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View From The PAS by Scott Daloisio |
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Cory Kruseman Interview (PERRIS, CA, APRIL 10 1999) The names of the characters have not been changed to protect the innocent. In one corner you have the “Gasman.” Thirty feet to his right is a notorious figure referred to as the “Wild Man.” Go due south 200 feet and you run right into the “Ripper.” This sounds like the recreation yard at a State Prison, but breath easy, you can turn your back on all of three of these unarmed desperados. You are in fact in the pit area of the beautiful Perris Auto Speedway and the SCRA Sprint Cars are preparing for a night of racing. The “Gassman” is defending SCRA Champion Richard Griffin. The “Wild Man” is an alias for nice guy Rodney Argo. The “Ripper” is the handle for the tracks all time leading winner, Rip Williams. All three are complete gentlemen with not so gentlemanly nicknames. Another ace on the SCRA beat is perched sideways on a quad behind his trailer. He keeps peeking into the crystal blue sky surveying an air show from a nearby air base. He has a special moniker as well and it is quite a bit tamer than the aforementioned drivers. This guy is dubbed the “Kruzer.” His full name you ask? Cory Kruseman, a 28 year-old star the sprint car ranks. His laid back disposition belies what he is there to do. He has a heavy right foot that is anything but a foreigner to the go fast pedal on a sprint car. While sitting on the quad he took time to patiently answer questions as jet fighters ceaselessly broke the afternoon calm. S.D.: Your father, Ron
“Krazy” Kruseman, raced three-quarter midgets and sprint cars with CRA.
Was it just natural that you would be a racer? KRUSEMAN: I started off racing motorcycles when I was 6 years old. He (his father) ended up getting killed racing cars. Ever since that I kind of have carried on that devotion in my heart to race. You know it is something I grew up around. Something I love to do. S.D.: What kind of
motorcycles did you race? KRUSEMAN: We raced motocross. Actually we rode a factory support bike for Honda out of Simi Valley (California). I did that until I was probably 12 years old. S.D.: You said your dad
lost his life racing. That was at
El Centro in a TQ. How much of an
affect did that have on you getting in a car? KRUSEMAN: It affected me a lot, really. It made me want to “pick up where he left off” kind of a deal. I always looked at him as kind of a mentor, not only as a dad. He always seemed to help in everything I wanted to do. I think it encouraged me a lot actually to get in (racing). S.D.: When you got out
of motorcycles and into cars, at what level did you start? KRUSEMAN: We started in go-carts. Ran those for a couple of years on pavement and on dirt. Then we went to a TQ and then I went straight to a sprint car. I have run some midgets and some champ cars. S.D.: Did you actually
first start racing in your hometown of Ventura? KRUSEMAN: Actually I started between Ventura and Oxnard. There is a dirt track in Ventura and a little pavement track on the coast in Oxnard. That’s where I started racing go-carts. We ran motorcycles all over California. S.D.:
That had to be a big kick winning the USAC Western States Midgets main
event last Saturday in front of the hometown fans in Ventura? KRUSEMAN: Anytime you can win something in front of the hometown it makes you feel good. Unfortunately it was real cold and real windy and there was not a lot of people there. Anytime you can win, you can turn a racetrack into your favorite racetrack over night. S.D.: You were good in a
TQ. If I remember right, you almost
won a USAC TQ championship? KRUSEMAN: Yeah, we ran second to Jay Drake one year. Ten or 12 points, I think we lost it by. We won quite a few races in the TQ’s. PAS: You race with SCRA
for a good team and owner in Harlan Willis.
How long have you guys been together? KRUSEMAN: Actually, the team, I have been driving for Harlan since 93,’ I think it was. But Harlan always helped me. Even in TQ’s. All the way back to 89’. PAS: Isn’t he an old
racer, too? KRUSEMAN: Right. He ran TQ’s for a lot of years. That is where he started helping me. Then he started racing sprint cars, but his business got pretty vital. He needed to stay and keep the business getting bigger and bigger. He decided to hire me as a driver and have fun together. PAS: Six years is a long
time for a top sprint car team to stick together. That is pretty impressive. KRUSEMAN: Yeah. There aren’t many teams that stay together that long. You know, Harlan is kind of like a dad to me. Mike Nigh, the crew chief, is kind of like a brother. We have really turned this into a family deal. We try to bring our wives and their families to the races. We try to make it a family sport instead of just something the guys do. S.D.: Okay, you
mentioned the wives. How does your
wife (Cory and his wife Carri will celebrate their third anniversary on May 5)
view racing? KRUSEMAN: Sometimes I think she likes it more than I do. We kind of started in the cars about the same time we got together. She has kind of been around the sprint car and the TQ all of our life together. She is a great big supporter. When I get down she gets me back up. She writes proposals, does press kits, talks to people and sells shirts in the pits. She actually turns it into a job and she does a good job at it. PAS: In 1998 you guys
were a two-car team. This year you are the only driver.
Is that more advantageous to you? KRUSEMAN: Well, you know we really didn’t try to run two cars all year last year. We only ran them maybe 10 shows. We did it for various reasons. We had a little bit of sponsorship and we tried to give them the best for their money and we tried to help some people out, get some encouragement back. Sometimes it is good, sometimes it is bad (running as a 2 car team). It is bad when you have a car (team) that you have to try to go out there and beat, but it is also good to have a car to compare notes to. S.D.: Two years ago you
ran a lot of races back east. There
was a lot of commuting involved wasn’t there? KRUSEMAN: Yeah! Most of the times I went back there to race, we would run here (Perris) on Saturday night. I would get on an airplane, fly back there and race on a Sunday in a champ car. S.D.:
Isn’t that awful tough on you? KRUSEMAN: Yeah it is. You get out of here about 10:00 or 10:30, get to LAX (Los Angeles International Airport which is about a 75 mile drive from the PAS) by midnight and that is when your flight leaves. Catch a couple hours of sleep on the plane. You get there about 5:45 or 6:00 in the morning and you are good to go. S.D.: Anything happening
for you in the champ cars this year? KRUSEMAN: No. I committed to Harlan to run for the championship (SCRA) this year. That is something we haven’t really tried to do before, because I am always missing for or 5 races a year. In order to keep a nice champ car ride you have to commit to it all year. I have got a nice sprint car so I committed to that all year. S.D.: You are running
for the Championship. SCRA is a
highly regarded organization. What can winning the SCRA championship do for you? KRUSEMAN: Absolutely a lot. I mean look at Ron Shuman. You know it’s done a lot for him, it’s done a lot for Richard Griffin. It gets your name out there. No matter what, nobody can take your championship status away from you once you have gained it. Being my age (28), I think it will help me a lot. Just like it would J.J. Yeley. The more championships and the more stuff you can put under your belt, the better it makes you look for your next job. S.D.: Are you satisfied
with the way things have started off this year? KRUSEMAN: So far. We have had a little bit of bad luck. We blew a motor up at Manzanitta the opening night and we struggled a little the last time we were at Manzy. Yeah, I am happy. If we can keep maintaining what we’ve got going now I will be real happy. S.D.: You do real well
in this car, but you also drive champ cars and midgets. Which is your favorite? KRUSEMAN: I like to drive anything. I don’t think there is anything more or less. There are just so many different driving styles out there to fit different cars. We come here to win. If you can win in a quad or a sprint car it makes no difference, you know. You go home feeling good. S.D.: You finished
second in the Chili Bowl and got a nice compliment from the winner, Dan Boorse.
He said, “Cory Kruseman ran me clean and never touched me.”
It sounded like he was waiting to get tagged, but you did not do that. That is a nice thing to be said about you. KRUSEMAN: Absolutely. I mean Chili Bowl, you get 14,000 people in the grandstands and I would like to win that race more than just about any race. In order for me to do that, I would have had to do something that I would not have felt safe doing. Let alone, safe for him. I wasn’t going to take a chance to take him out of the race or myself out of the race. In a situation like that when it is hard to pass, second is good. S.D.: A few years back,
you had a very bad crash while racing a midget in Sacramento.
Several broken bones and quite a bit of sheet time.
Did that affect your outlook on racing? KRUSEMAN: No, Absolutely not. I think what it did make you look at is how strong racing is as a family. You know, I got hurt there and was in the hospital for quite a few days. I remember in and out how much the telephone rang and obviously my family talked to them (the callers) because I was in “la-la land.” They raised (friends and fans in racing) close to $10,000.00 for me to help pay my bills. It makes you feel real good. It makes you want to come out and try harder for all the fans. S.D.: Rich “C” gives
you a hard (good-natured) time about your home life and the farm on the net.
What is it all about? KRUSEMAN: (Laughing) We have lived in Ventura all of our lives. We actually just sold our house in January, February. So we actually moved into a motor home until we could find the house that we actually wanted. We lived in the motor home on my mother & father in-laws property for about three weeks and we bought us a half-acre in a town called Oakview, which is just north of Ventura. We bought a half-acre so we can have horses. We are going to have a horse and a pig. Rich kind of gets a kick out of us having a lot of animals. S.D.: Want to thank
anybody? KRUSEMAN: I have to thank a lot of people out there. I want to thank Harlan Willis and his whole crew. Selway Machine Products, Del Mar Wire, D&M Rebar, Cronie’s Sports Grill, Sanders Engineering and Simpson Safety Equipment. On
this cold and windy night, Kruseman, who owns an auto detailing business,
qualified thirteenth, took third in his heat and fifth in the dash.
He also ended up fifth in the main and maintained his third place spot in
the SCRA point standings. |
