2008 & 2009 Champion, Nick Joanides, is an established business man, who has a love for the sport of auto racing and a strong desire to succeed in the racing world. In 1986, Nick began his racing venture in street stock drag racing, possessing an amazing 85% winning percentage in over one hundred races.
In 1991, Nick entered into road racing in a Sport Renault race car
sanctioned by the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America). This class consists of identical race
cars for all drivers and is considered one of the most competitive classes sanctioned by
the SCCA. In his first full season in 1992, Nick was first in the point standings in the
Las Vegas Region.
During the 1992/1993 off season, Nick organized a self owned rookie NASCAR Winston Racing Series Late Model team. In 1993,his first full season, Nick gained valuable experience and managed to finish second in the rookie of the year standings, despite only competing in 70% of the possible races.
In 1994, Nick returned with a now experienced team and a new competitive race car, qualifying in the top 10 in all but two of the 32 races run, posting four wins, eighteen top-5 finishes and twenty six top-10 finishes. Due to Nicks aspirations to move up in the NASCAR divisions, he chose to use this season to travel to different tracks to gain the experience of driving on different tracks from week to week. This proved to be very successful as in his first trip ever to the El Cajon Speedway he finished second, Orange Show Speedway he won the Main Event. Trips to Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, CA, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Saugus Speedway also proved successful as the team consistently ran in the top-5. In July of 1994, Nick entered into his first Featherlite Southwest Tour event and started last in the 30 car field. Nick quickly moved through the field to 13th position by lap 30 and 6th position by lap 52, when his efforts were spoiled due to a piece of paper on the front grill which caused the car to overheat, forcing a green flag pit stop and a 16th place finish.
In September of 1994, Nick suffered a devastating blow when his race car, hauler and equipment were stolen from in front of his home following the final race of the season. The car and equipment were never recovered. During the off season, Nick came to terms with long time NASCAR owner and driver Van Swearingen to drive his Late Model Stock Car in 1995. Van has fielded cars for drivers like Keith Spangler and Ron Hornaday Jr. Van felt Nicks talent was high and that he had to potential to compete for the 1995 championship.
The 1995 season had its share of ups and downs as mechanical problems
plagued the first portion of the season. The problems however were
resolved with Nick and
the team posting four wins and eight top-5 finishes over the next 10 races to bring him
into championship contention when Nick suffered another devastating blow. On July 15th,
1995, a car running in front of Nick blew an engine, pouring oil on to the race track
causing five cars to spin and hit the turn one wall, including Nicks car which exploded
into a 50 foot fireball upon impact. Three cars burned to the ground and Nick suffered
severe burns to his hands and left arm. Nick spent over a month in the hospital and
endured four skin graft surgeries. Doctors told Nick it would be at least six months before
he would be able to drive again. Nick however disagreed as his determination prevailed.
After only two weeks, Nick regained 80% of the movement in his hands, began to build
strength and returned to racing just 30 days after his release from the hospital to post a
fifth place finish among 42 competitors at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Additionally in
July, Nick competed in his first race of the year at Saugus Speedway and broke the track
record, which now stands forever as the track closed down following that race.
In 1996, Nick made his first trip to the East Coast to compare his talent against some of the best drivers the Winston Racing Series has to offer. In his first trips ever to the Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina, Nick posted a ninth place finish and an exciting fourth place finish from the rear of the field.
In 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 Due to limited funding, Nick ran a limited schedule, however still posted five victories, eighteen top-5 finishes and twenty nine top-10 finishes in forty-eight races.
In November of 1997, Nick had the opportunity to enter into his first road course race in a NASCAR stock car at the 2.5 mile Willow Springs Raceway, considered one of the most difficult road courses in the country, due to it's high speed corners with speeds reaching up to 165 MPH. Nick qualified 12th and managed a strong 6th place finish in an under powered car.
In September of 1998, the team built a Nascar Featherlite Southwest Series car to compete in the Los Angeles Street Race, and with only one lap of practice, Nick managed to quality 16th out of 64 cars, a broken valve ended his race early however. The following race, Nick charged from the 25th starting spot at Mesa Marin Raceway all the way up to third, then followed up that with exciting runs on National Television coming from 16th and 17th positions in two races at Tucson Raceway Park to run in the top 5 in both events.
The 1999 season got off to rough start as the teams hauler was broken into with the majority of their equipment stolen. The season didn't get much better from there as 1999 proved to be a very difficult year as the team attempted to compete at a level where hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent, however the teams budget was less that $50,000 for the year, in which the team paid the price in the long run with several mechanical failures due to over using parts for most of the season. However on one of the smallest budgets in the series, Nick did manage to win one Bud Pole Award and qualify in the top 5 in six of the eleven races he entered and produced some very exciting runs.
In 2001,
Nick made his first attempt at a full season in the Southwest Series and
although still on a limited budget, Nick and his team pulled off a fourth place
finish in the point standings. On his way to that finish, Nick passed more
cars than any other driver in the series with a net gain of 150+ positions over
the course of the season, with the next highest driver having a net gain of only
34 positions. The team finished with only one DNF (first in that category)
and completed the third highest number of laps over the course of the season.
Nick ran only partial schedules in 2002 and 2003 due to limited funding. Although, still with an extremely limited budget, Nick had intentions on running the full Southwest Series schedule in 2004, however a broken oil line on the first lap of practice at the first event caused the car to ignite into a 150 mph fireball and prevented Nick from running the first race. Nick did however compete in 12 of 14 races and even though not running two events, still managed an 11th place finish in the standings, just 90 points out of the 7th position. Nick also continued to show his road course expertise, starting 39th at Sears Point and charging all the way to the 4th position, which is the 4th consecutive race Nick has charged from the rear of the field at Sears Point to the top 5. Nick also competed in his first Grand National West Series races in 2004 with an awesome top 3 run at Mesa Marin and a top 5 run at Colorado. A blown tire at California Speedway ended a strong run there as well. Although Nick only competed in 5 events in the West Series, he still managed to finish 23rd in the final point standings. In all, Nick completed 2004 with one win, five top fives, twelve top tens and fifteen top fifteen finishes in twenty one races. Although his season got off to a rough start, Nick came on strong late in the season, posting the third highest average finish of any driver over the second half of the season. Great numbers considering both of his teams were on budgets of about 10% of the top teams.
In 2005, Nick will took on a completely new challenge and drove in the Nascar Autozone Elite Division Midwest Series for the entire schedule. Having never seen any of the tracks the series competed it, Nick managed to post a solid 9th place finish in the season ending standings, highlighted by a 4th place finish at the 1.5 mile Kentucky Superspeedway. His finished qualified him for his first Nascar Toyota All-Star Showdown, which places the top 40 drivers from around the country in a special event, where Nick ran in the top 5 all weekend.
In 2006, Loren
Borenstein decided he wanted to start a Nascar team and hired Nick to help build
the team and be the driver. With only two weeks to prepare a brand new car for
the start of the season, the team suffered from typical new car blues,
experiencing problems through the first three races and leaving Nick 21st in the
standings. The results over the last twelve races were amazing. For a brand new
team that had never seen the race track before this season, Nick and his team
posted 12 consecutive top 10 finishes, which included 9 top 5 finishes and moved
up to 4th in the final standings. They improved their performance all season
long, with the final three races showing astounding results, winning their first
race and posting three straight top 3 finishes. In one of those, Nick charged
from 31st to finish 3rd in 37 laps. Another one he started dead last and took
the lead on lap 14 (both records). Considering most teams take years to be a solid top 5 team,
Nick took pride in the fact that he contributed to this first year team being
able to contend for wins just 12 races into their first season. After struggling
for years with under funded teams, 2006 proved to be a revitalization year for
Nick as his stats were among the best of his career and gave him the opportunity
to show once again that he can run up front each and every week when provided
with adequate funding.
In 2007, Nick continued his hot streak from the season
before, posting five wins, nineteen top 5 finishes and twenty top 10 finishes in
twenty-one races. While these numbers by themselves are
incredible for any driver, what makes them all the more amazing is the fact that
his stats span three different seasons, while driving in NINE different Nascar
series, at SIXTEEN different tracks, for a total of THIRTEEN different car
owners and in a total of TWENTY different cars. And in each and every case, Nick
posted that car and/or teams best results ever. Joanides had spent the past two
seasons helping several different owners build their programs, coaching their
rookie drivers and coming up with set ups for all of their cars. He has done so
while posting incredible statistical numbers in such a very short period of
time. His worst finish in a car he drove for the very first time this year was a
4th place finish. In the five different cars he drove this year, he posted a
4th, a 3rd, two 2nds and a Win in his first race behind the wheel of each of
those cars. Following that run, Nick went on to win four of the last six races
of the season, including the finale's in Vegas and Irwindale. 
For 2008, Nick signed to drive for Loyd McGhee's J&M Racing team. The move finally gave him the opportunity he'd been looking for his entire career, a ride with a team that had adequate funding and he did what he felt he always could if funding was not an issue. He competed in two separate series of competition and made a run three separate championships. All combined, Nick competed in 38 races and posted astounding results with 13 wins, 31 top fives and 35 top tens. After reeling off 17 consecutive podium finishes including 10 wins and 6 second place finishes, he clinched the 2008 premier division Super Late Model Championship. An ignition failure in the Late Model division cost him 32 points with five races remaining. He ultimately lost the title by just 8 points. He also finished second the California State standings where he was stacked up against nearly 200 other drivers. An engine failure in the final event cost him what appeared to be a sure shot at that title as well.
After an incredible 2008 season, it appeared unlikely that it
could be topped, yet 2009 was more of the same and then some. While the economy hit the
team hard in terms of sponsorship, Nick again competed in both series. In
the premier division, he won is second consecutive Championship. In 24 races, he
finished no worse than 5th while posting 14 wins and 8 second place finishes. He
also won the 2009 Nascar California State Championship, the Lucas Oil Slick Mist
Championship and finished third in Nascar's National Standings that includes
over 3,000 drivers. To finish off the season in grand style, Nick won the Nascar Auto Club Late Model
Championship, becoming the first driver in track history to win titles in the
top two divisions, let alone in the same season! In total, Nick competed
in 43 races in 2009, with 17 wins, 34 top 3, 38 top 5 and 42 top 10 finishes.
His worst finish all season was an 11th place after a late pit stop put him back
to 24th with 10 laps remaining. He completed every lap of every race run.
Nick is also an excellent speaker. In all of his award ceremonies where speeches are required, Nick has never "written" a speech, however has always spoke straight from his mind and heart, keeping his speeches interesting with just the right amount humor. While other drivers are reading a piece of paper and putting the audience to sleep with long drawn out speeches, Nick has always kept the audience interested, laughing and cheering, covering all of the important information in half the time. His messages are actually heard by the audience. 2009 was no different as Nick amazed the Whelen All-American Series crowd and Nascar with what was determined to be the best speech of the night. Many talent agents have tried to get Nick to do commercials due to his natural ability in front of a camera or microphone. Nick has also been a loud speaker regarding safety, writing or contributing to several articles (Click Here for Articles)
Over the past 15 years, while nearly always in under-funded race cars, Nick has proven his ability to drive at high speed, showing excellent natural talent as well as groomed talent, adapting quickly to new challenges, over coming major adversities and being successful in all of his years of auto racing. 2008 was proof that when provided with adequate funding, he can get the job done. Additionally, Nicks intelligence and friendly personality as well as aggressive driving style, have made him a fan favorite over the past several years.