His date with destiny, is about courage, passion, and the desire to succeed...
By Debbie Speed
It took over 14 years in the making, from the first moment JRG3 declared he would be a professional race car driver at age four, to someday racing in the highest form of sanctioned racing, he continues to leave the doorway of destiny open, ready for what ever offers may appear on the road to NASCAR©.
JRG3 now age 18, was offered his first break into auto racing on September 2, 2000. A day he would never forget, one phone call, one quick reply of 'yes', and only one chance to prove himself worthy of the ride as he stood in for regular driver, Jay Campbell whose best finish in the car had been an eleventh place. Without any previous full-body car racing experience or practice, JRG3 calmly sat in the car waiting to race in his first heat at East Bay Raceway in Gibsonton, Florida. The best case scenario, to make it into the feature, the worst case? Not to finish the race in one piece.
As the tension mounted in the pits for his crew-chief, pit-crew & family. So did the tension mount for the race drivers & fans. Everyone wondered, who was this new driver who came from nowhere, how dare he think he could pull a stunt like this off and expect to continue racing in a car? As Track announcer Jack Miller called off the drivers names, and car numbers. J. R.Garcia III, blasted onto the track in the Limited Late Model # 51. He knew he had made the right choice, to start near the rear of this pack of wolves, whose pockets were hungry for the double points and double money being offered that night.
Garcia knew he would have his work cut out for him. Thoughts of advice provided in earlier years from 'Tony Stewart' driver for the infamous Joe Gibbs of Racing & Home Depot© sponsored race car #20, kept ringing in his ears, 'ride anything you can get your seat in, the more experience you can get the better'. Garcia's first night out was not half bad, needing to finish the heat in 9th place to assure a feature entry, drove conservable and finished in tenth place. Only now with an official lifetime 10 laps of experience under his belt, he would have to race off in another elimination heat. Garcia had to finish this heat race with no less than a sixth place to enter the feature event, managed a humble third place finish. A local curfew kept JRG3 from the feature.
According to car owners, Mr. & Mrs. Bill Bettison of Florida, 'we didn't expect J. R. to win first time out, but he proved he can handle himself on the track, keep the car out of trouble, with more seat time, we're confident he will be in the top five'. JRG3 is scheduled to drive the final races on the East Bay Raceway 2000 schedule, and also for 2001.
Team Advertising partnership openings are currently available, and corporate, business, and/or private entities are welcomed to inquire by contacting Debbie Speed at Ambassador Racing (813) 634-1076 for further details.