Centerville, TN – Oakdale, California’s Blaine Rocha is the latest driver to be announced as a participant in the Rackley W.A.R. Racing Development Program.
Rocha, is a regular competitor in the Spears SRL Southwest Series tour where he currently sits 6th in overall driver points on the 2021 race season, and will pilot the No. 26 Rackley W.A.R. Pro Late Model at Nashville on Aug. 7, Pensacola on Aug. 20, and back at Pensacola in December for the Snowflake 100 portion of the 54th annual Snowball Derby Dec. 2-5.
The 23 year old celebrated his first SRL victory in 2016 at Las Vegas with Willie Allen at the helm as his crew chief in his inaugural season with the Super Late Model series. That same year, the duo scored 2 top-3’s and 5 top-5’s in one of the most competitive leagues in the country.
Rocha and Allen have continued a working relationship since that time with Allen mot recently assisting Rocha at a race at Irwindale Speedway in April of this year.
Each has hoped for the opportunity to work together back on the east coast said Rocha, adding that he had a great time running his one and only All American 400 at Nashville in 2017 in his own race car, placing 7th in the Super Late Model portion of the event.
This will be Rocha’s first time in a Rackley W.A.R. team car and he says he knows the bar is raised higher than ever now citing their performance in the NASCAR Camping World Truck series of late, and with Willie Allen, himself, having picked up two back to back victories in Nashville with the most recent on July 17. Kyle Neveau who is also new to the Rackley W.A.R. family for 2021, also no stranger to working with Allen in the SRL Southwest Series, has steadily stayed in sight of his first victory, currently sitting a solid 4th in overall Pro Late Model points at the coveted Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
“Nashville is really a cool area. We really enjoyed being there when we ran the All American 400. It’s such a neat town, the racing atmosphere is great, the stands are packed – the race fans are truly one of a kind. It’s one of the bigger tracks we’ve ran. It has a little wear to it that gives it a lot of unique character. The high banks, the little bumps here and there you have to anticipate to keep the car under you – it really makes for a fun and challenging race. This will be my first trip to 5 Flags Speedway at Pensacola next month, however, so we are really looking forward to taking Rackley W.A.R.’s experience there, and having good races. I’m really excited about these opportunities, and I want to make the most of them. Hopefully we can continue to do more and more over here in the future. It’s always fun to work with Willie at the track.”
Allen says he, too, is excited about the addition of Blaine Rocha to the team saying, “I really enjoy working with Blaine. He’s super focused and brings a good attitude to the track. It was fun to win my first big west coast race with him out at Las Vegas for the last race of the season that year.”
Rocha was a champ karting driver before making the jump to the late models, proudly recalling his invitation to the Team U.S.A. World Finals in New Orleans in 2014, with an entry list making up 45 different countries. He posted a 7th place overall finish before hanging up his karting helmet and focusing his attention on running late models.
Allen further stated that the plan is also to field Kyle Neaveau’s No. 25 at both Pensacola in August and again for the Snowflake 100 in December, in addition to Kyle’s full Nashville season.
Follow Rackley W.A.R. on Social Media … To keep up-to-date with the latest news, information and exclusive content, visit Rackley W.A.R.’s Twitter page – @Rackley_WAR, and on Instagram at @rackley_war. “Like” Rackley W.A.R. on the official Facebook page at facebook.com/RackleyWAR.
###
ABOUT RACKLEY W.A.R.
Rackley W.A.R. offers motorsports competition, development, marketing, management, and a suite of other industry-related services for professional race car drivers, race teams and industry sponsors. Rackley W.A.R. fields race vehicles in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series as well as regional Super and Pro Late Model ranks. Rackley W.A.R. is headed and co-owned by Curtis Sutton (Rackley Roofing, Inc.) and Willie Allen (Willie Allen Racing and W.A.R. Shocks, LLC).
-Rackley W.A.R. Press Release
-Photo credit: Sal Sigala, Jr.