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Hafertepe Jr. Named Driver of Zemco Car

Sunnyvale, Texas racer Sam Hafertepe Jr is pleased to announce that he will be driving the famous Zemco Speed & Equipment #1 in the 2012 season. Hafertepe who is coming off a breakout season that saw him capture 8 feature wins along with his first career World of Outlaws feature victory at Skagit Speedway will now take over the controls of the John and Pee Wee Zemaitis owned sprinter as he looks to continue the car’s winning tradition.

“I am very proud to have been selected to drive The Zemco car,” said Sam. “John, Pee Wee, Tommy (Carl) and everyone on that team have put together one of the top sprint car teams in the country and it’s an honor to drive for them. There were a lot of good drivers available who all wanted this ride so it means a lot to me that they chose me and I’m going to do everything I can to back up their choice.”

The Zemco car has a long and storied tradition not only in Pennsylvania but across the country and Sam is well aware of what it means to pilot the famous sprint car.

“Comparatively speaking I got a late start on racing compared to many of the current drivers my age and as a result I’m not as familiar with the history of sprint car racing as some might expect,” explained Sam. “However I don’t think it’s possible to follow sprint car racing and not know or have seen The Zemco Speed & Equipment #1. In addition to all of the wins and the impressive list of drivers there is just something about the mystique of that car. There is just something special about when that car rolls into the pits, out of the trailer and onto the track.”

Sam is also quite aware that he has big shoes to fill.

“Stevie did one heck of a job in that car,” said Sam. “I think you expect that from someone with a pedigree like Stevie though so it really was no surprise what he was able to accomplish with The Zemco team. I can’t compare myself to Stevie as his resume speaks for itself but I can definitely say that I’m going to stand on the gas for these guys and get everything out of their car that I can.”

Fans from Pennsylvania will no doubt be familiar with Hafertepe as he based his team in the state for 2 months last year while he competed in his own car and The Pancho’s Racing Products car. Highlights included a 4th place finish in The Keystone Cup as well as 2 top 5 and 8 top 10 finishes.

“I wasn’t totally satisfied with how we ran in Pennsylvania last year,” said Sam. “I felt like we should have had better results but it’s a tough area with some pretty tough competition. It’s definitely a unique area to race in terms of fan loyalty and the surfaces themselves. It takes some getting used to but I’m pretty comfortable now. We’ve made quite a few friends here and I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of them more often and trying to kick their butts.”

Although the team has not set their schedule in stone yet it appears as though they will run a similar schedule as they have the past 3 seasons.

“It looks like we’re going to run about 55 races,” stated Sam. “We will focus primarily on time trial shows and will be doing both Pennsylvania Speedweeks. We will also compete at the major races including The Knoxville Nationals and The Kings Royal.”

As a result of Sam’s “Outlaw” style schedule this past year Hafertepe is already familiar Pennsylvania’s race tracks.

“I think the only place these guys race around here that I haven’t raced at is Susquehanna,” said Sam. “Having run both Speedweeks last year gave me an opportunity to see most of the race tracks and what they are about so I’ll be pretty comfortable. There were a few tracks that I wasn’t happy with my performance at but they were at track’s that The Zemco Team is typically quite successful at so that should help with any learning curve that remains. I’m also really looking forward to getting back to Grandview because I think we had the best car there at both races last year and I feel like I have unfinished business there.”

The 55 race schedule will also give Sam time to run not only his own car but should leave him open to drive for other owners should the opportunity arise.

“You will definitely see me try to fill in my schedule pretty aggressively,” said Sam. “The Zemco car will have priority over anything else but if there’s an open week and some decent money on the line I’m going to run our family car and we are working on putting some things together with other teams to fill in those free weekends.”

The announcement ends a few weeks of anticipation for Sam.

“I was pretty sure from the start that I was in consideration for the ride from talking to Tommy,” said Sam. “However I didn’t know for sure so we had to wait a bit on what we were going to do with our own team in terms of equipment, racing and a schedule. Now that we have a plan in place I couldn’t be any more excited and we’re full speed ahead. I can’t wait to get 2012 started.”

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