. I’d love to get a shot with a team like Rollie MacDonald’s, Steve Henderson’s or Frank Fraser’s, to prove that I belong with those guys on the Tour.” Fahey also mentions that sponsorship dollars from his camp can be brought to a potential deal if the offer is right.

In addition to running full-time in a Pro Stock at Speedway 660 since 2006, Fahey has eight Parts for Trucks Pro Stock Tour starts to his credit, six of those coming at Speedway 660. He has four career top tens in Tour sanctioned events, with his first top five coming in July 2008 at Speedway 660. His most impressive outing on the Tour came in Geary in July 2011, where Fahey swept qualifying by setting the pace in Time Trials, winning the Pole Dash and led 83 laps in the Parts for Trucks 100 before being passed by a hard charging three-time Tour champion in Shawn Tucker of Fredericton for the win late in the feature. Fahey wound up second in his #20, but maybe more importantly, he turned heads of Tour fans and officials with his ability on that Saturday night at 660.

For now, Fahey and his team will look towards 2013 and the Sportsman class, a division he won a Rookie of the Year title at Speedway 660 in 2004. “At this point, we will not be running weekly at Speedway 660,” said Fahey of his schedule in 2013. “We may run some point races at 660, but we are going to focus on the big races around the province. I am looking forward to being back in the class. The competition is tough at every track in this region and I am excited to see where I stack up!”

The Sportsman class runs at four tracks in New Brunswick. In addition to Speedway 660, River Glade’s Petty International Raceway, Grand Barachois’s Centre for Speed and Miramichi’s Speedway Miramichi run either special events or weekly classes for the division. Speedway 660 and Petty International Raceway are usually the first two tracks to open their doors for the season in May.

For more information on the racing scene in Atlantic Canada, keep tabs on TimsCorner.ca throughout the winter season.

Greg Fahey hustles his Pro Stock ride down the back straight at Speedway 660 during qualifying for the Auto Value 250. Photo Credit: Matt Jacques Photography