Brothers prep for NASCAR series, settle into new Boulder City garage

marlene karas/VIEWFrom left, mechanic Tim Rubel, driver and marketing director for sponsor Nevada State Bank Jeff Bargerhuff and driver Joe Petrie work on vehicles they will be racing during the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series racing season, which begins on Saturday. marlene karas/VIEWJim Petrie looks over a car at his team?s new garage on Foothill Drive. Advertisement

Jim Petrie likes his job with Boulder City as a utility billing clerk, but he'd rather be sitting behind the wheel of his racecar than behind his desk at City Hall.

He gets his big chance this weekend when the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series racing season begins Saturday with the gates opening at 5 p.m. at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway's Bullring.

Last year, Petrie and his 36-year-old brother Pat, along with rookie Ben Morris, teamed up to race.

This season, though, the three drivers have added two more to their racing stable -- Jeff Bargerhuff and John Wright -- with Jim and Pat tagging on a new name, H-Town Racing.

"I'm going to miss driving this old car," said Petrie, last year's third place finisher with 527 points in the Charger Division, just 36 points behind the leader Phil Goodwin. "This year I'm in the Super Late Models."

Being in the top division of an 11-division field will give Jim the chance to race against Kyle Busch, an old buddy of his and last year's NASCAR's 10th-place finisher with $4.8 million in winnings. He and Busch will race on July 3 and then again on Aug. 8, and in the Fall Classic on Nov. 9 and 10.

"It'll be a challenge and it'll be fun," Jim said. "It's always fun to compare your skills at that level. Kyle will be out of his league a little even though he's raced here before. We're used to racing these cars every week and he's not, but I'm sure he'll do just fine."

Another change for the H-Town Racing team is the addition of a main garage.

Last year, all three drivers worked out of their own personal garages, but this year, starting Feb. 1, the five cars consolidated into one rented Boulder City garage unit on Foothill Drive where they do their repairs and tune-ups.

"Having a shop is so much nicer," Jim said. "This way we don't have to travel from house to house."

Back adjusting tires, fan belts and carburetors on the five cars are brothers Sam and crew chief Joe Petrie, who've been joined this year by Frank Malua, Sonny Lampkey, Tim Rubel and Jeff Donohue.

All five racers drive some version of a Chevrolet -- Jim and Morris in Monte Carlos, Bargerhuff and Wright in older-model Camaros, and Pat in a Chevy-powered vehicle that has no particular body style.

Both Jim and Pat will be back in their No. 1 Nevada State Bank-sponsored cars, with Pat in the IMCA Modified Division and Bargerhuff, the marketing director for the bank, along with Morris and Wright, crowding into the field of Jim's old division, the Charger Division.

"This is clearly a bad mid-life decision," Bargerhuff, the 50-year-old executive who convinced bank president Bill Martin to be the Petrie's main sponsor last year, said jokingly. "I'm glad they've given me the structure and support to run, but I've found out that this sport is really, really expensive."

Having Nevada State Bank as the primary sponsor again this year and also picking up Nevada Beverage, Cintas, Las Vegas Orthopedics and AB Screen Printing as secondary sponsors will go a long way toward the $50,000 it takes to pay for gas and tires for the five cars.

"We're trying to get another $15,000 and we'll be good," Jim said, "but we can always use more."

As an example of how much it costs to race, the 105-octane fuel used to power the engines that send the cars around the three-eights-mile oval and up to 110 mph in the straightaways ended up costing $8.50 a gallon at the end of last year.

For a regular 20-gallon passenger vehicle, that's a whopping $170 per fill-up.

Last year, H-Town Racing team member Morris finished out the Charger Division season as Rookie-of-the-Year, coming in at ninth place with 438 points, two points shy of eighth place.

This year, with two new drivers, Jim, Pat, Ben and their crews are looking for a repeat at the end of the 19-race season.

"Either Jeff or John could become that division's rookie-of-the-year again," Jim said. "That way, hopefully at the end of the season, we'll have some more hardware to take home."