Auto Racing | Rookie Jim Warn ready for Washington 500 at Evergreen Speedway

MONROE — During the week, Jim Warn is a full-time businessman specializing in high-performance auto parts for exotic sports cars like Lamborghinis and Spykers.

On the weekend, he is a hard-charging rookie NASCAR Camping World Series driver who pushes similar parts to the breaking point and beyond.

Warn will be one of the sentimental favorites when he competes in the 50th annual Washington 500 tonight in his debut at Evergreen Speedway.

Warn, who grew up in Aurora, Ore., and briefly lived in Seattle, is currently 13th in the season points standings.

A former rookie of the year driving Super Stocks at South Sound Speedway in Rochester, Warn is second in the Camping World West rookie standings to Jeff Barkshire of Auburn, and he knows a good finish here could be important with five races left this season.

"I've only put in 50 laps at Evergreen in practice, but more than a thousand in my head so I'll know what to expect," Warn said. "The learning curve this season has been huge, but the car is fast. There's no reason we can't win."

Eric Holmes of Escalon, Calif., has four wins this season and leads the points race. Jason Bowles of Ontario, Calif., is second and has two wins this year.

Warn is hardly your typical rookie.

He is a teammate of three-time champion Jeff Jefferson, and the two drive identical Chevrolets prepared by champion NASCAR crew chief Chuck Carruthers.

Their team, MJ3 Racing, is owned by Warn's father, Mike, and the crew flies to races in a private plane, a move they believe may be more economical than flying commercial.

"We're budgeted to race for three years and I want to take it as far as it can go," Warn said. "This year we're just trying to get our feet wet, but a win would change everything."

Warn, 24, graduated from Washington State in 2006 with a business degree, and he fully expects to see large pockets of crimson and gray when he competes at Evergreen for the first time.

"I'm sure there will be a lot of family and a lot of old friends here," he said. "They all said they were coming, and I'm sure I'll be able to tell where they are."

Racing, which begins at 5 p.m. with a 50-lap bomber race, will include four different stock-car divisions. The Camping World Series race will be 150 laps and include a break after 75 trips around the .646-mile oval. The Evergreen Speedway Super Stock division and the ASA Northwest Tour will also race 150 laps.

The first Washington 500 at Evergreen Speedway was run in 1964 and won by Dick Brown. Three-time race winner Chad Little, a Tacoma native, will be at the track today to sign autographs and be the official starter of the opening bomber race.