Philip Morris - Young (And Fast) Enough

Caraway Speedway had the last scheduled race in Division I (one of four divisions in the weekly series and the one in which Morris competes), so Morris' choice of a venue with a title shot was limited to that track. The numbers were equally straightforward: settle for the $25,000 he had already won for being Division I champion, or win at Caraway and collect an additional $50,000 for becoming national champion.

"Money isn't what drives me," says Morris, "but that pretty well puts it in perspective between winning and losing."

Calling the win at Caraway a long shot, as Morris does, is no understatement. The level of competition is first rate at the track nestled in the middle of stock car country, and the idea of going into a situation and having to prevail against track regulars was daunting.

Keep in mind, too, that Morris had never been to Caraway, much less competed there. But he quickly fell for the place.

"The first sight of it, I looked at it and said, no problem," says Morris. "I was like, this is where I grew up, right here. Because, number one, you have to drive through a community-several communities-to get there, which was how I was brought up. So when I pulled in I said, this is my cup of tea."

That sense of familiarity evaporated just as quickly as it had arrived, however.

"When I actually strapped in the car and made a lap, I realized I was in pretty big trouble," says Morris.

The track, he says, is completely different at each end, requiring a dirt track style through Turns 1 and 2 and what Morris calls a Bristol style (wide open) through Turns 3 and 4. Caraway offered no similarity to Motor Mile Speedway and South Boston Speedway, the two Virginia tracks where Morris is most accustomed to running.

Add in the fact that Morris had competed for the Weekly Racing Series national title only once before, eight years prior, and nothing pointed to his chances at Caraway being especially strong. In fact, there were a multitude of reasons for Morris to make a wrong move and choke under the pressure: a tricky and unfamiliar track, a win-or-lose situation, and a chance to pick up an additional $50,000. It all added up to one huge challenge. That's when the experience, the driving skill, the setup knowledge, the determination, and the other intangibles that make a pure racer came into play.

Morris threw everything he could think of into the car's setup, including different springs on all four corners, different shocks, changes to the sway bar, and so on. "Usually the changes were crazy," he says, "and my crew members were pulling their hair out. I never had a small change. It was all huge changes, so they realized all day that it was a nine-hour test during practice. The whole day, it was never fine-tuned so they never had the confidence. It was always, throw this all away and let's do this. Throw that away and let's do this. Throw that away-all right, let's go back to that.

"Well, right at the very end of the day we did a little fine-tuning, like a spring rubber. So then they had confidence: 'All right, you're good. We trust you.'"

It didn't hurt that Peyton Sellers, a Richard Childress Racing development driver who won the 2005 Dodge Weekly Series title, came to Caraway to help set up the car. Morris and Sellers, a native of Danville, Virginia, have banged doors at numerous Virginia tracks in recent years.

After all the sweat and angst, when the 100-lapper was finished, Morris was out front. And the title of 2006 NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series Champion was his, giving the state of Virginia three of the past four championships, as Mark McFarland won in 2003 and Sellers in 2005. By winning at Caraway, Morris edged Kosiski by a mere two points for the national title, 1,114 to 1,112.

The championship run capped a solid season for Morris, whose total winnings for 2006 exceeded $100,000. This is the same Virginia boy who, as a youngster, watched his otherwise stoic father get excited over listening to NASCAR races on the radio. He's the same 41-year-old Virginian who bridges the sport's Southern roots and its modern, national appeal, and he's the same one who knew in 1986, when he turned his first lap in a race car, that the sport would forever define him.

Morris says that first race in a Bomber class car on a local dirt track was a turning point in his life. "I could have been running the Daytona 500 and I wouldn't have been any more excited," recalls Morris. "Just slinging mud and being on the racetrack with other race cars was so exciting to me.

"I realized then that it was something that was going to be long-term for me."

The sport, in fact, seeped into every part of his life. His trailer company, where he sells both open and enclosed trailers, is the sponsor of his Late Model. To propose to his wife, Donna, Morris drove to Virginia's scenic Skyline Drive, asked her to marry him, and then detailed how racing would forever be part of his life. Morris says previous relationships had fallen apart because women he had dated weren't prepared for the racing part of the equation. He says Donna has offered nothing but support since they were married on December 18, 1993.