During the 1940-50’s there was a familiar name in the upstate New York
racing world, that name was Pop Wilcox. Pop built some of the best race
cars around during that time. The number on his cars was always 32.
During the late 1980’s and early 1990’s Jeremy, along with his friend
Corey rode to the races every Sunday with Jeremy’s father to watch from
the grandstands. In the winter of 1999, Jeremy decided that he was going
to follow his great grandfather Pop Wilcox, and build his own race car.
The first car was a Mini Sprint car, powered by an 1100cc motorcycle
engine and holding the number 32v (“V” for his last name of Vunk). (This
car ran speeds on a ¼ mile track the same as big block modified cars
ran). After the first season, Jeremy sold that car and bought a newer
car of the same type. The 2001 season was very successful with many top
10 finishes and a few top 5 finishes in a field of approximately 30 cars.
The winter of 2001 saw more changes when Jeremy and his wife purchased a
Dirt Sportsman car. With the new race car came some new race team
members. Corey Schoonover, his brother Garrett and friend Darrin
Hickling started helping around the shop and in the pits. The
Schoonover’s are no strangers to dirt racing as their uncle Dick
Schoonover and cousin Mark both had successful racing careers at local
tracks.

With the bigger team,  bigger car and motor, the cost of racing
weekly increased.  Money pooled together along with some small sponsors
got the 32v car to the track each and every week. The Utica Rome
Speedway was now the team’s home track. The 2002 season was a learning
year but a successful one.   Jeremy was named the 2002 rookie of the year,
along with New York State Stock Car Association’s “ New comer of the
year award”, with an 11th place finish in track points. The 2003 season
saw the same car with a new paint scheme and a new engine. This season
was one of bad luck and disappointment as the team experienced engine
troubles.  An 11th place in track points was all the team could muster,
but through all the bad luck they had fun, learned a lot and were able
to laugh. The off season proved to be one of determination and
commitment.  In 2004, a new car was bought and a new engine was being
built. This was the best car and equipment the team ever had. The first
race of the season looked like the teams hard work was about to pay off
as the car was running strong in the top 5.  Then, a blown engine had
team members wondering what else could go wrong.  More hard work got the
car back to the track the next week and landed a third place finish.  The
rest of the year was spent trying to find some money to rebuild the
engine, and at the same time trying to stay in the top ten by out
handling the other racers.  With one month left in the season, team
members pooled money and purchased a new engine from a different
builder. The team ended with very strong finishes with two 5th place
finishes and a 6th place finish.  For the season, the car finished
outside the top ten only two times with 4 top five finishes.  Jeremy and
the team finished 7th in track points, 18 points out of 5th. The team
was looking for that one break that will put them in victory lane.
2005 looked very good for the 32v team. Jeremy did an excellent job
taking care of the car on the track and staying out of accidents. No
major damage has occurred to the car.  This means the winter months would
not be spent repairing old damage, but working on making the car faster.
The team had confidence going into the off season, and was looking for a
point championship in 2005.

The start to the 2005 season found the 32v team at The New Afton
Speedway for the first time and had a very solid run, finishing 4th in
the feature. The opening night at Utica Rome was just what Jeremy and
the team had intended on doing with a heat race win and their first ever
feature win. It looks like the last 4 years of hard work and dedication
were about to pay off.  Over the next 4-5 weeks of racing the team
struggled with changing track conditions and a new tire compound. The
car was always fast at some point in the race, but seemed to fade in the
latter part or be fast at the end and run out of laps to get all the way
to the front. The year ended with an 8th place in points with 1 win, 5
top 5’s, 11 top 10’s, and 22 laps led. The team finished all 350 laps at
the track and started all 17 races. Once again, Jeremy did an excellent
job driving clean this year with only minor damage that has to be
repaired over the winter.

The 2006 season marked the 5th year the team had been together and the
team was starting to gain confidence. Talk over the winter months had
the sound of purchasing a new car for the upcoming season. The team got
together and decided to put the money it would cost for a new car into
the motor program and start the 2006 season with not one, but two strong
motors.  As the season opener grew near, the team was prepared and
focused on the point title.  Jeremy drove an outstanding year finishing
the year with 2 wins, 6 top 5’s, 11 top 10’s, and 39 laps led completing
all 280 laps at the speedway and starting all 14 races.  The last race of
the year would decide the final position in track points for all teams
as it was a double point night for us. We started the last night of the
season in 4th place in points and started the race 15th .  After the
race ended, Jeremy had taken the 32v car up to 2nd place on the track,
which moved the team into 2nd place in points.  Jeremy and the team
finished 10 points out of the top spot. This was a great year for the
team.  People both at the speedway and off were starting to notice the
team and knew that they were a threat to win week in and week out.  This winter a 2007 Bicknell car was purchased and assembly is now completed.