APC Unite Late Model Series

(Above and below) 2022 APC Late Model Series champion J.R. Fitzpatrick

and his dad John, at Delaware Speedway. Photos by Steve Traczyk

(Opposite page) APC season finale winner Shae Gemmell and his team in

Delaware’s victory lane. Photo by Dave Franks Story by Bryce Turner

While J.R. Fitzpatrick won his second career APC Series title this season, fans would not be wrong to feel like it’s his first. The same driver who earned a reputation for being overly-aggressive and less concerned about his equipment looked different this year – a Fitzpatrick 2.0 if you will.

The Cambridge, ON driver entered the season with a simple expectation – try not to wreck anything. It was just a year earlier that he had a shop full of wrecked cars and had fallen out of love with racing. But with the help of Taylor Holdaway, who gave him the opportunity to race one of his cars down the stretch, Fitzpatrick re-gained the spirit and passion for the sport.

Fitzpatrick started this season with a new McColl Racing chassis and finished fourth in the opening event, at Sunset Speedway, after a tire pressure mistake affected the car’s ability to fire off. He then followed that race with three straight victories.

“When you win one you think ‘that’s good, I stayed out of all the trouble, had a good car,’” said Fitzpatrick. “Then you win the second and you’re like ‘oh, maybe we got lucky,’ then the third, you’re like ‘holy crap, we’re really on a roll.’”

The wins at Flamboro, Peterborough and Delaware speedways changed Fitzpatrick’s demeanour in how he approached a race.

“I started calming down a little bit after those three wins because

I wanted to start racing a little more conservatively in earning points and trying not to put myself in a bad spot,” he said. “On the tour, everybody’s so close; when you’re racing for wins, you put yourself in some pretty hairy situations so we tried to keep that (success) going as long as we could.”

Following another top-five finish, Fitzpatrick faced some adversity on the August long weekend at Sauble Speedway. With 13 to go, he made contact with the left-rear of leader Ryan Kimball, sending Kimball spinning. Fitzpatrick was sent to the rear, since he was involved in the wreck, and he ultimately came back to finish 10th.

“I was passing for the lead and got chopped off,” said Fitzpatrick. “The guy who I got into conflict with is a guy who I thought I could race with, hard, and not have to deal with what he was making me deal with.”

For perhaps the only time this season, the old Fitzpatrick made a return, with a closer margin in the points standings after the incident at Sauble.

“It definitely changed my mindset because I was trying my best to be conservative in that race but we were just so much faster and it ended up hurting me,” he said. “So, I thought about taking a much more aggressive approach when we went back to Sunset Speedway, because Kyle Steckly is a really good driver and really smart, so I couldn’t let him get any closer.”

The team went to Sunset on “full attack mode” and ended up winning the race. The series then returned to Sauble, where it was a change of fate. Fitzpatrick finished eight spots behind Steckly in the previous race at the beach, but this time it was Steckly who made contact with another driver and finished eight spots behind Fitzpatrick. With a third-place result in that penultimate race, Fitzpatrick carried a 20-point lead over Steckly into the finale at Delaware.

“I used to always be all-out, didn’t care who was in my way, and that hurt me for years in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series,” said Fitzpatrick. “I got reminded after that Sauble race that it was my championship to lose and I didn’t want to lose it.”

It was a nervous Saturday for Fitzpatrick in the championship finale, part of the Great Canadian Race Weekend. He was thinking about what would happen if the car broke or if he suffered a flat tire late in the running. He also knew that Delaware was Steckly’s home track and that he was really good there.

But as it turned out, it was Steckly who suffered the first setback of the day, as he was unable to qualify after his car wouldn’t fire. Fitzpatrick loaned parts to Steckly’s team so they could fix the car, ensuring the drivers would be able to battle for the title. Steckly started shotgun on the field in 29th, while Fitzpatrick qualified fifth and started eighth. Fitzpatrick ran inside the top-five for most of the race until it was his turn to have an issue, his nervous fears potentially becoming a reality.

“My steering wheel started shaking for the last 30 laps,” he said. “I radioed the team saying I had a flat tire because it was shaking so bad and they just told me to keep going, it’s up, and we looked at the tire after the race and, sure enough, it was a blistered tire.”

Fitzpatrick nursed the car home, moving over every time that another driver got close to him, letting them go by to not risk making the tire any worse. That included Steckly passing him for fifth with 22 to go. Ultimately, the #84 Chevrolet crossed the line seventh, good enough to secure the championship.

The shaking in the car was so bad that Fitzpatrick started counting laps himself in the closing stretch. When he took the checkered flag, it was a feeling of relief, a weight lifted off his shoulders, but it was for more than just finishing the race with a blistered tire.

“When you think all summer long about how to keep points, how to not lose them, maintaining your race car, looking after the team, it gets stressful,” he said. “Plus, your full-time job and your family and all that stuff, so it was really nice and I got to have both my daughters there with me to celebrate…my whole family was there and we enjoyed it for sure.”

Fitzpatrick became just the second driver to win multiple championships in the eight-season history of the APC Series. Brandon Watson won both years before Fitzpatrick, claiming the championships in 2017 and 2021. When comparing the two titles, Fitzpatrick seems to favour this year’s crown.

“I feel like our first championship, people didn’t really think that we earned it, in a way, because we were extremely consistent but there were a couple of points penalties to a couple guys that really gave me a big points gap,” he said. “I feel like this year, with no penalties or anything like that, we just strictly outran everybody, really, so I feel like this year’s championship was more gratifying and more earned than in 2018.” With the title now his, Fitzpatrick’s team decided to wait a bit longer to celebrate, with a house party a few weeks later, including time in the hot tub and a dinner prepared by his friend and sponsor, Dave Wood from Meineke Car Care. It seems Fitzpatrick 2.0 changed his celebration routine too. “By the time we got out of tech, which was a couple hours, we went back, I had a couple drinks, and I ate because I didn’t eat all day,” he said. “By the time all that settled in, I went to bed…that was only midnight so I behaved very well.”

Matt Pritiko led the field to green in the Castrol Great Canadian 100 at Delaware, before being passed by Jake Sheridan on the opening lap. On lap 17, Brandon Watson was shown the black flag, sending him to pit road to fix his window net. Watson brought out the first caution just four laps after that, with his car leaking oil.

Sheridan continued to lead through a pair of restarts before a caution on lap 32, when Pritiko stalled in turn four with a flat tire. A heated battle ensued on the restart, where Sheridan stayed slightly ahead while running the high line, as Shae Gemmell continued to challenge on the bottom.

With 56 to go, Gemmell took the lead, Sheridan settling into second. The race stayed green from there with Gemmell grabbing his second career APC Series victory; Sheridan, Josh Stade, Kyle Steckly and Treyten Lapcevich rounded out the top-five. Despite his early issues, Watson stayed in the race and finished 10th.

Two-time NASCAR Pinty’s Series champion D.J. Kennington worked his way into the top-five before dropping back in the second half; he ultimately retired with nine to go, finishing 25th. IT InsideTrackNews.com 19