Published: Sunday, December 21, 2008, 5:59 PM Updated: Sunday, December 21, 2008, 6:21 PM
One of the enduring fantasies that NASCAR fans hang onto is the idea that some little guy working out his own garage can put together a race car, show up at a Cup race and whip all the megafunded teams.
The odds of that happening these days are about the same as Jamaica winning the bobsled gold medal in the Winter Olympics. But if it ever did happen it would be the story of the year.
One place where it actually has a chance of happening is in the ARCA Series. And the shoestring team of Steve Blackburn is a good candidate for Cinderella. Blackburn made everyone sit up and take notice of his operation during the three-day ARCA test session at Daytona that ended Sunday.
The Prestonsburg, Kentucky driver led the way again late Sunday afternoon during the final drafting session with the fastest lap of the day. Blackburn, in his own Dodge Charger, circled the "World Center of Racing" in 49.952 seconds, for an average speed of 182.246 mph."We put on a new set (of tires) and they hooked up," said Blackburn, who was also fastest in both sessions on Friday. "The test was a real boost to our team; we can walk out of here with our heads held high. Just hope we can come back in February and do it again."
Blackburn, 46, has had only five career starts in ARCA since 2005 with a best finish of 14th. He raced at Talladega in October and finished 22nd.
That's still a long way from from wearing the glass slipper when the ARCA season kicks off at Daytona on Feb. 7. But he's off to a good start.
