It is a proud moment for any father to stand in the pits or watch from a grandstand seat and witness a child capturing a checkered flag on the race track.

It is rarer when a dad, perched in perhaps the best seat in the house, the starter's bridge, has the special opportunity to throw a checkered flag over his son's car as he crosses the finish line victorious.

Doug Carnes enjoyed that opportunity a few weeks ago when, as Holland NASCAR Motorsports Complex's chief starter, he got to wave the checkered flag over his triumphant son Rich Carnes in his first career NASCAR Charger feature race.

Rich Carnes will comes into Saturday's double points season finale at Holland in third place in NASCAR Charger markers, 30 points behind leader Zach Myers. Ted Welshans is second nine points ahead of Carnes.

"When I got out of the car after winning my first ever feature race on July 31, my dad came down from the flag stand and personally handed me the checkered flag," said Rich. "It was great."

Carnes' season has been a very consistent one, his best since joining the NASCAR Charger ranks at Holland three years ago.

"I raced in the NASCAR Pro Four class for three years before moving up to the NASCAR Chargers," recalled the 33-year-old Cheektowaga resident. "I almost won my first race in the Pro Fours. I was leading a few years ago with two laps to go and then my right rear tire ripped off the car and that was it.

"I had some good luck when I won my NASCAR Charger race last month. I took the lead when Zach Myers broke but I accidentally slammed into him as he slowed down. Dave Krawczyk got underneath me to take the lead away from me and then a few laps later his tire blew and I got the lead back again. This time it was for good."

While the big win put Carnes on top of the mountain, he has had to endure a brief three-week slide of back luck since.

"The week after I won, a car spun in front of me and I got collected in the accident," said Rich. "The next week Jim Loffredo blew his engine in front of me and I slid in the oil and crashed. This past week I was leading with about 11 laps to go when I spun out all by myself."

The younger Carnes was introduced to racing by his father and first saw a race at Holland when he was 2 years old. Rich Carnes never missed a race at Holland thereafter until he was 15.

Rich is conscious of the fact that he is one of the few drivers in Western New York who has a father working as a race official at the speedway at which he races.

"I just know that I can never do anything stupid like being illegal in post race tech," said Rich. "It would be an embarrassment to my father and I would never let that happen."

His father saw to it that his son would be a model citizen at Holland.

"The very first time he raced, on the way to Holland that day, I gave him the lecture," said Doug, 58, who lives in Olcott. "I told him never to do anything to embarrass me there because the people that work at Holland are family to me."

When the younger Carnes was coming to the victorious checkered flag at Holland a few weeks ago, his father got emotional, as would be expected.

"I had tears in my eyes the last few laps and when he won I was not going to let anyone give him the checkered flag but me," said Doug. "I couldn't believe that the first big win was about to happen during the last few laps but it happened.

"I've been a race official at Holland for 32 years, first as a tech inspector and the last 10 or so as the chief starter. When Rich was about 17, I got him a job as a worker in the concession stand at Holland and he told me back then, 'you know I'm going to drive a race car someday.' I just looked at him and said, 'yeah-right.' I guess he meant it."

Much of the success of this team has to go to crew chief Paul Krzemien. Doug Carnes is going to have offseason knee replacement surgery this fall but plans to be back on the starter's stand when Holland opens its 2011 schedule.

In addition to the NASCAR Chargers, all other stock car classes will decide their point championships at Holland on Saturday. The popular Crash-A-Rama will conclude Holland's 2010 slate Sept. 11.

Titles on line

--Ransomville Speedway will decide the point championships Friday night in the 358 Modified and Sportsman classes.

--New Humberstone Speedway will crown its divisional champions, including the 358 Modifieds, Sunday evening.

--Merrittville Speedway showcases its last points night Saturday.

--Dunn Tire Raceway Park will determine its season champions in the Sportsman, Street Stock and 4-Cylinder classes Saturday.

--South Arcade Speedway will host its finale points night Sept. 10.

--Little Valley will crown its E-Mod champion Sunday night during its Coca-Cola Super Late Model Classic.

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