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For Immediate Release - 2008 Press Release Below!
Watson Brothers Step Up to Big Block Modifieds
Heading to Florida For Speed Weeks
By Bruce C. Walls
MILFORD, DE-After two successful seasons racing Crate Modified cars, Milford, DE brothers Jordan and Joseph Watson are moving up to Big Block Modified cars this season. Last year they finished first and second in Crate car competition with 19-year-old Jordan leading the way at Georgetown Speedway in Georgetown, DE and Bridgeport Speedway in Bridgeport, N.J.
This year they will be competing in the weekly points series at Delaware International Speedway in Delmar, DE Saturday nights. Their plans for the 2008 season include trips to Bridgeport Speedway in Bridgeport, N.J. to compete in special events scheduled there and to some Pennsylvania tracks for additional seat time and experience.
"Moving up to Big Block Modifieds is part of the natural progression," their father and co-owner Glenn Watson explained. "They will gain a new level of experience running the Big Block Modifieds. These cars are quicker on the starts and a lot faster when they get going."
Jordan's getting an early start to his 2008 season. Piloting his Uncle Jamie Mills' Big Block Modified car, Jordan will be competing in the 2008 Dirt Car Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, FL (February 13th - 16th). There he'll be battling against some of the country's best dirt racers in the Advanced Auto Parts Modified division. It will be his first experience racing a Big Block Modified car.
His 18-year-old brother Joseph already has some Big Block Modified experience. Last year he raced the car at Bridgeport and Delaware International Speedway. "Big Block Modifieds are different then the crate modified cars. You have to learn how to be careful on the throttle it's a lot quicker and it's easy to spin the back tires," described Joseph, a Milford High School Honor Roll Senior. "It will be interesting to see what Jordan will do against the big boys."
"It's going to be something different," described Jordan who has Mills Brothers Markets, IG Burton Chevy of Milford, M&E Barbeque of Florida and Blue Hen Speed Shop of Milford owned by Jamie Mills sponsoring him for this race. "I've got to get use to the car and motor. Everybody says it takes time to learn to drive one. Hopefully I'll be use to it when I get back here to Delmar. "I'll be racing some of the best dirt racers in the country like Brett Hearn, Danny Johnson, Pat Ward and Jimmy Horton. Out of the 40-racer field there are 15 drivers that can win."
Wednesday February 13th Jordan and the rest of the Advanced Auto Parts Modified racers will practice on Volusia County Speedway Park's huge ½-mile clay oval circuit. Thursday they qualify for heat race starting positions. Friday they will begin battling in heat race competition preparing for the championship showdown Saturday February 16th.
"I'm sure it will be fast," Jordan said. "It should be about two-seconds faster than the crate car. My goal is to make the mains one or two nights and to get use to the Big Block motor."
Soon after returning to Delaware they will begin weekly points competition at Delaware International Speedway. The speedway will hold test and tune day April 5th. The following Saturday will be the track's season opener. Bridgeport's open practice for all classes will be Saturday March 26th. Saturday April 9th begins their weekly points series. "Bridgeport is a big track and it's hard on motors," Jordan explained. "We'll go there for some of their big shows, but we won't be there every week."
According to Joe maintenance on the Big Block motor is a lot different. "You have to go over these Big Block motors with a fine tooth comb," he described. "We'll be alright when the track has moisture, but it will be a lot different when it's dry. When it's dry you have to watch the throttle to make sure you don't spin the back tires. I think my experience last year helped me because I know how the motor is, I just have to work on getting my foot and brain to work together to keep the tires from spinning."
Joe went on to say that, "I think the first month we need to work on cracking the top 10. We'll start picking off a few of the top 10 after the first month and then get some top five's and hopefully some poles so we'll be starting in the front."
Supporting them through sponsorship this season are Courtland Manor, Wilkins Fuel, Watson Auction, Mills Brothers Markets and Remax Twin Counties. To grow you business through marketing with Watson Boyz Racing call their Director of Marketing Bruce Walls at 302.537.7223 or Co-Owner Glenn Watson at 302.422.2392.
The Winning Watson Boyz
By Bruce C. Walls
MILFORD, DE-On Saturday September 22 Jordan and Joseph (Jo Jo) Watson, of Milford, DE, wrapped up their Crate Modified points racing for the 2007 season. Earlier they locked up first and second in their Crate Modified campaigns at Georgetown Speedway in Georgetown, DE. That Saturday they did the same at Bridgeport Speedway, in Bridgeport, N.J., where they were first and second in the Sunoco Crate 1 Modified division. Quite an accomplishment for a 19 and 17-year-old racing against veterans with much more experience in short track dirt racing.
"This year was a pretty good experience in the crate modified car," said Jordan who out scored his brother 596 to 564-points at Georgetown Speedway and 1136 to 1080-points at Bridgeport Speedway. "We had a good team effort. If it wasn't for everybody I had here helping me, my parents and everybody on the crew it wouldn't have been what it was. The new car and everything we had worked out good. Pretty much anywhere we went Georgetown or Bridgeport we were in the top five any night. We were consistent every week."
Despite their young age both Watson boys have a lot of racing experience. According to their mother Donna Watson, "Jordan actually went to his first modified dirt race when he was two weeks old. He went to his first Syracuse race when he was eight weeks old. That was the year Kenny Brightbill won for Blue Hen Racing. Joseph has always been drawn to racing. He would take a week off from school to go to Syracuse when he was five and six years old. That was his birthday present from my mom and dad."
"My dad, Eugene Mills, raced," she continued. "He broke his back in a stock car accident around 1974. They were redoing the Delmar track and in 1976 he and some other businessmen got together and started Blue Hen Racing. It ended up after all of the businessmen dropped out, there were only two guys George Chaney and my dad. They were the best of friends, George died of cancer and my dad continued Blue Hen Racing."
When Jordan turned seven-years-old he began his racing career racking up championships locally, regionally and nationally racing karts. Two years later Joseph began following in his brother's tire tracks.  During Their second season in karts Jordan and Joseph won 18 of 23 Junior Sportsman 1 races at US-13 Kartway in Delmar, DE. He and Joseph earned ten championships between US-13 Kart Club and the Delaware Dirt Divisional Series. They also campaigned in the highly competitive Virginia Dirt Karting Association (VDKA) where fields are filled with nationally ranked racers. Jordan finished second in VDKA's Junior Restricted division. Joseph earned three championships in the Delaware Dirt Divisional Series. He won back-to-back titles in Junior Sportsman 1 and 2 during his karting career.
The Watson boys left karting moving on to Micro Sprints where they competed at Delaware Motorsports Park in Seaford, DE and Airport Raceway in New Castle, DE. "Micros were a stepping stone," Jordan explained. "We didn't race them for very long. We got a couple of seconds and thirds in the Micro and then moved on."
"Going from karts to micros was a big change due the speed," his brother Joseph noted. "You do not have to be smooth with a micro like you do a kart. You had so much motor to help you with a micro."
The announcement of an affordable, level field crate modified class being offered locally and regionally lured them back into the world they were raised in-short track dirt modified racing.
"We ran micros for two years before we got the modified car." Jordan explained, "So it (the Modified) was actually slower. The micros are so much smaller and have a big motor on them. So the first time I got into the crate modified it was a lot slower. Everything is bigger in the car and it took awhile to get use to. But the speeds were a lot slower. It felt like a big go-kart to me. That's what it felt like. It wasn't a lot different just something different to drive."
"What a lot of people fail to realize is these boys have been around modified racing ever since they were 10 or 11-years old," said their proud father Glenn Watson. "They went with Jamie Mills, my brother-in-law, a lot of times to the modified races. Joseph, Jordan and another fellow, Will Brown were the crew for Jamie. They would go to Pennsylvania, New York; of course they weren't old enough to get into the pits in New Jersey, but they were his crew and he taught them well. That never really sunk in until this year when they started doing their own setups and everything. They've actually have learned more than we give them credit for. I think a lot of people have a hard time understanding, especially guys who have been racing a long time that the boys are not new to modified racing. They think these are two young kids are coming out and they've never raced before. But actually they were seven-years-old when they started racing and people don't realize that. I think the go-karts really helped with the crate classes you have to be really smooth. That's where I think the karts really made a big difference with that part for them."
 During the 2006 season they began scoring wins with the Crate Modified cars at Georgetown and Bridgeport. "Learning the car and pretty much being taught by my uncle (Jamie Mills) and other people who've been in this sport for a long time and just picking up on things they've taught me," Jordan explained "Every week we learned something at the racetrack."
His brother Joseph added, "Crate cars are like a kart you have to be smooth.
You have power steering that makes the car easier to turn than a micro and doesn't give you such a workout. Also crate cares are easier to work on. The setups are simple once you figure them out."
Along the way they picked up sponsorship from, Courtland Manor, Wilkins Fuel Watson's Auction, Custom Lawn, Blue Hen Speed, Mills Bros. Markets, Chase Financial, Remax Twin Counties, Ducks Unlimited, Will Brown Truck Repair Swains Excavation and Tuckahoe Turf Farms. "We've been fortunate in that we have some great sponsors and they're all local guys all from the Milford area," Donna said.
Weekends are especially fast paced at the Watson's shop and weekday evenings are busy as well. "Races are won in the shop," Glenn pointed out. "We race at Georgetown and then have to get the cars ready on Saturday so we can race at Bridgeport that night. Saturday's are like a Chinese fire drill. Luckily we didn't get torn up much at Georgetown so we only have quick maintenance and then go up to Bridgeport. They're in the shop working on their cars every night and their not running around like other kids their age."
"We take all of the body work off the car the day after racing," Jordan described. "Then we start washing everything real good. Next we check all the nuts and bolts, check all of the hubs, and go over the motor just basic maintenance. That's what people don't understand we work on our cars a lot. I've always believed that the harder you work on your car the better you run on the track. That's what I go by every week. I like winning and meeting new people at the track and making new friends."
For the upcoming 2008 racing season the Watson brothers plan on defending their domination of the Crate 1 Modified Division at Bridgeport Speedway. If Georgetown Speedway reopens they will likely return there to defend their title there as well.
Looking further ahead Jordan and Joseph say they eventually plan on moving up to the Crate Modified 2 division and further.
"I hope to get into big block racing or late models or whatever I get a chance to drive," Jordan said. "I'm pretty easy going. Whatever I get a chance to drive I'll drive. I'd like to try asphalt racing. There's really no asphalt racing around here so we'd have to travel if we got into asphalt racing, but I'd have to travel to do it and I'd have to have the money to do it."
"I'd like to see the boys step up and be able to race NASCAR or work on a NASCAR team," Donna said of her sons. "There are a lot of opportunities in that area working in the shop or get the opportunity to race. That's kind of far fetched, it's a dream. The boys setup their cars. They get their cars ready to go to the races. I think they could do something in the NASCAR part of racing doing something like sheet metal."
Joseph said he wants to get into a Big Block Modified car soon and hopefully progress into some sort of NASCAR racing group in the future. "I want to thank Danny Schurman from Courtland Manor for being at most of the races this past season. He's a great sponsor and friend."
For now Glenn says he gets a belly laugh when more experienced racers go to his sons for setup and other advice. "It's really something to see these very experienced drivers and crews who should know how to setup their cars coming to the boys for advice."
You can keep up with Jordan and Joseph's racing on their website at www.watsonboyz.com.
Watson Boyz Great Season
Congratulations to the Georgetown Speedway 2007 Crate Modified Points Champion - Jordan Watson. Also, congratulations goes out to
Joseph Watson who came in second in points at Georgetown Speedway. What a great season for the Watson Boyz!
Watson Boyz Keep Tight Racing Schedule
Georgetown Speedway, Georgetown, Delaware
Friday Nights
Bridgeport Speedway, Bridgeport, New Jersey
Saturday Nights
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Thanks to Bruce Walls, media advisor for the Watson Boyz. Please visit his website at
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