The Scoop
PATRICK FARLEY JR. – LOGGING MILES CHASING SEAT TIME
Posted on: Friday August 11, 2023
Green Bay’s Patrick Farley Jr. makes a near six hour round trip commute to race at Eagle River Speedway on Tuesday nights.
Getting up for work early on Wednesday mornings can sometimes be a little rough for Patrick Farley Jr.
The 31-year-old stock car driver from Green Bay races Tuesday nights at Eagle River Speedway. The round trip commute for the mid-week venue is close to six hours. That often leads to arrival times back home on Green Bay’s east side somewhere between 12:30 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. early Wednesday mornings.
But, Farley, a driver seeking as much seat time as possible, enjoys racing at the Northwoods bullring. The track runs the ‘stock car’ class as a mixed bag of both IMCA-legal stock cars and WISSOTA street stocks. For the most part, the classes match up fairly well. And for Farley, whose seeking his first checkered flag, it’s about getting as many laps as possible.
“We love racing up at Eagle River and it’s such a unique track,” Farley said. “Eagle River is a different track. It’s tacky some nights. It’s dry some nights. It’s different from anything we have in the Green Bay area. It commands a different driving style. It’s got a little bit sandier clay. But it’s fun to race on and that’s why we come up there. It’s smooth most of the time, too.”
In addition to Eagle River, Farley races weekly Friday nights at Outagamie Speedway in Seymour. (flintography.com)
Farley compares Eagle River’s oval to the layout like 141 Speedway in Francis Creek. “It’s got a little less banking than 141 Speedway, but the design is similar,” Farley pointed out. “Turns one and two are bigger and a little more sweeping. Three and four is more like a hairpin. You’ve gotta finesse the car through three and four. There’s no other way to put it.”
Farley works at American Foods on Green Bay’s east side with his typical work hours from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. His dad, Patrick Sr., picks up his son from work with the race car already tucked into their enclosed trailer. The father-son duo head west on highway 29 and then north on highway 45 and normally make it in a nick of time for the 7 p.m. start time at the Northwoods oval. “It’s about a 2 hour and 40- or 45-minute drive up there on Tuesdays,” said Farley, who hasn’t missed a race at Eagle River yet this year. That’s 165 miles one way to battle during the Tuesday night program.
Heading into the races scheduled for August 15 Farley remains tied with local David Blackberg in the weekly points chase. Granted, Farley readily admits the car counts at the northern Wisconsin oval are normally much lower than the tracks in the greater Green Bay area. High single digits occur some nights while on better nights high teens or even twenty-plus car counts occur at Eagle River in the stock car division.
Before he raced, Farley (2nd from right) learned about the racing biz by pitting for “Hot Rod” Snellenberger. (Pic from Patrick Farley Jr. Facebook page)
What drew Farley to tow north on Tuesday nights was another guy who did the same thing for a few years – “Hot Rod” Snellenberger, Wisconsin’s winningest stock car driver in IMCA history. Snellenberger won some track titles at Eagle River, and Farley was a fan of “Hot Rod’s since day one. “I remember as a kind watching Rod race with that yellow Nova at Seymour and he was dominant,” Farley said. “I started pitting for Rod in 2015 and learned a lot from him.”
Farley purchased his first car from Snellenberger – a 2018 Wolfe chassis. “I wound up buying it from Rod after the 2021 season,” Farley said. “Rod was going to upgrade so we made the jump into the IMCA stock car class.”
Farley could have easily picked an easier division to break into. “This class is tough no matter where we go,” said Farley, who also races Friday nights at the sanctioned Outagamie Speedway in Seymour and as many Sunday nights as he can make at The ‘Burg Speedway in Luxemburg. “It’s tough especially at Seymour and Luxemburg when they have B mains. I like the challenge and we’re just trying to get better each week. We try to race three nights a week whenever we can.”
Most of the time it’s just Farley Jr. and his dad making the tow north on Tuesday nights. “Brandon Demerath gives us a hand on occasion when we need it,” Farley Jr. said. “If we need something we give him a ring. We work on the car as much as we can. The regular maintenance of the nut and bolt check and tire prep weekly obviously is the biggest priority. But my dad is probably the biggest help with this whole operation.”
In addition to Snellenberger, Farley grew up being a fan of arguably one of the most popular dirt late model racers in the past several decades – “Black Sunshine” himself Scott Bloomquist. Hence, Farley sports the number 0 on his car. The car even has the typical black paint scheme with some green and white trim like many of Bloomquist’s rides over the years.
As for giving himself a letter grade on his performance thus far in ’23? “I’d say I’m somewhere between a C-plus or a B-minus,” Farley admitted. “I’ve shown some improvement, but we’ve got a long, long ways to go. Seat time is big. And you’ve gotta make the features when there are B mains and start having better runs in those features. But this is the toughest dirt class around in my opinion. And it’s one I plan on staying in down the road because it fits my budget the best.”
Farley Jr.’s team of sponsors includes Mec-Tec Auto & Truck Repair, BM-FAB, Laserform LLC, The Long Term Care Guy, Tires By Bimbo, Hot Rod Motorsports and joeverdegan.com.