Greg Roberson has won plenty of Limited Late Model features at his hometown Eastside Speedway in Waynesboro, Va., over the past decade. Just last year, in fact, he captured 13 races en route to claiming the steel-block division’s championship.

Not a single one of Roberson’s victories, though, was more meaningful, more emotional, than his score in Saturday's season opener at the 4/10-mile oval that has put him atop DirtonDirt.com's Weekly Notebook presented by GRT Race Cars.

When the 37-year-old driver known as Rocketman climbed out of his car in victory lane, he was greeted by his mother Marilyn, who was less than three months removed from suffering a stroke that nearly took her life.

“That was pretty special,” said Roberson, who posed for postrace photos with his beaming wheelchair-bound mother. “Tears were rolling, that’s for sure. She’s my No. 1 supporter. She lives and dies with my racing.”

Marilyn Roberson was stricken in late January, just one day before her son was scheduled to leave for Florida to go racing in the Crate Late Model Winter Nationals at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala. Roberson called off his trip to be with his father, Roger, and other family members as their matriarch laid in a hospital bed in critical condition.

“They gave us pretty much a 95 percent chance she wasn’t gonna make it out of the hospital,” Roberson said of Marilyn’s grim prognosis. “That Sunday in the hospital they told us, ‘Hey, you guys have to go home and talk and figure out what your mother’s wishes are. You guys know what the deal is. It doesn’t look like there’s a whole lot of hope.’ This was from five doctors and specialists, some of the best in the world at the University of Virginia.

“But when we got back there the next day, they were like, ‘Well, you know what? This lady has made tremendous improvement. We think it’s gonna be a long road and she’s never gonna be back to where she was, but she has a chance.’ ”

Marilyn, 58, eventually left that hospital. She’s had some rough moments since, but for the most part she’s been making steady, almost unthinkable progress.

“The doctors didn’t think she’d ever swallow again or ever be able to communicate,” Roberson said. “Well, she’s talking to us — she talks just like my old mom. She’s in a wheelchair, but she’s walking a little bit and she’ll be over at the house helping cook pork chops and participating in that kind of stuff. It’s like a miracle.”

With the Roberson family compound barely a quarter-mile away from Eastside Speedway — so close that Roberson drives his four-wheeler to the track on a path that connects the two properties — Marilyn decided she couldn’t bear to sit home and hear engines roaring last Saturday night. So Roberson’s wife, Wendy, and sister, Misti, drove Marilyn over to the track, where she watched from inside a car as her son raced to victory.

The words Mrs. Roberson later spoke to her triumphant son when she arrived in victory lane almost buckled his knees.

“I know this sounds silly,” said Roberson, “but every day when I go see her before I go to the races to give her a hug and a kiss, she always says, ‘Shake-and-bake, son, shake-and-bake’ — you know, (actor Will Ferrell’s) line from the Ricky Bobby movie (Talladega Nights). Well, after the race, she rolled up there and she looked at me and said, ‘I told you to shake-and-bake, boy.’ That’s just when I lost it.”

With his mother improving and a checkered flag already under his belt, Roberson is primed to continue heeding her simple directive. He is planning an ambitious campaign encompassing regular Limited Late Model action at Eastside (in equipment fielded by Eddie Yount, who lives less than a half-mile from the speedway) plus selected Super Late Model events (in a car owned by Mike Smiley, whose home is so close to Eastside Speedway “he can throw a rock from his backyard to the racetrack,” said Roberson) and Crate Late Model shows (in a self-owned machine).

All the cars at Roberson’s disposal are MasterSbilt by Huey models. He switched to the chassis brand last year because Yount, who has provided Roberson’s steel-block cars for more than a decade, wanted to “try something different” after a long run with Rocket Chassis vehicles. The move paid dividends with Roberson rolling up a career-high 17 feature wins, including four at Natural Bridge (Va.) Speedway.

“It was like an immediate, ‘Yes, this is what I need here,’” Roberson said of his quick adjustment to the MasterSbilt by Huey cars last year.

A 21-year racing veteran who progressed through the mini-stock and sportsman divisions before entering the Late Model ranks in the early 2000s, Roberson is very excited about 2014. With Eastside running mostly on Friday nights this season, his Saturdays will be opened up for more traveling — and more opportunities to finally put a Super Late Model victory on his resume. (He most extensive open-competition Late Model action came in 2002 and ’03 when he ran weekly at Virginia Motor Speedway with a top finish of third.)

“The No. 1 deal I do is the steel-block with Eddie,” said Roberson, whose crew includes his 16-year-old son, Logan, and 24-year-old nephew, Josh Roberson, who periodically drives Greg’s Crate Late Model against the steel-blocks at Eastside. “I’ve always been kind of limited with the races I could do with the Super (Late Model) and Crate because Eastside has run on Saturdays, but this year we’ll have more options.

“Now I’ll try to run some Super shows up at Winchester (Va.). We’re going to Virginia Motor this weekend (to enter Saturday’s National Dirt Racing League event) and try to hit some Crate shows throughout the year too. We’re gonna have some fun.”

That’s the name of the game, of course, for Roberson, who is in his 16th year working full time for Waste Management (currently as a swing driver).

“We have a good time,” said Roberson, whose two Super Late Model starts so far this season resulted in a fourth-place finish on March 22 at Winchester and a seventh on April 4 at Potomac Speedway in Budds Creek, Md. “My wife and family like racing even more than I do. They give me the drive to do this.

“Some days when I get down on a night when we’re supposed to go to Winchester or someplace else (away from Eastside) and I say, ‘You know what, I think we’re just gonna take off tonight and get my stuff together,’ my wife and family are the ones who keep pushing me. They say, ‘Let’s go, let’s go.’

“If you’re down and out and you got a family that doesn’t like racing as much as you do, you just don’t have the go power to keep at it. With my family, though, it’s not the case. I’m very fortunate that they all support me.”

Weekly highlights

• Continuing an early-season hot streak, Neil Baggett of Shannon, Miss., won April 5’s Super Late Model feature at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Miss., his third in a row at the 3/8-mile oval.

• The Brothers Faircloth of Swainsboro, Ga., both won April 5. Jeremy Faircloth grabbed a victory at his hometown Swainsboro Raceway while Ben Faircloth topped the Southern Outlaw feature at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga.

• When Kenny Moreland tangled with lapped traffic on the second-to-last lap, Dale Hollidge of Mechanicsville, Md., regained command for an April 5 victory at Winchester (Va.) Speedway. Moreland ended up sixth.

• After losing a left-rear wheel in his heat race, Chandler Petty of Cabot, Ark., rebounded in the main event April 4 at Batesville (Ark.) Motor Speedway, grabbing a Crate Late Model victory with a last-lap pass in the main event.

• At Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway’s chilly opener, Tim Wilson of McClure, Pa., overtook fellow front-row starter Brett Schadel in turn three on the final lap. He won by .142 seconds.

• After tangling with a lapped car and spinning on alp 16, Dustin Linville of Bryantsville, Ky., went from fifth place back to first in one lap during his April 5 victory at Ponderosa Speedway’s opener in Junction City, Ky.

• Withstanding challenges from Rusty Schlenk and Chris Keller, Ryan Markham of Ashland, Ohio, nabbed his second career Attica (Ohio) Raceway Park victory on April 5. “My wife is going to be mad … it was too cold for her to come,” he said in victory lane.

First things first

First-time occurrences at the dirt track:

• Sean Merkel of Boyertown, Pa., won Grandview (Pa.) Speedway’s season opener for the first time, outdueling Sam Schlosberg in the closing laps for his seventh career victory at the track.

• Winning his first race in his Cameron-Mann No. 72, Jason Covert of York Haven, Pa., notched his first career Potomac Speedway victory on April 4. He earned $2,500 in the Ed Canupp Memorial.

• At Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Miss., Nick Thrash of Meridian, Miss., won the NeSmith Chevrolet Weekly event for his first Crate Late Model victory.

Weekly points chases

NeSmith Chevrolet: Adam Gauldin of Talladega, Ala., scored his second straight victory at Talladega Short Track and has the early lead in the Crate Late Model division with 99 points over Daniel Bridgmon (96), Thomas Lewis (95) and Ronnie Cooper (94.

SECA: Timbo Mangum of Lancaster, S.C., has 161 points to lead Trent Ivey (151), Taylor Hicks (144), Ross Bailes (143) and Josh Langley (140).

Upcoming weekly specials

Among non-touring and independent special events for Late Models at dirt tracks around the country:

Southern Ohio Speedway, Wheelersburg, Ohio (April 11): A $3,000-to-win feature opens the track’s Super Late Model season on the Road to the Southern 100.

Peoria (Ill.) Speedway (April 12): The track honors a legend with the $3,000-to-win Don Bohlander Tribute for UMP DIRTcar Late Models.

Thunder Valley Speedway, Glenmora, La. (April 12): Returning to weekly action for the first time in several seasons, the grand reopening features a $3,000-to-win Late Model feature.

Texana Raceway Park, Edna, Texas (April 12): The Southern Texas Late Models visit with the second race of the season.

County Line Raceway, Elm City, N.C. (April 12): Late Models are part of the track’s Spring Fever 100.

411 Motor Speedway, Seymour, Tenn. (April 12): Limited Late Models take center stage with the $2,000-to-win Spring Fling.