Published: July 31, 2006 01:13 pm      

Sibling rivalry

Nunleys make racing a family affair

MARLOW — When looking for a brother duo at Lawton Speedway, Thomas and Lonnie Nunley have proven tough to beat. The brothers started their racing careers four years ago, and Thomas won the mini-stock division last year. This year, he is in position to do the same thing.

For most of the season, Lonnie has been in second place, but he was overtaken Saturday night by Cody Bowden out of Lawton.

As it stands, Thomas is first with 2,940 points, Bowden is second at 2,550, and Lonnie is third with 2,540.

There really is a little bit of rivalry between the two brothers.

“Last year, it came down to the last night and I was further behind than what I am now,” Lonnie said.

Thomas leads the point standings in the mini-stock division, and Lonnie is close behind him in third place.

“It’s real competitive,” Thomas said. “He’s been running me real close until last week (two weeks ago) and his transmission broke.”

“When he is out front, he is pretty tough to catch,” Lonnie said. “Of course, if I’m out front, I’m pretty tough to catch. I just haven’t been out in front much lately.”

Lawton is the closest place for area racers to compete, plus Thomas says there are plenty of other quality drivers at the track.

“It’s fun,” he said. “There is a lot of competition over there.”

A change of scenery is sometimes unavoidable.

“If we get rained out, we’ll go somewhere else,” Lonnie said.

In a desire to improve themselves and the competition around them, the Nunleys plan to make the move to modifieds next year.

“I’ve raced modifieds twice this year and I’ll go that next year,” Thomas said. “You have to relearn everything.”

The competition is what has attracted Lonnie to the upper class.

“There is more power and you get into a lot better drivers,” he said. “Most of the guys in modifieds have been racing for years. If you mess up, you don’t have a chance that night.”

However, racing mini-stocks does present its own challenges.

“They’ll beat you to death,” Lonnie said of driving the smaller cars.

For Thomas, the challenge comes from the handling of the cars.

“These cars aren’t designed to circle on dirt,” he said.

For all dirt-track races, there is the weekly challenge of getting a car prepared for the upcoming race.

“If you wreck it real good, it is challenging to get them put back together,” Thomas said.

The tight-knit group of racers that resides in Marlow can all be counted on to help out, Thomas said.

“We all help each other out,” Thomas said. “There are four or five of us that race over there.”