Winger lands full-time ride with Mathews
Ashton Winger of Hampton, Ga., will make his debut driving for Jeff Mathews of Riverview, Fla., in this weekend’s Crate Racin’ USA-sanctioned Powell Family Memorial at All-Tech Raceway in Ellisville, Fla., launching an association that will become the 22-year-old driver’s full-time ride for 2023.
A veteran Late Model and modified competitor and successful businessman, Mathews, 54, has a formidable stable of Rocket Chassis machines and engines from several different builders in his Seffner, Fla., shop. He fielded Late Models for Cody Overton of Evans, Ga., earlier this year and has made 26 starts himself in 2022, the majority coming in January and February during Speedweeks.
After Winger and his shock-guru father, Gary, assisted Mathews’s effort during last month’s Alabama State Championships at East Alabama Motor Speedway in Phenix City — Mathews’s first competitive outings in four months — they spoke in general terms about working together next year. That developed into more serious conversations that prompted Winger to reluctantly leave Augie Burttram’s Ocala, Fla.-based Big Frog Motorsports, where Winger landed in late July after splitting with G.R. Smith’s Team 22 Inc., for an attractive full-time opportunity with Mathews.
“Jeff has a lot of really, really nice stuff, and he’s well-equipped to go race whatever we want to do — big Super races, big Crate races — and he can still race comfortably too,” said Winger, who arrived at Mathews’s shop on Wednesday to start working with Mathews’s two full-time crewmen and his cousin Will McConnell (Winger and his relative will share an apartment above the garage). “I feel like the funding’s here, the equipment’s here, and honestly, it’s a people thing. It just seems like there’s good energy, is the word to use. I feel like this was really a good move to take the next step.”
Winger spoke highly of his time racing with Burttram, hailing him as a superb car owner who “gave me everything I asked for and helped me get back on my feet.” A winner four times in the Big Frog No. 58 — topped by a $10,000 Valvoline Iron-Man South score on Aug. 13 at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Ala. — Winger said Burttram and his team “literally did nothing to make me want to leave” but the offer he received from Mathews was something he “really couldn’t refuse.”
After chasing this weekend’s $27,000 winner’s check at All-Tech — a race Mathews is also entering — Winger said his plans for the remainder of this season with Mathews include East Alabama’s National 100 next weekend, the Nov. 11-12 Peach State Classic at Senoia (Ga.) Raceway and All-Tech’s XR Super Series doubleheader on Dec. 2-3.
Off-season test sessions will lead into Speedweeks action and most likely an independent, pick-and-choose schedule rather than a touring series assault in 2023, he said.
