September 11, 2021 at Eldora Speedway
Photo: Josh James
By Tyson Graves
(Eldora Speedway) – When you go around the pit area at any race track most people will tell you that Chris Ferguson is the nicest guy around. The driver from Mount Holly, North Carolina has been a rising stock in the late model world over the past few seasons.
But in the last month no other driver in the Eldora pit area has had to deal with what Chris has. On August 11th, exactly one month from today Chris was diagnosed with COVID-19. This forced the driver to miss the North South 100 at Florence Speedway, one of the biggest races of the year. But things around Chris, the driver they call “Fergy,” got worse as his long time sponsor Phil Nye Jr passed away in a tragic motorcycle accident outside of Sturgis, SD. Phil from Diff-Tran Machining has been a long term supporter of Chris Ferguson Racing. Over the last few years Chris had become close friends with Phil and was a huge hit to Chris who was already battling symptoms from COVID-19.
Despite COVID-19 and the death of his long term supporter Phil Nye Jr, Chris pushed on. One who is outspoken about his faith, Chris leaned a lot on it to get him through the difficult time. Chris returned to action last weekend at Cherokee Speedway for the $40,000 to win Rock Gault Classic. Chris won his heat race but finished in the 15th place in the feature event.
Over the past couple of season’s Chris in his Team Zero Bloomquist Chassis has found a groove in the 100 lap events on half mile race tracks. Last year, Chris picked up the win in the Diamond Nationals at Lucas Oil Speedway. Back in the spring Fergy picked up the huge win at Bristol during the Bristol Dirt Nationals. Back in June here at the Big E he was the fastest car on the race track in the closing laps and came home in the third position.
Last night Chris put on the move of the night as he slid Bobby Pierce on the final corner to pick up the heat race win. He would go on to finish 8th in his preliminary feature to set him up to start 4th in heat race #2 tonight for the 50th World 100.
Will the stars align tonight for Chris Ferguson to pick up the biggest win of his career and hoist the 50th World 100 golden globe? That is left to be determined but something about Saturday afternoon here at Eldora just feels right for the Cinderella story to happen. One thing is for sure, Fergy will be in the mix in the final stages tonight.
