Bubba Pollard On 2011 & 2012
Bubba Pollard celebrates his victory in the inaugural Beau Slocumb Memorial in front of the fans on the front stretch. Photo by Randy Crump
When told of the results of the poll, Bubba Pollard said “That’s pretty exciting.”
“These guys could have sure picked any of the events or things that happened in 2011,” he continued. “To me, that’s pretty cool. To have something like that happen to me, it’s really an honor.”
Pollard said his partnership with Georgia Racing Hall of Fame member Ronnie Sanders and the preparedness of the team were big keys to the success they saw in 2011.
“I think the past two years that we’ve been together with Ronnie Sanders Racing, we’ve learned what I liked and we learned what he liked, and we just gelled,” he said. “We went into 2011 with a lot of confidence. That’s the biggest thing that I think has helped us to win so many races. The confidence and having the race cars prepared. We were able to take everything and prepare the race car better. The biggest thing is having the confidence and being prepared to win or have a good season.
“We’ve learned from the mistakes we’ve made. We’ve had a lot of mistakes, but we’ve learned a lot.”
Of the 19 wins Pollard recorded during the year, it was the last one that meant the most.
“To have the year that we’ve had and to top it off with the Beau Slocumb Memorial race, it means a lot to us,” he said. “We went to the Snowball Derby and sat on the pole, and that was real special to us. But the Beau Slocumb Memorial just meant the world to us.”
Pollard spent much of 2011 honoring his friend Slocumb, who passed away earlier in the year after a courageous battle with cancer.
“To know him and with the kind of person he was, it was just awesome for us.”
Pollard said that, as of right now, he’s going to approach 2012 one race at a time.
“We’re planning on racing in the Shriners Bowl on Sunday (Jan. 7-8 at Lanier National Speedway) and at SpeedFest later on in January,” Pollard said. “We’ve had some opportunities that have come about for us, and hopefully we’ll get some things worked out. We’re just not sure what our plans are for 2012, but whatever we do and whatever division of racing it may be in, we’re going to give it our best.
“Hopefully, we can have another successful season.”