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A dynasty has been built in the halls of Long Cane Middle School. 

Led by Matthew Graham, the Cougar Strong GreenPower racing team has set the standard for the middle school level the last five years and kept that standard high this past weekend at Talladega Superspeedway as  Long Cane Middle 999 team put up a nearly flawless score of 98.665 points to claim a fifth straight national championship in the Intermediate Modified National Championship (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023). 

This 999 Long Cane team is simply put, one of the best race teams ever assembled in the GreenPower racing field. The team/students won the national championship as sixth graders with the 555 car, as seventh graders with the 000 car and now as eighth graders with the 999 car. It is a simply jaw dropping run for these young boys and girls, many of whom will stick with the program and compete at the high school level with Troup next season. 

Long Cane Middle 000 finished national runner-ups in the same division with a score of 97.33 points. 

In the intermediate stock division, three local teams finished in the top 10. Lafayette Christian finished fifth nationally with 91.665 points and put together a stellar first season as a program and have a lot to build on heading into year two. Long Cane Middle 555 finished sixth nationally with 90.335 points while Callaway Middle finished ninth with 80.835 points. All three teams had good showings in the presentation and endurance departments as well.

Presentation Scores

6th place – Lafayette Christian 101 – 87.33 points

9th place – Long Cane Middle 555 – 80.67 points

10th place – Callaway Middle 821 – 65.67 points

Endurance Race

Long Cane Middle 555 – tied for 1st with 25 laps

Callaway Middle 821 – tied for 2nd with 24 laps

Lafayette Chistian 101 – tied for 2nd with 24 laps

Amongst the local high school teams, it was the all girls Troup 556 team that stood out. They finished third nationally in the advanced stock division with a score of 95.250. This Tigers team has really come together over the season to produce some top quality results in a sport that is male dominant. 

The Tigers were not the only local team participating in the advanced stock high school division with ThINC and Callaway High both putting together strong performances on Saturday. 

Team Presentation Scores

2nd place – ThINC 13 – 97.00 points

4th place – Troup High 556 – 94.50 points

5th place – Callaway High 110 – 87.00 points

Endurance Race

Troup High 556 – 2nd place with 24 laps

ThINC 13 – 4th place with 22 laps

Callaway High 110 – 8th place with 16 laps

Combined Presentation

3rd place Nationally – Troup High 556 – 95.250 points

4th place Nationally – ThINC 13 – 92.500 points

8th place Nationally – Callaway High 110 – 75.500 points

Troup and Callaway both had a second team competing in the advanced modified division. Troup High 250 finished fourth place nationally with 91.357 points. Callaway High 810 finished 13th nationally with 74.607 points. 

This wrapped up the 2022-23 GreenPower racing season. The Troup County programs continue to expand each year and there is no reason to think that 2023-24 won’t be the big season yet for the local elementary, middle and high school teams.