ELLISVILLE, Fla. (Oct. 21) — During the middle stages of the prestigious $28,000-to-win Newsome/Raceway Parts Network Crate Racin’ USA Dirt Late Model Series-sanctioned Powell Family Memorial Saturday night at All-Tech Raceway, eventual winner Cory Hedgecock and was heading the pack at the massive half-mile oval.
Behind him were some of the best racers in the country in the division, and all were searching for the top prize on a well-prepared track surface that was providing lots of racing room. Right there among the whole group was relatively-unheralded Bubba Roling of Middleburg, Fla., an up-and-coming kid who was making his first-ever start in one of the division’s biggest events of the season.
The track was slick and racy, and lurking back in fifth position was the 16-year-old teenager who has been making a name for himself this season at several different tracks, including All-Tech. Roling has won eight races this season, spreading the success between three different tracks in both 602 Late Model Sportsman and 604 Late Model competition.
“We’ve won races at All-Tech, Needmore Speedway [Norman Park, Ga.], and Swainsboro Raceway & Swainsboro Kart Track, and we’ve also been close a time or two at Volusia Speedway Park [Barberville, Fla.], but haven’t quite gotten it done there,” Roling said after posting an impressive eighth-place showing in the 28th running of the event that honors the memory of six members of the prominent and well-known Powell family of Astor, Fla., six of whom lost their lives in a tragic plane crash near Gainesville, Fla., on June 7, 1995.
The situation didn’t look good early, but after starting from the outside of the seventh row in a 28-car field, Roling was soon rolling. He reached as high as fifth place, a strong factor in a very stout field that was perhaps way beyond his limited years of experience in full-bodied machines.
“The car was definitely not good at the beginning,” Roling said after the race. “It felt like garbage. About halfway, it started getting better. It was our first time in a 604 Late Model at the Powell Memorial, so we didn’t know exactly what to expect, but the car started running better and we were passing cars, and next thing you know we were up there with ‘em.”
During the latter part of the season, Roling drew some attention with a double-win night in weekly competition at All-Tech, taking the checkered flag in both 602 Late Model and 604 Late Model features Sept. 9 at the track. He added another 604 Late Model win on Sept. 16 at Needmore Speedway in Norman Park, Ga.
The whole year has been an arrival party of sorts for a young driver who has taken some big steps after acquiring some helpful support from a man the youngster politely calls Mr. Jeff. Roland’s father once worked for Jeff Maloy, who owns and operates Maloy Grading, and the relationship has led to a situation where the team’s equipment and race cars were acquired by Maloy, unexpectedly giving the young driver the backing he needs to chase a racing dream.
“That has turned everything completely around for us,” the younger Roland said. “Mr. Jeff came along, and basically took over my whole racing career, and that’s been a big blessing. We totaled our GRT at Golden Isles Speedway [Waynesville, Ga.], and he told us he had a race car in his shop that had absolutely nothing on it, and he told us we could take it and put our motor in it, and go racing again. He shook my hand, and just gave it to me.”
While that story might give hope to other young drivers that indeed a big break can come your way at any particular moment, don’t think that Roland hasn’t earned his keep. He works on race cars, wants to understand how and why they work, and has an old-school approach to a sport that sometimes has a different attitude than 20 or 30 years ago. Often seen wearing his cap backwards in a new-school kid sorta way, the youthful Roling approaches the sport like an old-school racer.
“I’m just a kid, and I’m not meaning to throw off on nobody or anything, but there’s a lot of young drivers in this sport coming along who don’t really know much about the cars and they don’t work on them much,” Roling said. “Some of these younger drivers today don’t know what spring to use, what the shocks really do, and other stuff that can help you get so much better in the sport. Me and Dad and the rest of our team…we have three race cars to maintain and we’re working on them ourselves every night. It’s a constant process. I really want to understand the cars, and not just drive ‘em.”
Roling has lofty goals in the near future, and wants to compete on a regular basis with the Crate Racin’ USA circuit. That will possibly make him a rookie of the year candidate on the Adam Stewart-managed tour in 2024.
“We definitely want to start traveling full time next season,” Roling said. “We’re planning on running every weekend with ‘em. Cole Exum has come on board with us to be a crew chief, and he’s smart with these cars and I think he can take me a long ways. We’re planning on a full schedule, and we plan to be there every race.”
Should that come to pass, it’ll help Roling acquire much more experience than he had when he emerged as a potential top-five finisher in this year’s Powell Memorial, at least until his car went away and he dropped three spots to place eighth.
“The tires just went away, and I guess I just burned my stuff off pretty quickly,” Roling said. “That’s part of learning, but to compete in this race for the very first time and finish in the top eight when there was 85 cars here this weekend, that’s kinda like a win for us. These guys here this weekend were some of the best around in this division, and we just had a postrace team meeting in the trailer. A lot was talked about and we do that to keep improving as much as we can, but basically we all felt we really weren’t that far off from ‘em.”