Benson going dirt racing

Plans To Race James Ince's Dirt Car At Kenny Schrader's Missouri Track

#10 Tyler Jet Motorsports Pontiac driver Johnny Benson spent an off weekend in April watching the exotic Formula One cars race in England. This off weekend, after spending Tuesday and Wednesday testing at Indianapolis, the NASCAR Winston Cup driver will race his crew chief James Ince's dirt car at Sedalia, Mo. on Friday and at Kenny Schrader's Peavley, Mo. track on Saturday night. Depending on their success the pair may team up for more dirt races during the weekend.

Johnny Benson On His Return To Dirt:

"I doubt I will see too many Ferraris or McLarens this weekend but dirt racing is what racing is all about. When I first started racing it was on dirt so this is kind of like returning to my roots. This is going to be fun just hanging with James and the guys on his dirt team. Plus this gets Schrader off my back about me coming out to his track to race. I'm sure all those guys at the dirt track are going to love to compare themselves to a Winston Cup driver so I imagine its going to be some pretty tough racing. But it should be fun. I know what James is like as a crew chief now I get to find out what he is like as a car-owner. This should be interesting. Someone asked if I was going to race hard out there and I said with James as the crew chief and car owner I'm not going to have a lot of choice. Plus if Schrader is paying the purse then you know I'd love to take his money."

James Ince:

"I told Johnny that we might run Sunday night and Monday night depending on how he performs in the car on Friday and Saturday. I'm a high-pressure car owner. "We have an off weekend and the thing we like to do on off weekends is go race somewhere. Johnny hasn't been in a dirt car in 10 years. I own a couple of dirt late models in Springfield, Missouri. I was going to go to Springfield and visit family and Larry Phillips, who is kind of my racing mentor. We got to talking and decided it would be fun to take Johnny and put him back on dirt and see how he could do. Kenny Schrader has been bugging him about coming and running an event at Peavley. With James Ince Motorsports having the stuff to race it seemed like the right thing to do. These are pretty much Hav-A-Tampa cars.

"I have a team now with Terry Phillips as the driver. We are trying to get the team up and running so my 21-year-old brother Will Ince can resume his career. I haven't got to spend as much time as I would like to with my dirt team. I think I have been to about four races in the last two years. I haven't actually been home in two years, so this is also an opportunity to for me to see friends and family. You don't have a lot of time for trips back home in NASCAR Winston Cup racing. We all like to get back to our roots every now and then and have a whole lot of fun. If I could make the same money dirt racing that I do in Winston Cup that's where I would be."