2005 Season in Review

    Hickory Flat, MS,-What Jess Williams accomplished in 2005 was impressive in and of itself. The 19 year old Hickory Flat native won Rookie of the Year honors in the Supertruck division of the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series at Nashville's historic Music City Mototrplex. He finished sixth in the overall points standings. He recorded four top-five finishes. He ran in the top ten 17 of 20 races.

    Those achievements are brought into even sharper relief when considering what Williams had to overcome just to get on the track. He had no major sponsor. He had no pit crew aside from his father, Chuck, and mother, Cindy, and Jimmy Flatt from Nashville who spotted for him( most drivers have four to six men in the pits). He had to borrow a pit box. He used his grandfather's truck to pull his race truck in the trailer that was packed full every week. He made a 440+,mile round-trip commute every weekend usually without an overnight hotel stay.

    J.R. Wiest, owner of J&D Chassis in Nashville, worked on Williams' truck. Wiest has run at the Music City Motorplex for years and said Williams' feats there were "really remarkable."

    "For not having experience on the Nashville track and run the way he did, what he did was phenomenal," Wiest said. "There's no question, if he got full-time backing from a sponsor, he'd be a top competitor. I could see Jess going to Busch (Series), even (Nextel) Cup."

    Wiest truly believes Williams has that kind of talent, the kind, as he said, "you can't put in them and can't take it out of them."

    His runs at Nashville marked the first time Williams had run competitively on a non-dirt surface. He had to feel his way around the first few races, but by seasons end, he was a comfortable in the truck and on the asphalt as he'd been anywhere else.

    Robert Howell has watched Williams race for about four years and notes that his progress this past season was very tangible.

 "The last seven races of this year, I don't think there was a more aggressive or better talented driver on the track." Howell said. "He was exciting to watch because he would drive it harder or further in the corner than anyone else." "Jesse will adapt to the truck," Howell said. "If he's running a 30 lap race and the truck is tight on lap 2, he will drive it to the best of his ability for the next 28 laps. That's what the ARCA and NASCAR teams are looking for."

    Such adaptability was further displayed when Williams competed in the Open Wheel Modifieds North vs. South Challenge this past summer. The race was part of a traveling series featuring drivers from all over the South and Midwest. Williams fitted his less-powered dirt-track car with asphalt tires, and he finished sixth after starting 28th in the 70 lap race.

In addition to racing Supertrucks next year, Williams plans to run a handful of open wheel races and he's aiming for track time in bigger series, such as the UARA Late Model Series, Hooter's Pro Cup and ARCA Series.

If he gets the funding, Williams believes he can build on his success. So does Wiest. "If you can run at Nashville and be competitive," Wiest said, "you can run anywhere."