Manassas racer has dream season in ISCARS Dash Touring

Jason Shultz had a dream season in the ISCARS Dash Touring series in 2009. The 20-year-old Manassas resident won the series championship in November at Hickory Motor Speedway with second and third place finishes.

"To get my first championship in my first season in the series was pretty cool," said Shultz, a former Late Model frontrunner at Old Dominion Speedway. "It was a good deal accomplishing something like that."

Shultz is grateful to his parents, his crew and most of all, to Vince Langan, for their support.

Shultz collected nine top fives, including a win, in the 12-race series. He racked up eight of those top fives in the last eight races, as well as a win at Lonesome Pine in October.

Shultz said the car ran well throughout the season, except for the first race when an engine blew. He fin-ished 11th and didn't start the second race. In June, Shultz snagged his first top five with a third and momentum shifted his way.

"All season, the car was awesome, even when we started testing it," he said. "Every track we went to, it seemed like we had a good handle on the car. I wish we could've gotten more wins, but you can't ask for everything."

Winning at Lonesome Pine in mid-season gave Shultz a boost. It was his first stockcar win, though he had come close before. The win increased his confidence.

"It was good to get the monkey off our backs when we won," Shultz said. "We'd contended many times but something always held us up."

Lonesome Pine was Shultz's strongest track. He'd raced there in the Allison Legacy series and that helped.

"You can look at a track all day on photos, but it's a different story when you get behind the wheel and you're flying into a turn," he said. "So it's definitely an advantage knowing what a track looks like and the basic setup it needs and how to drive it."

With four races to go in the season, Shultz and his team had battled to second in points, and they thought they might have a shot at the championship.

"Our crew was really coming together," Shultz said. "Me and My dad and my uncle were all communicating well and adjusting the car. Everything just seemed smooth. Everything just start-ing clicking."

But it wasn't until the last race at Hickory that Shultz outran his competitor, Randy Humphrey, and claimed the championship. Trailing in points going into the last race, Shultz's team worked on their car and made adjustments that enabled them to finish ahead of their rival by two spots. Shultz also re-ceived bonus points for leading the race.

"It was a hard-fought battle for the championship," he said. "We had luck on our side and the opposite was true for Humphrey."

Shultz said it wasn't a steep learning curve adjusting to the ISCARS series. But he had to learn his race car and knock the rust off his driving skills since he hadn't driven full-time in two years.

"It was one of those seasons when everything felt good," he said. "You didn't feel out of place on the track. You knew what you were doing, and everybody got along and had a good time. It was an awesome season."