HUMBOLDT — Jess Folk Jr., has been in the winner’s circle at Humboldt Speedway as many times as any driver, with the only possible exception being his brother Justin.
However, because of the adversity he’s faced the past four seasons, last Friday’s victory meant more to the veteran driver than any of those other feature wins when he was on his way to four Humboldt Speedway Points Championships in the late 1990’s and 2000’s.
“Of all of my wins, I think that one was the best,” Folk said. “I’ve won a lot of features but after what I’ve been through the last four years, I think that was my biggest win or at least my most memorable.”
Folk’s last track championship came in 2009, but the Iolan was still racing strong at Humboldt through the 2012 season and picking up plenty of victories. In 2013, everything changed when Folk’s father Jess Sr., was diagnosed with throat cancer and Justin decided to retire from racing after winning the previous three championships at Humboldt.
“Those two things really messed everything up,” Jess Jr., said. “I didn’t know if dad would ever make it back to the track.”
Jess Jr., continued to race, but until Friday, he was unable to accomplish the same level of success that he and the family accomplished when they were all racing together. He hadn’t won a feature race in the past four years.
Jess Sr. – whose cancer is now in remission – returned to Humboldt Speedway on Friday and joined his son in the winner’s circle after the race.
“I that is the first time in a while that Dad has been down to the track with me,” Folk said. “I thought about it and that about it and I think that is the biggest reason (I won). It was (great to have) the family support.”
His father’s support has extended beyond just supporting his son on race day. The veteran of 40-plus years on the track has now begun helping his son with his car.
“He drove the car last week, just hot-lapped it, and he found some issues with the brakes and stuff like that, which we had to fix,” Folk said. “That just comes down to maintenance. I haven’t had time and have been trying to do it by myself, but he had the chance to look the car over.”
“He told me that he found the problem and when I heard that, I thought I’d already been through that before and I thought that there was no way (that it was the issue), but he told me that it was going to work better and he told me that my brakes being off wasn’t letting me turn (properly). (On Friday), I took the car down to the track and went into the first corner and started passing cars, so I knew it was fixed.”
Folk started the race from the back of the pack, due to having to work late at Iola Transmission Shop, a business that he and Justin own together.
“I got down there late on Friday, because I was running our business and that is tough to get away,” Folk said. “So they put me in the back.”
Despite the poor starting position, Folk and his revamped car were able to overcome the odds and hold off Sedalia, Mo. driver Terry Schultz for the win.
Folk went into the season talking about shifting his goals and not wanting to focus as much just on winning, but being able to add another feature win to his resume sure felt good to him.
