Photo courtesy of Hixson Motorsports
Hixson Motorsports of Soddy-Daisy Tennessee hits the track Saturday night at Iowa Motor Speedway for a joint Verizon IndyCar and ARCA Racing Series weekend. Eric Caudell, the driver of the No. 2 HMS Chevy, will have a new teammate running with him in the team’s second ride. Coach Ron Cox, head football coach at Sale Creek High School, will pilot the No. 3 car Saturday night for the running of the ARCA Racing Series Fans With Benefits 150.
Caudell, who is now 12th in driver points heading into Iowa, won’t have to worry about protecting Coach Cox’s “Blind Side,” or give him tips on how to drive a professional race car. Cox drove for Hixson Motorsports starting in 1987. He was one of the full-time drivers for HMS from 1999 to 2003 and earned Rookie of the Year Honors.
Then, while he was running part-time for his stepdad, team owner Wayne Hixson, Cox concentrated on his teaching career. He developed the Motorsports program at Sequoyah High School which taught students the business and technology behind the racing industry. His students built the car he drove during an ARCA Race at Nashville Superspeedway during a Joint NASCAR / ARCA weekend.
Cox then became the football coach of Soddy-Daisy Middle School before being tapped to head up the formation of the Sale Creek High School Football team which was founded in 2012. His longtime friend and assistant coach, Roy Shipley, also made the move to Sale Creek. Shipleyalso served on the pit crew for Cox and HMS for many years.
Crystal Bates, of HMS, says that having Ron back in the seat with Eric will make for an exciting weekend that will be packed with action.
“Iowa is a race on the schedule that we always look forward to,” Bates said. “There are actually four different races – the ARCA race, then they also have the IndyCar race, an Indy Light race and the USF2000 openwheel series which have cars that look like F1 rides. Having Ron back in the seat, racing with Eric, and all of the different type of cars… and fans – will be exciting.”
Iowa Weekend Schedule
Friday, July 7
- USF2000 Championship Test Day, 1:00 p.m. Central
Saturday, July 8
- ARCA Racing Series Fans With Benefits 150
Green Flag: 8:00 p.m. Central- Broadcast MAVtv – Live timing, scoring and chat arcaracing.com
Sunday, July 9
- Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda
Green Flag: 1:05 p.m. CT- Live streaming on indycar.com, usf2000.com and the RoadtoIndy.TV App for Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV
- Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires
Green Flag: 2:00 p.m. CT- Live streaming on indycar.com, usf2000.com and the RoadtoIndy.TV App for Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV
- Verizon IndyCar Series Iowa Corn 300
Green Flag: 4:45 p.m. CT- Broadcast: NBCsports
About the Author: Kent Whitaker, also known as “The Deck Chef,” is a culinary writer and cookbook author. He’s also penned Young Reader and History titles. The former winner of the Emeril Live Food Network Barbecue Contest also covers football, motor-sports, and bass fishing. Kent currently lives in East Tennessee with his wife, son, and a couple of dogs that love when he fires up the smoker or grill.
