Todd Souza believes milestone 100th West Series start can result in victory at Kern County

It’s not every day a driver makes his 100th start in the ARCA Menards Series West.

For series veteran Todd Souza, that moment will come April 23, when he takes the green flag at Kern County Raceway Park in Bakersfield, California.

The 57-year-old has a hard time believing he will be making his 100th series start, especially after he nearly got out of racing amid the 2008 recession.

“When we had that recession here, we kind of shut our program down for a little bit,” Souza recalled in a conversation with ARCARacing.com. “We sold a lot of stuff, and we didn’t really have any cars left. And then we kind of regrouped after the economy picked back up, and we’ve been in it since.

“I had no idea we’d be in it this long.”

RACING REFERENCE: Todd Souza’s career statistics

Souza, who owns and operates Central Coast Cabinets away from the race track, began racing right after graduating from high school. He started on dirt, competing at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, California, in a variety of classes when he was 18.

He spent five years on dirt before taking a few years off. He ultimately returned to racing, but this time on asphalt at the now-defunct Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, California.

Souza secured a track championship at Mesa Marin in the modified division before he shifted his focus to the NASCAR Southwest Series for the next several years.

When the NASCAR Southwest Series was shut down at the conclusion of the 2006 season, Souza decided that was the time to move his program to what is now known as the ARCA Menards Series West.

“It was pretty much the next stepping stone from the Southwest tour,” said Souza, who made his West Series debut in 2006 at the age of 41. “We knew the Southwest tour, they were fazing that out, and that if we were going to make the transition and stay on asphalt at that level that we pretty much had to go to the West. That was what was there for the next step.”

Souza’s first (and thus far only) victory in the West Series came in 2008 at what was then known as Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.

The topsy-turvy race saw Souza battling veteran Jim Inglebright for the victory on the 3.06-mile road course, with Inglebright at one point running Souza off the track as they battled for the checkered flag.

But the day would not belong to Inglebright; it would belong to Souza.

“It was a charge to the end,” Souza recalled. “I kind of got run off the track by Inglebright about halfway around the track. At the same time, I regathered and charged at him and he ran out of gas. We had, I don’t know, four turns left I think.

“We had a good car that day. I think we were definitely the car to beat.”

In the years since that victory, Souza has continued to come back to the West Series, sometimes running the full schedule while in other years racing part-time. He said it’s everything the West Series offers that keeps bringing him back.

“It’s all of it together,” Souza explained. “It’s the tracks they run. It’s the West Coast. They’re within manageable distances for us to get to these races. It’s the officials; they’ve always got good directors in our series. They’ve had good directors pretty much every year I’ve run. I like them all. They treat us well, and they appreciate us being there.”

In his 99 West Series starts to date, Souza has earned 14 top-five and 52 top-10 finishes. One of his 14 top-five finishes came at Kern County in 2019, the location of his upcoming 100th West Series start.

EVENT SCHEDULE: Kern County Raceway Park

Souza believes his small team has a chance to compete for a victory at Kern County based on his past performances at the half-mile paved oval.

“We’ve just got really, really good stuff right now,” Souza said. “DGR has been helping us out a lot. They work with us and all of our setups and everything. I think right now is the best we’ve ever been. I’ve been around for a long time, but I would say right now we’re better than we’ve ever been.”

Added Souza on Kern County: “It’s a really, really fast track. Your car has got to turn there. The turns are a little tighter than Irwindale. Irwindale is a big, wide sweeping corner. This track is more banked, higher speeds. The car has got to turn in the center of the corner.

“Everything else we’ve got. We’ve got the horsepower, we’ve got the car, we’ve got everything. Our series didn’t go there last year, but we had a good run two years ago, and we’ve got an even better car now.”

Once Souza makes his 100th West Series start, the question then is obvious: How many more will he make?

While he has committed to the full schedule this year, Souza acknowledged that next year might be the right time for him to step back and let a younger driver take the reins of his No. 13 while Souza competes in select events in a second car.

“I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to do it,” Souza admitted. “The team is definitely going to be around longer than me. I own it and all, but I would think I might not go full-time next year. Our team will still be there, but at that point it might be a rental spot at that point. We might bring another driver in, and I might go to a partial season with a two-car team.”