It’s with great honor, we present one of our long-time favorite drivers Joey “The Ace” Aguilar. Much maligned this year for some on-track incidents, Joey is a super nice guy and a hell of a wheelman. Terms like “wreckers or checkers” and “balls to the wall” are often thrown around when discussing Mr. Aguilar, but hey, sitting up in the stands, we like to see that.

For 2010 “The Ace” has hooked up with Shane Miller Motorsports, which could have “The Ace” driving winged and non-winged races at a variety of tracks. That’s a good thing, the more of “The Ace” the better.

Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, we present Joey “The Ace” Aguilar.

You are known the state over simply as “The Ace.” How did you get that nickname? Back in my Go-Kart days, winning races came often at a lot of different tracks. When I was racing at Dade City in the early 90′s I won 80% of the races that year against some very tough competition and that’s what earned me the nickname “The Ace.” The track owner even put a bounty on me!

How did you get your start in sprint car racing? When I was racing go-karts out at Lakeland, Allen Whooten approached me with an offer to drive his sprint car. He was a new owner and I was a rookie, but we went for it.

You’ve raced both winged and non-winged sprint cars on pavement, from a pure driving standpoint, which one is more fun? Well, to me racing in general is fun no matter what I’m driving, but if I had to choose between wing and non-winged sprint cars, I don’t know. I would say racing with a wing is about pure speed and without a wing it is all about control of your car. Kind of depends what you like better. Either way, if it has a steering wheel, I love it.

Have you ever given any thought to doing some dirt racing in a sprint car? Your style would seem to be a natural fit. When it comes to my driving style, don’t forget – it is Kyle Busch all the way! But I have heard that question quite a bit over the years, so I guess it is my fault for not hunting for a dirt ride. But if any owners out there that want to give me an opportunity on the dirt you can give me a shout on my website www.joeytheace.com and I’ll be more than happy to jump in the car.

2009 was an up and down year for you, mostly due to issues with series officials. Looking back at 2009, how would you describe the year overall? Well, looking back at the way you guys have written articles in the past on your website, you used the grading scale A to F, so here we go. For my team’s performance I would say it was an A+, without question, with my car owners, Tra and the crew. As for myself, I would say a B+ because a few wins got away from us. As far as clubs in Florida, I would rate them as a C, although now that we’re a little into 2010, it seems like they are heading in a good direction, so I’m hopeful.

What was your favorite race of the year? We’re partial to your brilliant drive up at Pensacola, but the wingless show at Citrus County was pretty entertaining too. I would have to agree that the TBARA race at Pensacola got away from us, no doubt about it. And the last CFWS show at Citrus County ended too early. Those two races really got away from us and you would have to flip a coin between the two to say which one was my favorite.

For 2010, you’ve hooked up with Shane Miller’s team and you will have Tommy Nichols as your teammate. Will you be running the whole TBARA schedule or just pick and choose between the winged and wingless shows? This answer is going to be short and sweet..Ask Coach.

In all your years of sprint car racing, who would you say are some of the toughest drivers you have squared off against and why? Well it’s hard not to think of Dave Steele as one, and there is also Larry Tyler, Wayne Reutimann, and Jim Childress. These guys are tough and all of them have different styles of driving, which sometimes people forget – not all drivers are alike. If we all drove the same way, then no fans would come watch!

We know you’re a big family man, when you get some free time where do you like to take the family for a day of fun? Once a year I take my wife and son for a week’s vacation to the mountains for some skiing and snowboarding. Little Ace plays traveling baseball and the wife plays softball, so I am at the fields a lot supporting them, just as they support me at the race track. One thing is for sure -everything we do as a family is scheduled around the racing, and that is what I love about my family. They know my passion for racing.

Let’s say some of our readers of the website need some flooring work done over in the greater Tampa Bay area, who should they call? They would need to contact Ace Carpet Installation at 813-340-8928 or they can drop by www.joeytheace.com and e-mail me.