Story by: Langley Austin ~ langley@RACE22.com

Forest City, NC(May 26, 2010) -- Every once in a while things change, groups of people aren't always able to stay together and that's especially true in racing.

We see it all the time in NASCAR Sprint Cup racing, where a driver in a good situation ends up moving for one reason or another, but in Late Model Stock Car racing we see it some too. Example, Wayne Ramsey's move from the 
 

Taylor Brothers team to FDJ Motorsports this season and we see it's paid dividends for both Ramsey and team owner, Frank Deiny, Jr. Next week when racing resumes at Motor Mile Speedway, there will be another "odd couple" of sorts as one of the biggest names in all of Late Model Stock Car racing has joined forces with another big name.

Jamie Yelton's Fat Head Racing(FHR) has been building a reputation in Late Model Stock Car racing, no, not the one he built as a rough and tumble racer several years ago, but the one he's established with bringing in young talented racers and grooming them for the future. Now part-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver, Paddy Rodenbeck and 2009 UARA-STARS Series Rookie of the Year, Brennan Poole are shining examples of the progress FHR has made. But, the team has also fielded cars for among others a pair of NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers, Steven Wallace and Matt DiBenedetto, which shows the strength of Yelton's operation.

With Poole firmly in the championship hunt in the UARA-STARS Series, Yelton's stable appeared full recently with the addition of 14-year old, Sammy Jasper, who is running a part time Limited Late Model schedule at Hickory Motor Speedway. However recently a door opened for Yelton and his Fat Head Racing team that they couldn't just close without thinking about it and making a move to benefit the team and that move may well change the landscape of racing at Motor Mile Speedway beginning with the next race.

"I'm excited about it," said Yelton in a recent phone interview. "I'm excited to have a car not only in the tour now with Brennan(Poole), but to have this opportunity to have a car competing at the best NASCAR weekly track out there."
 

Of course, Yelton is referring to what he calls "one of the best Late Model Stock Car drivers of this era" and a friend of his, but certainly an unlikely partner, Matt McCall. McCall, who drove to the 2009 UARA-STARS Series championship, his second career, driving for two different teams, Tom Pistone's LTO House Car and Jerry Moody's Pig Rig Ford.

"To have a driver the caliber of Matt McCall running a car out of my shop is huge," continued Yelton. "Matt is a good friend of mine, but we've kinda been going in seperate
 

directions over the years and I never really thought this was a possibility. But, I'm glad to have him here, he's one of the best Late Model Stock Car drivers of this era and he'll only help us to build FHR stronger."

McCall's only raced once this season in the Pistone LTO House Car, due to funding and Jerry Moody's Pig Rig car has been parked for this season while Moody's daughter pursues a potential racing career beginning in a U-Car. McCall, like any racer certainly wants to race and he's been feeding his competitive streak by working for Clint King on the UARA-STARS Series tour, who as a rookie already has a victory as well as the Wimbish brothers, Grant and Josh, who race at Tri-County and Grant already has two victories this season, the firsts of his career.

McCall wants to be back behind the wheel of a racecar, but says it was time for a change from where he was the last two seasons.

"It was just time for a change," said McCall in a phone interview. "You know how it is, you get to a point where you feel like you need to go in a different direction and you have to go look at those opportunities."

McCall certainly is moving in a different direction as he'll be switching from the Pistone LTO chassis' that he's been driving to Yelton's, Marlowe Racing Chassis based team. McCall said the move from Pistone was inevitable as the two had began moving in different directions.

"He(Tom Pistone) needs to sell and I need to race," commented McCall. "We were simply going in different directions, at different places in what we needed out of one another."

This will be McCall's first time behind the wheel of a Marlowe chassis, but he will still be utilizing his own engine program from 3V Performance.

"This was a good deal for me," said McCall. "Me and Jamie(Yelton) are just buddies and he had available stuff, we could literally go race the next day and that's hard to find in this deal. He's got great equipment, everyone who gets in his stuff runs good and I want to be able to be competitive right from the start and I can with them. I'm bringing in my engines and we know we've ran good with that deal, so we should be right when we hit the track."

For now McCall isn't ready to sketch out any concrete plans, but said he wants to go race against the best competition and that's why he's setting his sights first on Motor Mile.

"You want to play with the big boys, then you go where the big boys are. Motor Mile easily has the best competition of any weekly track and I want to race against the best."

When asked if he would be running with Yelton beyond a few races at Motor Mile, he said; "I don't see any reason not to. Jamie is a whole lot smarter on both sides of the fence, than people give him credit for. He's a smart buisiness guy and I can see this turning into many more races."

Yelton also hopes that this deal turns into a longer deal, but for now he's just happy to have the driver line-up that he has.

"I think it says a lot for FHR that Matt would call us to do a deal," commented Yelton. "Now we've arguably got two of the best Late Model Stock Car drivers anywhere running out of our shop and another young driver we're grooming for the future. I think we've got a pretty good lineup right now and I'm excited about all this deal for sure."

McCall's presence at Motor Mile Speedway on Saturday, June 5th will certainly change the landscape of racing there as several of the best Late Model Stock Car drivers in this region already compete there in every race, but McCall will add to the lineup for sure. When McCall hits the track in his black #23, Fat Head Racing car, people will take notice and likely by the end of the race even three-time NASCAR National Champion, Philip Morris will know that Fat Head Racing and McCall was there!