Offseason Spotlight: Jason Woodard Crowned Champion of Everything Tigers

Barre, VT – Over the past three years, the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers have returned to prominence as one of the best middle divisions in North America. The 2019 season was a big year for the class, with 12 different winners, five first-time winners, and an average of nearly 27 cars per event in attendance. However, in the end, there was no stopping Waterbury Center’s Jason Woodard as he rolled to not one but two championships on the high banks.

Woodard entered the year having already established himself as one of the leading Tiger drivers of the 2010s with titles in 2014 and 2017. He began 2019 unsure of how much his own race car would be on the track with three other cars for family and friends in his stable. But as the season went on, it was clear he was going to do what racers do – and that’s race.

Woodard and his #68VT All Metals Recycling team had an early hole to dig out of after a crash on Memorial Day ended his day early. But he went right to work digging by winning the Triple Crown Series opener the next time out. Five more top-10s in the next six events kept him climbing up the standings. Woodard was up to second overall entering the double-point Mid-Season Championships – but with a 41-point deficit to leader Stephen Martin. He knew he needed a big night to make it a battle. That’s exactly what he came up with, winning the 50-lap feature and vaulting to the top of the standings.

Still, the hunt for his third championship wasn’t close to over. Even as Woodard kept racking up strong finishes, he found himself drop-kicked back to second in points behind Martin with three races to go. But he kept his eye on the prize, nabbing top-fives in the next two events as Martin and others started falling by the wayside. Entering Championship Day, Woodard needed only to show up to clinch his third Flying Tiger track title. But he did more than that, he took advantage of a late caution in the special 60-lap feature to nab a statement win.

Along the way, Woodard also added the Myers Container Service Triple Crown Series championship to his mantle. The Triple Crown was the one Thunder Road title he officially planned to race for at the start of the year, and as mentioned, he won the series opener on June 7. Woodard nearly went 2-for-2 in the second event on July 12, making a late charge on the outside line that came up a lap short.

Those two results put him in the catbird’s seat heading into the August 8 finale. When his closest challenger Jaden Perry had to start out back due to a crash in qualifying, Woodard knew he just needed to have a good race to lock up the crown. Nevertheless, he gave it his all, ultimately getting up to third in the night’s final rundown. It was more than enough to take the Triple Crown.

These two titles don’t even tell the full story of Woodard’s 2019 campaign. He also won the Flying Tiger Triple Crown championship at New Hampshire’s White Mountain Motorsports Park, the Flying Tiger Mini Milk Bowl at Thunder Road, and the historic Flying Tiger Oxford Open at Maine’s Oxford Plains Speedway. All told, his 2019 season included six wins at three different racetracks, with seven podium finishes and 15 top-10s just at Thunder Road. It was one of the best Flying Tiger campaigns in recent memory and put him in the conversation as one of the division’s top drivers for the modern era.

“It was one of those years,” Woodard said at the Banquet of Champions. “When we started out, we weren’t sure if we were going to race or not. My kids and Bryan are most important. And when we started the year, it took off not so good, actually. But as a racer, you don’t want to give up – and we didn’t.”

“It was a dream season,” Woodard continued. “It really was my pleasure to drive the car. My crew worked so hard. My family sacrifices a lot of time because we’re working at the shop. But you have to work hard. My kids know that. We don’t go to functions – we work on the cars before we go anywhere. I really appreciate all the support from my team. We wouldn’t be here without them.”

Later, in his Triple Crown Series acceptance speech, Woodard dedicated that championship to Stan Lamson. Woodard has been working with Lamson since they were both crew members, and the partnership has continued with Woodard being a racer.

“Stan’s been with me for years,” Woodard noted. “He taught me back in the day (when we were working) with Norm Andrews – he took me under his wing, and we raced a lot. Stan’s had some medical issues, but this is one we wanted, and we did it.”