Justin Snow clawing his way back

There are plenty of ways a racecar driver can destroy a car. The few things that immediately come to mind are multi-car accidents, a shredded tire tearing apart the front end and an assortment of weird incidents.

Danville native Justin Snow had one of those freak accidents earlier in the Limited Sportsman season and getting used to a new car has kept his win total of three on the season lower than he would like.

“We didn’t start off on a real good foot. Had a freak accident happen — the steering wheel came off — and totaled my baby doll racecar that I’ve had for five years,” Snow said. “I felt like I was unstoppable in that car and this is a new car and we’re figuring it out, but we’re slowly but surely getting there. It just takes time.”

The time rebounding from the incident has put Snow back in sixth in the Limited Sportsman series points standings, 92 behind leader Brian Pembelton, heading into Friday night’s 100-lap race that is part of the Bailey’s 200 Whelen All-American Late Model Series program at South Boston Speedway.

Snow, who has the Superman logo for the ‘S’ in his last name on his car, has recorded five top-6 finishes in the past seven races, including his three wins.

However, he has four finishes of 12th or worse, which has been the reason for his sluggish opening part of the season.

“I feel like we’ve been getting better and better from week to week,” Snow said. “We’ve hit on (the setup) a couple of times and got a couple of wins, but to have that consistency up front that I like, we need to be better.”

His rise back to the top — which he said after his June 20 victory — comes from the fact that he is not racing for points, but racing to get the wins. Consistently running up front — his goal — will help him contend with the younger drivers atop the points standings.

Halifax County rising junior Jeb Burton sits in second in the points and Brandon Gdovic, who had not raced prior to this season, is 20 points ahead of Snow in fifth.

“The competition has definitely been really tough,” Snow said. “You’ve got your real strong people like Lee Pulliam and Bruce Anderson — they’re running Late Model now — and you’ve got some young guns like Jeb Burton and Brian Pembleton and all these other guys who are starting to emerge. Seems like me and Danny Willis Jr. are about the only two really veterans out here in the Limited class now.”

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