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Paradise Found: Garvey Relocates to Pensacola, Finds More Consistent Late Model Success

By Chuck Corder

Mike Garvey looked out his Perdido Key home and saw paradise.

As specks of sunlight danced across slowly crashing waves, Garvey paused to give himself a proverbial pat on the back.

It’s been about a month since Mike Garvey and wife Lisa left Atlanta’s frantic pace and put down roots in the lazy lagoon of Florida’s Panhandle.

But one of the nation’s keenest late model drivers still has to check the calendar to be reminded.

“Rent’s due,� Mike Garvey said. “That’s the only way I can remember it.�

Now mere yards from the Gulf Coast’s paradise, the driver of Tracy Goodson’s No. 1 late models is mere miles from short-track racing’s paradise.

Garvey, who won the Allen Turner Pro late Model Series opener last month, looks for redemption in his Super Late Model at the Papa John’s 100 on Friday night at Five Flags Speedway.

The second of five Buddy’s Home Furnishings Blizzard Series races will also be accompanied by Sportsmen and Bombers features when the gates open at 5 p.m. An autograph session also is anticipated.

Grandstand admission is as follows: $15 adults, $14 seniors, $12 military/students (ages 12 thru 17), $5 children ages 6 to 11 and free for kids under 6. Pit passes are $25.

Garvey had one of the elite cars at the postponed Blizzard opener March 25, battling Augie Grill door to door for the lead early on.

“I thought we had a good shot and we were just biding our time,� Garvey said.

But when an A-frame broke in the middle of the 100-lap race things went south quickly, as Garvey finished a disappointing 21st and defending Snowball Derby champion Chase Elliott took the checkered flag.

It was one of the few sour notes to Garvey’s 2012. The season has seen him bounce back a week after Blizzard frustrations to outduel defending two-time track champion and Snowball runner-up D.J. VanderLey for the Pro win at Five Flags.

Garvey has coupled that win with a handful of top-three and top-five finishes to the early year.

Always a feared and respected driver, Garvey knows it’s no coincidence the move to the Pensacola area has produced more consistent results on the speedways.

Gone are the other obligations of crew chiefing for Ryan Sieg in NASCAR’s Camping World Trucks Series.

Garvey can now pour all his focus into his burning white-hot passion of late models and he gets to share it on a daily basis with those conspicuous yellow No. 1s Five Flags fans have become all too familiar with.

“It’s huge,� Garvey said. “Before, I’d be working trucks and traveling. We’d come down here and do a week’s worth of work in a day and go race. That doesn’t work. Wins come from preparation.�

And on that end, it already has been an extremely productive year for the Goodson shop that currently houses not only Garvey’s late models, but two more from Dwayne Buggay and Chris Davidson’s late model.

Buggay and Davidson, two more Five Flags regulars, have each posted late model victories at respected tracks across the southeast in 2012.

Garvey and Buggay, who still resides in Canton, Ga., have plans down the road to start manufacturing chassis and building racecars for the next crop of late model faces.

“We’re starting slow, and trying to get everything established,� Garvey said. “That’s how you build a customer base.�

For now, he’s happy to be under Goodson’s umbrella. The pair hooked up 3 years ago when Goodson casually mentioned something to Garvey, who was consulting for Goodson’s teenage phenom Hunter Robbins at the time.

“Do you ever wanna race again?� Goodson asked. “If you do, let me know.�

It immediately left an indelible impression with Garvey, who had climbed racing’s ladder all the way up to the Sprint Cup Series in the mid-2000s.

“I love short-track racing,� he said. “It’s the (most fun) thing there is. Doing it with (Goodson), it has brought the fun back. He’s a breath of fresh air.�

Garvey seems to have plenty of fresh air these days both on and off the racetrack.

Finally embracing paradise never felt so good.

 

Blizzard Series Standings

(Through 1 of 5 races)

1. Chase Elliott, Dawsonville, Ga., 62.00; 2. Jeff Choquette, West Palm Beach, 61.00; 3. Bubba Pollard, Senoia, Ga. 56.00; 4. Augie Grill, Hayden, Ala., 53.00; T5. Kyle Benjamin, Easley, S.C., 48.00; T5. Grant Enfinger, Concord, N.C. 48.00; T7. Clay Alexander, Franklin, Tenn., 33.00; T7. Donnie Wilson, Oklahoma City, Okla., 33.00; 9. Josh Hamner, Harpersville, Ala., 31.00; 10. Benjamin Kennedy, Dawsonville, Ga., 30.00; 11. Mike Garvey, Pensacola, 28.00; 12. Logan Boyett, Pensacola, 26.00; 13. Jerry Artuso, Sault St. Marie, Ontario, 25.00; 14. D. J. VanderLey, Mobile, Ala., 24.00; T15. Dwayne Buggay, Canton, Ga., 23.00; T15. Casey Smith, Austin, Texas, 23.00; 17. Danny Bagwell, Cordova, Ala., 22.00; T18. David Rogers, Orlando, 21.00; T18. Jeremy Pate, Pensacola, 21.00; T18. Tyler Miles, Pulaski, Tenn., 21.00; T18. Ryan Crane, Panama City, 21.00; T18. Chris Davidson, Pearland, Texas, 21.00; T18. Tony Clark, Sharpsburg, Ga., 21.00; T18. Chris Serio, Hoover, Ala., 21.00; T18. Cale Gale, Winston Salem, N.C., 21.00; T18. Kurt Jett, Orange Park, 21.00; T18. Jimmy Garmon, Hoschton, Ga., 21.00; T18. Allen Karnes, Sharpsburg, Ga., 21.00; T18. Anthony Sergi, Geneva, 21.00; T18. Dennis Schoenfeld, Van Buren, Ark., 21.00; T18. Wayne Niedecken Jr., Milton, 21.00; 32. Matt Tifft, Hinckley, Ohio, 1.00

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