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Enjoying Resurgence in Super Stocks, Mader also Hopes to Turn Back Clock at Papa John’s 125

By Chuck Corder

Dave Mader III had been lying in the weeds the last few years.

That’s hard to do when you share an honor with the likes of Sprint Cup star Jimmie Johnson, as a NASCAR series champion for four years in a row or longer in Johnson’s case.

Mader’s 2012 season went up in smoke because of health issues. But once 2013 rolled around, the 1978 Snowball Derby champion was gradually getting comfortable in the seat.

A feature here, a feature there and the signs were clear that Mader was getting his asphalt legs underneath him once again.

In 2014, it’s like he never abandoned the wheel. Mader owns Super Stock victories this season at both Five Flags Speedway and Mobile International Speedway.

A Faith Chapel Super Stocks feature win last month in Pensacola was all the alarm Mader’s adoring fans needed to champion his return.

“It feels as good as it always has,� Mader said June 13.

Five Flags fans will feel good come Friday when they’ll be treated to not one, but two starts for the 59-year-old driver.

Currently running sixth in the Faith Chapel Super Stocks division standings, Mader will climb behind the steering wheel of the T.J. Williams-owned No. 33.

The bigger news for Friday, though, is that Mader will steer a Super Late Model for the first time since his last Snowball Derby start in 2009.

The 2006 Blizzard Series track champion, Mader will be in the field for the Papa John’s 125, the third of four Buddy’s Home Furnishings Blizzard Series this season.

He’ll be driving for old friends Tony Smith and Steve Hall in what also marks the 10th race of the year for the Southern Super Series slate.

The Beef “O� Brady’s Sportsmen and Butler U-Pull-It Bombers continue their respective seasons Friday, which also brings Five Flags annual fireworks show, presented by Deep South Crane Rentals.

The gates open at 4 p.m. Friday with qualifying set for 6:30 and features to begin promptly at 8. Admission is $15 for adults; $12 for seniors, students, military; $5 for children ages 6 to 11; free for kids 5 and under.

Despite the long layoff from SLMs, Mader’s expectations are, as always, sky high.

“Getting us a top-10 finish the first time out would be a good goal,� said Mader, who won four consecutive NASCAR All-American Challenge Series titles (1985-1988); Johnson won five Sprint Cup titles in a row from 2006 through 2010. “I’ve been practicing one for several years. The last time I raced, I won over in Mobile.�

Initially, Mader fondly remembered that feature race in September 2007 at MIS before pausing a few seconds and sheepishly recalling the 2009 Derby that was wrought with trouble.

“We had the worst luck,� said Mader, who drove for Eddie Craig that year. “It had a bad rear end. I wrecked the car a couple times in practice. It was terrible.

“We started the Snowball, and we had a good run going before the rear end shorted out and there was a fire with the wiring.�

Wanting to stay involved with a passion he’ll never fully surrender — and, why should he — Mader retreated to his shop a few years ago and began helping with the setups of local cars.

The Irvington, Ala., resident passed the time by turning wrenches for friends, such as Sportsman driver Lee “Red Dog� Reynolds, and a handful of other Mobile-area drivers.

That’s what he was doing for Williams in March before some of Williams’ old bull-riding injuries flared up before the first Super Stocks feature at MIS.

“He came to me a little late, but T.J. didn’t know how long it would take to set the car up,� Mader said. “That’s the reason we missed the first race in Pensacola.

“(Williams) wanted to drive it, but the day before the first race he realized he couldn’t do it. T.J. watched my dad race, so he asked me. I said, ‘No, no, this is your thing.’ But he insisted.�

So here he is. Back at the famed half-mile oval where he is forever beloved.

Mader followed in the giant footsteps of his legendary father who won 430 races “against every name in racing you could muster up,� said the younger Mader, who owns 231 wins himself.

“I’m proud to be his son,� he continued. “Dad was a brick mason. I tried being a brick mason, but I didn’t like it. I wanted to race. I wouldn’t have done anything different.�

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