Veradale driver takes stock of winning

By all calculations, Todd Witham's math was pretty darn close. Maybe a little too close but certainly still in his favor.

Witham wasn't reconciling his bank statement or pondering his investment portfolio.

It was much more important than that.

At stake was whether the 31-year-old Veradale resident had scored enough points to win the 2000 Interstate Superstock Series auto racing championship.

"I figured I had won by four points," Witham said. In actuality, Witham had won the title by a bigger margin - a whole seven points - over Kennewick's Brad Rhoads.

When it was unveiled in late January, the 2000 Interstate Series schedule consisted of nine races.

However, two of those races - including what was to have been the season finale over Labor Day weekend - were canceled because of rain.

Witham won three of the seven races, scoring his victories on his home track at Stateline, Idaho. And when he wasn't winning, Witham and his Chevrolet were the model of consistency, never finishing lower than third in an Interstate Series race.

Thanks to a runner-up finish in the Aug. 12 race at the Stateline track, Witham took a narrow lead in the season points standings with one race to go. When Labor Day weekend racing was washed out, his lead stood.

Witham's steady performances this year included a third-place finish in the Idaho 200, a non-points, 200-lap marathon event run in July at Stateline, that took its toll on some of the area's best late- model teams.

Witham, who graduated from West Valley High School in 1987 and today works for ASC Machine Tools in the Spokane Valley, cut his racing teeth riding snowmobiles and dirt bikes.

"It was in my blood I guess," he said.

He began stock car racing seven years ago, jumping right into the middle range of competition in the Stateline Sportsmen class.

In his first year he collected one win and finished fifth in points. Year two saw Witham finish second, winning four main events.

Witham won the Sportsmen championship in 1996, winning eight races. He ran the car through half of 1997 and sold it to move up into the traveling Interstate Superstock Series in 1998.

What drives Witham in the race car?

"The competition is the big deal, I guess." he said.

Copyright 2000 Cowles Publishing Company
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