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Marysville Raceway Park will be the scene when the newest Victoria State 360 Sprintcar Champion, Geoff Ensign, returns to the racewars here in the states after a very successful tour down under with Jason Smith in the Master Fitout Solutions v60. A three time winner while in Australia including the State Championship and the SRA Gold Cup, Sebastopol, CA’s “Human Highlight Reel” has signed on with the Lay Racing #24b this season for 360 racing both at his home track of Petaluma Speedway and the Civil War Sprint Car Series. “Brett has literally wasted no expense on this car. The only thing not brand new on this car is the chassis.” Ensign described. “We’re going to be at Marysville and fully expect to be a force there and everywhere else we race this year.” Ensign also has a date at Calistoga Speedway circled during the World of Outlaw race in early April. Plans are for Ensign to drive Ted Finkenbinder’s #3f for the Western Classic USAC race that night as a support group for the Outlaw show. As a former champion of the series in 2011, Ensign looks to put his third Calistoga feature event win under his belt there at the Calistoga half mile. With rumors swirling, Ensign is also quick to quell any questions about why he’s not in Dave Johnson’s Wingless Spec car this year. “At the end of last year, I told Dave I wanted to leave some weekends open so I can pick and choose where to race, not only around here, but nationwide. Last year was tough on me as I had to tell Dave a couple times I’m going to a race here when there was a race he wanted to go to somewhere else. I couldn’t do that to him again this year. Dave and I continue to be friends and he was and is always fair to me and I thank him for all he did for me. He has been instrumental in helping me grow as a driver and I hope in the future if planets align, I can maybe drive his backup car because he’s got himself a good shoe now in Rowdy (McClenon). I wish Dave nothing but the best. He’s a class act 100%.”
Ensign is in an enviable position at this point based on his participation in the crown jewel of Australian Sprintcar Racing, the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic. Ensign is qualified as an automatic entry into the World Challenge at Knoxville Raceway during Nationals week. With a $2,500 to start payday awaiting those who enter, and a guaranteed start in the A Main to the winner of the World Challenge, Ensign now has multiple avenues to get to the A Main at Knoxville this year, a track he says owes him one after a fireball down the backstretch on the white flag lap cost him a shot at A Main glory on his qualifying night in 2012. “Yeah, it’d be nice to get back there this year for sure. I don’t have a 410 ride this year outside of Australia, so my schedule is wide open on Knoxville week. If one was to come up, I’d have to think long and hard about it. My first time there, I thought we did pretty well, but blew up that motor. Hell, we had (Terry) McCarl, (Brian) Brown and (Greg) Wilson, some heavy hitters behind us and were behind Kraig Kinser, Tim Shaffer and Tyler Walker in a car I’d never seen before getting into it at Knoxville, not to mention it was my first winged 410 ride. With the Australian laps, I’m ready to step up my game in a 410. With the World Challenge deal, hopefully someone with a 410 will see the $2,500 start money and we can make a deal. Hell, at the very least, it’s ten minutes and $2,500. If things go our way, we’d be in the A at the biggest race in the world.”
Coming back to Earth, Ensign is focusing on Marysville and his debut for the 2014 season in the United States. “I had a great time in Australia these last few months, and it was tough leaving Jason and Dale and Faye and the rest of the Australian family there. I was down there for three months and had a ton of fun, but yeah, it’s nice to be home. I can’t wait to get this season started…..again.”
You can find Geoff Ensign on Facebook at Geoff Ensign Motorsports or on Twitter @ensignmotorspts.
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