- November 4, 2024
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For Matanzas alumnus Ray Black Jr., there are very few things on earth that compare to speeding over 150 mph down a race track and seeing an official waving the black and white checkered flag in his favor. That’s what has driven him to where he is now, a rookie in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series.
Black’s dream to race began in his room on a PlayStation, beating all his buddies in all the racing games and pushing go-karts as fast as they would allow him. After realizing that he could possibly be a great driver, Black begged his dad to try and get him a racing car, which led to his start in the Florida Mini Cup series, where he placed first and won the 2006 Rookie of the Year with Team Scuba and his dad as the crew chief.
“The fact that I was pretty good at it pushed me to continue,” Black said. “There was a lot of trial and error in that series, so I really learned a lot for a beginner.”
The following year, Black moved up to the Florida Open Car Circuit, where he claims the real racing education began, but he was still able to frequently finish in the Top 10. Then, a few years later, when he graduated from Matanzas, he decided to take a break and work with his dad as a commercial diver for two years.
“I was able to make a lot of money doing surveys under water and salvaging lost goods,” he said. Black remembers a moment when he was under water near Cedar Key, and looking back he saw a 7-foot barracuda following him along.
“That was first time I ever seen anything like that,” said Black with eyeballs the size of silver dollars. “I remember thinking, ‘Wow! That was a really big barracuda.’” During this two-year stint, he was able to earn his NASE Instructor certification.
Still chomping at the bit to get back into a racing car, Black returned to the tracks with a bigger heart and more passion to win.
“When you race once, the feeling stays in your blood,” Black added. “It was a great learning curve to take those two years off and mature. I was thinking a lot more and patient on the track and since then, it’s been nothing but forward progress.”
Since his return, Black has picked up good wins, but none has been bigger than his moment at Pensacola’s Five Flags Speedway, where he led the whole race to win, what he calls, his biggest race thus far.
“Seeing the checkered flag and having my family there, which doesn’t happen a lot, was something special,” said an ecstatic Black. “It was a really big win. A lot of people go to that race. This was the one that proved that I can do big things, and once you get this kind of win out the way, you can go on and just focus on winning.”
Black has moved up to the NASCAR’s National Camping World Truck Series, where he raced seven times last year. This year, he will run the full schedule, including Friday’s Daytona NASCAR’s NextEra Energy Resources 250 on Feb. 20, at Daytona International Speedway.
“I have a ton of family and friends coming down, so I expect to win,” Black said. “And, in Daytona and Talladega it’s fair game because of the way the track is set up. It’s a wildcard race, and all you depend on is the draft.”
Black says that he hasn’t been able to do the custom doughnut celebration, due to the expenses of his equipment, but if he ever wins one of the big ones, he says he’s going to “burn it down” and then head to Waffle House and order the All-Star Special, his winning ritual meal.
