Super Late Models
An Updated Look at Snowball Derby Entries
Nov 17, 2021
For the past 10 months, Ty Majeski has spent his weekdays building championship caliber trucks and his weekends driving championship caliber cars.
It’s the life, but the 27-year-old can’t stop building towards the future.
Majeski signed with ThorSport Racing before the season to make sporadic starts in the No. 66 truck but also accepted a position with the team’s engineering department. Majeski is still working tirelessly to compete full-time at the highest levels but is also willing to do whatever it takes in the meantime to be an asset.
"When I first went to ThorSport, I told Duke (Thorson, team owner) that my intention was to be a driver, and that I would be a little patient if that's what it took. I wanted to be helpful in whatever way I could until an opportunity presented itself.
"I was involved at the shop at Niece (in 2020) to a similar degree, but I'm really involved at Thorsport. When the time comes for that opportunity, I want to have become entrenched with every facet of the team."
Majeski will return to Thorsport in 2022.
He made four starts with the team at Charlotte, Nashville, Pocono and Gateway with two top-10s. In addition to his NASCAR appearances, Majeski has remained a fixture in his native Wisconsin short track scene, where he captured a fifth ARCA Midwest Tour championship and several marquee victories.
He also ventured out to South Alabama Speedway in March where he won the Rattler 250 for a record setting fourth time.
Since last November, Majeski claimed the inaugural South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway, earned the elusive Tom Dawson Trophy in the Snowball Derby and won eight other times across the Midwest.
When Ben Rhodes and crew chief Rich Lushes claimed the Truck Series championship at Phoenix, it was the first for Thorsport that also coincided with the owner’s championship, an important goal for Thorson.
Majeski took pride in playing a part in that delivery.
"It’s just been a really enjoyable season getting to know everyone at Thorsport," Majeski said. "Duke made no secrets about how important the team championship was, and I was proud that we could get the job done."
For Majeski, getting the job done now shifts to three races in two states across two different platforms to close out the season. Majeski will first look to defend his crown in the South Carolina 400, a race he won in dramatic fashion against Josh Berry in his Late Model Stock debut, and after his Chad Bryant Racing team were forced to miss most of practice due to an engine swap.
Nothing will top the Snowball Derby, but last year at Florence was one of his most satisfying achievements.
"I was basically transferring from one world to the other," Majeski said. "The Late Model Stock requires a different kind of feel from a Super. I think it's important to be versatile. You see Kyle Busch or Chase Elliott make these adjustments when they jump back and forth from the top NASCAR divisions or Late Models.
"I’m not going to jump in a Nitro Rally car anytime soon, but I strive to have that kind of versatility. Plus, everyone knows how successful Josh has been in these cars, so to come out on top here last year was just a really big deal."
Majeski will close out the year with two marquee Super Late Model efforts in Florida across the Bill Bigley Sr. Memorial 128 at 4-17 Southern Speedway in Punta Gorda and the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola.
But Majeski and crew chief Toby Nuttleman have been building for this future too.
The #NinetyWon team are taking a modified Lefthander chassis they built at the start of the season to Punta Gorda. A separate hauler will go to Pensacola. That hauler will contain the car that won the Derby last year as a backup.
Their primary this December is a brand-new chassis, the first of its kind, labeled TobyCar 001.
It’s the first time Nuttleman has manufactured a car from the ground up, and that’s a challenge Majeski is looking forward to accepting after their breakthrough in the Super Bowl of Short Track Racing last year.
"If we do our jobs, there shouldn’t be a learning curve," Majeski said. "The car that we’re taking to Punta Gorda, we tried some different things with it, and we ran outside the top-10 at Wisconsin Dells. We learned from that. Sometimes, you have to know what you don’t know. But we learned from it and I feel really good about what we’re taking to the Derby.
"And really, I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built over the past 10 years. To build a car the way we want to and feel confident enough to take that to the Derby, says a lot about where we are as a team right now."
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