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Atop Butler U-Pull-It Bombers Standings, Goff Jr. Hopes Hot Start Continues to Smolder on Friday at Five Flags

By Chuck Corder

Pin him down a few years ago, and Jerry Goff Jr. would've likely told you racing wasn't in his cards.

Hard to believe given the fact the 23-year-old Lucedale, Miss., product has taken the Butler U-Pull-It Bombers division by storm this season at Five Flags Speedway.

Goff won the first feature of the season last month and found himself again on the podium with a third-place finish two Fridays ago at Pensacola’s high banks.

“Because of the way we started, it’s almost like we control our own destiny,� Goff said. “At the same time, though, that can all change in one weekend. A blown tire, engine failure — as close as the points are right now, it’s not unlikely that won’t happen and somebody can take us over. Guys over there in Pensacola are competitive.�

He’ll look to pad his slim, four-point lead this Friday when the Buddy’s Home Furnishings Blizzard Series Super Late Models, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Sportsmen and Pro Trucks join the Bombers for some thrilling door-to-door action.

Gates open at 4 p.m. Friday and admission is $15 for adults; $12 for seniors, students and military; $5 for children ages 6 to 11; and free for kids under 6.

Despite growing up around the sport, Goff wasn't your typical lugnut.

Jerry Goff Sr. was a familiar face at Five Flags and tracks across the southeast during the 1990s, and Junior would spend hours by Senior’s side in the family’s shop.

But, in what is a common refrain, the younger Goff gravitated toward baseball for most of his childhood and adolescent years.

He even played college ball at nearby Bishop State Community College in Mobile, Ala. When his career on the diamond came to a bittersweet end, though, Goff Jr. was searching for something to stoke his competitive fire.

“I started going back to the track a little bit, and getting used to it again,� Goff Jr. explained. “We got a car not long after and it’s been on since.�

He credits former Bombers driver Jay Jay Day and the Day Racing family with helping him get his feet wet again.

Goff Jr. raced periodically for the first few years.

A race here; a race there. He qualified outside of the pole at the 2012 Bombers Snowball Derby, only to see that end in heartbreak when he was put into the wall on Lap 5 of 50.

“I’m typically not that good of a qualifier, but I’m proud of the efforts we put in and I thought I was in a safe spot,� Goff Jr. said. “I was just disgusted after the wreck. I thought we had the car to beat. I didn't get to be there at the end, but what it did give me was a hunger and drive to win a race.�

And in his first race in his first full season at America’s Favorite Home Track, the welder around Mississippi shipyards fused together an impressive run that ended with a checkered flag in his hands.

“It was the only track I hadn't won on,� Goff Jr. said of Five Flags. “I took it personally. I started questioning what I was doing wrong because I had won everywhere else we had gone. To finally break through, it was huge for us to get it out of the way.�

Goff is finding the approach to running a full season is a different experience than what he was used to.

“The past couple of years, we just kinda wanted to see what type of speed we had,� he said. “It was win or bust. If it worked it worked; if it didn't, so what.

“Now, we've settled into more of a conservative mode. If we can get a top-three, a top-five, it all helps with the points.�

And by his side is Senior, along with friends and fellow drivers Matt Jackson, Jason Johnson and Elliott Massey, who Junior helps with on Massey’s SLM.

Goff Jr. enjoys the close-knit group assembled around him.

“This is what we do,� he said. “We love to race.�

When he was on the diamond, Goff Jr. played catcher — behind the plate calling balls and strikes for his battery mate on the mound.

These days, he calls a different game for himself, from behind a steering wheel.

A former cleanup hitter, Goff Jr. is optimistic 2014 can be a home run.

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