Catchfence

Louise Feese of Saybrook at first didn’t think much of the idea when she heard that her grandson, Blake, would soon be “driving a truck.”

“I don’t think he’s going to like that,” she said, envisioning the 29-year-old 2000 graduate of Ridgeview High School tooling down the interstate in a Peterbilt.

She quickly warmed to the prospect, however, upon further learning that her grandson’s truck would not be a “big rig,” but rather a Chevrolet Silverado — and that the road traveled would not be a highway, but the high banks of Nashville Superspeedway where Blake Feese will be competing on July 22 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Feese will be driving one of three race trucks that are in a Turner Racing stable that also includes four cars in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series, a rung below the elite Sprint Cup series.

“No one could be more excited about being a part of this great organization than I am right now,” said Feese, who’s hoping for a breakthrough from what’s become an arduous struggle.

Feese began his career by following in his father Dave’s footsteps and racing sprint cars.

A trip to the Dirt Track at Charlotte in North Carolina for a World of Outlaws-sanctioned sprint car event abruptly changed his course.

- Bloomington Pantagraph