Cary Goforth Pushes Towards Another PDRA Pro Stock Title At Tulsa

The 2017 PDRA Extreme Pro Stock season has turned into a mission for Cary Goforth; one where the objective is to pick up his eighth championship in the mountain-motored Pro Stock world. His quest for another title almost never began, but now it’s running full steam ahead and to a track the Goforth family knows well: Tulsa Motorsports Park. With his objective in sight, Goforth is ready to make a big statement at the PDRA Summer Nationals and show that the Extreme Pro Stock title is his in 2017.

For Goforth, the past couple of seasons have been a struggle for his team due to a downturn in the oil and gas industry that caused a slowdown in the family business. The team was actually going to sit out the 2016 season, but Kevin Bealko from the Black Diamond Racing team allowed Goforth to drive for him and win another Pro Stock title. “After that winning season in 2016, we were going to stop again. We didn’t have enough work at the family business to run the car and these things run on cash just as much as race gas,” Goforth says.

Just when things were looking pretty bleak an old racing friend stepped in to make Goforth an offer to drive again. “We used to race with Dwayne Higgins back in the ’80s and he came on as a sponsor this year with his company, Dwayne Higgins Trucking. He had the car and truck, we had the motor and it turned into a deal where he wasn’t ready to drive the car and asked if I would. It took me a couple of months to decide because I really wasn’t sure. After the holidays, I told dad I wanted to do it and we were going to try for our eighth title,” Goforth explains.

The 2017 season didn’t start as Goforth planned when he lost in the semifinal round at the season opener after he was a little bit late on the tree. That first race didn’t deter Goforth from his plan to win another title and the team went to GALOT Motorsports Park ready to earn a victory. There, they qualified number one and were runner-up for the event, but the car developed some clutch problems and that led to other issues.

“We couldn’t figure out what was wrong and then it did it again at Maryland. We had similar problems a few years ago and it was due to a rearend going bad, so we changed the rearend and it fixed the problems. We won the Maryland event and then the event at Indy so we were able to pad our points lead a bit,” Goforth says.

At the Mid-America Indy Shootout, Goforth was joined on the track by his father Dean. “Dad will make any excuse in the world to drive and I think that’s because he’s not a good spectator. He wanted to run at Indy and Tulsa, so we got a car ready for him to race. I told him that as long as he felt he could do it and he was capable he should keep driving. When we started racing at Indy he was cutting some good lights and got a round win, then he almost got second round win, had we given him a better car,” Goforth explains.

Having his dad at the Tulsa race will make things even more special for Goforth and his team. “Tulsa is almost a home event for us. I’ve been going there since I was in diapers and dad always considered it his home track. We’ve made great friends there over the years and will have a crowd there supporting us,” Goforth says.

With the season winding down and his eighth title in sight, Goforth plans on taking care of business and not backing down the rest of the season. “We need to stay focused and do our jobs so that everything falls into place in the quest for the PDRA championship. When I started out this year it wasn’t as big of a deal, but now it’s become an obsession to win this eighth championship,” Goforth explains.