RPW Exclusive: New Englanders Ready for Snowball Derby Weekend
RPW Exclusive By: Stephen Durham / RPW – PENSACOLA, FL –
It’s December again, and that means one thing, it’s Snowball Derby Weekend at 5 Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. The 58th edition of the Snowball Derby this weekend, Along with the Snowball Derby, is Allen Turner’s Snowflake 125, and New England is well represented for the Snowflake 125. DJ Shaw, Gabe Brown, Cole Robie, and Sylas Ripley will be racing in the Snowflake 125.
Gabe Brown, the 2024 American-Canadian Tour champion is ready to tackle Snowball Derby weekend.
“I’m super excited to be down here, with Preston Peltier, and the SPS gang,” Brown says “myself and Matt Morrill were out in Idaho a few weeks ago, hanging out and building that relationship before this weekend to help get this car set up, and get fitted for the seat.”
Brown will be teaming up with Garrett Wallace to crew chief on the Sigma Performance Services pro late model, someone who Brown had help him out at the Oxford 250 back in August.
“Really looking forward to working with Wallace again, he was at the Oxford 250, and he’s helped out since Loudon over the phone, and he’s been a big help this year,” Brown explains.
This is Brown’s first trip down to the Pensacola track, but he still sets his expectations, no matter how big the task may be.
“Obviously my expectations are to win every race I enter, I know this will be a tall task but I also know I have a badass racecar,” Brown proudly explains, “ we have a badass gang heading down here. I’m stoked to get going this week.”
Another New England native, and also Gabe Brown’s boss, DJ Shaw, making his first trip back to 5 Flags Speedway since 2013, when he tried to race in both races that weekend.
“We’re excited to give it another shot this weekend. We attempted both races back in 2013, came away with a 11th place finish in the Snowflake, but a DNQ for the derby,” Shaw explains.
Shaw, fresh off his 2025 Pro-All Star Series championship, feels he is better prepared for this trip to Pensacola.
“I feel like we’re a much better team this time around and I’m hoping with focusing on just the snowflake that we can at least match the result we had before,” Shaw says.
Shaw says the first battle for the team will be locking into the Snowflake 125 through qualifying, but he does have his expectations set.
“I feel good about our racing if we can just make it in the race. So much competition and it really all comes down to 2 laps,” Shaw says, “if we can’t make the race, we can’t win the race, so the goal is to go get in the show and anything beyond that will be a success but if we can get in I think we can compete for a top 10.”
Practice for the Snowflake 125 and Snowball Derby continue Thursday, December 4th. Qualifying for the Snowfall Derby is Friday, December 5th and qualifying for the Snowflake 125 is Saturday December 6th, with the top 30 are locked in on times. Then there are 2 snowflake qualifiers, 25 laps each, 2 transfer from each to set the field for the Allen Turner’s Snowflake 125.
