Mario Gosselin Makes Emotional Return to Racing Roots in Bill Bigley Sr Memorial 128

In Saturday’s UARA National Series event at the Freedom Factory in Bradenton, Florida, Mario Gosselin is returning to his racing roots, competing in the Bill Bigley Sr. Memorial 128 in the No. 12 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet.

Given the nickname “Super Mario”, Gosselin holds championships in the USA Super Late Model Series (1994), Hooters Cup Series (1995), and Hooters Pro Cup Series (1997) and two as a crew chief in the NASCAR Canada Series (2014, 2017).

It’s that love for motorsports that has brought the 53-year-old driver from his start competing at Hilaleah Speedway in Florida, up through the ranks, and into the NASCAR Xfinity Series, where he owns a multi-car organization, DGM Racing, with his wife and two adult daughters, Megan and Madison.

“A bunch of my family, they want to see me back in a car – it started they wanted to see me back in a [NASCAR] Xfinity [Series] car to run a race, one last race,” Gosselin told Racing America on Saturday. “And well, if we’re going to run an Xfinity car somewhere, the first step of that is I had to lose a little weight, so I lost about 20 pounds, and the second step was, we’re going to run Super Late a little bit and knock the rust off – so here we are.”

Gosselin, with assistance from some DGM Racing crew members and sponsorship from Alloy Employer Services - a partner of long-time DGM driver Josh Williams, prepared the No. 12 Super Late Model for Saturday’s event, and worked tirelessly to get the long-time racer up to speed.

“I really want to be in this race tonight for my sponsors, Alloy Employer Services, Durham’s Tree Services, and all the guys, my wife and kids,” Gosselin added. “One of the biggest reasons for wanting to do this is because my daughters, when I was winning races and running good, they were so little they don’t remember – I mean, they remember, they see videos, but they were never there to experience it, so it’d be fun to get in the race tonight and get a top 10.”

Gosselin says that when the No. 12 team unloaded for practice, they were pretty far off – a product of not competing on the Super Late Model scene on a regular basis. However, as the session wore on, and the driver got more comfortable, the lap times got more and more competitive and approached the top 20.

Yet, the DGM Racing owner notes that there was still some rust to be knocked off, especially when going back on the racetrack to post a time on brand-new tires.

“Right at the end of practice, we put four tires on and I just flat overdrove both corners and took all the goodie out of the tires,” said Gosselin. “So, let off, kind of did a cooldown lap, got my act together, and came back and ran an 80-something. So, I think if we make the top-20, it’s going to be all up to me to hit my marks and do a good job.

Gosselin was 34^th fastest in Saturday’s time trials, which would relegate the driver of the No. 12 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet to a seventh-place starting spot in the second B-Main. But, as more and more laps clicked off, Gosselin improved, working his way to fourth, and battling for the final transfer spot on a late-race restart, before coming up short.

After the checkered flag was displayed, it was announced by track officials that Gosselin would receive one of two available Provisionals, putting him in the field for the Bill Bigley Sr Memorial 128.

For a driver that has spent much of his life in the motorsports world, through several different roles like driver, crew chief, and team owner, Gosselin got choked up on Saturday, when he was asked to put into words what exactly a race like this means to him.

“There’s a number of reasons, right? Number one, obviously Mr. Bigley – was always Mr. Bigley to me – I’m talking 20-something years ago running with Billy, so that’s big, and then with that being said, it makes me think about my mom that has passed away, my father-in-law, and so many other racers that we’ve lost Randy Fox, Bobby Gill, Richie Anderson, Lee Collins, it’s all people that we all raced together for years, so it just brings all those people back in my mind.”

One thing is for sure, though. No matter what the final rundown says following Saturday’s Bill Bigley Sr. Memorial 128 at the Freedom Factory, Mario Gosselin will continue enjoying the time he’s accumulated behind the wheel of a race car with his wife and daughters present.

A good finish? That would just be the cherry on top.

Photo Credit: Will Bellamy, Racing America