4th and Wrecked
Podcast for the Great Lakes Lightning Sprints, and everything about my announcing career
4th and Wrecked
Double Header Weekend (ft. Thomas Meseraull)
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Special guest for you on today's episode, the man, the myth, the legend, Thomas Meseraull. Huge shoutout to Lightning Sprint driver Chad Colley for helping me get this set up.
In this episode me and TMez breakdown his history in racing and what got him his passion. Including the age old question dirt or pavement?
Tune in for a special episode and one you won't want to miss!
From the fast lane to the pit lane. We got you covered for all things racing, where every lap is a chance to make history. With some of the talents you may know, and some trying to make a name. This is Fourth and Racked. And I'm your host, Matthew Rieger. Well, thank you everybody for tuning in to another episode. My name is Matthew Rieger. I'm your host. And I had a special interview with Thomas Mesrol, and a lot of you guys know him as T-Mes. It was a really great interview. And I just want to say that you guys are really, really gonna love this episode. We go through his history, about his racing career, where he is now, what he's done before, and what he's looking forward to doing. So, like I said, make sure to tune in to my interview with Thomas Mezrol. And this episode is brought to you by Extreme Cart Racing and Entertainment Center. It's the one of the only gas-powered racetracks uh left in Clio, Michigan. You can do go-karting, they got anything from any entertainment to anything you might want. You know, they got parties available, they got game rooms, they got over 40 arcade games. Now you really want to go. And it's a great place to take your kids. They got snacks, they got drinks, they got anything that you might want for your cart racing and entertainment center. Go check them out. It's at Clyo, Michigan. But here it is, your interview with Thomas Meserall. Hello, everybody. My name is Matthew Riegert. We got another special guest on the podcast, and it was one of the special guests that I told you that um you'd be looking forward to. It's a driver in the Bell-driven Nootropics Razor Design Helmets Double Zero. It's T-Mez, Thomas Meserall. Welcome to the podcast, Thomas.
SPEAKER_01Hey, thanks for having me today.
SPEAKER_02Hey, absolutely. I I will say I said it to you before. Again, I'm a little nervous, but that's okay because the nerves will go away. Because I've been in the situation of being nervous and getting over it. So I'm glad to have you on. And let me tell you what, you're one of the most I don't know if stand-up guys is the word to use, but I had didn't really see any other driver other than Clinton Boyles, who won the race at I-96. I didn't really see anybody, other driver in the hauler really signing people's things, talking to people and just giving them information. So I mean, just seeing that from you, the first time ever meeting you, that was a great experience for me. And not only me, my brother. That was my brother's first dirt race. And he had like an incredible experience meeting you and meeting all the drivers. So let me just give you a huge shout out uh to being like one of the most stand-up guys uh in the pit area.
SPEAKER_01So well, I appreciate that. And I mean, I I've been doing this a very long time. And when I was a kid, you know, I remember going and trying to get an autograph and trying to meet the drivers and it not always being so easy.
SPEAKER_00And so I kind of just go out of my way to make sure that it is, you know, and if somebody comes up to the to the race car, I try to go out of my way to say hi and introduce myself and whatever. But um yeah, because I'm I'm you know lucky to be racing sprint cars and uh you know having some people excited about us racing is always a good thing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. And like seriously, uh that that was also a trouble for me too. I'm a huge NASCAR fan, so you can you know the NASCAR garage, it is packed every single weekend. Like the only place is not packed is when they're not racing, you know. So, like to have a guy like you, who is I'd say, very wildly popular uh in the dirt racing community, to go out other head their way and you know, sign the stuff and talk to the drivers. Like I said, hats off to you guys. And you I again thank you very much. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well that's that's part of the fun is hanging out and meeting new people. And uh you never know know who you're gonna meet when you're doing that too.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. You never know who you do you are gonna meet. And guess what? I met you. So I I'm I feel like I'm pretty happy that that I met you. Um, but I want to go back. Um, you said you went to go first um when you tried to get autographs in two. My question is, how did you get interested in dirt racing and when did you want know that you wanted to make it your career?
SPEAKER_01Um, I'm gonna say I I I got I was lucky enough to get into quarter midgets uh when I was nine and and just kind of one of the one of my friends I grew up with, uh he had a quarter midget, and we've seen it over his house, me and my dad, and uh we used to boat with him and just kind of like thought it'd be something to do, and and it is it is a family sport, you know, so it kind of keeps the family close, I think. Uh it kept me out of trouble throughout my teen years for sure, because we were always racing and I didn't have the weekends to just kind of go goof off with my friends. Um, but I think, and then I started running midgets when I was like 18, 19. Um, and living in California at the time, because that's where I was I was born and raised in Cal uh San Jose, California. Um just kind of wanted to pursue it, but it wasn't necessarily there because there wasn't a ton of racing in in California, and so I ended up moving to the Midwest, moving to Indianapolis in 2007, um, really just to chase the racing dream. And and like I said, there wasn't a ton of racing back in uh California, and so I was racing, you know, 25, 30, 30 times maybe a year. And uh moved back to Indianapolis so you can race. You know, you used to be able to race Friday, Saturday, Sunday, um pretty much all summer with an on-wing sprint car. So kind of move back here chasing that, you know, we're um racing cars instead of working a real job, I guess you could say.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I love how you went to Indianapolis. I know the two big um racing industries are in Charlotte. Charlotte is NASCAR, and then Indy. That's where you have Indianapolis, where you got the Indy 500. That's the biggest event, uh, I'd say biggest racing event in the world. Would you agree?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. And and I'm gonna say we we actually had looked into going to Charlotte because um I I ran a I basically real quick is I ran quarter midgets until I was 13. Then I ran a micro from 13 to 14, uh, maybe even 15, but I I started running modified and pavement uh modified um at 15 to 16, and then ran a late model stock car when I was 17, 18. And then we ended up getting a midget because we kind of ran out of funding on the late model. But so we we were fully kind of chasing that NASCAR dream. Um, and my parents actually, you know, went and visited Charlotte, um, thinking about moving out there, and then we while we were racing quarter midgets, we had raced at Mini Indy. Um, and I grew up racing with Chuck Gurney, uh little Chuck Gurney, and his dad ran silver crown cars and sprint cars and midgets and won a bunch of races. Um, and so when we were quarter midget racing, I remember everybody like want his autograph. Um, and I didn't I guess I didn't realize his dad had raced like that. Like I guess I had heard he raced, but I didn't didn't realize it was such a big deal. But in Indian Indianapolis it was, and I think I ended up seeing him run like the mile race or something because they were running Silver Crown while we were racing the quarter midget. And so we went and watched, and that was kind of I was like, okay, my parents wanted to go to Charlotte, but I ended up I was like, we need to go to Indianapolis because that's where they run sprint cars and midgets, and I was racing midgets, so it seemed to make sense. Um so that's that's kind of how I ended up. Um in that Midwest.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So you said you started when you were nine. I had another driver on here. Uh his name is Grayson Thompson. Grayson started when he was like four or five years old. And for me, I got a five-year-old. Would I want to put him in a race car? Absolutely not. Um, so I mean, to start racing at what? He started Grayson started racing at five. You guys started racing at nine and dirt. I mean, I think for me, dirt is a little bit more scary. I might take that back in a little bit.
SPEAKER_01Well, we uh I started racing pavement quarter minutes. Uh we did have a couple dirt tracks. Um and and honestly, I think I started when I was eight, but really I was basically nine. I kind of started at the end of my being eight. But um one of my uncles, he used to work at the go-kart place uh downtown, and so we went down there and and the guy would let him kind of like turn up the throttle. Um, and he let me drive it. I remember him telling my dad I was really good at driving the go-kart, and this was when I was seven, and then I I was bugging my dad about you know wanting to go racing after that. Um, and I always liked cars and stuff. We had floods. Um but yeah. So pavement racing quarter midges when I was a kid, and you know, got out into the dirt when I was like 13, 14 running micros. But back then the micros were 250. Uh two strokes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we're a thousand cc, uh, the series that I run. But I don't they don't call them micros, uh, because the micros are actually 600, I believe. Uh we run lightnings, uh, so lightning sprints are a thousand cc.
SPEAKER_01I've I ran a lightning sprint at the shootout, and I actually have a driller and a lightning sprint.
SPEAKER_02What was that called?
SPEAKER_01Uh a lightning sprint? A driller? Yeah, the driller is uh when you win the Tulsa uh the chili bowl or the version of it, which is they call a shootout.
SPEAKER_02I did not know that. But I also haven't been in the dirt racing scene as long as you know a lot of other people. I grew up um 2013. I started watching NASCAR, and then I got my love of racing from there, and then I didn't start liking dirt racing until I started announcing for it in 23. So Oh, very cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, over the winter they have that big uh race in Tulsa at the uh driller stadium as the indoor race. Um yeah, the chili bowl, one of the biggest races, uh probably the biggest race for midgets for sure.
SPEAKER_02I've heard of the Chili Bowl. I didn't realize that they called it the driller. That's something, like I said, I'm gonna have to learn more, uh, learn more about. Yeah. One of our fellow drivers, Arlie Cooper Jr., went to the uh the earned one uh door prize uh at our banquet for the the Chili Bowl weekend, actually. So he went up there as bad. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's a great it's a great week of racing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, never been, kind of want to go. Um I know also one of our other guys, Justin Ward, Ward, wanted to race the Chili Bowl, uh, but I think he backed out last second. He was getting everything ready, and I don't know what made him change his mind, but I kind of wanted him to race just so I can be like, uh, I know a guy there, besides a guy at the end.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, it's a big race. I think they got like 300 cars.
SPEAKER_02That's that's crazy. Actually, I think uh what they go to a P main?
SPEAKER_01No, yeah, oh yeah, they they have like I's and J's, and it was it was ridiculous this year. Yeah. Sorry, not to sidetrack, yeah.
SPEAKER_02No, no, you you're good. No, but seriously, you now okay. So I'm gonna ask one of the most controversial questions in racing. Okay. I think you might know what it what's coming to you. Dirt or pavement? Which is better?
SPEAKER_01I I have fallen in love with dirt. Um I raised pavement kind of growing up, and and I've been dabbling with this guy's pavement music just recently. I ran IRP or last week and Plymouth Motor Speedway, um, both in Indiana. Pavement's fun. Pavement's a lot of fun, and and that's kind of where the big money is, you know, with IndyCar, NASCAR, NHR, um, even, you know, the uh motorcycle stuff, the superbike races or whatever. I think you know, there you can if you can make it in NASCAR or in on pavement and get to NASCAR or IndyCar or something, that's where you're gonna make big money big money. But I feel like the dirt the dirt is uh more grassroots, and that's kind of what I've been doing for the last 15 years, 20 years now. So I love the dirt.
SPEAKER_02Well, I'll tell you, there's still a chance to get in. Because I know uh Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, they did dirt racing and then got into NASCAR. Um, but one of the guys, William Byron, did iRacing that got into NASCAR. So there's still a chance.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no doubt. No doubt. That's uh the iRacing thing has kind of taken over the the world with you know people getting opportunities and it being a lucrative business. I have a buddy in at New Zealand that um makes a couple grand a month with his i racing league and team.
SPEAKER_02That's that's ridiculous. And I'm over here, what I'm I'm an electrician. I'm an electrician. I wire electrical panels for what, 25 an hour? There's people doing racing for fun for a lot more than that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, why you know he he's got sponsors for it, and he does all these big races where they actually pay, and then it's got like four guys within the team, and then they all race money races, and a percentage goes back to the team to keep it going, and he schedules all these races and does livery, and it's it's pretty uh it's pretty funny. He's he races midgets too, or or he used to race midgets. Uh um, still has a midget. He's just kind of gained some weight and and wants to lose a bunch of weight before he gets back in it. Um but then he turned in he got out got altered and i racing. So yeah, it's crazy what you you know guys are making a living on i race thing. Um and and you you know doing sh live streams with Twitch and different different uh media platforms.
SPEAKER_02That's crazy. Internet has definitely taken over. Look how we're doing this podcast over the phone on the internet. So it is very helpful, very helpful sometimes. But like I said, um that's crazy. New Zealand? Man, I haven't heard that country in like forever.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they got some racing down there. I've been down there uh a couple times in Australia. Um you can check it all out on my my YouTube channel, TMES TV, uh, on YouTube, and I got videos from uh even England, they have the Formula One stock cars are full contact modified sort of basically they're they don't look like a modified, but it's very similar to a modified that we race, but they have bumpers all the way around them, and you can smash people out of the way. It was insane.
SPEAKER_02So Rubin's racing for real over there.
SPEAKER_01Oh, absolutely. Rubbin is racing, yeah.
SPEAKER_02No, uh, I do want to bring us back a little bit. Um I-96. Um, that was your third time ever being there. Uh, your first time wasn't really that well. You finished 19th, uh, but you have a win under your belt at I-96. What was that whole experience like? I know it's your third time being there. You go travel all over the country. What does a place like I-96 mean to you guys, you know, having a win there?
SPEAKER_01That that place is pretty fun. I it's honestly it's one of the best tracks in Michigan. Um, it's so fast, and and it's kind of unique the way the way it races, um, like a half-mile track, but it's not really a half-mile. So just kind of interesting the way that place races. And um, I picked up the wind there in a non-wing spring car. Um, and then I felt like we we were back there when I met you. We were in the wing car, and we had a had a pretty good night going. We made the dash, uh, but kind of grew bad in the dash and didn't go anywhere. And then I got caught up in a wreck. Um, and it was it was kind of frustrating because we were so fast. I felt like we had a top five car, even though we were starting 10th. Um, but somebody spun around and I got caught up in it. Um, but that's that's part of race. And we've we've been really good at Butler. We ran third with IRA there uh the next night and had one of our best finishes. And it's been uh, you know, I I've been a midget, USEC midget and non-wing sprint car driver for the last uh since 2010. So 16 years, 15 years, and then in the last two years, three years, I've I've been trying to go full-time wing racing. And uh just kind of finally I feel like I'm getting speed, getting comfortable with um our program. You know, a lot of the times you're as good as the equipment or the guy that's setting the car up. Um, and it's taken me some time to figure out how to set the car up and get it where it's fast all the time, where it's where it's not too tight or not too loose, you know, just finding that happy medium where it's making speed um kind of everywhere we go. And you know, this year we've been to Attica and Butler, 996, and everywhere we go, the thing's been really good. Um, and so I feel like we're we'll we're getting close to picking off a win with with the 410 wing car. Um, but it's it's tough with every a lot of the guys we race with are are uh in equally good equipment, you know, and so you gotta have a little bit of luck with your draw and you know where you go out to qualify. Sometimes uh if the tracks are kind of blowing off, um, you know, you can kind of get yourself behind on the night just by where you where you go out to qualify, you know. So um, yeah, I I have a lot of fun racing the wing car up in Michigan. And uh I think I'm back there this weekend. I think we're we're going to Butler because there's not a lot of stuff going on.
SPEAKER_02I was gonna say about the uh I don't think the Supers have anything going on this weekend. Um I could be wrong though. But I was gonna invite you. You said you live near the uh Indianapolis area. I do. Have you ever thought about coming to Lima land? I mean, it's a little bit of a drive.
SPEAKER_01No, I've been to Lima before too. I I won a I've won an on-wing race there. Um it was probably five years ago or so, but now they run the 360s, and so they don't run the 410s very much at all.
SPEAKER_02Oh I see, I don't even know the difference.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So the the Lima runs a smaller motor cubic inch wise. We have 410 cubic inch. Um, so then it kind of separates that. But yeah, there's not I don't know what I think I think it's the big fair week because a lot of the racetracks like Attica, Fremont, um, which which is where I kind of try try to go. They're they're off this weekend. I think they got their fairs going on. Um, but there was there's not a whole lot of places I can go. It was like Wisconsin, uh Lernerville, Pennsylvania, where which is where I would love to go. I'm gonna when I get off the phone with you, I'm gonna call Don and see if he if he wants to go to Learnerville this week. Uh, but I have a feeling he's gonna say, well, I don't know about that, but we can go to Butler. Um because it's closer and Lernerville is probably a six hour drive and diesel, which is so expensive right now. Yeah. Uh yeah. It's it makes for a six, seven hundred dollar trip just to get there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Biggest advice I ever got was if you want to make a million dollars in racing, you gotta start with two.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, for sure. It's expensive to go do it, but it's it's also where all my friends are.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, seriously. I'm starting to I'm um my wife's giving birth in like less than three weeks. Um, so I'm starting to figure that out that all my friends are at the racetracks. Um because like every single weekend um we go up this past weekend, uh, we just had a doubleheader at Merritt and Mount Pleasant Speedway. And um it was good and nice hanging out with uh everybody there on uh Friday. Unfortunately I didn't make the Thursday race, but um one of my favorite drivers, uh Justin Ward, he swept the weekend, so it was good for him. And he actually broke the all-time win list um with the Great Likes Lightning Sprints. So it's been taking a long time to do that, but finally got a new driver up top. So yeah, but friends, uh they're they're at the racetrack for sure. For sure. And also you mentioned that you raced USAC midgets, and then now you're starting to get into the 410s. Which has been your favorite series to run with?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's tough. I I'll all most of my friends are on the USAC tour. Um guys like Mitchell Moles and Logan CV and Justin Grant. Um, you know, I've been racing with those guys my whole life, though it seems like the last 15 years, you know, with Kevin Thomas Jr. and um on the road with the midget. I've I've done five or six seasons with the full USAC tour. So racing with, you know, Keith Keynes' guys, um, which is you know, Buddy Koployd, uh Darren Hagan, you know, Jacob Denny, all these he's got so many good, talented racers. And you know, so then you these guys become your friends. You're on the road with them, and um, there's nowhere to go, but the same places, you know, like you were in the brass they're in Nebraska this week, and there's there's like a pool in one of the little towns, like then that's it, and it's super hot back on those trips. So everybody kind of like you'll go out to the pool for for for like an hour or two just to cool down and then head back to the track because it's only like five minutes away from the track, and you know, your buddies will be out there or the guys you race with, and the next thing you know, like you're going to dinners with them and going golfing or top golf or going out for drinks, and then they turn into your friends. And so the USAC tour has been my my home, uh, away from home, the whole thing, you know, whether it's racetracks or hotels. Um, when we go out west, the last race of the year is in Ventura, and everybody stays at um the Crown Plaza. And it's super expensive, but it's very well worth it because you can walk to the track. And, you know, when you're walking to the track, you're walking along the beach uh to get to the hotel. And and and so those those become core memories, you know, um on the road, you know, having Thanksgiving out of out at the racetrack on top of the the hauler, um, so we could see over the fence to to watch the sunset on the beach, you know, like uh it's definitely but I'm I'm starting to learn all these wing guys, and and we really haven't picked a series yet. Um, and and you were probably asking which one I like more, midgets or sprint cars. Um and it's that's a tough one. They all have their unique um ups and downs attributes, you know. Yeah, definitely. Like midgets, the short track racing. There's there's almost nothing better than you know, close quarters, whether it's Chili Bowl or Decoy Indoors or Port City or Macon, Illinois, um, the Indianapolis, they just ran that race. That place is real small. And then you got non-wing sprint cars, they're just um as rowdy as it gets, you know, 900 horse with no down source. And slip and, you know, like get you hurt, you know, and then you got wing cars and they got that down force, and they're so fast that um nothing really compares with it with the speed and stuff. It's like an indie car on dirt, you know, and and trying to, you know, it's almost like pavement on dirt with the wing on it, because you really don't want to get the car real sideways or it upsets all the air and the way the car works. You know, and then you got the non-wing sprint car where you're backing it in at the flag stand because you're going too fast to make the corner, and you gotta start backing it in to make the corner. Uh so they're all, you know, amazing machines. And I'm just lucky I've I've you know been able to drive all these things for the last 15 years.
SPEAKER_02And still going, and still counting. 15 years and counting. That's a you've been racing longer. Well, obviously. Um, I was gonna say you've been racing longer than I've been alive, but that's obviously true. Uh I don't know.
SPEAKER_01That's I'd say like 2010 is when it got serious. That's when I started driving for uh a team here in Indiana that was chasing. We ran like 75 races that year. Seven and you know, then up I'm racing enough then I could actually, you know, because it's like a couple hundred bucks a night. If if you're lucky, you know, when you have good nights, it's five hundred bucks or or seven fifty or something, you know. And so then all of a sudden you're like, oh man, I I can quit my real job and and just race, you know, and you try to buy some shirts and sell shirts to your friends and your fans, and and then it kind of turns into a business, you know, around you going racing. And um, so yeah, it's been it's been a fun, fun little journey. Then I started the YouTube channel, and that's been just another little form of revenue, you know, because once you get monetized, and my videos do 10,000, 15,000 views a piece, it uh starts giving you a little bit extra too, you know. So you you you race cars and make a little bit of money, it's like 40% typically, 50 if you win, um, of the purse, and and then selling shirts and doing media, and next thing you know, you're making a living.
SPEAKER_02Seriously. Now my question is it did have you ever had a full-time job like uh McDonald's, Arby's?
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, yeah. I I I'm a flooring contractor by trade. That's what my dad did and taught me how to do so I can do carpet or vinyl or laminate. I can even do shower. Um, my dad kind of specializes now in doing shower uh stalls, like custom shower stalls and backsplashes. So if I have anything in handy with yeah, yeah, I haven't I haven't laid floors for a while, um, but I am also a fabricator. I got um a bender and and a lathe and a a mill. Um and I I used to work down at Danny Dryan's, he used to build pavement midgets and silver cone cars. Um he was he raced indie cars for a bit. And um, so yeah, I worked down at his shop for I think two years, doing pretty good, making pretty good money, um, just welding race car stuff up, and we were building uh a hot rod for a guy that it was like a 1200-pound T bucket with a thousand horsepower uh Hemi, basically a Hemi dragster motor. Um so yeah, I'm kind of I I I always say flooring because that's that's what I did mainly. Yeah. But I kind of changed it to fabricator over the years building stuff. I build go-karts and mini-bikes. Um I think my biggest YouTube video is one of my mini-bike builds. It's got like 150,000 views. Um, and the and and I want the racing to be that way, but you know, they don't always do that good. I have a couple, you know, like 50,000 viewed um race car stuff, one of them, which it was like I was giving my girlfriend a um a ride in a two-seat sprint car, and that was really popular. Um but yeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I'm trying to think of like if I go on YouTube, right? What would I want to see from like a sprint car YouTube point of view? And I don't know why, but recs always seem to come up in my my feed. I'm not looking them up. Um, but I don't know. Those are like I and also it depends on like the thumbnail, you know. Sometimes people use like crazy thumbnails, and then you like click on it and be like, you try to find that during the video, and then they're like, oh, it was never there. But it's right, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I don't know what you use for thumbnails, but maybe I I honestly that's one of the toughest parts because like I all film, I I have three cameras on my car from the feature, two pointed forward, one off the left side, one off the right side, and one pointing back. And then I talk to one in the pit area, and then uh you know, I have another one. U sometimes I'll get a drone up. Um so then I have five cameras of footage, and I just kind of go through it all and kind of pick the best uh screenshot out of it. And you know, now with Chat GPT, you can have them help you edit a video title. Um, and so that's that's kind of convenient because I used to do it with this app Procreate, which is like an artist illustrator app. And then you can do titles and stuff over, but then it was just like, so yeah, I I I'll I'll get up and I'll start editing at nine o'clock in the morning, and I won't have the video done until one or two, then I'll export it out of the computer, which is about a half hour, and then I'll upload it to YouTube, which is about an hour typically, and then I have to create a thumbnail. And so by then it's like four o'clock, and I'm over editing and social media, you know, uploading reels and all the whatever. Um, and and so lately I've been just having chat. GPT helped me out. Um, and but the thumbnail is so important. It's it's sometimes like you said, it's it's it's kind of what catches people's eye. And um, but I you know, I don't post a pretty picture of my girlfriend sitting on the car for for clickbait, you know. I she won't let me do it.
SPEAKER_02I mean, that uh that might get some clicks, but uh not the clicks that you're kind of wanting.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02But no, no, that is uh crazy how uh racing has changed, you know, over the years. Like you know, you started racing, you said back in 07. I did catch stuff from 1998. What was um on the third?
SPEAKER_01No. I I I moved out to Indiana in 07, but I started racing big cars in what probably 96. But I I saw I started but I started racing in 90 when I was a kid. Quarter midgets. But I I started racing midgets in '98. I ran that for my dad until about 2005, and then I moved to Indiana in 07. Um my parents got a divorce, and so for a couple years I just I ran focus for a guy, kind of bounced around. Um, I won enough races and I was good at not crashing stuff, so I I got some rides, and I mean that's good. And yeah, and and you know, you just kind of network, you know, whenever you're at the track, people always ask me, how do I get race into into racing? It's like go to the racetrack and find a dirty car and just start helping that guy, you know, just start cleaning the car and and go to the racetrack. That's the only way to do it, um, is to meet people. And a lot of the times the best way to do it is is on a on a crew, and that can be as simple as just wiping the car down and helping a guy clean it up, and then and then you're, you know, and then if you're actually talented enough to like, you know, change tires and do fuel, next thing you know, you're doing more on the team, you know, and yeah, every time you go to the races, you pit next to people and you you meet new people next to you, and then all of a sudden these people are your friends, and you know, when somebody needs a hand, they know that you've been around the racetrack, and you know, you'll get a call, and um, and it's it's just as simple as that. But it but you gotta go to the races, you gotta get to the racetrack and be there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. I will say that that definitely does help in um dirt racing. Um, is I would say it's a lot easier to get into uh just because you know pit passes are you know forty dollars. That's the most I've ever seen them before uh after been been dirt racing for about four years. So like $40, and then you can help anybody out. Dirt racing, they don't really care if you help them out. Now, if you go to the cup garage and buy cup garage tickets and then start wiping down the cup cars, you might get a little side eyes, you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00But uh dirt dirt is definitely you won't make it into their pit area.
SPEAKER_02No, not not at all. The only way you'll make it in their pit area is if you got pit pass, and the only thing you're gonna be doing is watching. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, that's what machine that's what makes our sport a little bit more intimate with the fan, is you know, they can get a pit pass and kind of meet your drivers and and and be close to what's going on in the pay area as well.
SPEAKER_02Which has kind of grown on you, um, because there are some drivers that don't like being helpful and don't like um they hide, you know what I'm saying? Um but like you, how you you know you you go out and you talk to the like we had a conversation about your camera, your little camera thing. That was the coolest thing I ever seen. The racetrack.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that little DJI Osmo 3, I think. And it is honestly, that is the most amazing little piece of uh camera equipment I have because it's so good that it doesn't even look real. I did an interview at the at the dirt track at Indianapolis, and my girlfriend, I was showing her. I'm like, what do you think of this interview? You know, I was interviewing the track crew, and I had set it up in turn two to where you could see the track in the background. And she was like, That doesn't is that is that real? That is that looks like a picture. It's so good. And I'm like, yeah, it's it's totally real. I've just set the camera on the wall and interviewed this guy, you know, like um, and that helps with the YouTube stuff when the the footage is 4K and crisp and it's not shaky, you know. I can't even watch people that have shaky cameras anymore. Um, it's okay if the GoPro video is a little shaky because it's on the race car, but yeah, when the guy's talking to the camera or doing walking through the pits, it's it's not as good when it's shaky footage. Yeah, that makes sense.
SPEAKER_02Because it kind of hard makes it hard to focus, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and that's so good. That thing has that gimbal, and man, it's it's crazy how good uh the camera equipment is now, even the GoPro footage. You know, I used to have a Hero 4 and it was shaky, and I used the camera before I'm back in the early 2000s. I had a handheld camera that had the right port, and then I had an eye a little like a little eye lens camera that I could mount to the car, and I'd strap the camera in there with a battery. I can't remember what what they called it, but it was like one of the first N-CAR cameras. Um, and they just they've come so far with that where you know I got a couple heroes, I think they're Hero 12s now. Um, so it's $350 cameras and mount them on the car nice, and you got amazing footage um in the car.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, and it's always interesting to see the driver's perspective. Um, back in 2023 when I first started announcing, you know, it was my first term around sprint cars, I was like, oh, let me let me get in here. Can I can I sit in there? So I ended up, it was uh Chad Collie. Um I got in Chad's car, and then I'm looking out the front and I'm like, how do you even see?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Like we all have if you're short, you can't see much.
SPEAKER_02No, okay, so then my question is, have you ever met Rico?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he's they they have him up in the seat, right? And but like compared to a tall guy who can see his front tires, um, I'm 5'6, so I'm short guy too, not Rico's short, but I can't see the front tires in the sprint car. And then other guys that are six foot, they can. And that you know, gives them a different perspective, but it also makes the car more top heavy, so um, you know, it is what it is, but I'm small, so I don't have to worry about the car being real top ready.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean that's good. I mean, is there a way to offset that top heaviness? I mean, there probably is, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm sure yeah, stiffer bars and um not not a ton, honestly. I think you know, in Rico's case, he's got a little bit of an advantage because they can move the lead around because he's probably 100 pounds at the most, and they can move the lead around accordingly. Um, and he's right at the minimum weight, and that's always a good thing. You know, same with Larson. Larson's, I bet you Larson's only 125 pounds at the most. Um, and and that makes a big difference if you're racing a midget, or even like what you guys raced, I mean the lightning sprint. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Seriously. Well, we uh we just had a post uh this weekend after Mount Pleasant. Uh one of the drivers, 13 years old, finished second, and he somebody commented was like, How what do you use to offset the weight? Like, do you put lead in that car? And they actually do, you know, to offset the weight because like the guy standing right next to him is you know, could fill the car, you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01So man, well then you can move that word accordingly, I know. But non-wing sprint cartoons, they put it on the nose of the car so it's not trying the wheelie. A lot of guys put it under the the the left side of the seat, you know, on the left side, kind of like where your ratchet belt is, because that holds that corner from trying the bicycle, you know, and or potentially gives it left for the drive, um, having the weight there. And there's a lot to that, you know, it's if um you put your car on scales, you want these certain crossweight numbers and less side weight and um more crucial with a stock car or modified, I would say. Uh, but it's definitely part of you know how to make a car go fast.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure. Because light isn't always faster. You need some type of some type of weight in the car because um you know, light could make the car loose, but also at the same time, like really heavy could make the car super tight um heading into the corners. So Yeah. But also it did it's different for dirt th than it is pavement as well. So but all right, I got a question uh here from Chad Kolly. Uh Chad actually is uh good friends with your buddy Don Whitney, and he said, How amazing is it to race for your good friend Don Whitney?
SPEAKER_01Oh, it's very good. I've I've been racing for Don for like 10 years, and he's built this program for me for the most part. Um and uh it's taken a long time because it's an expensive deal, you know, and and little by little he just keeps getting nicer motors or nicer cars. And you know, this year we have um almost brand new motor. Uh, and he's got a spare. Uh, he's actually working on the third motor, you know, so he's he's come a long way and and you know, just hoping to get uh some good finishes for him. And and but we've been having a lot of fun going and racing, and we've we've honestly been a competitive top 10 car. Every single night we've hit the track. Um, and I think one night at Butler we went from 16th to fourth. Um, we're hard charger, and so we're so close to to making that a podium finishing car if if it's not already in people's eyes, you know. But that's that's what we're hoping to do. Um and before I get off here, because my kids are already starting to bug me, I have one thing I want to say, because you guys are racing mini sprints. I think a good stepping stone, I tell everybody, I think it's even better than maybe micros, is a 305 car because you end up with a sprint car and all the same tools that you might use if you stepped up. But I think the 305 class is a really good entry-level class. Yeah um with with you can build potentially you can build your own motor even in that class and be competitive. I've I've kind of driven really high-end cars, um, and I've driven for guys that built their own motors in their garage um that were just like hot rod guys, and was really competitive in that guy's car. I was running like third in the power. I I felt like I could have run second at Kokomo with this guy's car, but he said he had six grand into the motor. He built it in his garage. Um just kind of all factory parts. And it's a great, it's a great class to even get seen, I think, because um if you can figure out how to, you know, make speed and momentum by, you know, staying in the throttle, you can really let let people see, you know, how talented you are. And I think it's a great stepping stone um of classes and open wheel. And I uh I hear people say, oh, it gives you bad um bad habits because they're kind of underpowered and and whatnot. And I I kind of disagree. I've driven them all. And it it's just a cheaper way of racing because you don't have as much power. But it's still the same car, it's still getting used to the city the way this the steering is, because our sprint cars and ninjas kind of steer different with the way their steering boxes kind of up and down. Uh but and uh yeah, I hate to cut this short, but I I'm gonna have to get off here.
SPEAKER_02No, you're good. You're good.
SPEAKER_01I I appreciate you reaching out and you were persistent. Last week I kind of the baby was not feeling well, and she was having a meltdown. And Madeline, my girlfriend, she's like at the end of the night, she's wanting a break. Um, and I'm her break, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh so that's right.
SPEAKER_02Like I said, two weeks I'm gonna be a dad myself. So um I'm gonna be probably saying all the things that you are.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, you're gonna have to get some get some rest while you can, because once you have a baby, you don't always get rest.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. But yeah, sometimes you have to be persistent, but you told me I could. So, like I said, I also appreciate you for uh jumping on, taking the time, and um, like I said, looking forward to hearing from you soon as well.
SPEAKER_01So, yeah, keep in touch and uh yeah, hopefully this goes well and that worked out for you.
SPEAKER_02Well, thank you. Absolutely did. So, well, thank you, everybody. Thank you again, thank you, uh T-Mez for taking the time. I don't know what you go by, Thomas or Timez. I think T-Mez, right? Either or.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, neither or.
SPEAKER_02Well, like I said, thank you uh for taking the time and uh hope to catch you here soon.
SPEAKER_01All right, take care.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. You have a good one.
unknownBye.
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