News

Over the past 7 weeks, Noel Tucker has been doing something he's not accustomed to doing. He's been watching his 00 cars compete at various tracks as doctors worked to get him back up to par during his bout with severely debilitating back and leg pain. Fortunately, this week "Mr. Smooth" was able to make his return to Elkin's Friendship Motor Speedway behind the wheel of his own car. After qualifying to start the feature in the 8th position, Tucker seemed to find his groove at about the half-way point of the main event and worked his way through the field to finish the race in the 4th spot.

"A rough track wasn't exactly what I was hoping for on my first week back," Tucker said. "But I guess it was just as well to jump in with both feet and see if this is something I'm going to be able to continue doing."

Tucker has been receiving spinal injections in order to avoid or at least postpone, a surgical procedure which his doctors at Duke Regional Hospital in Raleigh believe will relieve his back and leg pain.

"Tony & Billy (Hicks), Larry (Blankenship) and Robbie (Stevens) have all done a good job driving for me this year. Each week I just hoped they were having fun. That's not to say I didn't give them some friendly advice here and there. I'm sure there were times they probably wished I would just sit on top of the trailer and leave them alone," he laughed. "I'm not used to being a race spectator and I can tell you right now, that's not where I want to be. For me, it's been a long 7 weeks," Tucker continued. "We're going to keep running both cars each week. I just hope I'm able to keep driving one of them."

Noel and his wife, Velvet, would like to sincerely thank their family, friends and everyone in the racing community for their prayers, phone calls, concern and overall support.

Over the past 6 months Noel has been dealing with pain in his lower back and left leg. In the last several weeks this pain has increased and become quite severe. For this reason, Noel will not be able to race until a diagnosis is made and doctors are able to help correct this problem. Please know that your prayers and get well wishes are very much appreciated during this time.

The Tucker Motorsports Team geared up for a busy race weekend as they visited Rolling Thunder Raceway in Ararat, VA on Friday and 311 Fastrack in Pine Hall, NC on Saturday. However, luck would not be on their side as the throttle would hang during the feature event at RTR causing Tucker to make heavy contact with another competitor early in the race. Saturday's events at 311 would start out on a much better note with Tucker qualifying to take the pole for the feature. After 311's weekly "Top 6 Re-draw", Tucker would then be lined up to start in the 2nd spot. Unfortunately, on the first lap, a right rear shock broke causing major handling problems and Tucker eventually drove the car into the pits for the night. Full results of the racing action can be found at www.rolling-thunder-raceway.com and www.311fastrack.net.