Rickie Jones, the 24-year old son of esteemed chassis builder Rick Jones and an already tough and accomplished racer in his own right, could be pulling some double duty behind the wheel for at least the early stages of the 2012 racing season. Jones confirmed that an abbreviated return to the NHRA Pro Stock ranks remains a possibility, in addition to his sophomore season in the ADRL’s Pro Nitrous category.
Jones had quite a tumultuous and rather forgetful ending to his 2011 racing season, wadding up his Quarter-Max sponsored 1969 Camaro when he got upside down during his semifinal bout with Shannon Jenkins at the ADRL World Finals in Dallas, but with a new season dawns a new start, and the young Jones is looking for an even brighter 2012.
This week, Rickie has joined a number of other Pro Stock competitors at the Bradenton Motorsports Park down in Florida for testing, turning laps in the Elite Motorsports Pontiac GXP for what could be a part-time return to the factory hot rod class as early as Gainesville.
Jones competed in Pro Stock for the better part of three seasons, reaching three final rounds during that period. He qualified in his professional debut at Gainesville in 2008, and in 2009 advanced to the Countdown to the Championship, recording a runner-up finish in Las Vegas and closing the season 10th in points. Competing in just 15 races in 2010, he finished the season 17th in the standings.
On Wednesday, it was announced that Summit Racing Equipment had signed on as the primary sponsor for Jones’ ADRL effort in 2012, thus expanding the associate sponsorship role that the mail order giant has had with Rickie since his Pro Stock debut.
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