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At the age of 13, I never thought I would be my dad’s crew chief, and I really
didn’t think that I would be the one person my dad relied on to set-up his racecar. Now at
the age of 16 I have more than mastered the art of setting up a racecar. It gives me great
satisfaction when my dad asks for my advice, instead of my 20-year old brother.
He taught me everything I know. What wrench to use for certain situations, how
to organize a tool box so that I can be efficient, and how to predict what the track is going
to do, to make setting up the racecar easier. My dad never made it to the top tier of
racing, but he knows what he’s doing. Ask anyone at the track, and they’ll say he has had
Racing has been in my family for three generations. My grandpa began drag
racing for fun with his buddies. After a few years he moved to dirt track. My
grandpa wasn’t very good at racing. He was more of a mechanic than driver.
When my dad turned 15, he bought himself a 1966 Chevy Impala. He raced
it at the dirt track in Warren, Minnesota for many years, until the organization
WISSOTA formed.
With WISSOTA came many rule changes. My dad bounced around from
division to division, until he finally came to a division he liked. 20 years later came
my turn. I began at the age of 15 also. I finished off my first full year in the Street
My dad is still racing a Street Stock too. We get to race against each other
every Friday night, which is a lot of fun. The first few times he took it easy on me.
When I began beating him on a consistent basis, he stepped it up. Now I only beat
him every other night. In a few years he wants to retire and travel with me, and my
racing career.
slow is fast.”
notes. Any information that could give me an advantage over the competition should
go into the binder. Specifically what my car likes, and how my car works best. After
3 years I have filled out 2. I still use them both to this day, and am working on filling
out my third.
After every race I write a report about everything I did that night. I keep
track of what tires have been used, how many races they have on them, what tire
pressure they were at the beginning of the race, and what they changed to after the
race. Keeping a binder was a real good idea. I can reference back to different nights
and see how I did on specific track conditions. Then I will know how to change the
the set-up a little, but when you hit it right on, the
It was time for my dad to get ready for his last race
sliding into his racecar seat, and began buckling his five-
point harness.
replied.
left.”
I buckled the window net and gave him a good luck fist
My favorite type of track to race on is tacky. It’s the kind of track where you
put the pedal to the medal and just go. Tacky is unlike dry-slick, where you have to
be more patient. I am not a patient person, and that’s exactly why I like tacky.
Don’t get me wrong, I like to race on dry-slick because it shows who the real
talented drivers are, but tacky separates the boys from the men. You get to see who
They paced two-by-two for a few laps until the head flagman
better view of the race. The grandstand in the pits was too
love to chat with them, but during the race, I had my game
face on.
The green flag flew as the cars exited turn four. The
One lap went by and dad was still the leader. Another
lap went by, then another, then another, and dad was still
our trailer.
By the end of the race, I should have walked my way
right through the metal. The flagman stuck out the green
had stretched out a good lead by now, but Steffan Snare was
slowly gaining.
racing was taking over. He hit his marks, taking the high
the low side of the track to get around dad. On the last
turn, Snare shot to the low side. But he couldn’t make the
car stick.
Now let’s talk about the strategy of dry-slick, unlike tacky, which has little to
no strategy. The first thing you want to do is see how dry the track really is. Is it a
dusty dry? Is there rubber being put down on the track? Or is it the type of dry
where you can see your reflection? If it’s a dusty dry, your going to want to go with
a basic set-up, but lower the left rear tire pressure to 10 or 10.5 psi. If rubber is
being put down on the track, you are going to want to use a basic set-up, but expect
the track to get tacky.
The track will change depending on how many cars are in the feature. The
fewer cars, the slower the track will change. The more, the faster. It the track is so
shiny that you can see your reflection, it is considered dry, dry-slick. This is the
toughest type of dry to race on. You will have to make many changes from your
basic set-up. I would suggest dropping the left rear tire pressure to 9 psi, and adding
a 1-inch spacer. This will give the left rear tire more face to the track, tightening the
car up, and making it easier to handle in the middle of the turns. Also put a ¼-inch
spacer in the left rear spring. More changes will need to be made depending on how
The best part of racing is the people. Die-hard fans who are at the track when it’s
105 degrees, or when its 35 degrees. The camaraderie is awesome. Before each race, a
group of people can be seen at any given trailer. Usually grilling food. After the race, that
same group of people will be sitting around a bon-fire, re-living the moments of just a