| AFTER WINTERNATIONALS CHAMPIONSHIP KORY ABBOTT LOOKS TO THE FUTURE | By Dave Westerman
 The tension was high in the Kendirk Performance pit stall on Saturday, February 16th as the team, led by driver Kory Abbott prepared to battle for the Legend Car Pro Division championship at the 2008 Orlando SpeedWorld Winternationals.
Abbott was beside himself when a problem with the clutch prevented him from making laps during the first practice session. However, the problem was rectified and he was among the fastest cars in the second set of hot laps.
The battle would be between Abbott, of Apopka, FL, just northwest of Orlando, and veteran Legend Car racer and builder Nick Pistone of Mooresville, NC. Both would be in the same heat with the luck of the draw putting Pistone on the pole and Abbott sixth on the grid. Pistone used his front row spot to take the win in their heat but Abbott was right on his tail.
In the feature race, Abbott knew he had to finish ahead of Pistone. " knew if I finished just one spot ahead of Nick, I'd win the championship," said Abbott. "We would be tied in points but I would have more wins and that would be the tie breaker," he said.
As the 20 lap finale to a long week of racing began, Abbott bided his time. Pistone grabbed the early lead with Abbott shadowing his every move. As the field completed lap eight, Pistone got just loose enough for Abbott to scoot by. Pistone stayed within striking distance but Abbott went on to claim the victory and the Pro Division title for the Winternationals with three wins to Pistone's one.
Abbott won the final two races on Friday and Saturday outright, but his win on Thursday came after he finished second to Craig Goess, Jr. An ongoing rift between the teams of Pistone and Goess came to a head when Pistone attempted to claim Goess' engine per INEX rules that allow a competitor to purchase the engine of another competitor for a set price.
Kory Abbott poses with just a few of the trophies he has won over the last four years racing Legend Cars.
Goess said that if it was anyone else, he would have sold his powerplant. But he refused to sell to Pistone and thus was disqualified, packed up, and headed home. The infraction also carries a one year suspension from INEX/600 racing but that was of no consequence to Goess as he plans move up and run a series of NASCAR events in 2008.
Abbott's team was prepared should the same thing happen to them after the final day of racing. Car owner Kenny Hickson had the money in hand to buy Pistone's engine if Pistone tried to buy his. However, nothing of the sort occurred and Pistone congratulated Abbott on his championship.
With the Winternationals title added to his long list of accomplishments, Abbott now looks toward the future in his quest to make it to the top of the racing world.
Looking back though, Abbott is actually the youngest of three brothers who came up through the Quarter Midget ranks over the past several years. Kory is the only one still racing though and he doesn't plan to end his racing anytime soon.
A 2006 graduate of Lake Brantley High School in Altamonte Springs, FL, (with a nice 3.3 GPA by the way), Abbott began racing Quarter Midgets at the tender age of five and spent the next ten years wheeling the small cars taking 14 track championships, a pair of Grand National championships, five Winter Nationals A Main championships and eight Sunshine State A Main championships along the way.
Abbott also ran Half Midgets during the 2001-2002 season scoring top ten finishes in all 13 races he entered including one victory.
Abbott then moved to the Bandolero class at Orlando SpeedWorld during the 2002-2003 seasons taking six wins in 15 starts along with one track championship before turning to the Legends in 2004.
Right out of the box, running against drivers with much more experience, Abbott took third place in Semi Pro points in 2004. In the past three years, Abbott has been on top of his game winning the last three Orlando SpeedWorld overall track titles and championships for the PBG Florida Legend Car Tour in 2005 and 2006. He also put a huge feather in his cap in December of 2005 by winning the inaugural Legend Car Invitational race at the PRI Mopar Classic at Orlando SpeedWorld which was later broadcast world-wide by ESPN 2. He would finish second to rival Goess in the race just last December as well.
During 2007, Abbott decided to branch out and do some traveling. Among his 17 wins in 27 starts were Regional Qualifiers in Mobile, AL, Anderson, IN and at Montana Raceway Park in Kalispell, MT. Abbott then raced to a hard-fought fifth place finish in the Pro Division at the Asphalt Nationals in Las Vegas, NV.
Of course, you can't do it alone and Abbott has a great team behind him that includes owners Kenny and Janice Hickson along with his parents Keith and Maureen Abbott.
To go along with his racing, Abbott secured a very unique full-time job in June of 2007 as he became one of the 45 stunt driver "cast" at the Lights, Motors, Action Stunt Show at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando.
Normally, new drivers to the show require up to sixth months of training before actually performing in front of a crowd but Abbott took only a few weeks to learn the precision driving that requires him to do ramp jumps and drive on two wheels.
He credits the Legend Cars with actually helping him transition to the stunt cars which are somewhat similar. The highly modified Opels feature a 1300 CC motorcycle engine that makes 150 HP and have a similar "feel" to a Legend although there are distinct differences. "First off, the engine is behind you in the stunt car," says Abbott. "Then you have four forward gears plus four reverse gears as well. That's what really took some getting used to," he said.
Despite the security and benefits of working for Disney, Abbott says his dream is to race full-time. " know it's a long shot for a guy like me to make it big in racing no matter what my resume has on it," says Abbott. "It's more of a who you know and how much sponsorship you can acquire type of thing nowadays. Our team could probably put something together but on our limited budget being competitive would be difficult unless we can get some help sponsorship-wise," he says.
"I know in my mind I have the ability to get the job done given the chance," says Abbott. "I'd really like to run some type of Late Model. I don't think I have much left to prove in the Legends, but we'll keep running them and win a few more races if that's all we can do," he says.
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