TJ Michael

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Hey, thank you for tuning in to Beyond the Visor.
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My name is Zane Scott and Zane Scott Media.
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This podcast, we dive in and go into things beyond the race track with drivers,
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crew members, officials, and more.
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If you like what you hear, we are available on all the podcasting apps as well as
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on Facebook and Zane Scott Media.
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And then you can find us on Instagram as well at Z underscore S underscore media.
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This episode is brought to you by Zane Scott Media.
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You're one stop shop for video and more based out of Castile, Ohio,
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covering the local Ohio racing scene and beyond.
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If you're interested in supporting the show or sponsoring the show in any manner,
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You can find that on our Facebook page.
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Hope you guys enjoy this episode and feel free to reach out to me at any time.
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If you have any questions or you want to be on the show and thank you for listening
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and hope you enjoy DJ.
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Thanks for coming on the show here.
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Episode number four.
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So we're recording this on September 11th.
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So we've got Jim Ford coming up this weekend finale at Fremont, a couple more races.
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By the time this releases, that'll all be kind of done in pass and kind of through
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the season here.
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But I, right before we started this, I asked you, you know, kind of for a quote,
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you know, we start every episode like this.
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So what did you think of fine?
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Come to like, come to the conclusion that you wanted to go with.
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It's actually a quote from a book I read.
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It's from Tim Grover.
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He was the trainer for Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
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And it said, crave the result so intensely that the work becomes irrelevant.
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And it just really stood out to me because, you know, he trained some people that were
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very, very, you know, good at what they did.
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And they were good at what they did because they worked hard at what they did.
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So that's probably the quote that sticks out to me the most.
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Yeah.
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I mean, I can, I respect that.
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For you, like through your season, like how does that play in?
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So like, obviously, you know, basketball, football, baseball, like your typical
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stick and ball type sports, you can, you know, practice every single day where,
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you know, in the racing world, you're kind of limited to, you know, your certain
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dates or, um, weekends of a year.
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So like, how do you, you know, work hard enough to where it becomes irrelevant?
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Do you have like a workout plan that you kind of follow through the year or the
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week to get, you know, physically in shape and like, do you have a mental one?
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Like, how do you get to that point?
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Um, for me, it's, uh, it's working on my, uh, you know, my body, um, you know, being
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in good physical health, that's running and lifting weights and stuff like that.
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But also like watching film and stuff like that, just mentally being prepared.
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I think there's a fine line, um, between over preparing just because of what we do,
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you know, dirt racing, things are so different all the time, but I still like
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to watch film just to, you know, refresh my mind on things.
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I don't like to, you know, overload my brain with stuff and, you know,
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overthink things, but for me with not having any practice, um, a lot of it is
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just physical shape.
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I really put an emphasis on, you know, running every morning, getting good
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cardiovascular health and building good core strength to race so I can, you know,
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be there for, you know, 40, 50 lap races and stuff like that.
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But really, um, the film as well helps.
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I mean, I like to watch myself, uh, just to critique it and, you know, hopefully
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learn something, learn something about the car.
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It helps, you know, my race team, you know, for me to relay information, whether
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it's, you know, Hey, I think the car is doing one thing and they think it's doing
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something else and the video just, you know, makes it a lot more clear.
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So that's more what I do practice wise.
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I wish we were able to, you know, practice throughout the week cause I think it
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helped, but you know, unfortunately we're not that fortunate.
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Yeah.
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I'm not around here anyway with the, the schedules, the way they, they line up.
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You mentioned the, the cardiovascular side of things.
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Obviously, you know, you're running mostly weekly at Fremont Attica.
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I wouldn't say the most taxing physical tracks out there.
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Um, but do you feel that there's a benefit that you get from having that, you
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know, good health and all that at those places.
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And then when you do travel to, let's say, um, maybe like somewhere, Wayne's County
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or Wayne County where it's a little bit more, maybe physical in the turns or
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stuff, like you go to a shorter place, like Lyme land or Wayne's field or
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somewhere like that.
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Like, do you feel that difference?
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Does it, does it play a role at each track?
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Can you like, can you notice it?
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Yeah, definitely.
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I think where I noticed it the most is like you said, when the track gets
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faster, like there's been a couple of nights at Attica this year where I've,
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I felt like I really pride myself on like, whether it's a 30 lap race, the last
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10 laps you can, you know, I like to go as hard as I can in the last 10, just
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so, you know, I talked to like fellow competitors and I, we, uh, share like
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workout stuff.
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And I was talking to Chris Andrews and we always text each other, you know,
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pictures of, we, we tracked the races so we can see our heart rate.
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We can see how hard, you know, what kind of strain we're putting on our body
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and stuff like that.
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But where I noticed is like, we were texting back and forth one night after
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Attica and he was like, man, this is the highest my heart rates got in a long
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time.
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And I was like, you know, same.
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And he, um, you know, we were like, kind of like, well, if, you know, you and I
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work out and you know, we put our cardiovascular health, you know, upfront
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and priorities, like, how do you think everybody else felt in a sense?
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But I noticed it as well at Wayne County and stuff like that.
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Um, where I've, I've really liked the last two or three years really stepped
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it up.
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I, you know, I really couldn't tell that big of a difference until I started,
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you know, really focusing on, you know, longer runs and stuff like that.
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And I was able to, you know, when I was not in shape, I could tell like really
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quickly, but now I feel like I've been in such good shape for such a long time
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that very rarely will you catch me.
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It's funny because it's never really the 30 lap features or anything like that.
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I'll come in qualifying two laps where there's a lot of pressure, your nights,
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you know, kind of put in those two laps and I'll be like, I'll take a deep breath
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and be like, wow, like that really was taxing.
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But the, the features and stuff like that, especially around here, pre-mountain
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Attica, typically they don't really, I really don't phase me, but you know, I've
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got to Wayne County and you got to rip the fence for 30, 40 laps.
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You know, it's first off, it's mentally taxing, but you know, by the end of it,
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you're like, you know, you sleep good that night for sure.
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Yeah. Do you feel like Fremont Attica slowed down so much throughout the night
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that it kind of makes it a little bit easier on the health lies?
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Cause like obviously you go to both those places, Attica and Fremont are both
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usually pretty juiced up early in the night.
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And then you add, you know, like you said, pressure of qualifying, you get one
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lap at Fremont, you go out there, it's, you know, 100% everything you got.
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So then by the time the heat races come around and starting to slow up a little
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bit and then, you know, you make that 30 lap feature and it is a longer race
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and you're out there longer, but it's, you feel like it's slowed down so much that
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it's kind of, I don't want to say in slow motion, but things seem to happen slower
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and you're able to kind of mentally make the decisions a little bit easier and
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kind of keep, you know, your heart rate down in the physical aspect lighter.
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Yeah, absolutely. I think, I think, I honestly think the reason why, you know,
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guys like Caleb and Buddycofoyd and Cole Mocedo and Carson Mocedo, they come here
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and are so much farther advanced as we are is because the racetracks they race on
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have, you have to be up on the wheel for 30 laps. It's all, the track's fast,
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it's choppy, it's, you know, it's wet and you have to be aggressive and on the wheel.
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If not, you're not going to go, you're not going to be fast. And so when they come here,
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it's like racing in slow motion. We have slicker race tracks, you know, it gets
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slick, slow, wide most of the time. And I think that for them, you know, that, that,
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you know, they're used to things happening so much faster that when you slow it down
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for them, it's like, it's a lot easier for them. For us, you know, we, that's what
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we're used to. So everything seems, you know, just a tad bit faster. So yeah, to
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answer your question, I think that really, you know, I think this year, truthfully,
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has been since I four-ten race, the most consistently fast tracks at Attica for sure,
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faster than in the past. And Fremont has been a lot better. It's been, you know,
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very diverse, very, some nights it's slick, some nights it's fast. But still, I think
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that, you know, it definitely slows it down throughout the night, which makes it
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easier, you know, physically. Yeah. Well, spoiler here, episode five is with Caleb.
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He's actually, he's sitting 10 yards away from us here eating ice cream, but a week
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from now, you guys will hear kind of his side of things and, you know, how he views
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that change from, you know, the California places, which we kind of saw it, you know,
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over the last week or so with the outlaws, a lot of people kind of coming out and
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saying, you know, the track out there was one super greasy and then it was hooked up
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the entire night and all that. But we even saw it, you know, kind of through the high
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limit show as well out there with, you know, Gold Cup and all that. It's just they
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stay hooked up. It seems longer through the night, more, you know, tacky. And then
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in turn, you know, you got to be a little bit more aggressive on the wheels, kind of
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like, you know, if you looked at I 55 for the Iron Man, like that place gets a little
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slick, but it doesn't really seem like it ever slows down throughout the night. And
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you, you know, you see the interviews with those guys at the end of it. They're, they're
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drained where if you looked at Knoxville, it's 50 laps, but it's a, I don't want to
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say slow 50 laps, but it's a much slower style of 50 laps where, and then, you know,
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you come to Fremont and like you said, Attica this year has been, you know, pretty
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juiced up. I haven't been to too many Attica shows. Unfortunately, it's trying to get
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that change going in the next year, but the new dirt obviously has kind of changed
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things up. Farmer being back at Fremont's kind of changed things up there. So you're
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getting different places every night. And I know it was about, I think two, maybe
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maybe even four weeks, cause you had that break. Fremont one night was, you know,
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really juiced up and was kind of, I don't want to say rough, but it was, it was gripped
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up. Did you, I can't remember if you were there that night. Did you feel like a noticeable
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difference that night with how you fell afterwards? Like, did you feel more tired or?
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Yeah. I think actually that was one of our better runs. Or I think we ran fourth or
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fifth that night there. And I think definitely it came into play was the physical aspect
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of it of, you know, keeping your car. Like I think a lot of people around here, because
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we don't get the racetracks like that all the time. They think you got to just be,
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you know, wide open, hammer down and kind of out of control. And really truthfully,
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you got to keep it, you got to keep it straight off the corner. You got to be, you know,
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control the wheelies, finish the race is the biggest part. A lot of people around here
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because we don't race in that stuff a lot. And we, we 10 to 12 cars finished the
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feature because, you know, we're not used to going that fast. We're not used to having
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to be that aggressive and up on the wheel and it's physically demanding. And, you know,
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I like, truthfully, I like it for me to me, like, I think this year where my team and
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I have struggled the most, which is very different from in the past is on slicker,
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slower racetracks, which we're working towards getting a lot better with. And we've
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made improvements, but still have a long ways to go. But with the, the faster race tracks,
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I think that I've, I've enjoyed them a lot more because the drought, you have to, you
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have to race hard and you have to be smart and keep your car under control, miss chaos
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and stuff like that. And to me, it's, it's been a little bit more fun this year doing
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racing on racetracks like that. Yeah. I think it divides from my perspective. It
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divides the field up a little bit because you kind of get the, I don't say the impression,
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but you can see more clearly on nights like that, like who really, I don't want to say
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once it, but I'm going to say once it because you kind of just get the feel like if you were
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to watch, um, you know, cap Caleb, uh, DJ, you know, typically, you know, the guys you
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would see top five, top 10, and then, you know, you look kind of further back in the
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field, you can tell a notice and how hard they're, you know, race center, they're, they're
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strategy. Like there's a, a noticeable difference and you really see it, um, on the
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USAC side of the house. And you know, you go to Kokomo, for example, you watch Justin
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Granite Kokomo and compare him to, you know, someone that runs Bloomington Weekly and
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doesn't really travel. It's a day and night difference. Like you, Gran is on the gas.
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Like it seems like he never lifts and then you got the local guy, he's, you know, not
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nothing against him, but is not as aggressive. And then you, then you, once you see that,
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you like really realize it's like, this is why this guy is winning races at the national
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level. This is why he's winning these, you know, big money races because they're just
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the drive there is so much bigger. And then, you know, you can bring that back to free
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amount. Like on nights we talked about, like when it's like that, you get that difference.
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You kind of see who is really one, not scared to who wants it. And then three, who's got
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kind of, I don't want to say blind faith in their equipment, but who really believes in
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what they got underneath them. That's going to get them there. Um, so yeah, I mean, it
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makes sense there. And then you, you couple it with the, the physical aspect of it and
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you know, you kind of put it together one piece. Do you, I know in the motocross world,
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you kind of see it a lot guys towards the end of a race get fatigued and it slows them
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down. When you, in the chance that you get fatigued, like, do you feel yourself slowing
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down or do you feel it slowing you down? Like, have you looked and at the time sheets and
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been like, yeah, I was tired in this lap and you kind of start to see it or do you just
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kind of not realize it until after the fact. I think it's, you kind of don't realize until
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after the fact. And, um, that's where like I've done a number of things, just paying attention
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to stuff like that. As far as like how I, how I run, like I, I always, I start off slower
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on my runs, you know, kind of, I try, I try to treat it like a, like a race in a sense.
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And I, for me, and when I'm running, I always make sure I'm running, if I'm running six
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miles, my fifth, five to six needs to be faster than one to two for that reason. And
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definitely, I definitely, there's been definitely times in my career where I've been like, you
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know, fatigued and you can tell the last 10 laps were kind of sloppy. And there's been
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times where I've almost lost races because of it. And that's kind of what's pushed me
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the last couple of years to really lock in on what I need to do to not feel that way.
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And, you know, some people it's easier than others. For me, I think it's a little bit
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harder. I don't know why. Some people are able to not do anything and, you know, stay
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out till two, three in the morning and drink beers all night and wake up and be totally
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fine and never work out and be fine. You know, I'm very jealous of those people, but
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feels feels a little personal. I know that I'm like one of those people like I, I don't
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think I've ever worked out my life in the last like three years, but if you ask me to
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go run three miles, I could probably get it done in like 20 minutes. Yeah.
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And I know it pisses everybody off. Like you eat terrible. Like how, how do you stay so
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skinny, but two, like how are you even in shape to go run them? Like, listen, just build
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different. I don't know how to explain it. Like I am one of those people that you probably
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would hate just because I don't take care of myself at all. And it's never cost me.
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Everyone's like, one day it's going to catch you. I'm like, well, until it does.
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Yeah, absolutely. No, I don't hate you. I'm jealous of you, truthfully, because if it,
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if I was, if it was, if I was that fortunate to be able to do that, I would do that. But
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I've learned over the last, you know, a couple of years, really that if I want to, you know,
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race like I race and race on a level I want to race on that. I need to take my physical
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health a little bit more serious. And that means, you know, sometimes having to wake
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up in the morning and go run when you don't want to, or, you know, having a long night
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out with your buddies and making sure you're in the gym the next morning. And it sucks,
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but it's the sacrifice you make. And really it doesn't suck because we get to drive, you
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know, badass race cars. And there's a lot of people that would love to be in our situation.
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So it's, you know, it's very fortunate really. Yeah. Silver, silver linings kind of all the
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around there. So to go back here, we've started every episode with a quote and then I've given
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my quote. So I think the one that I had for today's episode is the comeback is always greater
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than the setback. And for me, I, I would say I'm a pretty firm believer in that just because
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I think in my life, like any setback I've ever had, there's been a lesson that I've learned,
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like I've learned something out of it. So like, for example, this last week at Fremont,
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like the camera work I did was terrible. Like I've, you know, we talked with Caleb and we
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got a video offer him, but it's like, I looked at all the other stuff and I go, this is awful.
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Like I changed the setting in the camera. This was bad. But like now, you know, going into
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this weekend with Jim Ford being a big weekend, like I spent, I think four hours on YouTube
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the other day, just like deep diving into settings on this camera, trying to like figure
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out what can I do, not do and all that. So for me, it's like, I go into this weekend and
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I'm like, this is going to be better than it is last weekend. And ideally, like this is
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probably going to be hopefully the best product of the year because it's probably the biggest
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event that I'll get to do all year. But yeah, I think for me, like that quote is a pretty
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big thing. And I think a lot of people too, like they get setback and then you kind of
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start to feel defeated and you're just like, I don't know if I can do this, you know, this
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sucks. I don't know if it's worth it. And it's, you know, you see a lot of people start
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adventures or like endeavors or things like that, they hit a little bit of turmoil or,
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you know, something sets them back and then you kind of just never hear from them again.
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It kind of like, I want to say destroys them, but it basically takes them out and then once
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you lose the heart to do something, it's a lot harder to get the heart back into it to
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get going again. So like for me, I think if you get the setback and you know that the
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comeback is going to be greater and you invest into it, like you're going to reap the benefits
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of that. You're going to reap the rewards. And you know, if you translate that to racing,
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you know, if you go to El Dora or something and you junk a race car and then you come back,
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you know, a week later and you have a new car and you have this positive like mindset,
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you can win a $4,000 show, you know, weekly show. And you know, is it going to recoup
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you what you lost? Who knows, but you went from hero or zero to hero and vice versa.
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So like, I think it's a big thing to kind of look at, but we're going to change directions
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here a little bit. You're from Texas. I don't even know. Do you still go by Texas when on
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the driver's sheet anymore? I haven't even. Yeah, I will never not go by Texas. That's
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a, you know, you've been to Texas. It's a pride thing. We are very prideful on where
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we're from. And I don't think I could say I'm a Texan. I wasn't born there. I like to think
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that I've done enough Texas things to warrant saying that Texas is a second home, but kind
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of dive into that a little bit. So you're from the Plano area, just for anyone not familiar
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with Texas, it's north of Dallas and be mindful, Plano is its own city. And if you say you're
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from Dallas, but you're really from Plano, I've learned that's a no, no, and you don't do
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that. Like if you're from Plano, you're from Plano. But growing up down there, you know,
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being familiar with that area, you don't really have many options racing wise. You know, you
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used to have Devils Bowl now that, you know, that's gone. That's not really there. There's
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a couple smaller tracks that are outside of the DFW area, but nothing really to write
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home about for, you know, the sprint car aspect of things. So like, how did you get into this
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and then like growing up in Texas, was it something that you just kind of saw and you're like,
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one day I'm going to move to Ohio and do that. Or like, it was like, you know, I want to do
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this one day and whenever it takes me, it takes me. No, actually, the way I got started
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all stars back to Fremont, my dad is from Fremont, my grandparents, my dad, all my dads
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are the families from Fremont and my grandpa always worked on a, you know, a late model
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back in the day. And my dad's best friend was Bobby Clark. So my dad, he had it in his mind
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in his, you know, 20s or so that his kid was going to race just because he always wanted
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to race and his best friend got to race. And, you know, before I was born, my dad owns
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some of Bobby Clark's, you know, 360 and 410 engines. And basically when I turned four
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years old, Bobby's dad and my grandpa drove me down a go kart and I started go kart racing
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in Texas. And I really grew up asphalt racing and I raced road course go karts and then
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I raced bandoleros and, you know, traveled all across country, lived in North Carolina
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for a little bit, went race, legend cars. And I came to a point when I was like 15 years
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old, where I was kind of stuck. I had won a lot of races. And I had, we just really
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didn't know which direction to go. And asphalt side of things, you know, I was seeing my
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friends that I grew up racing with that I would be and, you know, be regularly they
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were getting, you know, truck rides or archer rides or super late model rides on asphalt.
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And I wasn't getting any of like anything like that. And a lot of it had to do with the
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funding aspect of it. It wasn't that I didn't have funding. It just, I couldn't fund full
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seasons to do stuff like that. And my dad kind of came with came to me with an option like,
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Hey, man, like I, he's like, do you want to go race a sprint car in Ohio? And I'm just
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like, I mean, if that's what I have to do, yeah, he's like, you know, you can race a
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bunch, this at the other. And it was just an idea at first, I was probably 14. And I,
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my dad always kept me close to sprint car racing. Like, I always was in tune with what was going
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on at Attica and Fremont because Bobby raced and Zach Kramer race. And my grandpa would go
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to every race and we'd call each other and exchange information. You know, how did you
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do? How did they do and stuff like that? So I was always involved. And then, you know, there
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was a family down in Texas, the Melton family who Mike Melton was a great friend of my dad's
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and supported me a ton in my career. And my dad got him and his son into sprint car racing
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through people up here. And they used to race down in Texas 305s and stuff like that, 360s.
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And we would always, you know, when we weren't racing, we'd go see him. So, but I kind of
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always kept me around sprint cars in a sense. And it was always his goal for me to be sprint
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car racing. And then just situations happen kind of aligned nice. There was an open car,
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open 305 car for Kenny Clark's 305 team. And, you know, my dad and my mom set, we sat down
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and it was really hard to convince my mom to let me be homeschooled and move 1000 miles
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away from her. But, you know, we told her this is what was, you know, best for myself at that
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time, which, you know, I really have zero regrets when it comes to that. And it was one of the
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best decisions I've ever made because I've met some absolutely incredible people here in Ohio.
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But, you know, thankfully she let me do that. And that's kind of where it started. I, you know,
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just came up here racing 305s locally for Kenny Clark. And the more my dad was around it and,
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you know, it, it was a reason for him to come back and spend time with his dad when he was around.
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And he loved that. And he got to run into people and, you know, just can't all came full circle
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almost. And then, you know, a year or two into doing that, it just things move quickly. And my
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dad realized pretty quickly that it costs a lot to race a 305 and it really doesn't cost
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that much more to race a 410 and you race a lot more and where I was trying to go and where
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I'm, you know, was trying to get, I needed to make that step. So it's kind of how I got up here.
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And that's, you know, still 10 years, 11 years later, I still haven't left. So do you ever,
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do you ever miss it in Texas? I miss Texas all the time. I love Texas, man. I, I, I don't
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think I miss the things I used to miss and the things I miss now are different. Like I, I love
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the people I'm around here. Like that's what keeps me here really. Cause over the last, I don't
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know, couple of years I've had, I haven't had the best of seasons and what keeps me going is,
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you know, I love, I love sprint car racing. The people I've met here, the friends I have here,
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I love, but I just, there's so much to do in Texas. My family, I don't have any family up here
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anymore. So for me, all my family is on in Texas and, you know, we're tight. So we spend a lot of
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time together and we hang out by the pool together and go to eat dinner together, which that's
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what I miss the most is the time spent with my parents and my sisters and there's significant
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others. But, you know, I also remember that, you know, it's very expensive to live there. The traffic
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is terrible. And I, I mean, I don't, I don't get the sprint car race down there like I can't
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appear. So really, I miss it. I miss a lot. And at some point, you know, plan on moving down there.
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I've said that for years, but I still, here I am, but I, I'm happy where I am at this moment
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in time, but hopefully my parents can, you know, move a little closer to me so we can continue
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to race and they can see it more often. Both your parents down in Texas now. Yeah, yeah,
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include. Okay. Yeah, he's military took him down to Texas and he got into a business and has his
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own, you know, business down there that takes a lot of his time and energy and he, he loves, that's,
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that's me and his bond is racing. We, you know, I work for him. So we talk a lot, but 90% of our
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conversation is racing. So for on vacation, we're watching races, you know, it's, it's what we do.
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It's who we are. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Truthfully, it's, I wish, I wish he could
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come here more often because, you know, in my younger years, I used to always think, you know, my dad's
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so hard on me, he's always finding stuff that's wrong. And as I've gotten older, I've learned to
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appreciate that because it's really made me better. You know, he, he pushes me, he can find mistakes
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that I don't even see myself doing. And for a long time, I was so caught up on the fact of, man, he's
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just trying to find something wrong. And really, you know, I, I reached a certain age where I learned
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to appreciate that stuff. Cause one, he cares to, he wants me to see, wants me to be better. And
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three, like it, it really does make me better. I mean, you know, he'll tell me, he texts me, he's always
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on dirt vision, always telling me what I could do better. You know, when I do a good job, he tells me
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good job. But most of the time it's critiqued. And I like to be critiqued because I want to be better.
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And yeah, them being in Texas, they've been up a lot more this summer than in the past. But it's nice to
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see him at the racetrack. It's nice to see familiar faces, you know, there. It's also nice to like be
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able to go down and, you know, bring our sprint car stuff down there every once in a while and go race
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in front of some, you know, friends and family as well too. How often do you get to do that roughly? Do you
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think once a year at once every other? Like how often do you guys get to travel down there to race? Cause like
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obviously the racing schedule there is a lot more limited. It is here. The seasons are a little bit longer
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just cause the weather cooperates a little bit, but the seasons themselves, you know, you kind of got a nit
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pick, you know, which shows you want to go to because there's only a handful of four, 10 shows and you got like a
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handful of ASCS shows. Well, it just, it depends. This is the first year I haven't raced my family car. So I
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really don't have any say what we do and where we go. But when we had our car, we always tried to make the
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first races of the year outlaw shows in the South like Louisiana, Mississippi, we did one year. We do
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Cotton Bowl, typically the two day outlaw shows on there. And now actually the four 10 racing is growing pretty
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big in Texas. Now the payouts got a long ways to go to keep up with like, you know, the racing around here, the
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Midwest or Pennsylvania and stuff like that. But people are finally getting four 10s on there. They got four 10s
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series, which is good. But typically I try to do once a year. It's just, it's really hard. I want to, to make it
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make sense for me to, you know, drive that far when there's plenty of races around here. It's got to be at the
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beginning of the year, end of the year. I've done a couple ASCS shows down there for Mike Melton in the past.
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I've done a bunch of race Avery 305 races down there for Mike Melton as well. I've taken my car down there and
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used one of their engines a couple times. But for us, like it, you know, they don't race that much earlier than we
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do. And the reason I used to do it was because the outlaw shows would be great tuneups for us show us, you know,
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where our speed was that. And you know, the one year we went down to Louisiana, Mississippi and Cotton Bowl for
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four nights and we made, you know, four features, but we weren't very good. And we learned coming back like, hey, we got
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a lot of work to do. And then we show up at the first local show for a fast show at Winesfield and absolutely dominate the
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race. And a lot of that has to do with just, you know, going down there getting laps and laps of good people. So I'd like to
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get down there more. I'd like to, you know, find somebody down there that has a car that, you know, would be able to fill some
386
00:30:00,660 --> 00:30:07,660
weekends. But, you know, I'm happy with what I'm doing here. I love the fact that, you know, I get to sleep in my own
387
00:30:07,660 --> 00:30:14,660
bed here, almost every single night, and we get to race for good money and get to race, you know, a good amount of time.
388
00:30:14,660 --> 00:30:22,660
But hopefully next year we can, you know, put a situation together to where I can, you know, race a little bit more and hopefully,
389
00:30:22,660 --> 00:30:26,660
you know, go to Texas once or twice throughout the year to race in front of those people.
390
00:30:26,660 --> 00:30:33,660
Yeah. Of the Texas tracks, like your tracks based on there, like, do you have, what would you say is like one of your
391
00:30:33,660 --> 00:30:39,660
favorite ones? So like, I know a lot of people like to say devil's bull, but it's not, I wouldn't say necessarily maybe the
392
00:30:39,660 --> 00:30:45,660
raciest track down there just because of how big it is and the layout. I don't think I've ever heard any, maybe one or two
393
00:30:45,660 --> 00:30:51,660
people kind of say cotton bull and then a couple of them would say some track kind of middle of West Texas, which is, you
394
00:30:51,660 --> 00:31:02,660
know, if you're not familiar with Texas, there's a very stark falloff in the house civilization is once you get west of the big
395
00:31:02,660 --> 00:31:10,660
three, as I call it Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, like once you go west of that, it becomes very desolate. And you just kind of drive
396
00:31:10,660 --> 00:31:15,660
for miles with nothing. And then all of a sudden you're in a city and you're like, what is this? Because I live in San
397
00:31:15,660 --> 00:31:23,660
Angelo. So like the middle of nowhere, like it is like you just drive and there's nothing. But you'd like, I'd have to drive
398
00:31:23,660 --> 00:31:31,660
an hour and a half north to go to Abilene to go to races. And you're just kind of like tracks cool, I guess, but then you, you
399
00:31:31,660 --> 00:31:38,660
know, growing up here in Ohio, you're like, it's different. This is vastly different than anything I've ever seen in my life for
400
00:31:38,660 --> 00:31:44,660
running in seven classes. Yeah, they're in the morning, they're plagued with like the South racing issues that everyone always talks
401
00:31:44,660 --> 00:31:49,660
about like seven divisions, they never start on time and anything like that. So it's just like you go and you're kind of like,
402
00:31:49,660 --> 00:31:56,660
it's miserable to go to this is not enjoyable. Yeah, because you get so used to this where it's, you know, you're starting at seven
403
00:31:56,660 --> 00:32:02,660
o'clock and if you're not starting at seven, you're probably starting within 30 minutes, three divisions and you're done by 11 at the
404
00:32:02,660 --> 00:32:08,660
latest and you're like, ah, the restaurants are still open, I can still go out to eat and it was like there, you left the race track at one
405
00:32:08,660 --> 00:32:14,660
in the morning and the only place you were going was Waterburger. Absolutely. And that's for me, my favorite tracks on there
406
00:32:14,660 --> 00:32:24,660
probably be Kennedale. There's a track that Sam Hafer Teep's Dad used to own. I forget the name of it. That place one night we
407
00:32:24,660 --> 00:32:33,660
were there was awesome. I think it's hard to, is it hard to, no, that's Waco. I get hard to Texas and you have like big O's or something like that.
408
00:32:33,660 --> 00:32:41,660
And I think Kennedale would probably be my favorite. I got to race a cool place on there. The Outlaws have been there a couple times.
409
00:32:41,660 --> 00:32:51,660
It's called Gator Motorplex. It is the most redneck ghetto facility I've ever been to. But the like the race track, the surface itself was awesome.
410
00:32:51,660 --> 00:33:01,660
You know, red dirt right up on the fence. It was, it was cool. But yeah, honestly, I felt you on a personal level when it comes to the dirt races down there.
411
00:33:01,660 --> 00:33:11,660
It's really hard to make it enjoyable for me to go down there and race when like I didn't grow up in that kind of dirt track racing.
412
00:33:11,660 --> 00:33:22,660
So the first like dirt track racing I was a part of was up here. So I didn't, I thought, you know, the efficiency part of it was just like that everywhere.
413
00:33:22,660 --> 00:33:31,660
And then my, every time I would go visit Texas when I was, you know, 15, 16, 17 and didn't have a race and there was a race in DFW.
414
00:33:31,660 --> 00:33:41,660
Me and my dad would always go and I hated it because you could get there at seven o'clock and two o'clock. Most of the time we'd leave before the features start.
415
00:33:41,660 --> 00:33:53,660
There are so many times I've been out to Texas Merseby way dirt track and we'd leave at the heat races because, you know, one, they farm the track a bunch and the surface is typically never very good because it's so hot.
416
00:33:53,660 --> 00:34:04,660
It goes from grease to rubber and truthfully this is a hot take. Everybody loves Devil's Bowl, but I've never been to Devil's Bowl 30 times and I've never seen it.
417
00:34:04,660 --> 00:34:17,660
You're speaking like a love language here to me because I told, I've told everyone, I'm like, I went to those all races down there and I told everyone is like, I will only go to the Friday portion and they're like, why would you not go to Saturday?
418
00:34:17,660 --> 00:34:28,660
It's the bigger show and I was like, because if I know anything, it'll rubber up Friday night and it'll rubber up twice as quick Saturday night and then you're just kind of sitting there and you're like, it was the same with Conbull.
419
00:34:28,660 --> 00:34:42,660
I only went to the Friday shows because like, I don't want to be here for tomorrow because I know it's going to rub rub and I can watch it on dirt vision and there's like, oh, you got to have faith and you know, and like, you watch on dirt vision and it rubber up at the end of like the last heat race and you're like,
420
00:34:42,660 --> 00:34:51,660
and that's why I didn't get it's a con bowl for me was like a four and a half hour drive. Like it was a commitment to go to. So I was like, I'm going to go to the show that I know is going to be good.
421
00:34:51,660 --> 00:35:02,660
But it was like the same way when I lived in North Carolina to like so many divisions. It was never it never seemed organized. You're starting features at like 11pm at night.
422
00:35:02,660 --> 00:35:03,660
It's poor efficiency.
423
00:35:03,660 --> 00:35:04,660
Yeah.
424
00:35:04,660 --> 00:35:11,660
And that's what kills kills racing. In my opinion is like, round efficient shows. That's what's important. Like, first off, we got to get the youth involved.
425
00:35:11,660 --> 00:35:24,660
Right. So youth, young kids, you got to put on a good show and it's got to be an efficient show. So if there's no efficiency, you got, you know, people want to bring their kids there, but they also don't want to be there until midnight to one, two in the morning.
426
00:35:24,660 --> 00:35:31,660
It's not fair for them, not fair for their kids. And if they feel like they haven't got their worth out of the ticket they paid for, they're probably not going to come back.
427
00:35:31,660 --> 00:35:43,660
And that's where the efficiency is. It makes you thankful for the racetracks around here really because, you know, some nights, you know, me and my girlfriend talk about this all the time.
428
00:35:43,660 --> 00:35:47,660
She'd be like, oh, we're leaving the Attica late. It's like 10, 1015.
429
00:35:47,660 --> 00:35:48,660
Yeah.
430
00:35:48,660 --> 00:35:58,660
I'm like, trust me. Like, I mean, the first fast show of the year at Pittsburgh, we got there at nine o'clock in the morning and left there at like 11 or 12 at night.
431
00:35:58,660 --> 00:36:04,660
Like that's not efficient. And the people were mad. The spectators were mad. Everybody involved was mad.
432
00:36:04,660 --> 00:36:16,660
And, you know, it makes you thankful for the racetracks that do. And that's why I like racing the outlaws and high limits and stuff as well as the tracks around here is it's always moving so quickly and there's no time wasted.
433
00:36:16,660 --> 00:36:21,660
It's always, let's go, you know, next, next one up. And, you know, if you're not in staging, you're going to get docked.
434
00:36:21,660 --> 00:36:24,660
So guess what? You're in staging on time. And that's how it should be.
435
00:36:24,660 --> 00:36:29,660
Like quit waiting around. Let's get this thing moving. So, you know, nine, 10 o'clock comes around.
436
00:36:29,660 --> 00:36:41,660
You have time for the drivers to stay there and the people to come meet the drivers and hopefully some young kids come up and meet the drivers and are like, you know, dad, mom, I want to come back next week and see this race again.
437
00:36:41,660 --> 00:36:44,660
And that that's where we got to be better as a whole industry.
438
00:36:44,660 --> 00:36:59,660
And that's where some of the dirt tracks in Texas, I don't think I've ever been to a show in Texas where I've left before 11, like without a rain out maybe because they don't seven classes.
439
00:36:59,660 --> 00:37:07,660
They're making all their money through that back gate. And what they don't realize is run a more higher quality show with less classes.
440
00:37:07,660 --> 00:37:17,660
And you can make more money on the other side of the fence where there's people in the stands that buy beer, hot dogs, popcorn, fill the stands.
441
00:37:17,660 --> 00:37:24,660
Sure have two or three divisions, but if you put on a quality, well efficient show, people will come in.
442
00:37:24,660 --> 00:37:33,660
There's so many times I've been to Kennedy Hill Speedway Park on a Saturday night. They've had seven IMCA divisions, 305s classes.
443
00:37:33,660 --> 00:37:44,660
I've never even heard of about eight different stock cars, it seems like. And there's nobody in the stands, but they have so many people in the pits that it doesn't matter if there's people in the stands.
444
00:37:44,660 --> 00:37:58,660
And at the end of the day, we're an industry that puts a show on, right? So if there's nobody in the stands, what is the point of us really going out there and, you know, racing at 2 30 in the morning for the and what they're racing for to it.
445
00:37:58,660 --> 00:38:09,660
To me, I'm like, that isn't fun. If I had to do that every week, I wouldn't do it. I would not want to race sprint cars down there when they race six other divisions and get home at five in the morning every single time.
446
00:38:09,660 --> 00:38:19,660
Yeah. Well, then they might one of my biggest grapes, who's like they dilute the divisions so much because you got you go to a track and we have seven divisions and then they they roll them out there.
447
00:38:19,660 --> 00:38:28,660
And three divisions will hit the track and you're like, Oh, cool. That's a lot of cars for the modified division. And they're like, Oh, they're all we only have four cars in each division.
448
00:38:28,660 --> 00:38:41,660
They're all different. And then you're like, Well, what's different? So like, well, one's got a weight penalty and then these ones have 25 more horsepower. And it's just like tell the ones that have the bigger engines or whatever you want to call it.
449
00:38:41,660 --> 00:38:52,660
Like just put a weight penalty on them all in the same class. Like let's consolidate this and like I in North Carolina, I could not stand that because there would be three divisions of weight models.
450
00:38:52,660 --> 00:39:01,660
And they would only call one of them weight models and one would be like super stock and they want super street and you're like, What in the hell is the difference? And they're like, Well, these ones have crate and these ones don't.
451
00:39:01,660 --> 00:39:13,660
And I'm like, just even if you run two different divisions, just put on the track at the same time and do dual winners. I really don't I really don't care what you do. But like this whole four cars in a division thing is so stupid.
452
00:39:13,660 --> 00:39:22,660
No one's getting anything out of this. And it's just slow in the showdown and and stuff like that. And it's like super modified racing.
453
00:39:22,660 --> 00:39:30,660
Oh, like I've been in some dusty speedway before the dollar beer, the dollar beer night, though, that that's bang for your buck entertainment.
454
00:39:30,660 --> 00:39:37,660
For a dollar, but like for the supers, like it's all the same division. They're all different, which is cool.
455
00:39:37,660 --> 00:39:48,660
But it always seems like I went to the night before the high mile this year and the show just ran super inefficient autograph sessions at midnight on the front.
456
00:39:48,660 --> 00:39:53,660
It's like guys like and it's on I think it was on a Thursday Thursday night.
457
00:39:53,660 --> 00:40:04,660
Yeah, I mean, there there has to be a complete lack of common sense. Yeah, the Friday night show, they were like, we're gonna start at seven and they had just started hot laps like 6 30 for the the supers.
458
00:40:04,660 --> 00:40:12,660
And you're like, what are we doing? And they single car qualified supers, a single car qualified the, you know, crate 305 or the carbureted, whatever they are.
459
00:40:12,660 --> 00:40:23,660
And you're just like, this is going to be a late night. And you're just kind of like, I can't do this. But it's just there's so many.
460
00:40:23,660 --> 00:40:31,660
And I think that ultimately is what's going to kill asphalt racing is they have lost touch with the fan base and they've ever been a bowman, Gray.
461
00:40:31,660 --> 00:40:35,660
I have that place is going to succeed no matter what. How crazy it is.
462
00:40:35,660 --> 00:40:42,660
They should every track should model their their fan base off of that. I mean, like, I know it's the inner it's entertainment business, right?
463
00:40:42,660 --> 00:40:52,660
Like, I can remember being a 10 year old kid, being on my couch and when they had the TV show, Matt house on any, I think it was on.
464
00:40:52,660 --> 00:41:00,660
And me and my dad, my whole family would sit there and watch it and it was so entertaining. And then I lived up there to race the summer shootout for years.
465
00:41:00,660 --> 00:41:13,660
And every chance we'd get to go to the madhouse. I mean, the stories, the people watching the fights. I mean, hell, I think most of it was the entertainment was the fighting more than the racing.
466
00:41:13,660 --> 00:41:18,660
Yeah, the racing there ain't great just because of how small and flat the track is. But like, everything else makes it worth it.
467
00:41:18,660 --> 00:41:31,660
Like you if you watch the TV show, you would be like, oh, this is all just for the drama. Like, and then you go and you realize like, oh, shit, like that TV show is not made up.
468
00:41:31,660 --> 00:41:40,660
Because like, they go out there for like their practice session and there's some guy in the front row with three beers in his hand and a backwards hat and a cut off t shirt.
469
00:41:40,660 --> 00:41:54,660
And he's just given the bird the whole race everybody except for the one guy that he wants to win. And you're like, cool. And then, you know, obviously at Bowman Gray, like you got to move a guy to pass them more often than not.
470
00:41:54,660 --> 00:42:04,660
So like they do that. And with the modified like you have or Myers and Tim Brown or in all those guys and it's like one of them moves the other half that place is going crazy.
471
00:42:04,660 --> 00:42:19,660
The other half is pissed and then they start fighting and you're just like, you're sitting there and you're like, I want to watch the race. Like I cannot take my eyes off whatever this shit show here is in section like 16 because this is great.
472
00:42:19,660 --> 00:42:27,660
Like you're just like watching both and you're like, are they gonna throw punches? Oh, we're passing for the lead. Oh, they're throwing punches. Oh, and you're like, you get your bang for your buck.
473
00:42:27,660 --> 00:42:39,660
It costs to get in there, but it's not expensive. It's expensive. And they sell that place out. Like it is never. I think it's the dynamic of it, though. Like it's in a football stadium, right? Like it's a bowl.
474
00:42:39,660 --> 00:42:56,660
It's, you know, you as a fan, you sit so close to the racetrack that like, I don't know, it just it's you're right on top of it. And the first time I can remember going there, I had to be 10 years old and seeing the, you know, the drinking section, the non drinking section.
475
00:42:56,660 --> 00:43:09,660
The whole hanging over the wall, flipping off the drivers, the entire Hunter Lap race. I'm like, this is madness. I mean, it's, it's crazy. And truthfully, it's, it's a dime a dozen when it comes to asphalt racing.
476
00:43:09,660 --> 00:43:24,660
I grew up on, you know, doing that stuff at, you know, going to races like that. And I can remember going to like super pro super late model races in North Carolina, Hickory and, you know, Lanier and Georgia, Anderson and South Carolina.
477
00:43:24,660 --> 00:43:37,660
And those races were like demolition derbies, in my opinion, like there was no respect. It looked like a usac midget race, but you know, these cars are those late models are expensive.
478
00:43:37,660 --> 00:43:53,660
And they were spending a lot of money in destroying a lot of shit. And I was just very, it really turned me off from a young age. Like I, I didn't, I think my dad went to a super late model race and was like, there's this is not what I want.
479
00:43:53,660 --> 00:44:04,660
And that's why I really, you know, I really push open wheel racing, sprint car racing on some of my asphalt friends. Cause you know, you can't race like that on a sprint car.
480
00:44:04,660 --> 00:44:20,660
I mean, you can try to, you know, beat and bang like that, but nine times out of 10, you're going to end up upside down. And now I do think our sport lacks a little bit of respect when it comes to some of the racers, but it still has a lot more respect than like the asphalt racing.
481
00:44:20,660 --> 00:44:36,660
You don't realize how bad some of that stuff is until you like land in Huffman, like you got to follow cars tours and you're just like, this guy moved somebody out of the way. And then in turn, the guy just, you know, turns them what Matt Kinzeth them.
482
00:44:36,660 --> 00:44:44,660
And you're just like, this is all over a local late model show at Hickory. Like, I don't know what it pays, but you're just like, this is for a local show. Yeah.
483
00:44:44,660 --> 00:45:00,660
And then you watch like the cars tour events or whatever, like the three cars tour divisions they have, the supers, pros. And you're just like, and they're all just like two laps ago. If the guy in seconds anywhere close to the leader, someone is going to end up with a junk race car.
484
00:45:00,660 --> 00:45:11,660
Most of the time, the third place car wins. Most of the time, that's how it works. It's like, you know, the leader will go in the corner. The guy, if the guy's within two or three car lengths, he's driving in the corner, wrecking the guy.
485
00:45:11,660 --> 00:45:20,660
And if he is not involved and he thinks he wins a race, by the time he gets on the back stretch after the checkered, they tell him, you know, you're being disqualified from the race. You didn't win the race.
486
00:45:20,660 --> 00:45:27,660
Third place winner wins a race. I watched a car tour race this year that Ronnie Bassett Jr. was running third in and same situation happened.
487
00:45:27,660 --> 00:45:34,660
And, you know, I grew up racing with Ronnie. So I was cool to see him win. But that kind of racing to me is not racing.
488
00:45:34,660 --> 00:45:42,660
That's just kind of like bumper cars to me. If you want to do that, you know, goofy golf, $8 a ticket, you can be in bang all day long.
489
00:45:42,660 --> 00:45:50,660
When it comes to, you know, 70, $80,000 race cars like that, to me, that's kind of kind of, it kind of deflates the sport in a sense.
490
00:45:50,660 --> 00:45:59,660
It just brings the quality down as far as good racing goes. But nowadays, you know, everybody wants to win really bad, apparently.
491
00:45:59,660 --> 00:46:11,660
And they're willing to do whatever it takes to win. Yeah. And even the last thing on that, the pavement scene, but too, it's like, if you say you avoid the DQ in the last lap melee,
492
00:46:11,660 --> 00:46:21,660
Godspeed in the tech area. I mean, talk like, I think I mentioned this, maybe we talked about this in one of the other episodes, like the snowball derby, like you win that race.
493
00:46:21,660 --> 00:46:31,660
You might as well get out the tent, put it up next to the tech, you're going to be there until four in the morning. And if they can't find anything wrong, they're likely to probably plant something on your car that's wrong.
494
00:46:31,660 --> 00:46:41,660
Because like, the last four years, like the winner of that race has not been the winner because they find something to like, tungsten, tungsten, bolts and break.
495
00:46:41,660 --> 00:46:53,660
Like, you're just like, what are we doing? Yeah, honestly, we talk about everyone complains that we don't tech enough around here. But it's like, you know, we could tech more, but at least we're not teching like that.
496
00:46:53,660 --> 00:47:03,660
Yeah. I don't, I really, I don't think a lot of, you know, every time one guy goes on a big roll around here, everybody thinks he's cheating and stuff like that.
497
00:47:03,660 --> 00:47:11,660
And, you know, if there's no tech, the rules are the rules that you follow me, follow them. If not, if not, you know, you can't control it.
498
00:47:11,660 --> 00:47:18,660
And I really don't think there's too many areas at on a local level where people are, you know, bending the rules.
499
00:47:18,660 --> 00:47:29,660
In a sense, I just really don't think there's very many things that, you know, you can do in a sense to where, you know, you soak a tire or something like that.
500
00:47:29,660 --> 00:47:34,660
And, you know, it's not, it's going to help you at some points of the night, but it's not going to help you most points of the night.
501
00:47:34,660 --> 00:47:46,660
So I don't know. I don't, I think as far as 410 racing goes, I think, you know, the high limit, the war of outlaw stuff, you know, taking a box, taking a tire sample, I think that's great.
502
00:47:46,660 --> 00:47:53,660
I think I wish we would do it a little bit more around here, but I do know just hearing people talk about it. It's extremely expensive.
503
00:47:53,660 --> 00:47:59,660
And if it's not really that big of a problem, I really don't see the, you know, the real issue to do it.
504
00:47:59,660 --> 00:48:05,660
But, you know, as long as, you know, everybody's somewhat playing by the rules, I think it's fair.
505
00:48:05,660 --> 00:48:11,660
When it comes to 410 sprint car racing, there's only so many things you can do.
506
00:48:11,660 --> 00:48:17,660
Like, you know, a guy wants to build a bigger engine, like bring it to Fremont Attica. What's that going to do for you?
507
00:48:17,660 --> 00:48:23,660
Most nights, you look at the, you know, the times after the feature, the 305s are running faster times than we are.
508
00:48:23,660 --> 00:48:27,660
I mean, we're going so slow that, and what plus we're killing our horsepower throughout the night anyways.
509
00:48:27,660 --> 00:48:32,660
So I don't know. I'm glad it's not like that tech. I know, I don't know very much.
510
00:48:32,660 --> 00:48:39,660
I haven't really kept up with super late model racing much. I always pay attention to the snowball derby and onechester 400 and stuff like that.
511
00:48:39,660 --> 00:48:48,660
But I know, you know, I shouldn't know the name of the tech director. I think it's Ricky Brooks is his name. The tech director at five flag Speedway.
512
00:48:48,660 --> 00:48:56,660
I shouldn't know that as a casual fan, but I do because, you know, the media does such a good job at reporting the tech part of it.
513
00:48:56,660 --> 00:49:00,660
As long as with the whole event that you're like, they're like, oh God, here he comes.
514
00:49:00,660 --> 00:49:08,660
And it's like, the winner has to be the winner at the, you know, like when the fans leave, they're like, oh, you know, Bubba Pollard won.
515
00:49:08,660 --> 00:49:17,660
Or Chase Elliott won. But when I go home the next day and they see on Facebook, oh no, he got DQ'd, you know, Steven Nassie won or something like that.
516
00:49:17,660 --> 00:49:27,660
It's like, to me, that deflates the race. It takes the significance away from it because, you know, most of the time it's petty stuff they're penalizing them for.
517
00:49:27,660 --> 00:49:33,660
So to me, I'm glad I agree with you on that. I'm glad our tech isn't like that. So the winner can actually be the winner.
518
00:49:33,660 --> 00:49:43,660
Yeah. I mean, there's only, I think it's, like you said, so much you can do too, but like you can't hide things like you can with a super late model.
519
00:49:43,660 --> 00:49:52,660
I mean, it's open wheel for a reason. Like 80% of your car is open to pretty much everyone to look at outside of what's right underneath your hood.
520
00:49:52,660 --> 00:50:02,660
And then what's in, you know, maybe bounded by your feet in the cockpit. But like, you know, you look at the super late models, like 80, you know, take that 80% like 80% of that car is not visible by anybody outside.
521
00:50:02,660 --> 00:50:09,660
Because I mean, they do their damn just to make sure nobody can look in the wheel wells, even the dirt super late models are the same way.
522
00:50:09,660 --> 00:50:15,660
But it's like, you know, they're so secret about it where you kind of get to the sprint car aspect or the sprint car world.
523
00:50:15,660 --> 00:50:24,660
And it's the complete opposite. Like, you know, God guys tarping the rear end of their car because they don't want to know when the know what shocks are running or what the car is blocked at and all that.
524
00:50:24,660 --> 00:50:30,660
It's like, here's what we got. You can copy it. I don't know if it's going to work for you. Like Godspeed.
525
00:50:30,660 --> 00:50:39,660
So I think that kind of also, you know, helps keep things a little bit more honest in this side of the racing sport.
526
00:50:39,660 --> 00:50:47,660
But yeah, I mean, I agree. Like at the end of the night, whoever the checkered flag falls on, if you're going to weigh the cars way right after the feature, make that decision there.
527
00:50:47,660 --> 00:50:59,660
And then, you know, whoever you crown is, in my opinion, like that's got to be the winner unless you have like, very blatant cheating going on that was uncovered because it's just, it, it's taking away from the
528
00:50:59,660 --> 00:51:08,660
fans at the end of the day. Like they came, they saw a race, they saw a winner. You got kids that are happy, got kids that are crying, got everyone in between.
529
00:51:08,660 --> 00:51:16,660
And then, you know, they leave. If the guy, if their guy lost, they want to come back the next week to see him win. And if they're guy one, they want to come back and see him win or whatever.
530
00:51:16,660 --> 00:51:24,660
And then they wake up Monday morning and it's like, so and so has been DQ the winner is this. And it's just like, you don't get the same feel for it.
531
00:51:24,660 --> 00:51:32,660
And then two, like you're in my like, how I view it, like you're taking away from the guy that is eventually going to be given the win too.
532
00:51:32,660 --> 00:51:39,660
Because instead of finding out like they're like right after the race, checker flag falls, he gets second. He's like, God damn guy misses weight. He misses weight.
533
00:51:39,660 --> 00:51:47,660
He's like, oh, in the winter, cool, cool, cool. But now it's like, oh, hey, two days later, by the way, you won this race, come, you know, come back and get your full amount of your check or whatever.
534
00:51:47,660 --> 00:51:57,660
So like, I think they're at, you know, there's some plus and minuses, but I think like overall the sprint car sector, like we do have a lot more open policy on it.
535
00:51:57,660 --> 00:52:08,660
And of course, like high limit outlaws and all of them, you know, they're checking for the smartwatches now and the two way radios and all of that, which I get it.
536
00:52:08,660 --> 00:52:14,660
I don't really know if I think I don't think it's that rampant that it's happening like they say that it is, but I understand it.
537
00:52:14,660 --> 00:52:22,660
But kind of we've really hit this, the racing side of things. So, and we had talked about you going to go and dive back into the kind of personal side.
538
00:52:22,660 --> 00:52:30,660
So like you mentioned, you kind of moved back up here, or you moved up here, you know, kind of in your mid teenage years and all that.
539
00:52:30,660 --> 00:52:41,660
Obviously, when you first started, you were driving, you know, one of the Clark cars, you went up to 410 racing, eventually, you know, got with your own car, I believe I remember, right?
540
00:52:41,660 --> 00:52:47,660
And then there was a year there that you guys were going to follow the All Stars.
541
00:52:47,660 --> 00:52:50,660
What did you guys end up following that whole season or?
542
00:52:50,660 --> 00:53:00,660
So 2016, we went to Florida to run Ocala, all the All Star and now all race down there in Volusia.
543
00:53:00,660 --> 00:53:10,660
And we left there like third or fourth on points, made all the features and, you know, we weren't equipped to go and run the All Stars.
544
00:53:10,660 --> 00:53:16,660
We had one motor and one complete car and a spare frame at the time.
545
00:53:16,660 --> 00:53:24,660
And at the time, you know, had a really, really good crew chief and Andy Potter who crucious for Austin McCarroll now.
546
00:53:24,660 --> 00:53:34,660
And he had so much experience out on the road that he made up for my lack of experience at, you know, the 45 new racetracks we went to that year.
547
00:53:34,660 --> 00:53:44,660
So we hit the road 2016 and finished sixth in All Star points and won the rookie of the year.
548
00:53:44,660 --> 00:53:54,660
And then 2017, he went on to work for somebody else and we hired Rick Ferkel and ran, I think, the whole year there and got eighth in points.
549
00:53:54,660 --> 00:53:57,660
It was a little bit not as good of a year.
550
00:53:57,660 --> 00:54:08,660
And then in 2020, somewhere between, I think it was 2020 or 2021, Aja Havens came to work for us and we decided we were going to run the All Stars again.
551
00:54:08,660 --> 00:54:14,660
And it just changed the landscape of sprint car racing change in a sense.
552
00:54:14,660 --> 00:54:17,660
Like the All Stars kind of was a working man series.
553
00:54:17,660 --> 00:54:35,660
When we did it the first couple of times, like there was a lot of guys that were running the All Stars that, you know, the Mattis is John Garvin, Tyler Ash, the Maca sends there was a group of guys that were like working guys like us that were running the All Stars.
554
00:54:35,660 --> 00:54:51,660
So for us, we can be more competitive in a sense that when we signed up in 2020 and 2021, we were very under budgeted and we were racing against professional race teams, you know, Claes & Marshall, Rudine, Sam McGee.
555
00:54:51,660 --> 00:54:55,660
At the time, Zeb Wise was in his own car, the Boot 13 car.
556
00:54:55,660 --> 00:55:02,660
Basically all the cars that are high limit racing now, CJB car, they were running with us.
557
00:55:02,660 --> 00:55:11,660
And for us to compete on that level, I really don't think we had the equipment to do it at the time.
558
00:55:11,660 --> 00:55:22,660
And, you know, we did it because we had a full time crew chief in Aja and in order to pay him, we had to race a lot, right?
559
00:55:22,660 --> 00:55:32,660
You know, we had to, we had to, you know, we relied on tow money and, you know, points at the end of the year to pay, you know, for stuff.
560
00:55:32,660 --> 00:55:43,660
So we signed up to do it in 2021 and we got about, I don't know, eight, eight, 10 races in and we kind of were like, we're going to try it for one more month.
561
00:55:43,660 --> 00:55:51,660
And if it things don't turn around, we're just going to pull off the road, which really was the best decision we made just because I'm a firm believer.
562
00:55:51,660 --> 00:56:01,660
We can't do it right. Just don't do it. And nobody stuck a gun in our heads and said, you have to race the All Stars when there's plenty of money to race for around here and we can race on the schedule we want to.
563
00:56:01,660 --> 00:56:09,660
And the hardest part about it was, you know, for us to go to central Pennsylvania 20 races a year with the lack of experience.
564
00:56:09,660 --> 00:56:20,660
And at the time we really didn't have, you know, we had good solid engines that could race everywhere, but we didn't have hitters that we could take to the Grove and put a, you know, a time trial lap in.
565
00:56:20,660 --> 00:56:31,660
And so it was really tough and it was tough to drive past Attica on a Friday, drive past Lernerville on a Friday to go race Williams Grove with 50 cars.
566
00:56:31,660 --> 00:56:38,660
Like justifying that was really tough. So we stopped doing that 2021 and I wasn't mad about it.
567
00:56:38,660 --> 00:56:46,660
Like I love racing on the road. It's really cool. You get to meet a lot of fans. You get to meet a lot of people, a lot of friends.
568
00:56:46,660 --> 00:57:02,660
You get to experience a lot of cool race tracks, but also like I'm at the age now where if I can't go do it the right way, even if that was racing locally, I wouldn't do it just because I know what it takes to do the right to do it the right way.
569
00:57:02,660 --> 00:57:07,660
And there's no reason showing up, you know, 10 steps behind nowadays.
570
00:57:07,660 --> 00:57:20,660
Things are way too expensive the way, you know, the economy is right now in the last couple of years. It's very, very hard to justify, you know, kind of half ass doing this deal.
571
00:57:20,660 --> 00:57:27,660
So if you can't do it, you know, with all the energy and all the resources to be competitive, like there's no reason to do it.
572
00:57:27,660 --> 00:57:33,660
So that's part of the reason why we pulled off then. And I really don't regret that decision.
573
00:57:33,660 --> 00:57:51,660
I feel like your confidence took a hit at all when you were with the All Stars in 2020, you know, 21 or that period where, you know, you were going against those teams that did have, you know, more or less a national touring budget, you know, you're going into those races knowing that you're, you know, a little bit under the,
574
00:57:51,660 --> 00:58:06,660
under the level that they are just based on the equipment. Like, so you go into them, you know, you don't get the results you want, because obviously you're not the same playing field as they are. Like did that kind of kick the confidence down a little bit to where, you know, you were like,
575
00:58:06,660 --> 00:58:20,660
it's not that I don't think I can do this, but like this doesn't, it's not helping anything. And like at that point, you know, you kind of question, like, do I have enough to even be competitive at the local level, or are you kind of just like, this isn't working.
576
00:58:20,660 --> 00:58:26,660
I know we can be competitive at the local level. So let's go back to that. Like how, how did that all kind of play out?
577
00:58:26,660 --> 00:58:46,660
Well, obviously it's discouraging. I mean, when you show up and, you know, you're at best, the eighth to 10th place car at best, it's, it's hard to be motivated. You know, I don't, I've, I'm a competitive as it gets, you know, my dad who owned the car, he's competitive as it gets.
578
00:58:46,660 --> 00:59:07,660
And, you know, he's providing other resources, you know, possible for us to win and we're not doing that. And I think that we just decided that, like, if we can't, if we don't have the stuff to do it the right way, we, we, and for me, it was, it did hurt my confidence a little bit.
579
00:59:07,660 --> 00:59:21,660
I don't know, it was a, it's a racing in general, it's a roller coaster, you got to ride the waves. I'm a lot better at it now than I used to be. I used to, you know, have a bad race and the entire week until the next race, I'd be in a bad mood.
580
00:59:21,660 --> 00:59:46,660
And now, you know, for me, I've learned that a short memory is the best thing for you because as quick as you were a zero, you can be a hero. And, you know, a couple of years ago, I remember flying home to Texas and sitting by the pool with my dad and had won a race and a year and was pretty discouraged and, you know, missing home, feeling bad for myself.
581
00:59:46,660 --> 01:00:00,660
And it was kind of, you know, the year after the all star deal. And, you know, you don't know if you can do it. And I remember sitting on an airplane flying back on a Friday morning to race at Attica and I, and I was sitting there, you know, praying.
582
01:00:00,660 --> 01:00:16,660
I was praying for some signals in life, you know, asking God like, Hey man, if this is where I need to be, this is where I want to, you know, if this is meant to be like show me like please, because I don't want to take, I don't want to waste any more time.
583
01:00:16,660 --> 01:00:31,660
And, you know, it was, we had a, we were struggling really bad up to that point, went to Attica and won that night. It was, I mean, we probably hadn't run in the top five the entire year and I don't know what it was about the night.
584
01:00:31,660 --> 01:00:42,660
Things just went our way and we won. And just as quick as it knocks you down, it can pick you back up. And ever since then, I've been pretty, pretty good about never getting too down.
585
01:00:42,660 --> 01:00:55,660
I feel like I've raced long enough to where no moment is too big and no, like no, no small races treated any differently. I try to treat every moment as it is.
586
01:00:55,660 --> 01:01:03,660
And I'm in every moment. And I think I did lose confidence at times, but you know, it's hard not to when you don't get results.
587
01:01:03,660 --> 01:01:16,660
And you see, you know, for me, I'd be out in New York or, you know, Missouri or, you know, Iowa and be running 13th, 20, you know, I'd go 20th and 13th.
588
01:01:16,660 --> 01:01:22,660
A lot of the times when I was out on the All Stars, we were making features. I was passing on the cars, but I was never racing for wins.
589
01:01:22,660 --> 01:01:35,660
Then you see your friends, you know, Jordan Ryan was winning races at Wayne County and, you know, get your buddies are winning three or five races back home. And they're getting, you know, noticed and getting opportunities.
590
01:01:35,660 --> 01:01:45,660
You feel like you're almost forgotten about in a sense of, you know, hey, you know, you always think that if I was there, you know, I could compete because you're racing against better guys.
591
01:01:45,660 --> 01:02:00,660
But for me, I just want to, if I can't show up and be competitive, I don't want to do it. And if I could do that on a, you know, a national level in a really good ride with, you know, funding and, you know, somebody to work on the car, I'd love to do it.
592
01:02:00,660 --> 01:02:13,660
But that's not, you know, knocking out my door. So the situation I'm in now, you know, I think my confidence is, you know, I feel like I'm at the best mentally I've ever been.
593
01:02:13,660 --> 01:02:30,660
And that's just all from those moments where I lost all my confidence going out and getting beat by those guys. And that goes back to the, you know, the quote, Woody Hayes says, it's like, you don't know what kind of person you are until you get, you know, your ass kicked.
594
01:02:30,660 --> 01:02:38,660
You find out a lot about yourself and going out on the road, we got our ass kicked. And it was good for me. It humbled me.
595
01:02:38,660 --> 01:02:50,660
It, it taught me that, you know, these race cars are so much work to be done. There's so much to learn. And they're hard. It's hard to do. That's why not, you know, a lot of people succeed at doing it.
596
01:02:50,660 --> 01:03:04,660
And that's why I respect people like, you know, Donnie Schatz or Steve Kinzer, how David gravel, like the fact that they can win that many races at that high of a level is, I can't stand when people will boo people like that.
597
01:03:04,660 --> 01:03:18,660
Like, how can you not respect something that great because things like that don't always come in life. So it did knock my confidence down. But, you know, just like anything that you come back stronger, you keep fighting, you learn more about yourself.
598
01:03:18,660 --> 01:03:32,660
And in those, you know, some those moments taught me a lot about myself. So I never at no point did I think, you know, I'm not good enough to do this at all. But at moments and times, you're reminded like, damn, I still got a long ways to go.
599
01:03:32,660 --> 01:03:49,660
So, you know, always learning, I guess, is what I tell myself. You learn new things every, every night you race and the confidence I've lost, I've gained, you know, it's just a sprint car racing to roller coaster ride and ride the wave because some days it's great and other days, not so much.
600
01:03:49,660 --> 01:03:55,660
You're going to have a lot more bad days than your good days. But when the good days come, it makes those bad days worth it.
601
01:03:55,660 --> 01:04:08,660
You mentioned, you know, you get a long way to go and you go through things and all that. Obviously, you know, we're about the same age. So like when you had first started, you know, I remember I was towards kind of the end of when I was in high school and stuff.
602
01:04:08,660 --> 01:04:24,660
So like, obviously, you know, you're 1617 18, you know, now you're kind of in your high, like, you know, your 20s are coming up to 30. I don't want to make a sound old. But, you know, you're growing up and like I can pretty vividly remember like when I was 1617, 1819, 20, I was a menace.
603
01:04:24,660 --> 01:04:42,660
I mean, an absolute menace just to anybody. Do you like, have you felt like you're you're not maybe not your viewpoint but kind of like your stance on racing and like how you view racing as a whole and how you take it has changed as you've gotten older because obviously like, you know, you
604
01:04:42,660 --> 01:05:00,660
kind of see these younger kids come into it and they're a little bit maybe more reckless. Absolutely. You know, I don't want to say arrogant or you know, ego base, but you kind of get that sense of like, oh, they're young, they feel invincible and like you get older and I obviously older guys, you know, you can start to see some of the
605
01:05:00,660 --> 01:05:18,660
facts of racing on the body and things like that. Like in the last decade or so, like if you felt that like if you kind of felt like it maybe a mature, like, you know, maturing through the sport maturing in life and just kind of realizing like things aren't how I viewed them when I was 1617 to like where they are now.
606
01:05:18,660 --> 01:05:36,660
Oh yeah, yeah, definitely like for me, it's like respect. It's a respect thing. It's like, I respect the sport a lot more now like, I guess I like when I was young, I was the same way like 16, you know, live away from my parents I drive race cars.
607
01:05:36,660 --> 01:05:54,660
It's, you know, you just, what I try to tell younger kids now is like, you got to respect the sport like the sport is held to such a high standard because of people in the past, the history of the sport, the people of the past.
608
01:05:54,660 --> 01:06:14,660
And for me now I just respect the sport more, you know, I know how much it takes financially to do this. I know what it takes mentally and physically to do this at a high level. And when I was 1617 18, you know, you don't really understand how fortunate you are to be in the
609
01:06:14,660 --> 01:06:31,660
situation you're in. There's a lot of people. That's what I tell myself on bad nights now is eat on my worst possible night. There's about 1000 people that sit in the grandsons that would give anything they had to be able to do what I get to do.
610
01:06:31,660 --> 01:06:49,660
And for me, it's just, it's just a respecting the sport and, you know, learning that, like, not everything's going to be great. It's not supposed to be great. It's hard. But I respect it and I love it. I respect it and I love it because of it, how hard it is.
611
01:06:49,660 --> 01:07:07,660
And for me, I think that I know I see young kids and I try to help. I try to relate to the young kids because I was in their shoes and I can see things from their perspective. And I tell them like I tried to give them advice that I wasn't given in the aspect of like take it
612
01:07:07,660 --> 01:07:23,660
serious and respect the earlier you take it serious and the earlier you respect the sport and the earlier you get respect from your competitors, the more success you're going to have. And that's been the biggest thing for me as far as, you know, decade from now.
613
01:07:23,660 --> 01:07:41,660
And I think, you know, I think that's just life in general, though, you know, you, you experience things, you go through things that make you a better person that, you know, I was, I was reckless kid and you know, I was very opposite of soft spoken.
614
01:07:41,660 --> 01:07:55,660
I didn't know when to keep my mouth shut. I, you know, I'd go travel places and people would write on Twitter, this guy sucks and I had to reply. Now I'm just like, you know what, man, this guy's got an opinion about me. Like I'm still going to go upstairs.
615
01:07:55,660 --> 01:08:05,660
I'm still going to sleep eight hours tonight with my mouth open next to my girlfriend. I thought I'd dog in between us and it's going to be okay. Like I don't really care what people think now. And that's just the biggest thing.
616
01:08:05,660 --> 01:08:16,660
You know, just maturity, but yeah, no, I think that's, that's about it. When it comes to the respect thing, that's what I've noticed the most about the decade I've been here.
617
01:08:16,660 --> 01:08:33,660
Yeah, I think, I mean, for me, I got super cocky, like, God, but like seeing the choir here, it's just like, just now it's like, I look at it and I'm like, you know, I'm very lucky that I got to be in the sport in the way that I was with my dad and grew up in that.
618
01:08:33,660 --> 01:08:46,660
And it was like, kind of this idea of like, oh, I fucking, I knew everything. And it's like, I pretty much knew nothing. And then so like now it's like, I'm kind of learning things. And like, it was the same way, like I would, you know, internet arguments were my favorite thing.
619
01:08:46,660 --> 01:09:02,660
I still enjoy a good, good back and forth in the comments section on Twitter or whatever, but like I pick them a lot more wisely. And I look at them a lot more logical based now and stuff like that. But it's like, you know, I just like in the last decade, in the last 10 years, like obviously, you know,
620
01:09:02,660 --> 01:09:17,660
I lived in North Carolina, Texas, and I didn't get to be around it at all. And I was like, this is like, I didn't want to say terrible, but it like, sorry, because I was like, I just want to go to race, just want to go to race. And I had to like, I got to go to three races a year and they were all outlaw shows at, you know, devil's bowl.
621
01:09:17,660 --> 01:09:32,660
But it was like, I, you know, kind of want to get back into them and stuff like that. And as I grew up and matured a little bit, I was like, the reality is like, not everything is how you view it. There are 3000 different ways to view things.
622
01:09:32,660 --> 01:09:54,660
And all that. So then I came back here, you know, I was like, you just get involved in this media scene. This is gonna, you know, you kind of have to take everything you've probably said in the last decade and like act like you never said it and wipe it clean and approach things newly. But, but it was more like just be open to things and, you know, look at like the reality like you are afforded an opportunity to do this.
623
01:09:54,660 --> 01:10:11,660
Right. And, you know, to quote Shane meal and the race hub, you know, thing that they did for him years back, you know, he says good things, bad things, never great thing. And he ends it with like, cause I don't know as many people as fortunate as I am. And I think for me, that's like one of my favorite quotes, cause it's like, I look at things and I'm like, I get to do this.
624
01:10:11,660 --> 01:10:22,660
I get to go to the racetrack every single weekend. I get to take a camera now. I get to do all this. I get to meet people. I, you know, got this podcast, you know, all this. And it's like, this is all stuff that I'm allowed to do. And I'm very thankful for it.
625
01:10:22,660 --> 01:10:34,660
And it's like, if I can give back to the sport, instead of thinking the sport owes me something, then, you know, I feel like I'm doing a lot more benefit, not only for myself, but for everybody else.
626
01:10:34,660 --> 01:10:49,660
And I think that was something I just kind of maturing through life was like something that allowed me to get to that point. And then, obviously, you know, I've talked in some of the other episodes, but like I was in the music scene down in Texas, and that's kind of like how I start in media.
627
01:10:49,660 --> 01:11:02,660
And that was the same way. Like you, you get into that and you party and you're like, oh, this is great. Like girls are throwing themselves at you because you're part of like, you're with the band and you get to travel and all this.
628
01:11:02,660 --> 01:11:15,660
And then it kind of gets to the point where you're like, there are people that would sell their, you know, kidney to be able to like photograph these shows or even get to hang out with like bands and stuff like that.
629
01:11:15,660 --> 01:11:33,660
And it's like, I'm getting to go on the road with them. Like I am very fortunate. Like I need to take that. And I think a lot of that, like there was a lot of humbling experiences in my life where I was like, wow, I got to slow down a little bit and take this in and realize like where I'm at as a person and where I have been put and I'm allowed to do.
630
01:11:33,660 --> 01:11:51,660
And I think, you know, you talked about, you know, getting humbled a little bit there on the road. And it's like, I think everyone at some point in their life has that moment. And once you have it, you, in my eyes, like my opinion, like it changes your perspective on nearly everything.
631
01:11:51,660 --> 01:12:10,660
Because it changes your perspective on one, the main thing that you, you know, you're focused on, but then to like, if that changes and the way that you do this is going to change because it affects that. And it's just a chain reaction thing. And, you know, you talked about like at the end of the day, like you go to bed, you get to sleep, you know, next year, girlfriend, the dog, whatever, and you get, I was asleep and you wake up the next day and it's all the same.
632
01:12:10,660 --> 01:12:39,660
And it's like for me, like I feel that because it's like, you know, in life's like lowest moments at the end of the day, I get to go to sleep. I wake up and it's a new day and I can do something different. And it's like, there's no reason to dwell on what I did yesterday, or what somebody said or what I said or, you know, whatever, like it in my life is too short at this point to really get caught up in all that and to be, you know, bitter and things like that.
633
01:12:39,660 --> 01:13:05,660
Yeah, you're in your worst day would be, you know, people, you know, for me, it's perspective too. Like there's so I can think of a time in my life where I, I wish to be where I'm at, right? And then there's also a different perspective of like, there's so many people and so many different countries, you know, undeveloped countries that don't have running water.
634
01:13:05,660 --> 01:13:21,660
There's so many things to be thankful for a roof over your head running water and things that we think are problems. People would laugh and love to have, you know, there's, there's somebody, there's kids in the hospital right now just begging to be cured of cancer right now.
635
01:13:21,660 --> 01:13:36,660
There's people that are fighting for the life and we're complaining about, you know, tracks too damn dry at Fremont Speedway, like make that thing wetter. Let's see, we want to see a curb. It's like, guys, we things we think our problems are not real problems.
636
01:13:36,660 --> 01:14:03,660
Like, you know, there's so many different people that would love to have our problems. And for me, that's, that's where that's what helped me grow is every, it could always be worse, the perspective on things. And, you know, there's people in our military that are stuck, you know, in the Middle East fighting for our country right now, wishing they could be at home with their wife and kids, but they're sacrificing for us to live freely for us to have a free opinion.
637
01:14:03,660 --> 01:14:22,660
So we can get in Twitter battles for us to go, you know, say what we want to say, go where we want to go. And for me, that's, that's been the biggest thing in, in life is the perspective of it is, is, is key. Like, you know, when you want to feel sorry for yourself or, you know, a long day at work, may my day sucked.
638
01:14:22,660 --> 01:14:24,660
It's like, man, could be worse. Yeah.
639
01:14:24,660 --> 01:14:53,660
Yeah. Hey, you don't really realize how nice we have it until you go to, I don't want to say even a third world country, but you go to like a more underdeveloped country and you see how they live and you're just like, whoa, like I, you know, I did a deployment in 2019, we, and we got to go to like the Middle East and one of the places we went to is the UAE and like, you look at like Dubai, like you see F one go to those places and you're like, oh, they've seen, they seem so nice, like Bahrain Dubai, like those are such nice places.
640
01:14:53,660 --> 01:15:13,660
As soon as you get out of those tourist areas, like the cities, it is bad. Like you're like people live like this and you're like, there's no way. And then you, you've been fortunate enough to like interact with them and you realize like they seem, I don't want to say, like over the moon, but like they're so content with their life.
641
01:15:13,660 --> 01:15:27,660
There's like, yes, my life is how I live, you know, but in the, in it's like they just vibe with what they have. And then you come over here and you think like, I'm pissed off because McDonald's closed at 11 and on Google Maps and said midnight and you're just like, what the hell?
642
01:15:27,660 --> 01:15:39,660
And you're just like that now, now I'm like, that's, you know, I get upset about it still. I want my McDonald's, but I'm like, I can't really get that upset about it because I've seen how other people in the world live and they're like, they're happy with their lives.
643
01:15:39,660 --> 01:15:56,660
And here I am upset that I can't get fast food or that my power in running water got shut off for two hours while they do maintenance work. Like you just like as, you know, as funny as we make it, like first world problems is a real thing.
644
01:15:56,660 --> 01:16:04,660
Like these are all first world problems we have and we're complaining about them. And there are people that are, they would, I mean, legitimately dying to have what we have.
645
01:16:04,660 --> 01:16:21,660
So it's like, you know, we go to the racetrack and we complain and I think there are times, you know, you have a right to be a little frustrated with things, how things go, but it's like, you know, you look at the, my media page, for example, like some of the comments, you know, they're all upset about Fremont's P you over a 10 second clip.
646
01:16:21,660 --> 01:16:33,660
And I'm like, it's a 10 second clip. You've never been to this joint and you're so upset over this video. And it's like, come to the track, invest your, you know, time and you're, you know, give the money to the track.
647
01:16:33,660 --> 01:16:43,660
You know, buy a ticket. Yeah. Before you form an opinion, have your opinion. And then even then, like, understand, like, you know, this, you know, last weekend in hot laps, it was a little gritty.
648
01:16:43,660 --> 01:16:56,660
And, you know, I kind of thought, you know, it'd probably be super hammered down because of the rain, but it was like a little gritty. But I was just like, you know, I think three years ago, if we were still under the previous management, I would have been like, ah, it's the same old story,
649
01:16:56,660 --> 01:17:05,660
but now it's like, you know, bigger picture. Fremont this year has been a lot better. Probably one of the best I've ever seen it to be honest. Like the racing has been phenomenal.
650
01:17:05,660 --> 01:17:11,660
And it's like, I ain't not, I'm like, I'm not going to complain about grit and hot laps on a night like this when they had the rain before and stuff like that.
651
01:17:11,660 --> 01:17:18,660
Like, and the track still turned out pretty well by the end of the night. It was, I thought it was a little gym Fortish, which I kind of liked.
652
01:17:18,660 --> 01:17:28,660
But, you know, it's like, I ain't going to complain about that. But yeah, it's just like you get people that complain about things. And I'm like, one, have you ever been to, you know, Fremont's doing a great job?
653
01:17:28,660 --> 01:17:45,660
Yeah. Are you paying attention to everything else that's happening this year? And then like three, you know, what is, what are you comparing it to? Because if you're comparing it to your North Carolina track that just waters, waters, waters until it takes rubber, then I, you know, your opinion's a little different and so forth.
654
01:17:45,660 --> 01:18:00,660
But yeah, I think we just, we, we lose sight of the reality of the world that we get to live in where we, you know, get to have jobs, we get to do the racetrack on the weekends, we get to go to these races, enjoy them, go home, repeat for, you know, weeks on ends for an entire summer.
655
01:18:00,660 --> 01:18:13,660
And there's places in this world that are, you know, even within the United States, there's people that wish they had a racetrack within the town that they live in that they could go to weekly and, you know, yeah, guys driving three hours to go to a weekly show because it's the best that they can do.
656
01:18:13,660 --> 01:18:23,660
And, you know, here we are five minutes from the track and, you know, we're not, not saying now, but yeah, guys, you know, it's terrible and it's like, okay.
657
01:18:23,660 --> 01:18:24,660
It can always be worse.
658
01:18:24,660 --> 01:18:37,660
It can always be worse. Yeah. And, you know, I, again, you kind of dive into that too. Like there is things to now, like you kind of look at, like you're in, we're in 2024, there are enough people out there that know how to do things.
659
01:18:37,660 --> 01:18:54,660
So like when a track misses it, you know, there's maybe some room for some gripes or whatever. And then they miss it. You know, if it's a pattern, like I think there's room there, but when everything's been good all year and you get one bad night, it's not time to burn down, you know, the whole facility and say screw this place.
660
01:18:54,660 --> 01:18:55,660
I'm done.
661
01:18:55,660 --> 01:19:00,660
Like, it's not easy to do a track prep for, you know, I was probably one of the worst.
662
01:19:00,660 --> 01:19:10,660
I didn't really on in my career about, you know, complaining and griping about the track. But, you know, the more you look at it from a wholesome perspective, it's, it's tough.
663
01:19:10,660 --> 01:19:19,660
Like, you know, you're, you're judging a lot of it off, you know, how much sunshine you have, how dry the air is, is the humidity bad, you know, is it going to rain on Thursday?
664
01:19:19,660 --> 01:19:21,660
Because I can't, you know, over water it.
665
01:19:21,660 --> 01:19:30,660
And I'm sure what happened the other night was, you know, he had it packed in because he saw how much rain was coming, which we did get us, you know, a really good amount of rain.
666
01:19:30,660 --> 01:19:38,660
And in the past, you know, when it's been wet, Fremont has gotten a little bit choppy.
667
01:19:38,660 --> 01:19:46,660
Now people are complaining about the outlaw show. It being too fast and it was smooth and fast. You can't complain about that really.
668
01:19:46,660 --> 01:19:57,660
I mean, I think this year between Attica and Fremont, this in the 11 years I've raced here, this is by far the best it's been.
669
01:19:57,660 --> 01:20:06,660
I think Fremont is doing a very good job at the track prep one and two promoting events or making them events.
670
01:20:06,660 --> 01:20:09,660
They're not trying to, they're not just weekly shows.
671
01:20:09,660 --> 01:20:17,660
They're, they do a good job at getting the title sponsors to get a good job at getting them there to the racetrack for their nightly event.
672
01:20:17,660 --> 01:20:21,660
They treat it like an event. They give them a pavilion to let them have a cookout.
673
01:20:21,660 --> 01:20:31,660
And I think a lot of it just sims down to effort. They're putting in the time and the effort and it's going to, it's going to reflect because I think this weekend at the gym for they're going to have a good crowd.
674
01:20:31,660 --> 01:20:44,660
But I mean, the highest paying sprint car race in Fremont Speedway history, you know, that, you know, Rich and Shelley Farmer and everybody else who put that money up, they deserve a lot of credit for that.
675
01:20:44,660 --> 01:20:54,660
And their effort to bring back the racetrack after the last five years going to Fremont Speedway truthfully was no disrespect to anybody before.
676
01:20:54,660 --> 01:20:56,660
But it was a complete lack of effort. I mean,
677
01:20:56,660 --> 01:21:05,660
Yeah, I, I grilled Fremont in that, that period. I grilled him. I mean, I would go to the race. I'd post a picture and be like, Dust Bowl, Circa, you know, Fremont, all this.
678
01:21:05,660 --> 01:21:15,660
And I'd grill him and people would be like, man, just be grateful to be, you know, you're, you know, and I just like, I sat there and I'm like, I am grilling it because I know the potential of this place.
679
01:21:15,660 --> 01:21:22,660
Like I had always, I've said for a long time, I was like, Fremont to me is one of the best tracks in the country. It's one of the hidden gems.
680
01:21:22,660 --> 01:21:28,660
Like the track surface is great. It's not abrasive. It doesn't, it never rubbers. Like all this stuff, you have nice facilities.
681
01:21:28,660 --> 01:21:36,660
And that just that period, it was terrible. Like you, you know, you had the two, the back to back Speed Week shows where you couldn't even see hot laps because of the dust.
682
01:21:36,660 --> 01:21:41,660
And you're just like, this is terrible. And people, you know, you kind of grill them and people like, yeah, you shouldn't complain.
683
01:21:41,660 --> 01:21:48,660
I'm like, I'm complaining because I see, I don't want to say the writing on the wall, but I know what this place can be.
684
01:21:48,660 --> 01:21:56,660
This is not it. This is going the wrong direction. You know, I would look at the Facebook page on a Saturday and the quick time would be a 14 second lap.
685
01:21:56,660 --> 01:22:06,660
And I'm like, I already know what's dusty. And like this year has been the biggest, like for me, personal payoff because I'm finally seeing it back to what I know it can be.
686
01:22:06,660 --> 01:22:18,660
And, you know, it sucks for rich and Shelly because they're the crowds have, from my perspective at least have seemed down compared to what they were prior.
687
01:22:18,660 --> 01:22:26,660
But I also like know, like some of that's kind of the downfall of that period. And I also know like going in the next year, I think it'll start to build it back up and you know,
688
01:22:26,660 --> 01:22:37,660
it's some momentum and stuff like that. Yeah. And Rich is even, you know, you talk to him and you ask him and you know, hopefully one day get him on here. But you know, he's like, I'm not in it. You know, I don't care to make money.
689
01:22:37,660 --> 01:22:45,660
I don't, you know, all this, it don't matter to me because he's like, ultimately for me, I'd be at the racetrack anyway in the weekends and this is what I love. And I just want this place to succeed.
690
01:22:45,660 --> 01:22:59,660
And I want to give people a chance, a chance to place the race. And like, once you realize his perspective on it, you're like, this guy is really in it for the love of the sport, not to make the money because he is not making money at that track this year.
691
01:22:59,660 --> 01:23:08,660
Doesn't I'd have a hard time believing that he is just because of, you know, purses, the attendance and, you know, some of the rainouts that we've had, like obviously the Speed Week show again canceled.
692
01:23:08,660 --> 01:23:17,660
And he had, you know, a lot of people were upset about that. And it's like they didn't do anything wrong that entire night. You know, they ran the show efficiently.
693
01:23:17,660 --> 01:23:23,660
It wasn't like they, you know, sat there for 30 minutes and let the rain, like it was a quick show. They just couldn't get, they couldn't beat the weather.
694
01:23:23,660 --> 01:23:33,660
They had 50 some cars, you had to run, you know, heat races and all that. And it's like, you know, you get those nights, but then you get nights like last, you know, last Saturday and the nights before.
695
01:23:33,660 --> 01:23:42,660
And it's like the tracks really good. And, you know, they brought in the flat track stuff, which, you know, in my personal opinion, I thought nobody was going to show up to that.
696
01:23:42,660 --> 01:23:51,660
And that crowd was good. It was a good crowd for what I thought it was going to be. And, you know, RPM did a good job bringing that show.
697
01:23:51,660 --> 01:23:58,660
And obviously it's not a national touring event. So like, you're not going to get your 20 super twin bikes, you'd get an AMA show.
698
01:23:58,660 --> 01:24:06,660
But for what it was, it was a great show. I enjoyed it. I thought it was a cool idea. You know, when I go back, you know, in the future, probably.
699
01:24:06,660 --> 01:24:11,660
But stuff like that's new and unique. And I think one of the biggest things for a track to you is don't get stale.
700
01:24:11,660 --> 01:24:18,660
Yeah. I mean, Attica is probably their biggest issue is Attica has it so good because they don't compete against anybody on Friday nights.
701
01:24:18,660 --> 01:24:28,660
But the issue I think they've kind of run into for crowd wise is it's been the same for 10 years. I mean, since I've been here anyway, so that's what I'm talking about.
702
01:24:28,660 --> 01:24:37,660
They run four 10s, late models and three oh fives. And it's going to start at 730 or 745 on Friday night. And it's the same thing.
703
01:24:37,660 --> 01:24:48,660
Now, they're lucky enough that they're secluded to where, you know, there's not a whole lot to do in March through, you know, April, May, June.
704
01:24:48,660 --> 01:24:57,660
I mean, more in June and July, but, you know, there's not a whole lot to do on Friday. So it gets a crowd and we don't and they get good car counts because there's nobody else racing.
705
01:24:57,660 --> 01:25:08,660
And I think that they they mix it up a little bit and, you know, I had invited the GLSS 360 guys for, you know, all sprint showdown like do stuff like that.
706
01:25:08,660 --> 01:25:24,660
Get to Lucas oil, late models there or more about all eight models or, you know, make us MTS modified or something get something different there, just to switch it up for the fans because the fans, you know, for me, I'm trying to look at it from their perspective.
707
01:25:24,660 --> 01:25:44,660
If they can see the same thing every single Friday night, why would they go 14 times a year? They will, especially when you can sit on your couch and pay what 230 bucks a year for dirt vision and watch, you know, Williams Grove, Attica, Outlaw show, High Limit show on flow.
708
01:25:44,660 --> 01:25:58,660
And you're not paying any money and you're not, you know, staying out late and, you know, you're eating at home, you're drinking at home. So you got to you got to be entertaining. And that's where, you know, people say the High Limit stuff is gimmicky.
709
01:25:58,660 --> 01:26:12,660
I think they're doing a good job. Even the word of outlaws as well, they do a great job at interacting with the fans, with keeping things interesting, the dash draws, the wheel, the fan, you know, the Dirst dice roll stuff like that.
710
01:26:12,660 --> 01:26:26,660
And truthfully, the event has to be good. Like that's like Terry McCarls front row challenge. It's an event. It's cool. They do different things. They throw t shirts out. They have, you know, the girls with the signs, Heat One.
711
01:26:26,660 --> 01:26:39,660
They do stuff differently to keep it. The fans got to leave and say, Oh, either one, that show was exciting, or if the show wasn't exciting, you know what, we had fun. And that was, we need to go back there.
712
01:26:39,660 --> 01:27:00,660
And that's where I think Fremont is doing a good job with switching things up. And Attica, you know, Attica has such a well-willed operation that I think if they just strung out a little bit more and did, you know, a couple of different events, I think that they would have, you know, more success really.
713
01:27:00,660 --> 01:27:18,660
Yeah, I want to see USAC shows so bad. I remember when Farmer took over Fremont, I think one of the first comments they ever made was like, bring USAC in. And when he took over as a late in the year to get them, but like, I am super hopeful next year that they maybe can get a USAC show.
714
01:27:18,660 --> 01:27:20,660
I think a USAC Midget show would be sweet.
715
01:27:20,660 --> 01:27:34,660
I just remember. I don't even care a Sprint Midget. I don't either one. Like just to bring USAC in, I think if you could get them a weekend at Fremont, Attica would be huge. I think you would see huge crowd.
716
01:27:34,660 --> 01:27:49,660
Some people, you know, I think a couple of people kind of like, a car count wouldn't be great. Your main car count for USACs out of Indiana, so you know, you look from here to Kokomo, it's only three and a half hours. It's not a far drive, you know.
717
01:27:49,660 --> 01:28:00,660
You'd have some local guys that probably take the wing off. If it's a non-wing show, you know, you might get a 305 guy or two that does it. I think you'd get a good car count.
718
01:28:00,660 --> 01:28:19,660
I would have no reason to believe the crowd wouldn't be great. And two, I just, I think that both those tracks would be pretty good tracks for a non-wing show because when Fremont ran the 305 non-wing show two or three weeks ago, like that race was great.
719
01:28:19,660 --> 01:28:35,660
And that was with, I don't want to talk down on that series, like that's with, you know, kind of a 305 economy, entry type deal or whatever you want to call it, like the steel block. Like if you brought in USAC, you're going to get Grant, Kevin Thomas, Kyle Comments.
720
01:28:35,660 --> 01:28:36,660
They'd put a show on.
721
01:28:36,660 --> 01:28:54,660
All of them. Like you would see some pretty, I think, wild stuff out of those guys. You're just kind of like, I can't believe that guy did that. Like, you know, when they did the 305 race, Fremont, like I told, I put my go-pros on Larry's car because Larry's ran USAC shows.
722
01:28:54,660 --> 01:29:09,660
I was like, I want whatever's going to be as close to that as I can get. And he's like, you watch Larry and it's like, I would kill to see 24 guys or 20 guys all race exactly like that with more power.
723
01:29:09,660 --> 01:29:10,660
Yeah.
724
01:29:10,660 --> 01:29:22,660
Now, your sprint car winged fans around here might get their arms and panties all in a bunch, but I think if they just showed up, they'd enjoy it.
725
01:29:22,660 --> 01:29:35,660
I think so too. I think so too. I'm not a huge non-wing sprint car fan. I'm not. I like races that like, I think they actually probably on a more consistent basis put on a better show, in my opinion.
726
01:29:35,660 --> 01:29:47,660
They race closer together. The wings, for us, the wings, I like wing shows because I understand the dynamics of how hard it is to get your car right with the wing and the wicker bill and stuff like that.
727
01:29:47,660 --> 01:29:52,660
Or the non-wing, I think is more driver oriented to where the driver can carry the car a little bit more.
728
01:29:52,660 --> 01:30:08,660
So I think the, I don't really enjoy non-wing racing that much, but I do think that a non-wing race at Fremont with a curb and if people just gave it a chance, they'd probably love it.
729
01:30:08,660 --> 01:30:20,660
And I do love non-wing cars at El Dorre with four crown. I think that those guys like wing racers have some balls, but those non-wing guys that are ripping the fence at El Dorre like that,
730
01:30:20,660 --> 01:30:28,660
God bless their souls because what that, what that takes, the amount of balls to do that is just, it's impressive.
731
01:30:28,660 --> 01:30:33,660
Those things are dangerous too. They are a lot more dangerous than a wing car.
732
01:30:33,660 --> 01:30:43,660
And that's why you got to respect it more. I mean, I think, I think really, I jump on the, I jump on board with you when it comes to getting a U-Sack show around here.
733
01:30:43,660 --> 01:30:51,660
I think fans, like you don't have to be a fan of it, but give it one chance. And I think Atacom, Fremont, if they had the track, like, right?
734
01:30:51,660 --> 01:31:01,660
I think, you know, that could be a hit every year. I think people from, not your ordinary weekly fans would come, you know, people from Indiana would come.
735
01:31:01,660 --> 01:31:13,660
If you were to make it a two-day U-Sack deal, you'd have people come and camp at Atacom, camp at Fremont for the two days and wanting exposes, you know, Fremont Speedway to more people.
736
01:31:13,660 --> 01:31:22,660
And two, it exposes non-wing sprint cars to more people. So really, it's a win-win for everybody. Kind of like what, you know, High Limit tried to do with Lucas Oil down in Georgia.
737
01:31:22,660 --> 01:31:31,660
I think that was too well thought out with, you know, where they had it located at. But I think a sprint car is a sprint car at the end of the day.
738
01:31:31,660 --> 01:31:38,660
And a, you know, a Fremont and Atacom fan, I think they could, I think one race a year, I think it'd be perfect, really.
739
01:31:38,660 --> 01:31:46,660
Yeah, I don't think you need to do four or five. I think if you just had one U-Sack weekend, that would be enough.
740
01:31:46,660 --> 01:31:54,660
And obviously, boss isn't what it used to be. But like, if you, how do you Sack Show? And it doesn't have to be Fremont Atacom.
741
01:31:54,660 --> 01:32:03,660
It could be Fremont Wainsfield or whatever. If you could just get two shows, I think you'd have great car counts.
742
01:32:03,660 --> 01:32:10,660
I think you'd sell a ton of tickets. And then you open it up to this new world of like, if people go and they're like, that was cool.
743
01:32:10,660 --> 01:32:16,660
We want to see more of that. Bring it back next year. Keep it going. And you can build off of that.
744
01:32:16,660 --> 01:32:23,660
I think where Fremont's at right now is really good too, because they have the D2 stuff. I think that race this year got rained out.
745
01:32:23,660 --> 01:32:29,660
But, you know, you're getting the D2 in. So like you have a relationship with U-Sack in a way.
746
01:32:29,660 --> 01:32:35,660
And I don't think the D2 midgets are perfect for Fremont. I think Fremont's a little big for them.
747
01:32:35,660 --> 01:32:47,660
But if you got a foot in the door, you got a foot in the door, build off of that. But yeah, like you said, I mean, you go to like 4 Crown and you watch it and you're just like, these guys are freaking nuts.
748
01:32:47,660 --> 01:32:57,660
Like there's no way I would ever do this. And then not only that, but like, I think the characters in U-Sack are better.
749
01:32:57,660 --> 01:33:06,660
Because I think, I don't want to say winged racing is still. But when I look at the outlaws, there's nobody in the outlaws that I look at and say, I have to see your interview.
750
01:33:06,660 --> 01:33:14,660
Like Donnie is Donnie. David's David. Carson's a robot. Carson's Carson.
751
01:33:14,660 --> 01:33:20,660
They get up there. They don't have personalities. I understand why they don't though.
752
01:33:20,660 --> 01:33:29,660
Like it's good for their partners that they are the way they are. But like what sells tickets to me is what you just said, personality.
753
01:33:29,660 --> 01:33:44,660
Yeah. I mean, team as Robert Balu. Balu and Bacon. Oh yeah. They alone would, if you told me that they got into an argument the night before and that they were racing at Kokomo or like some other bull ring like that the very next night.
754
01:33:44,660 --> 01:33:52,660
I'd probably go out of my way to go that race just because I want to see what's going to happen. Yeah. Because I know that blue it's going to say some unhinged shit on the radio.
755
01:33:52,660 --> 01:34:00,660
And I know that Bacon's probably going to reply back to it and they're going to go back and forth and all of this. And it's like, you know, I went to the Speed Week show this year at Kokomo.
756
01:34:00,660 --> 01:34:09,660
And this is after blue made a whole stink about weights. They got into the arguments and all that blue had shirts that said make racing honest again.
757
01:34:09,660 --> 01:34:22,660
And then you're like, Oh, that's that is fantastic. Like that is a one. It's a play on your fan base because most of your fan bases are probably leaning that political direction as it is.
758
01:34:22,660 --> 01:34:34,660
But then two, you know, you're on the side of less follow the rules, which is going to get people to like you. But then, you know, Brady's Brady's maybe a little bit more likeable than Robert is as a person.
759
01:34:34,660 --> 01:34:41,660
And you look at the bigger picture kind of kind of cross me like Brady comes out and he's like, just shut out. He comes out the T-shirts like just shut up and race.
760
01:34:41,660 --> 01:34:48,660
And you're like, I respect it. I don't really like the opinion, but I respect it. So then you got like two guys that with a rivalry within the series that are going after each other.
761
01:34:48,660 --> 01:35:00,660
And you're like, this is great for them. This is driving both of them up. This is driving the series up. Now as it bring in the most positive light to usack, you can debate that based on usax decision making.
762
01:35:00,660 --> 01:35:13,660
But like it's it's creating a storyline in there. And then like the year before that, you know, you had the blue doser incident and he came out with, you know, you go to the Spray Week show at Coke and we came out with a little bulldozer and then had T-shirts after it.
763
01:35:13,660 --> 01:35:24,660
And like they play the part like Robert knows he's the villain and he plays the part where you look at the wing side and like there's nobody that stands out to me like that.
764
01:35:24,660 --> 01:35:33,660
Like the two, I think a lot of it is it's so watered down in the aspect of their trip. Everybody's trying so hard to be the same. You know what I mean?
765
01:35:33,660 --> 01:35:46,660
They're all trying to be politically correct, list all their sponsors and they don't say things. I like watching interviews.
766
01:35:46,660 --> 01:35:55,660
Like I'm the kind of person that like my girlfriend gives me shit about it all the time because she's like, you know, keep her up till 1030 or 11 o'clock watching a race.
767
01:35:55,660 --> 01:36:02,660
She's like, oh, it's over. She's like, why aren't you turning it off? I'm like, I'm watching the interviews. Like I like to listen to the interviews.
768
01:36:02,660 --> 01:36:10,660
I like to hear what the drivers have to say, you know, how they felt they were erased by somebody, how they felt the track was just their thoughts on it.
769
01:36:10,660 --> 01:36:19,660
And you're so right about the wing race and stuff. It's gotten to a point where it's trying to be too much like NASCAR.
770
01:36:19,660 --> 01:36:28,660
And really the way we've gotten to what we are is by showing that, you know, we aren't NASCAR. We're not that politically correct sport.
771
01:36:28,660 --> 01:36:46,660
We say shit how it is and we are who we are. And, you know, some of the coolest moments I can remember from being my childhood like Sammy Swindell, you know, interviews at the chili bowl and stuff like that to where, you know, he would
772
01:36:46,660 --> 01:36:58,660
cuss somebody out or, you know, piss or stuff like that. Like that sells tickets. People want to come see that because they think, oh my God, he's mad at this guy. He's going to run into this guy and fans want to see that part.
773
01:36:58,660 --> 01:37:10,660
And I think that the non-wing guys definitely get that. And I don't know why, but I think a lot of people in the wing racing is afraid to be themselves.
774
01:37:10,660 --> 01:37:24,660
They think being themselves is going to like limit their opportunities, maybe. But you also have guys like Dominic Selze who, I mean, you put a microphone in Dominic Selze's face and I truthfully think he could be a comedian full time as well.
775
01:37:24,660 --> 01:37:27,660
But those are few and far between. Yeah, Dominic.
776
01:37:27,660 --> 01:37:28,660
Danny Dietrich. Danny Dietrich.
777
01:37:28,660 --> 01:37:29,660
Danny Dietrich out.
778
01:37:29,660 --> 01:37:36,660
I like people like that because at the end of the day, you don't have to like what he says or like who he is.
779
01:37:36,660 --> 01:37:49,660
But, you know, he says what he means, means what he says, and he stands on his word. So I mean, I'm all for that. We need to make wing racing a little bit more entertaining for the fans now.
780
01:37:49,660 --> 01:38:00,660
Yeah. Dietrich gets a lot of flack for the things he says. And it's the same thing with Robert, but it's like, I know if you put a microphone in front of both of them, they're going to say what's on their mind.
781
01:38:00,660 --> 01:38:11,660
They're not filtering it out to be correct or to make it sound good or, you know, like, Brent Marks, you know, had that Facebook post thing it was like two days ago, kind of talking about his opinion on racing.
782
01:38:11,660 --> 01:38:29,660
And I read it and I was like, you know, he is speaking out about it. He is kind of bringing it up. But then at the same time, I was like, I was reading him like this seems like a very play by the rules type post where it's like you, I think have a lot more than you want to say, but you're not going to say it because you don't want to, you know, maybe offend somebody
783
01:38:29,660 --> 01:38:37,660
and you don't want your view to get on there and get your face going to come back to you where, you know, if Robert pinned that pose, Robert would be like, this is stupid. This sucks. You guys are Bob.
784
01:38:37,660 --> 01:38:45,660
And it's just like, yeah, he calls it out for what it is. And that's where I, I agree with you on that. Like Brent just doesn't want to ruffle any feathers in a sense.
785
01:38:45,660 --> 01:38:56,660
And what he's what he's trying to say is the racing has been dog shit for, for whatever reason, he believes the wicker bills is what he thinks the tires, the wicker bills, the wings.
786
01:38:56,660 --> 01:39:14,660
He thinks it's dog shit. And like, I think truthfully, the way to fix the problems is not beat around the bush about the problems. It's do like what, you know, Dietrich or Dominic Selzer or some of these, you know, team as or somebody like that who says, you know, this shit sucks.
787
01:39:14,660 --> 01:39:22,660
Like the racing sucks because of this. And who knows more about the why the racing sucks than the people that are doing the racing, right?
788
01:39:22,660 --> 01:39:30,660
So Brent Marks opinion is valued. He's won crown jewel events. He's very well respected. He's one of the best sprint car drivers in the world.
789
01:39:30,660 --> 01:39:42,660
Like if he got on there and said, you know what, this shit sucks. You know why it sucks? This is why the wicker bill, it's bullshit. It's making the race, it's making us race in dirty air.
790
01:39:42,660 --> 01:39:51,660
It's putting on terrible shows. We're not passing cars, the crown jewel events, you don't see people moving forward. This is why you're going to get somewhere.
791
01:39:51,660 --> 01:40:01,660
Now, bringing awareness to it is what he's trying to do. Sure, that's going to help, but you want to proceed that process. Let's let's get explicit here a little bit.
792
01:40:01,660 --> 01:40:10,660
Let's get aggressive with what we have to say and let's say what we mean and let's get to the point because I mean, beating around the bush about it.
793
01:40:10,660 --> 01:40:13,660
I don't really don't see it getting anywhere doing that.
794
01:40:13,660 --> 01:40:22,660
Yeah, I don't either. And I think some of it just kind of comes down to like, they don't want to be the villain or whatever. And, you know, I'm not a big Sammy Sundell fan.
795
01:40:22,660 --> 01:40:31,660
I really have been, but like Sammy plays the villain role well. That's what he's good at. And, you know, he's made a name for himself and all that.
796
01:40:31,660 --> 01:40:42,660
And I think, you know, we're kind of in a period now where we need more villains that are going to say what they think or, you know, aren't afraid to ruffle some feathers and so forth.
797
01:40:42,660 --> 01:40:53,660
And, you know, I think once you have that, we can build a brand a little bit and, you know, we can get kind of, I don't want to say exposed, but bring some light to these things and have someone say, this is what I think is wrong with it.
798
01:40:53,660 --> 01:41:06,660
You know, so forth. I think it was AJ Flick was on a, did a podcast or YouTube video, but he kind of talked about what he thought was wrong with an agent is a super smart guy and, and stuff like that.
799
01:41:06,660 --> 01:41:20,660
And Flea's another one on Twitter, X, whatever you follow him, like he's very outspoken. Like he's like, nobody listens to any of this. They don't ever, you know, he calls it out and it's like guys like that, or, you know, they're out there, they exist.
800
01:41:20,660 --> 01:41:28,660
They got a platform, they're using it, whether or not they ever get listened to by the people that make the decisions to be determined. But, you know, they're, they're out there.
801
01:41:28,660 --> 01:41:36,660
I just think we need more of them on the wing side because they're not wing sites killing it in that department with having the storylines.
802
01:41:36,660 --> 01:41:46,660
We don't really have very many storylines. I don't think like with the models and I mean the high limit stuff like when there is storylines, they're, you know, run down.
803
01:41:46,660 --> 01:41:58,660
And they had that incident Kansas where Brad ran into McFadden, like regardless if that's a rivalry or not, like sell some tickets with it. I mean, I mean, like, how's Brad, you know, how's J.
804
01:41:58,660 --> 01:42:11,660
Matt going to act when he's around the 49, you know, I understand it's we're in the entertainment business. And I mean, I think even the light models do a better job at it, like Lucas oil stuff and don't want to touch the topic too much.
805
01:42:11,660 --> 01:42:18,660
I know everyone hates talking about like the outlaws refusing to acknowledge anything high limit. Like, yeah, it bothers me.
806
01:42:18,660 --> 01:42:25,660
It, I to me, it's like, you're just killing yourself because like high limit, you know, everyone's like, I don't know why high limits do I get high.
807
01:42:25,660 --> 01:42:31,660
I was just having fun with it. At the beginning of the year, they're like, went to a outlaw race and turned into a high like they were having fun with it.
808
01:42:31,660 --> 01:42:37,660
They were promoting their guys and they're also promoting the outlaw races and so forth. And then it's like helping and grow to get there.
809
01:42:37,660 --> 01:42:44,660
And then you get to King's Royal weekend and it's like, you know, the outlaws never even wanted to mention that there was two nights racing before that.
810
01:42:44,660 --> 01:42:52,660
They were just like, yeah, we're here. King's Royal. And it was like the night before that never happened. And I'm like, your guy literally won those races.
811
01:42:52,660 --> 01:43:03,660
Like you can make jokes about and be like, yeah, we show up to a high limit show and the outlaws won and Bob like have fun with it, build it up because it only helps both of you.
812
01:43:03,660 --> 01:43:10,660
You get people on, you know, Twitter, Facebook are complaining. I don't know why they got to do this to each other. That's engagement.
813
01:43:10,660 --> 01:43:23,660
Yeah, like I think it was, you know, Tyler, I don't know if it ever made the podcast, but him and I had a conversation and we were talking and we were like, I will engage in my comments on my Facebook page with, you know, sometimes like they'll say,
814
01:43:23,660 --> 01:43:30,660
I think one of them was like, that track looks terrible or something like that. And I just sent the address to the track and I said, you know, here's the address show up.
815
01:43:30,660 --> 01:43:42,660
Do I know what I'm starting 100% but I also know that it's going to get a reply from somebody. I know it's going to get engagement on my post is going to boost that post up and then in turn it's going to boost everything.
816
01:43:42,660 --> 01:43:51,660
Like I just know that there is such a thing as good publicity and bad publicity, but the end of the day, even bad publicity, depending on what it is, can still be good.
817
01:43:51,660 --> 01:43:54,660
Absolutely. It's getting views on it.
818
01:43:54,660 --> 01:44:04,660
Yeah, I'm getting views. A lot of it is like, it's like the Chaz guy, you know, Chaz, there's people who really respect what he does.
819
01:44:04,660 --> 01:44:10,660
To me, it's complete nonsense and he says complete nonsense because why? Because people click on it. Because people will click.
820
01:44:10,660 --> 01:44:17,660
Because people watch on it and people will watch every single one of his videos and hate everything he says, but they still watch.
821
01:44:17,660 --> 01:44:19,660
They still watch because they got nobody saying.
822
01:44:19,660 --> 01:44:24,660
And then they still comment on the video. It's like, you want that stuff to stop?
823
01:44:24,660 --> 01:44:29,660
Quick clicking on it. Quick watching it and it goes away. That's how it works.
824
01:44:29,660 --> 01:44:41,660
But he has done a good job. I personally think he can be an absolute clown, in my opinion. His hate for Kyle Larson is insane to me.
825
01:44:41,660 --> 01:44:44,660
I don't even think it's, I think it's secretly a love and he just plays it off his hate.
826
01:44:44,660 --> 01:44:54,660
I think the hate is what sells the views. I think he plays it off like, yeah, I hate you. And so many people tune in because of that.
827
01:44:54,660 --> 01:45:01,660
But he has it down to, he does a really good job at...
828
01:45:01,660 --> 01:45:03,660
He's got a character and he plays it very well.
829
01:45:03,660 --> 01:45:09,660
Every single time. Every single episode is exactly my way. And you know, hey, people are clicking on it. People are watching it.
830
01:45:09,660 --> 01:45:17,660
So to me, I mean, he's playing his part. I can never do that type of content because it takes way too much energy to be that.
831
01:45:17,660 --> 01:45:19,660
You're actually like something you're not.
832
01:45:19,660 --> 01:45:26,660
But it's like, I think it was the Silver Crown race at Salt City or whatever it is.
833
01:45:26,660 --> 01:45:32,660
But Kevin Thomas Jr. was driving Bacon's car for it. And everybody knew it was like a one-off deal or whatever.
834
01:45:32,660 --> 01:45:36,660
And as soon as the race was over, KTJ took his seat out of the car or whatever.
835
01:45:36,660 --> 01:45:40,660
And he was like, that, you know, Chaz guy comes up to him, takes a video of it. And he's like, the seat's already gone.
836
01:45:40,660 --> 01:45:48,660
He must have been fired already. And it's like, well, we all, everyone that was following it knew that was a one-off deal just because Bacon was at the Royal or Knoxville, whatever it was.
837
01:45:48,660 --> 01:45:54,660
But he played this whole part of, it must have been so bad, he got fired. And people ate it up.
838
01:45:54,660 --> 01:46:01,660
And I'm like, I could never do what you do. But I respect that you play the part so well.
839
01:46:01,660 --> 01:46:12,660
Because he's never slipped up once either. Like it is, you, if you go back to the very first video to his most recent one, it's been the same thing throughout.
840
01:46:12,660 --> 01:46:18,660
I hate Kyle Larson. Why does Kyle Larson come down and steal everyone's money? And it's like, cool.
841
01:46:18,660 --> 01:46:24,660
But then you like, you look at some of his other videos, the way he talks to Kyle and you can read between the lions and you're like, he secretly loves the guy.
842
01:46:24,660 --> 01:46:28,660
But he plays the role so well.
843
01:46:28,660 --> 01:46:40,660
Oh my gosh, he does such an incredible job. And really like his, his whole viewership, I mean, in a sense, is based off of his hate just for one guy.
844
01:46:40,660 --> 01:46:47,660
And that guy just so happens to be pretty incredible. So people, you know, stick up for it and stand out for it. And he plays it.
845
01:46:47,660 --> 01:46:52,660
I couldn't do it either because you know, deep down, he doesn't believe most of the stuff he's saying.
846
01:46:52,660 --> 01:46:54,660
No, 100%. Like, there's no way you could.
847
01:46:54,660 --> 01:47:01,660
He's telling the interviews and he talks to him. Like he tries to make it seem like he's poking fun. But you can tell, like, they know each other well.
848
01:47:01,660 --> 01:47:12,660
They get along, I think, outside the camera. Like he's also got the right guy that he hates too, because half the fan base hates Larson anyway, just because he wins all the time.
849
01:47:12,660 --> 01:47:18,660
So like he plays into that part well. And then the part that, you know, the guys that love Larson, you know, that like him, I'm one of them.
850
01:47:18,660 --> 01:47:24,660
You're like, yeah, that's guys, he just gets engagement from both sides because he plays it so well.
851
01:47:24,660 --> 01:47:35,660
I just don't understand how anybody could could hate Kyle Larson. He's a likable person. His his talent is, I'm telling you, it's people hate winners.
852
01:47:35,660 --> 01:47:41,660
It says one of one. This is his shirt. Actually, it's a Kyle Larson shirt. And he is one of one. I'm telling you, he is
853
01:47:41,660 --> 01:47:56,660
he is unlike any race car driver, I think, to ever strap in. And I think when it comes to a situation like that, you better learn to appreciate it and love what you're watching and respect what you're watching,
854
01:47:56,660 --> 01:48:05,660
because it doesn't come every day that a guy can get in a late model, dirt late model, you know, first night, run second, second night, win a Lucas Well race.
855
01:48:05,660 --> 01:48:22,660
I don't care what it is when you're racing at that high of a level. It's so hard, right? And you're just that good that you can jump in after running a cup car, a midget, a silver crown car, a non wing car, a, you know, wing car.
856
01:48:22,660 --> 01:48:34,660
And you're that good that you can win right away. Like one of one and to the people that boo something like that to me, you got to be just a hater.
857
01:48:34,660 --> 01:48:52,660
Yeah, do so. I guess we'll finish off with this. We're hint about, you know, our length here. But when you were growing up, who was or who were the people that you kind of looked at and said, I want to be like them in my career.
858
01:48:52,660 --> 01:49:12,660
So for me, my dad grew up a huge Jeff Gordon fan. And I think a lot of it was just because Jeff Gordon's path came through open wheel stuff and had a stop through Ohio. And like I grew up in my room was Jeff Gordon and I didn't even really, you know, I liked Jeff Gordon because my dad liked Jeff Gordon.
859
01:49:12,660 --> 01:49:37,660
But when I was old enough to form my own opinion, I liked Kyle Busch. And as far as on the asphalt side of things, I liked how I my personality when I was that young racing that age, which I don't really think was a good thing was like Kyle Busch got in the truck race, the Xfinity race, the cup race, and he won all three.
860
01:49:37,660 --> 01:49:59,660
I didn't get out, take a bow, people would boom. I loved it. I thought it was great. He's a winner. Like he's a racer. He's a winner. I loved his off track shenanigans. But on the like dirt side of things, it was, I grew up loving and adoring Bobby Clark, just because he was like, you know, my dad's best friend.
861
01:49:59,660 --> 01:50:18,660
And I love Tim Schaefer and Dale Blaney. I loved, I love the way Dale raced. And I loved how when I first started coming around to Ohio, he would be the quietest car on the racetrack.
862
01:50:18,660 --> 01:50:43,660
He, I can't, I think there was a 10 year stretch there at Fremont for the gym for Dale, that Dale or Tim won like it seemed like every single year. I mean, you throw a subito in there, I think once or twice. And I thought Dale was just very smart, very like not hard on equipment and very methodical.
863
01:50:43,660 --> 01:51:01,660
And I, I loved watching Schaefer because he guessed the shit out of it. Like still, I mean, he's 60 years old now. And I think Tim Schaefer can still get the job done. You put him in the right situation. And he absolutely guesses the shit out of it.
864
01:51:01,660 --> 01:51:16,660
And a lot of people think of Schaefer as this guy who drinks a ton of beer and, you know, the sat in the other and sure the guy does that, but there isn't very many things in his life. He takes more serious in those, those race cars.
865
01:51:16,660 --> 01:51:33,660
And in 2017, when we were traveling, we got to spend like a month at his house and his, his mindset and how he thinks the racing helped me a lot. It, it taught me, he talks about always putting yourself in position to win races.
866
01:51:33,660 --> 01:51:47,660
He's always like, you know, put yourself in position, you put yourself in position, like being the dash, qualify good, make it a heat race, be in the dash, you know, be in the redraw. And he helped me simplify things. Like let's not overlook this.
867
01:51:47,660 --> 01:51:57,660
Let's go to the racetrack. Let's focus on your two qualifying laps. Let's focus on getting through, doing what you have to do to start up front in the future and you're going to win.
868
01:51:57,660 --> 01:52:16,660
And for me that those are the three people really that four people that I looked up to. And to this day, I still, you know, bounce ideas off of Dale and Bobby and, uh, Shaef and for me, those are the three guys that I always looked up to.
869
01:52:16,660 --> 01:52:33,660
I'm so, I think Dale, I think for anyone our age would look at like Dale Blaney and be like that guy's like an idol of the sport just because of how dominant he was like during our teenage years.
870
01:52:33,660 --> 01:52:43,660
Like I remember going to free mind. If it was an all star show, the odds of Dale Blaney winning were probably one to two. Like you could bet $10 on him. He probably went to penny because it was such a sure bet.
871
01:52:43,660 --> 01:52:52,660
Like he was at the top of his game and like Shaef for there for a while. Um, and all that. I think for me, like I had to go locally.
872
01:52:52,660 --> 01:53:04,660
I've said my dad was, you know, when I was younger, but I would go and say like, I really don't even know if there's like anyone that stands out.
873
01:53:04,660 --> 01:53:14,660
I would, I would say subito would be a big one just because like he's still the same way now, but he like for a local guy always seemed to drive.
874
01:53:14,660 --> 01:53:22,660
It looked like over his head and I know that it wasn't, but you would just watch him and be like, I don't know if he's coming out the other side.
875
01:53:22,660 --> 01:53:26,660
Oh, he did. Perfect. Oh, he passed like eight cars. We'll do it. Cool.
876
01:53:26,660 --> 01:53:36,660
I love, I loved when I first started, when I first moved up here, the first year was the first year subito was in that hammer 24 car and they won all those races.
877
01:53:36,660 --> 01:53:48,660
And a lot of people forget. I mean, you're they're going to learn that that dude's a badass racer. All these 305 guys were telling me that subito's got this cheater 305 and all this stuff.
878
01:53:48,660 --> 01:54:08,660
I'm like, you guys are too young because subito was one of the, I think Ohio guy, maybe cap, maybe cap has done a pretty good job at carrying the Ohio guys, but subito was one of those guys that at Fremont Attica when the outlaws or the all stars came to town,
879
01:54:08,660 --> 01:54:20,660
that he could win the race. Not very many nowadays or the last, you know, five, 10 years really haven't had much of that of guys like almost upsetting the outlaws.
880
01:54:20,660 --> 01:54:40,660
Subito, even Caleb Griffith at the, at that time in the 40 double D, he'd get upside down a lot. Don't get me wrong, but the nights he'd be fast when the outlaws and all stars were in town, like those guys were gassers and subito definitely.
881
01:54:40,660 --> 01:54:54,660
He won a lot of races in that time period. And I think that I loved watching him race to erase his hard. He races. He looks like he's out of control, but he's not.
882
01:54:54,660 --> 01:55:04,660
Yeah, I think it's the same way. You just watch him now. He's like the Justin Grant, you know, of the 305s this year, like he's just driving so much harder than it seems like anybody else.
883
01:55:04,660 --> 01:55:13,660
But the cameras shut off on us, which means we're basically at our time limit. And it's getting here pretty late. I think Caleb went to bed.
884
01:55:13,660 --> 01:55:22,660
So we might even have to record his episode a little bit later. But I appreciate you coming on. You know, talked a lot of different topics there kind of got into the personal side.
885
01:55:22,660 --> 01:55:30,660
And then we hit some overarching things, which we haven't really done on any of the episodes leading up to this. So that's kind of a little bit different and refreshing there to kind of touch on some of that.
886
01:55:30,660 --> 01:55:40,660
So, you know, by the time you guys listen to this, it's going to be, I want to say the end of September or the beginning of October. So we'll be past the gym forward.
887
01:55:40,660 --> 01:55:47,660
So obviously everyone know the results of that. So kind of get to hear, you know, they'll see the results and then hear what led up to that and all of that.
888
01:55:47,660 --> 01:55:54,660
So I mean, do you have any last parting thoughts for everyone, you know, for before we call it a show?
889
01:55:54,660 --> 01:56:03,660
Oh, not really. I mean, you know, thanks for coming out and doing this. You know, we're lucky to have people in this area that care about the sport.
890
01:56:03,660 --> 01:56:13,660
So, you know, take time out of their day and their busy life. So come do this. So thank you for, you know, caring enough to put this all together and doing this.
891
01:56:13,660 --> 01:56:22,660
And, you know, anyway, we can help you grow this. We will because what you're doing for us, it's not going to go unnoticed. So thank you.
892
01:56:22,660 --> 01:56:31,660
I appreciate that. So we'll wrap it up here and we'll hear you guys or listen to us or see or whatever you want to call it the next episode.