Majeski gets biggest win of career, looks for more
By Bert Lehman
Editor
Four years after making his debut in an asphalt Late Model as a 15-year-old, Seymour’s Ty Majeski recently secured the biggest win of his career.
The win came in the Calypso Brands Lemonade Border Wars II 150 race held at Illiana Motor Speedway in Schereville, Indiana in late May. The race was part of the ARCA Midwest Tour. Majeski is vying for rookie of the year honors this year in the series.
Majeski said the win was special.
“Eddie Hoffman was running second, he’s a legend down there, if you can beat him there you know you really did something,” Majeski said.
As special as the win was for him, Majeski quickly credited those associated with his racing efforts.
“It’s all the people around me that put great cars underneath me and I really appreciate that,” he said. “Hopefully we can keep it going this year. We’re closing in on the points lead. I had some bad luck in the first couple races.”
Making the win even more special is the level of competition in the series.
“They say it’s the toughest Super Late Model series in the country, all the race cars that are there, all the good equipment. It was really special to win it. It really felt like I accomplished something,” Majeski said a few days after the race.
The win also put Majeski on the racing map of others.
“The day after [the win], I got five or six phone calls for interviews from random newspapers or websites,” he said. “I really opened some people’s eyes. I’m hoping it will get my name out there and get some sponsors and hopefully we can take it forward.”
This is Majeski’s first year running the ARCA Midwest Tour on a fulltime basis. He said he didn’t know when his first win would come, but he knew he could get a win.
“I knew coming into this year with the people I have around me, and the cars we were getting, I knew we could get it done,” Majeski said. “Now we have the best of the best. I feel like I can get it done. After the first two races, I didn’t know, we had really fast race cars the first two weeks, but we just had really bad luck. Finally everything kind of went our way that race.”
The next ARCA Midwest Tour race was scheduled for June 8 at the Milwaukee Mile in Majeski’s home state. Majeski wasn’t heading to the race with no experience, as he raced at the Milwaukee Mile two years ago.
“We were kind of underpowered on motor the first year we went there,” he said. “We did make the show. I can’t remember where we finished. I think we ended up 20th or something out of 40 cars. It wasn’t terrible. We’re looking to be a lot stronger this year. We have a lot better equipment and people around me. Hopefully we can get out of there with a top five.”
His high hopes for the race didn’t come to fruition. He finished 30th in the final rundown.
Despite the poor finish, Majeski is confident his racing career is on the upswing. He said he has driven a “little bit of everything” over the last four years.
“It’s been kind of a long four years but we’ve definitely been making gains and I’ve been getting a lot better. I’ve got myself hooked up with some good people this year,” Majeski said.
When Majeski isn’t following the ARCA Midwest Tour, he plans to race at local tracks. Open Thursdays will be spent racing at State Park Speedway in Wausau. Open Saturdays will be spent racing at La Crosse Speedway. He plans to race in the three Red, White and Blue races at Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna. Following the TUNDRA Series is also part of his schedule.
“We have a ton of races on the schedule this year. It should be about 40 races. It’s a ton of seat time — racing Thursday, some Fridays, all Saturdays and some Sundays. It’s a lot but that’s what it takes to improve — seat time,” he said.
He’s hoping that seat time will lead to more opportunities in the future.
“We’re taking it just one step at a time,” he said. “We’re hoping to travel a little bit more this winter. Go down south and hit some of the bigger races down south, the Snowball Derby, Speedweeks, maybe Nationals, races like that. Get my name out there, run well in those and hopefully something will come about.”
Not bad for a kid who got his start in racing by racing a go-kart at GSR Kartway in Clintonville and Hi-Go Raceway in Cecil. He said when he was racing go-karts, he wasn’t thinking about it leading to future racing endeavors.
“I was just focusing on the go-karts and when that opportunity came about (racing an asphalt Late Model), I just kind of went with it,” he recalled. “When it started out, I had no idea it was going to get to this point, where I have people wanting me to drive their cars. It’s really cool and I’m really blessed to have made it as far as I have.”
(This article first appeared in the June 2014 issue of Full Throttle Magazine.)
