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Mat Williamson Goes From Nightmare To Sweet Dreams
By LARRY OTT
What started out as a nightmarish evening for Mat Williamson and his No. 88 Buzz Chew team eventually turned into a dream trip to Ransomville Speedway’s victory lane during the 40th Ron Martin Summer Nationals Super DIRTcar Series 75-lapper.
Williamson arrived at Ransomville Aug. 12 for the Summer Nationals as the Super DIRT.car Series point leader but during the hot laps that began the evening, Williamson had the throttle stick as he sailed down the front stretch and his car went directly into the first turn wall at a high rate of speed which caused his car to flip.
In the aftermath, Williamson emerged uninured from the scary incident but his car was heavily damaged and was retired from the event. This is when Williamson and his Buzz Chew team once again proved how good of a professional racing organization they are as the team overcame adversity in a huge way.
Immediately after the wreck, they pulled the backup car out of the transporter and within less than 15 minutes were back on the track for time trials. Williamson placed second in both his time trial group and his heat race and then drew the pole for the Ron Martin Summer Nationals.
Williamson led every lap to win his second Summer Nationals in a row and third in the last four years.
This was a total team victory if ever there was one. Among other factors it takes a great driver, pit crew, a team owner providing strong funding and great equipment to be successful. The Buzz Chew team has all of these factors at their disposal.
After the race was over, Williamson described his unfortunate accident that began the event.
“When I got to about the flag stand I tried to lift to coast in the corner because it was still wet but that didn’t have anything to with it,” Williamson said. “When it didn’t lift the pedal didn’t come with my foot. I tried to get the pedal to come up with my foot but that wasn’t working. I hit the kill switch but it was still accelerating into the wall.
“It was a scary moment but I’m thankful for everybody who makes all the safety equipment to make it so that I could walk away and race the same night.”
Williamson also recognized the momentous task his crew members faced of getting the backup car ready in just a matter of minutes. Williamson also realizes that his Buzz Chew team has the resources of a big crew and great funding to be in a position to overcome setbacks.
“We have a big team in the pit area compared to what everybody else has,” Williamson said. “Sometimes it’s a pain in the butt but most of the time it really pays off in big moments. My hat’s off to them. They really deserve a lot of credit for getting this thing to the point where we could time trial second and get back in the redraw.”
Once the Summer Nationals got the green flag Williamson cruised to the win.
“Right toward the end I was just really trying to save my stuff,” Williamson said. “The car was really good. Luckily we drew the pole. I don’t think it meant so much tonight because I think we had good enough a car that we could have moved up a little bit. But it does not hurt and we were standing in victory lane at the end.”
Williamson left Ransomville as the point leader of the Super DIRT.car Series championship chase and should he lock up the title at season’s end, he will look back and well remember the night he and his team overcame major adversity in the Summer Nationals as a key moment in their season.
“There’s no doubt that these are what championships are made of,” Williamson said. “To unload a backup car and win with it is second to none. A lot of teams can’t do what we did tonight.”
Williamson also races with the locally based No. 6 Cocco-Wendt Racing 358 Modified squad weekly at Ransomville and is the current season point leader with just a couple of races to go in Ransomville’s 2025 season.
“I’m excited to come here to Ransomville a few more times this season,” Williamson said. “If they can make the track like this the rest of the year I’ll be really excited to come here on Friday nights.”
Williamson summed up his night at the Ransomville Summer National this year.
“I’ve had some nightmares like nights like this and I’ve had some dreams about nights like this,” Williamson said. “So like I said earlier hats off to my guys they all did a great job.”
