With eight top-five’s and an average finish of 4.67 including a victory at Sunset Speedway, it’s safe to say that Jo Lawrence had a solid 2023 APC Auto Parts United Racing Series Late Model season. Following a runner-up in the series standings, he shared his thoughts recently for SHORT TRACK MUSINGS.

What are your thoughts as you look back on the 2023 race season?

It was a great race season. Obviously, I can’t really complain about it. We came just shy of the championship but you’re against some of the best guys in Kyle (Steckly), J.R. (Fitzpatrick), Josh (Stade) and Jake Sheridan – endless amount of names you can add to the list. Second-place by no means is a disappointment to be up there with those guys.

We got a win this year. It would’ve been great to get a couple more. We were very close most of the time which sucks to come home second, but great to be there every week and be as consistent as we were as a team. Really, we’ve been friends for a long time, but we’re really just building that chemistry as a team to be that kind of ones to watch and one of those guys that when you show up at the track, we’re going to be there up front.

What was your most memorable moment from the season?

That’s a good one. I always have to think because I feel I am going to miss something. Obviously, the win at Sunset (Speedway) means a lot to us so it was definitely a hard-earned one. Josh was really fast, and it’s always great to race guys like that who have as much respect as they do, to know it will be a clean battle and good show for the fans. Without wasting too much time thinking about, I would say that’s the most memorable moment of the year.

What’s your favourite track to race in the province?

Everybody asks me this, and I struggle all the time to answer this because every track to me has different, unique characteristics that I enjoy every single track for different reasons.

Flamboro (Speedway) is just tight, bumper-to-bumper, you have to be on your toes at all times because you never know what can happen and it kind of shoulders up, muscle your way through kind of racing – one that I’m not very good at; I’ll admit that. it’s fun to go race there against the guys.

If I really had to pick one, I would say it would probably be Sunset and that’s just because of the side-by-side racing you can get. The long races at Sunset always seem to be a lot on the driver just keeping the equipment underneath you and saving the car for the end and making sure you have the tires left at the end. That’s always a very cool characteristic of Sunset.

So I would lean towards that, but honestly, I like going to every single track.

What do you feel that you can do to improve upon your program?

That’s always a question that I start to think about next month or so. It’s kind of crazy. There’s so many aspects to me that make a team so good. I don’t feel like you can show up in the APC Series and have just one part of the puzzle and be a top-five contender. I believe I’m a good driver. There’s many good drivers in that field so to show up and expect to do good based off talent alone isn’t possible in my opinion.

A lot of it I think is the background stuff in what you have for crew, their jobs are, and where they excel. You’re working with many different factors and it’s a big puzzle that once you have it together, you’re a very dominant team.

For myself personally, I always feel as a driver that I can improve. I might not always know how, but even if it’s being in better shape to just feel more prepared for the endurance of these longer races, something that seems like APC is leaning towards doing – which is something to think about as a driver. That way you don’t per say fall out of the seat as the race goes on and lose your marks and consistency. That’s one thing that is always a factor – making sure you’re the best you can be for the guys that work so hard for you and provide you a good car.

Then it goes for the car, just being able to dial it in and that’s honestly my biggest thing is just I feel we have a good team, we learned a lot this year, and I don’t think we have many changes to make to be a dominant team. It’s just making those fine tune changes to where people need to be and what they’ve learned and how to execute better next year.

You’ve talked about this a bit so far, but what do you have to say towards the competition level that we are seeing in the APC Series currently? It just seems there’s 10-15 guys that can win any given week.

I definitely agree with that. Like you said, I just named a few drivers of many that could win any night and I think it goes to the talent levels of the drivers being really high. Any driver can win any given night, and that’s where I think it really goes back to having that crew and car at the level it needs to be because that’s where you’re gaining an advantage on your competitors.

We saw it last year that you got to run the bone stock a few times, whether Delaware Speedway or Flamboro Speedway’s Frostoberfest. How fun was that?

It’s always fun. I always love running the bone stocks. I told Kris (Lawrence) that I probably wouldn’t do it full-time ever again, just because it’s not really for me as a driver. I want to push myself to do better and put myself against people who are better than me and strive to become better – so that’s not really the scene to do that, although there are many drivers that I would say are very good.

I honestly love racing against some of these guys so I like to do a few races here and there to be a part of it, and it’s just a fun atmosphere really. It’s a lot different than when you unload with a late model at any track compared to the bone stock. It feels a little more laid back – not so much as relaxed, but just a lot less stressful in my opinion.

How did you get started in racing?

I’m not 100% sure the full details. What I think happened was my mom was tired of me wrecking, whether an ATV, go-karts, golf karts, dirt bikes – I think she was tired of me constantly wrecking those in the yard. So one day, she walked out the front door to me barrel rolling a go-kart in the front lawn and it was pretty shortly after that it was sold and my dad showed up with a Jr Late Model in the back of his car and said we were going racing at Delaware Speedway next year.

So I think my mom had a pretty big say in us doing that, whether she was a fan of that or not. I think she was just more a fan of that compared to what I was doing in the yard.

Well, I guess mom stayed a pretty big fan considering she paid for the motor at the beginning of the year.

Yeah, she is always been a supporter since day one. I couldn’t ask for a better supporter than her.

Who would you consider your racing hero?

I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that. I would say besides my dad growing up, I would have to say it would probably be – not just one person, but the Ray Morneau Racing family, as far as growing up watching them race against my dad and growing up with them. It’s been just cool to see an entire team that is that respectful and has that passion. I can’t name a single person out of there that isn’t a stand-out great guy or girl, so I would have to say that crew as a whole are people to look up to in the racing world.

What would be one piece of advice to someone getting started?

I feel like this sounds kind of corny, but I agree with the don’t be afraid to ask questions. At the end of the day, we’re competitors on the track, but a lot of us are friends off the track and racing is a big family. I can see when you start off in racing, it is something new and you don’t know many people, it kind of a nervous thing to go around and ask guys. But if you find people that are willing to show you stuff and willing to help you, they are never afraid or bothered asking for questions – and I feel like there’s a lot of people that are like that.