6/25/2024
Five Flags Speedway
After Long Break, Davis Enjoying Every Second of Every Lap in Crown Stocks Class
After Long Break, Davis Enjoying Every Second of Every Lap in Crown Stocks Class
By Chuck Corder
5flagsspeedway.com reporter
Dee Davis had zero clue what was in store for her on a sticky evening last August at Five Flags Speedway.
The daughter of two-time Snowball Derby champion Dickie Davis thought she was shaking down a Crown Victoria that would eventually race in the Story & Bleich Roofing Crown Stocks class. That ask was good enough for Dee Davis, who jumps at any chance to drive at Five Flags.
Davis believed she was practicing her father’s Crown Vic for Randy Thompson that summer night. When she came to the pits after 10 laps, crew members David Uebelsteadt and Josh Deason peppered her with questions about the car’s setup and handling.
“How does it feel? What do we need to do it?” the pair asked.
“Well, what do you mean?” Davis shot back.
“You’re gonna be driving it,” Uebelsteadt and Deason said casually, breaking the happy news to her.
Davis was over the moon, to say the least.
“It’s exciting doing something that I’ve grown up around my whole life,” she said. “I’ve been wanting Dad to put me in something for a while. I’d race anything.”
Davis, who raced The Dock on Pensacola Beach Sportsmen class in the mid-2000s, got her Crown Stocks feet wet with three races last season—including the class’s Snowball Derby in December. Davis has three top-10s in seven features this year and is sixth in points currently. She looks to continue her rise Friday night at Pensacola’s high banks.
The Crown Stocks (20 laps) share the marquee with NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick and the country’s finest Super Late Model drivers in the third of four Deep South Cranes Blizzard Series races. The SLMs battle for 100 laps and are also joined by the Sportsmen (25) and the Lloyd’s Glass Pure Stocks (20).
The grandstands open at 5 p.m. Friday with SLM qualifying at 7 and racing slated to begin at 8. There will be pyrotechnics on and above the track, as the track celebrates our nation’s birthday a week ahead of time with fireworks scheduled after the SLM feature.
Admission is $20 for adults; $17 (seniors, military, students); $5 (children ages 6 to 11); and free for the little ones.
Davis used to be one of those little ones, hiding in the backseat of the family car to get into the pits and then watching her father become one of Five Flags’ Friday night heroes. Dickie Davis won two of the first six Snowball Derby races in 1971 and ’73.
Dee Davis has special memories of all his victories.
“If he won, he would pile his car full of kids and drive around the track,” she said. “I always wanted to be in his lap, making sure everyone knew that was my daddy.”
She has thoroughly enjoyed every second of her Crown Stocks experience, even if it has been a work in progress.
“The first race, I had no mirrors,” Davis said. “I was so excited I didn’t care. They were like, ‘Just get out there and do it.’
“It’s such a heavy car and the back end can get free, especially going into turns. If you go in too hard, on the drive off you push way up the track. Go in easy, and it’s tough coming out of the turn. But I’m starting to trust it more.”
She maintains grounded goals as he searches for her first career win at the famed half-mile asphalt oval. Davis’s best career finishes came in the Sportsmen division where she finished second in a heat race and fourth in a feature.
Her Crown Stocks goal is to always be able to see the leaders in front of her.
“I’m tickled to death if I can keep up with the frontrunners,” Davis said. “Being up there, you never know what can happen.”
Her other goal is to get dear ol’ dad in a Crown Stocks before 2024 is up. Dickie Davis is 81 years young and received an offer from Okie Mason just a few months ago to drive one of Mason’s Crown Vics. Dickie Davis declined, but his daughter is determined to make history happen.
“I’m gonna work on him,” Dee Davis said. “It’d be so much fun. He could see how tough and different these cars are. Every single race, he tells me what I did wrong. But everything he says is right. He’s making me better.
“One of the reasons Okie wanted Dad to drive one of his cars is because, back in the day, Dad drove for Okie’s dad, and he thought that would be cool for him to drive for him. Okie’s a cool dude. He has helped me a lot in this class, too.”
She loves the fellowship of all drivers in the Crown Stocks class. They’re quick to help along with all her sponsors, including Gulf Real Estate Group, LLC.
Dee Davis is having the time of her life.
“It has been so much fun,” she said. “I’ve wanted to do this for so long. I do other things I’m good at, like hunting. But my first love is racing. This is the most excitement and fun. I’m having a blast.”
Article Credit: David Kranak Photos
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