With own car unfinished, Stone behind wheel for Mounce at Merced Speedway

Winton’s Paul Stone would rather drive someone else’s car than sit and watch the International Motor Contest Association races at Merced Speedway on Saturday night.

Because building his new modified stock car is taking longer than expected, Stone found another seat to sit in. He’ll be driving a car owned by Jack Mounce of Merced for the second time this season.

“It’s like when you’re on the road and you are sleeping in a bed that isn’t yours – it never feels quite as good as the one you have at home,” Stone said. “An unfamiliar car adds an extra challenge to driving.”

Stone, who is known nationally in the IMCA ranks, will make Mounce’s car more like his own as the season progresses. Though the new car was assembled in his garage early last week, it was unassembled by week’s end.

Stone is a perfectionist. He disassembled the car to have the parts “powder-coated.” The colorful coating will add extra protection to the chassis.

“I don’t think the new car will be seen that much in Merced,” Stone said. “It will be based in the Midwest.”

Stone plans to trailer the car to the hotbed of IMCA racing. He’ll represent California this summer in major events like Iowa’s Harris Clash, The Dakota Classic and a $10,000-to-win race in Wisconsin.

As for Mounce’s car, Stone proved the older car was still competitive when he was behind the wheel two weeks ago. He chased down winner Les Friend of Galt by the time the checkered flag fell.

“I was going crazy not being able to drive,” Stone laughed. “I could only take sitting on the couch so long.”

Stone came from the back of the pack to get behind Friend with five laps to go. That’s when the power steering failed, and Stone was forced to strong-arm the steering wheel to the finish line.

“I was worn out by the last lap,” Stone explained. “I used every bit of strength I had left to try to make a clean pass going to the checkered flag.”

Stone had the fans cheering louder than the sounds of the cars. Friend is planning for another go-round with Stone this Saturday night.

“I’ll try to keep the streak going,” Friend, who won his first IMCA race on his second night out at Merced Speedway, said with a laugh.

Stone will race for the checkers.

“We are going to make Jack Mounce’s car work for us,” he said. “It will soon be like home to me.”

Last Saturday, Nick Spainhoward of Bakersfield was unstoppable as he took the IMCA SportMod feature.

Also, Shannon Nelson of Turlock established herself as a top contender in Hobby Stock by coming back from three years of family leave and winning the feature event. Merced’s Darren Miguel won the Mini Stock feature.

Tonight at Merced Speedway

IMCA Modified and SportMod classes will highlight the program.

The Hobby Stock and Mini Stock divisions also will race in qualifying and feature events.

Merced Speedway is located at the Merced County Fairgrounds, 900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for senior citizens and $8 for children 6-12. A family four-pack of tickets admits two children and two adults for $32. Racing begins at 7 p.m. The grandstand opens at 5 p.m.

This story was originally published April 10, 2015 at 10:58 PM with the headline "With own car unfinished, Stone behind wheel for Mounce at Merced Speedway."