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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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WORKIN’
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Note from Norm Bogan: This story was written a couple of years ago and I have tried
to update it for the current cast of characters.
Many of those mentioned within will soon be traveling to the Midwest and
East for the NWWC tour. Like many
of you, they will be requesting time off from work and loading up the family for
another racing vacation. For
novice race fans, recently discovering sprint car racing, SCRA style, this will
give a better understanding of the competitors. As you sit in the stands and overlook the pit area, you view
the racecar haulers, consisting of tractors with a crew accommodations and forty
foot enclosed semi trailers filled with spare parts and often a spare car.
Your opinion is that maybe these are a group of professional racers
traveling around the country and performing for the fans.
Well, sometimes these images can be misleading as nearly all of the
competitors have a regular day job, work on the racecar in the evening and race
on the weekend. Often we tend to group all auto racers into one category,
which includes the various groups we view on the weekly telecasts.
A
mistaken assumption is that all racers are all paid as well as those involved in
the Winston Cup, Busch or Craftsman Trucks, open wheel racers in Formula One,
IRL and CART, the drag racing elite of NHRA or even the traveling band of the
World of Outlaws sprint cars. Yearlong
travel schedules and criss-crossing the country make it difficult for a guy
trying to hold down an eight to five job. Drivers
from the above-mentioned series have made great sacrifices to chase a dream. Now
viewing the SCRA program, the flip side is emphasized.
Nearly all of these racers work along side of you and I all week,
figuring out how to get enough money to pay the mortgage, put braces on the
kid’s teeth and hopefully, save enough to buy a right rear tire on Saturday.
Some of these racing teams have been family oriented for many years and
have made the transition as their driver progressed from Go-Karts,
Quarter-Midgets or Motocross to the ultra powerful sprint cars.
Most crews are made up of uncles, cousins, brothers in law, high school
buddies and other long time associates, who work hard and long for a cold one
after the races. Many
of the racers and car owners are independent businessmen.
They have enjoyed enough success in their chosen field that they have
been able to invest into highly vulnerable racing equipment.
Most did not start off with what you see now, but have accumulated
additional equipment and have upgraded their inventory over a number of years.
It hasn’t been that long ago that nearly all of these guys operated
from a pickup truck, open trailer, one racecar and few spare parts. Let’s
take a look at some of the current competitors and see what they do away from
racing. The Champ, Richard Griffin,
isn’t called the “GASMAN” for his speedy on-track performance, but because
he operates a large propane and fuel oil business in New Mexico.
His car owner, Ron Chaffin, operates Madera Produce, so how many heads of
lettuce did he sell to secure six owner’s titles? Cory
Kruseman has established himself as a force to be reckoned with on the
racetrack, but during the week, you will find him operating a driving school at
Ventura Raceway. Cory plans are to
race the full SCRA schedule, plus occasional forays to the Midwest for selected
sprint car shows and a few Silver Crown and Midget races.
His car owner Harlan Willis operates a machine shop business, which has
done well enough over the years to allow him to upgrade his equipment to be a
very competitive team. One of his
business suppliers was impressed enough with both his business acumen and racing
success that they came on board as a sponsor. Rip
Williams is now the senior member of the SCRA driving fraternity.
Rip persevered for many years with under-budgeted teams, while remaining
one of most competitive racers on the track.
During the week, Rip is a Maintenance Superintendent for the equipment of
a plastic manufacturer and still performs much of the routine work on his
racers. His owners, Jack and Sharon
Jory operate a commercial drywall business.
Jack explained that much of the equipment they have acquired has been
bartered for as opposed to an outright purchase. Rickie
Gaunt spends his days at work with the family construction business and
moonlights as a reserve police officer. His
owners, Alexander Motorsports, finance the team through their day jobs operating
landscaping and trucking businesses. Mike
Kirby has been a strong runner for a number of years and recently has driven for
his employer, who happens to be his father in law.
Brad Geurin’s Mobile Home Service keeps Mike busy during the week,
leaving time to service the car and return to battle the following week.
During
the week, Steve Ostling is an installer of acoustic ceilings in commercial and
office buildings. Quite often,
Saturday work has him arriving just in time for qualifying. His car owners, Fischer Motorsports, operate businesses
dealing with stress relief evaluations of equipment and custom motorcycle
applications. Mike
English is a supervisor with a company that rebuilds transmissions and clutches
for trucks and heavy equipment. This
year he is a teammate with longtime friend, Rip Williams in the John &
Sharon Jory stable. Tony
Jones is a youngster that many of us remember roaming the stands at Ascot and
now is one of the weekly heroes. We
have all watched Tony develop, as he has become a dominant player.
During the week, Tony works for his Dad’s old buddy and car owner,
Larry Henry, testing and renovating storage tanks at gas stations to meet EPA
standards. Tony’s car owner is
his Dad, Bubby and John Vermeer. Bubby
is a West Coast dealer of Avenger chassis and also manufacturers shifters for
putting the sprinters into gear. You
will note that the owner and driver are the same for many of the teams.
That means that the owner must work harder to get support for his driver.
While all teams strive for a “Sugar-Daddy”, to pick up the bills,
sponsors on the cars are usually something like Joe’s Body & Paint, Ace
Auto Wrecking or Podunk Farm Equipment. Major
national company names are not likely to be emblazoned on the racecars.
Here are several of the Owner/Driver teams. Verne
Sweeney has been racing for a few years now and has continued to upgrade his
equipment over time. Early on, he
came up with a unique plan to have a large number of sponsors, who gave him $25
each week to operate his racing operation.
With twenty of these sponsors, that was $500 in the kitty for each race.
Verne is truly an entrepreneur, looking for ways to invest and grow his
money. Weekdays will find him at
Sweeney’s Muffler Service, but he’s also SCRA’s resident shrimp farmer. John
Scott ran sparingly for several years and then finally made the commitment to
SCRA. He has been one of the most
PR minded competitors since. You
will find his car on display at the track entrance often, with John meeting and
greeting the fans with collectable cards and autographs. This year, John set aside his metal fabrication business and
with sponsorship from Pace Electronics, plans to move to Indiana and pursue the
Silver Crown circuit in addition to racing sprints on both dirt and pavement. Rodney
Argo has always driven the family car, as his Dad, Don has put him in some
quality equipment. The family
business, Decore Plating pays the bills. Don
was involved in several previous sprint car operations, while Rodney moved up
from go-karts. Now both Don and
Rodney work hard to keep Decore at the forefront, as they continue to finance
their racing. Rick
and Mike Hinrichsen are another family operation. Rick owns Lake Mechanical, a commercial air-conditioning
business, while son, Mike is one of his foreman, managing a crew in the field.
Bobby Graham has settled into the Crossno car this season.
During the week, Bobby drives a dump truck, while his car owner, Glenn
Crossno operates a successful plastics company, which manufacturers specialty
parts for the medical industry. Several
of the young drivers also come in with varied backgrounds and different kinds of
jobs. Lance Gremett works with his
Dad in the family’s custom cabinetry business.
Brian Venard works for a supermarket chain. The more you see what your weekly heroes are doing during the
week, the more you realize they are just like you.
J.J.
Yeley and Troy Cline have decided to pursue racing careers, so we will see
little of them, as they scramble to make a living from their racing pursuits.
Yeley is now based in Indiana and Cline in North Carolina.
The local fans that watched them grow up with SCRA, will miss them both. Several
of our young drivers are students, working part-time and then going racing on
the weekend. There are drivers who
live with the folks, while others have their own residences.
Some are married with children and others are still single.
When they get to the speedway, they are all racers. Many
of these drivers get a percentage of the winnings, split with the owner.
There are a few drivers who just have their share reinvested into the
racecar and for most of the driver/owners; there is nothing to split up.
When you consider the weekly outlay for pit passes, racing fuel and tires
plus hotel bills, food and fuel for the hauler when on the road, it is an
expensive proposition. Auto racing,
like so many recreational pursuits is not highly profitable, but done for the
love of the sport. You will probably be able to relate to these guys a little better now that you realize they are the guy next door, who works all day and then takes his kids to soccer practice, does a few honey-dos and agonizes over the electric bill, just like you and I. |
