For the third time this season, Stephen Bell drove his bright red Chevrolet COPO Camaro to a Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown national event win. In doing so, he extended his point lead over a stacked field of Camaros, Dodge Drag Paks and Ford Cobra Jet entries.
At Summit Motorsports Park, No. 1 qualifier Bell outran Mike Clark, Lee Hartman, David Janac, and Mark Pawuk on the way to victory. This was Bell’s second consecutive win at the facility known fondly as “America’s Racetrack.”
“I’m just the luckiest guy in the world and so blessed to be doing this,” said Bell. “My family allows me to do this, and they support it. My engine guys Greg and Aaron Stanfield, and my crew guys Dean and Dylan did an amazing job. We just have so much fun at the races, and we get along. We’re all checking and double checking everything on the car. We’re just in a groove right now, and I want to keep it going.”
In the semifinals, Bell matched up with the most recent Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown winner, Thunder Valley Nationals champion David Janac. Bell got to the finish line first to turn on the win light and collecting the $1,000 Flexjet bounty. This was the first time Bell has collected the bounty in 2024.
“I’ll be honest with you, David had me dead to rights,” said Bell. “I mean, he devastated me on the tree. His car got up on the tires, and he had to pedal it a little bit. That gave me the window I needed, but I got very lucky on that run.” Racing Ohioan Pawuk in the final was a clash between points leader Bell and his closest pursuer. Pawuk was chasing his first win in Norwalk, while Bell was looking to go back-to-back.
Bell was first off the line with a strong .020 reaction time and Pawuk overpowered the track as Bell drove away for the win. Bell’s winning time of 7.811-second at 174.98 mph was his quickest run of race day and just a tick slower than his No. 1 qualifying time of 7.806.
“In the final, we knew what we did when we qualified, and we made our best run in that left lane. We just went right back to what that run did for us, and we ran with it,” said Bell. “It worked out for us. I mean, they were all fast; even in the first round, all the racing was fantastic. There’s parity in the class, and we have full fields. It’s just great heads-up racing.”
All weekend, fans poured into Summit Motorsports Park, packing the grandstands on Sunday and being treated to close racing by the Camaros, Dodges, and Fords in the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown class.
“I told Mr. Bader [Bill Bader Jr., Summit Motorsports Park track owner] at the top end when you pull into your facility, it’s just different,” said Bell. “Everybody’s wearing uniforms, and everybody’s nice and polite. It’s the cleanest place. The culture here is unbelievable. The fans are so knowledgeable about our sport. It’s just my favorite place to race.”
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