Episode 25 - Chris Williams - SMART Modified Tour

Episode 25 – Chris Williams

Director of the SMART Modified Tour | Motorsports Business Leader

In Episode 25, Brad sits down with Chris Williams, Director of the SMART Modified Tour, the most successful Modified touring series in the South and one of the fastest-growing forces in short track racing. With a deep background in motorsports business, Chris has played a major role in bringing the SMART Tour back to life and helping shape the future of Modified racing.

Before leading the SMART Tour, Chris built an impressive career in motorsports merchandising and fan engagement, serving as Vice President of Trackside Sales at Fanatics, as well as leadership roles with Motorsports Authentics and Action Performance. His experience at the highest levels of the sport has given him a unique perspective on what it takes to build successful brands, connect with fans, and grow racing in a sustainable way.

Brad and Chris dive into how the SMART Tour was revived, the business strategy behind its growth, the current state of Modified racing, and where the sport is heading next. If you care about the future of short track racing, this is a conversation you don’t want to miss.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey guys, I'm Bad Brad, and welcome to another episode of Driving Fast and Taking Chances. Today I've got the legendary Chris Williams. He says he's not a legend, but we're gonna prove to you that he is. He is the uh reincarnator, CEO, founder, and operator of the Smart Modified Tour. Chris Williams, it's only taken about a year to get to here, man, but welcome to the show. I know you're exhausted from the weekend. Thanks for making the trip down from Virginia today.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Absolutely. Uh I can see where magic's made uh with the uniforms and stuff, and uh known you for a few years, called you one of the first persons when I got into the smart in the 20, and uh now I kind of see uh you know, not just what you do for the community and the drivers and stuff, but what you do for your brand. So it's good to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Well, I appreciate it, man. You said 20. Has it been all the way since 2020?

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Yeah, yeah. We uh people know that, you know, um Buzzy and Bert and a few of them come to me and you know ask me to kind of help it get started. And Freeman, we met over here um at Freeman's place at Hoosier and had a conversation to try four races, and it's it's been since 2020, and the progression's going pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

It's the longest four-race trial in the history of modified racing.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

It's still being trialed.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

We're still trying it. We haven't committed yet. We're thinking about this, man. So uh why Chris Williams? Why did these guys all think, man, Chris Williams would be the guy? Because I'll be honest with you, I knew your name from the industry, but I'd never actually met you. I'm sure we had been in the same place a million times before, but I didn't really know you until that first meeting we really had at Puddins.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Yeah, I um I don't know what they thought. I mean, what they told me was is they just wanted somebody that had been around big business, represented Fortune 500 companies, and because of my background, and I had helped some people over to stadium get some sponsorships and stuff with a phone call. And, you know, they're like, you know, you know everybody, you know, every track, you know, your your reputation kind of precedes you in business, and they got to know me a little bit racing. Uh I was racing, I was holding a stern wheel. You had a modified, I remember holding the stern wheel.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Do you still have the modified?

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Uh I've got them modified. I got I got two or three of them. But the the the the deal is is I wanted to do it uh, you know, in a later age, I got to do it. Um, you know, and I made a whole different respect for racing, uh being behind the seat, even though I felt like you know, I race go-karts, I've done all the stuff like everybody else. But being over at the stadium and just being a part of the festivities and everything else, you got to learn a lot more of what they put on the line and what everybody gives up uh every weekend, uh what they give up in family vacation, what they give up.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

It changes your perspective, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00 2:52

It it does, you know, because you know, I've always been around big business. And you know, money was kind of I'm not gonna say easy, but you know, it it had a direction.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

These garages each and every day doesn't have a direction. People are living, you know, day to day and they're not making money off of it and then doing everything they can. You'll be surprised how many great uh car owners and race car drivers that have become good in business because they have to sell themselves.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

It's it's become a necessary evil.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

It's a necessary evil. And so seeing all that, they kind of knew what I did for some other people and sponsorships, and they're like, hey, would you be willing to help Smart Modified, you know, grow back? And I'm like, Well, okay. Well, what would what are we gonna do?

SPEAKER_01 3:35

And they said, well, let's sound like fun, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Well, that first meeting and and you were there, and yeah, you know, everybody I I you remember I said Buzzy kind of called me up and said, you know, Chris is willing to do it, but I I needed to willing to do it means I need I needed to know. And I said, give me your 10 problems. Right. Give me your 10 problems.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Yeah, why are we not modified racing? Why are that's that'd be problem number one. Well, because at that point we weren't modified racing other than Norse Hell shootout and Bowman Gray.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Yeah, and and I said, Give me your 10 problems. You know, why do we have all these modifies and know where to go? Sure. And then, you know, it was you know, working with the tracks, payout, personnel, you know, just different things. And it's not one person's problem. It's it's it's it's a community problem.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

And so I kind of talked to a few tracks and they're like, if you're doing it, I'm in. You know, I talked to a few sponsors, if you're doing it, I'm in. Nice. You know, I started talking to the tracks about the tires and you know how people were trying to make money. Or to be honest with you, it wasn't really about making money. It was about making purses.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

It's not even about making purses, it's not about making money. It's how much money can I not lose and come race this week.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Period. Yes. And so I went and sat with Darren and I went and sat with uh different tracks and tell me what it is. And Freeman, to be honest, Freeman really gave me some insights and I told him some ideas that I had, and he's like, they'll never do it. You know, like I don't I don't get tired money.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

You know, I don't do some of the things that they do, and the tracks do. And I said, Look, do you want eight or nine modified showing up, or you want 20 modified showing up?

SPEAKER_02 5:05

That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Because then it's about back gate, you know, it's about concession stands, it's about who follows the circuit, it's about sponsorship and people being more committed to our series. And Freeman said, I think it'll work. And so we went to Darren, and Darren was the first one that agreed to it. And then once we started, he said, I think you got something going. And so Darren is kind of in the South, Darren is kind of the pivotal point of the racers, right? Because he's invested. And uh so once he agreed and and did it, I think it kind of helped everybody else.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

And then I I heard Darren at first his feelings were a little hurt.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Yeah, always.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Uh, because he was at that point, because there was no modified racing going on, he was where it happened when it happened, and it didn't happen often. And I understand through some folks in the in the industry that when this whole thing first came out, he was a little bit upset because he had kind of had his thumb on that. Is there any truth to that?

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Uh listen, me and Darren have very uh volatile conversations. We're very open to each other. He never told me he was upset about it, but it's no different than you know, Gary or anybody else, Freeman, you know, they've had their hand, their pulse on racing for so long. Sure. Um, you know, and and Freeman, same way. You know, he's had his hands around the modified world, and you know, people don't like change, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:26

You know, especially here in the south. We don't like anything to change. And and you know, we still don't understand why modified tires aren't six hundred dollars a cent.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

Carry on, yeah, yeah. Really, and you know, and everybody that's been a part of it that they've gave up a lot to do it. Yeah. Um, you know, Randy Myers, a part of another one, you know. Randy, you know, kind of felt a little shun from his fingerprint, and I wasn't trying to replace any of them. Right. Uh, you know, I wanted to work with them because we all have the same thing as modified racing in the south, needed to to grow back. Absolutely. And I think we've all worked through all of that, um, you know, whether they were upset or not, but at the same time, we've got to put people with a modified on the racetrack, how do we do it? Once we do, we're all invested in the modified racing. How do we grow modified racing? How how do we change it? And I think in five years, I think we've all gave up a lot, teams, everybody, to get us to hear and where do we go from here?

SPEAKER_01 7:25

And I will absolutely say I'll be the first. Um I'm not gonna say I was a naysayer, I was apprehensive because I didn't know you. Um, I did know modified racing. Um I'm the 03 rookie of the year from the Smart Tour. Um, I raced 02, 03, and 04. Started uh for the late great Brent Elliott. Actually drove for Brent for a couple seasons um and then got my own stuff there towards the end. But I didn't know you. And you know, and and Bert and I have known each other. We grew up together, we've raced many stocks against each other, and he's like, Brad, I'm telling you, man, he's the real deal. And I'm like, I I don't disagree, Bert. I just need to see some deal. And you showed up, man, and those first few races went together. And I gotta say, uh Chris Fleming and I, the showstopper, had multiple conversations as it was growing. And I called him and I was like, Man, I said, I want to see Chris Williams personally and tell him thank you. Because uh, not that you necessarily proved me or anybody else wrong, but you proved that you had a passion for it, you had a heart for it, you were interested in making this go. And case in point, we've had multiple events with 30 race cars. Here's the deal I ran smart for a long time. I don't remember any 30 car nights. Yeah. With Northstow shootout back in the days when Kempley ran it. You know, obviously we'd have 40 or 50, but we haven't seen that in a long time. To see 30 race cars and on a bad night, you ought to have 21, 22. It speaks volumes. Not only that, but it's not just, and I do love Brian and Carson, obviously. I grew up with Brian and Bobby Lofton, too. It's not just seeing this Carson Carson Lofton's there. Polly Hartwig's coming down. You got Jimmy Blewitt is there, you've got guys from the north that are making the trip down south. When there is modified racing in their backyard, man, that speaks volumes, Chris. You guys have killed it.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Yeah, well, the thing that I will say about the North and the South is, you know, those guys, you know, they're they're they're the kind of the pinnacle. Um I think the South is rising. You know, I think they're getting better as Carson proved again this week with, you know, seven stout northerners in the field. Um, but I have so much more respect for everybody that sits in it, but I also have respect for the North, you know, because my dad worked at Martinsville Speedway, and you know, I love seeing Bugsy, and I love seeing Jazambeck and Richie and Jerry. Oh, yeah. And I had a relationship. I have a relationship with Jerry Cook, and I respect them, you know, everybody that sat in one of those cars and what they were trying to do. And so when I I would go up north and when I was working in NASCAR, and I would go to all these racetracks that I'd heard about, you know, Thompson, Stafford, and and you know, they were destinations uh for big races, and I loved the competitor side. And when you go up north, you know, those fields are 20, 30, 40 in a SK or 602 or whatever. I mean, there it's it's everywhere. And I just felt like we could get this down in the South, but you've got to have credibility and it's gotta start at the top. You gotta do what you say, and you gotta do pay like you're supposed to pay and try to increase it. And at the same time, the tracks and everybody else has got to marry into staying on time, doing the right thing, you know, and they they've all uh the tracks that we run, I I love every one of them because they're invested in modifies because they don't get that every week. You know, and that's the cool thing about the tour, right? Is there's no something special, there's no weekly series modified racing going on besides Bo McGray. Correct. And and and it's probably rightfully so. Sure. Because people can't compete against it, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:53

It's I don't even know you're not wrong, and it's not that they got the fans, they got this, that, and the other. We had a conversation the other day. Uh drivers that don't really even run that well, we'll just say it that way, are not probably contenders to win, are extremely well funded at Bowman Gray because it's at Bowman Gray. That's right. You got a pinnacle tour, and it is still difficult for some guys to find the finances they need to go racing. Not even arguably, you have superior racing, faster cars, better arenas, more competitive venues, and guys are struggling. So that ought to be a testimony to what goes on on MLK on every Saturday. It is easy to find money. So you're exactly right. If I've got a modified and the choice is to go race with Chris at South Boston this weekend, which I would much rather do, or go to Bowman Gray and get all my bills paid, I'm gonna go run my car for free.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Well, there's a lot of teams out there that's being funded at Bowman Gray that kind of carries over. They can run a few races in the smart tour. So one reason why I don't compete against the Bowman Gray legacy, right? I don't. Um, you know, everybody's said you need to run against NASCAR, you need to run on Saturday, they'll come, they'll come. You know, you got the Tim's and and Bert, you know, other people that's chasing legacy. And at the same time, you look, I run on these NASCAR venues. Sure. You know, yeah and I've helped build what I consider some of the NASCAR legacy with souvenirs and stuff through all the years and represented them. And I I don't I don't tear down relationships. That's not what I do. And I just don't feel like tearing down anything. I have a great relationship with NASCAR in the willing side. Um Jimmy and I work extremely well together. Now Gary Putman's over there, and me and Gary have a great relationship. I work with Glover and me and Jerry Cook talk as much as we can. I've always had a great relationship with Mike Helton and Jim France, and so I don't need to tear it down. I need to continue to do what we're doing.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

No reason to not be allies, none at all.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

100%.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Why do you think, in your opinion, now that you're five years immersed in this, and you probably had an opinion when it was going on, why did the NASCAR Southern Modified Tour not soar? Why did it not blow up? Why were they not able to do what Chris Williams has done?

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Yeah, I you know, I I don't know. Um was it timing? Probably. Um, I don't know if anybody had the passion for the South like you know they do today. I mean, the the competitors are are in. Um they kind of know what they're getting. They also know that I I'm I'm a different breed from the standpoint as I look at that money and how what it takes to get there. Um I'm not saying NASCAR doesn't do that, but they're running a big business, right? They're they're getting bigger sponsors and things of that nature. So I can't compare the two in that time frame because I was doing souvenirs and we haven't had a long conversation on why it's not happened. I mean, you probably really run some of the events, you probably know better than me. But the thing about it is I'm trying to make sure that they're telling their wives that you're going to the racetrack and you're not spending three to four thousand dollars to get there. Sure. I mean, maybe it's fifteen hundred to two thousand or whatever. And you know, and if you have a bad night, you're gonna get five hundred to eight hundred, depending on where you finish in the points, because we do a little show money, I guess is what you call it.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

So, you know, you're not losing as much to go have fun. And me and you may want to go to the casino or we may want to go to the beach or whatever for our vacation. These guys live to go to the racetrack.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

Absolutely. And so it is their vacation.

SPEAKER_00 14:17

It is their vacation. So I've tried to keep it the cost down as much as I can. Um, you know, we talk about the five-year progression, and I I have today I have a 15 list thing that I needed to get done over the first three years, and I've checked off every single one of them but one. What is it? What's the one? And it's major purses. Okay. And I'm not talking about having the king and a modifier.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

I was gonna say the king of the modifier was 50 grand whether or 30 grand raising money.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

I mean, it's$125,000 a purse. Yes. And, you know, I the track and I kind of go in together, but I go out with Dominion and VCU and some of these other ones to add to that purse. So I'm I'm raising$75,000 of them all. And it just gets difficult. But, you know, we have great partners and we have great races that pay more, you know, Wilkesboro and some of the other ones, and they're they they they're in the business, right?

SPEAKER_02 15:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

But I can't go to the racetrack, and and this is how I look at things. If we're averaging eleven hundred people at twenty dollars to get in, everybody's like, oh, well, you know, that's twenty-two thousand. Well, if you do it off a car count like I do it, then it's a sixteen to eighteen thousand dollar realm. By the time they pay lights, they pay concession workers. Nobody made any money.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

Nobody makes money. It cost us money to come to work today.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Then so you can't go to the racetrack and say, Oh, pay me$40,000. Because the next thing they're gonna say is, Well, you leased a racetrack. Because then you leased a racetrack for$10 or$12, or whatever the number is. Sure. And they make a little bit of money, but then you got to worry about the weather, you gotta worry about everything else that goes on. And it the tracks are tough, and that's the reason why I've committed a lot of my time to help out Virginia and North Carolina through the states.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

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SPEAKER_00 16:17

And that's the reason why I committed a lot of my time to help out Virginia and North Carolina through the states to give, you know, some opportunities for these tracks, historical venues to continue and get some money from the state. And that's why I'm helping Virginia. Me and Senator Stanley's working on it, um, with the new caucus and stuff to really help Virginia like North Carolina's been helped. But there's a lot of these tracks that we go to that doesn't have this type of entertainment on a Friday and Saturday night. I mean, so they don't have anything, they have to go to a bigger city or a bigger place to go to do that. And so we're trying to help out these small communities and all of my sponsors that I have, I'm a little different too, Brad. I don't go out, even though I have relationships with MMs and Coca-Cola and all the rest of them, I don't go to them for sponsorship, and everybody's like, Well, you should. Well, everybody does. They see they see so many presentations you can see. And it's, you know, what sticks, right? And so I go do things opposite is how do I help the community? VCU with the cancer center. People don't know that you know their cure rate's over 88%. Wow. Well, people need to know that we all fight this in our family. There's nobody we know that you don't have cancer. And so if I can go out and get them to invest some of that pharmaceutical money, medical money, right, and do that, then it looks it it it's giving back to the community. Absolutely. And it's helping them get it out that we can cure and help you. Uh no different than Pace-Matic. You know, they're out there trying to help, you know, the community with the businesses, you know, so they can make a little bit more money in your local community to give back to these local owners. And my sponsors are just they're committed. They're committed, they love racing. You know, they haven't seen the everybody's presentation, right? Because a lot of people don't know who they are or they can go to them. Sometimes those are the best ones. They're the number one's the best ones because when now they see what you're doing and trying to raise the level, they understand they're trying to get their name out there, but they're also trying to get their product out there. But guess what? It's the people that come to the racetracks. It's a true blue-collar human being.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

There's actual value in that and you're going right to the end buyer. 100%. And I think, and I'll say it, you probably can't, so we don't want to bash those relationships. It may be why the entity in Daytona has lost focus of some of the things from a grassroots standpoint. We'll leave that alone, but um, I don't think there are very many racers who would disagree that we've maybe forgotten the blue-collar guy. We see you chasing that blue-collar guy. I went to uh was it last year to Caraway? Last year, the year before to Caraway, and I went in, and there were three guys that were sitting there that were absolutely filthy. They had left a fab shop in Ashborough to come watch the race, did not go home, literally wiped off their faces. They were excuse me, Eric. As soon as you walk in that main grandstand gate and you turn right, they were sitting on the bottom row as three of them. And uh, I mean, when I say dirty, I mean they were dirty, dirty. But you know what? They weren't missing that race for nothing. And and none of the three of them appeared to really be big-time race fans of St. The only reason I knew it was Ashborough was like JL Welding, Ashborough, or whatever it was. And I had seen their box truck out in the parking lot, but it's like, man, to see that. Very similar story at Coburn, Virginia, coal mine. Um, years ago, we went up there for opening night when uh Harold Crook was the uh general manager up there. And uh he I was up in the tire with him. He said, Bad Brad. He said, You look down there about row three or four on the left-hand side, they were all covered with soot and coal dust. And like, yeah, he said, Man, they literally got off of their shift and came straight to the racetrack. That's the racer that we need. That that's the race fan that we really have.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

I agree with you because I I mean the last couple weeks, you know, South Boston had a huge crowd, their biggest crowd since the last Bush race. And uh a lot of the people that come, I see them week after week after week, and our crowds are getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And yeah, they followed me to Dominion this weekend, and you know, the people facility, by the way. Wow, dude, it I mean, the Brits have done a superb job with that facility. You know, the northern guys love it coming because it's only four and a half hours from Jersey. Yeah. I mean, it was four four hours from Winston, so it's kind of and uh the racetrack is fast, and you know, but I a lot of the fans I'd go up to the restaurant just to hang out and talk to them. And you know, we have a huge conglomerate of people that travel with us each and every week. And but I had this guy come up and he said, You don't know me from Adam. He said, I've been coming to Dominion since they built a new track. And he said, A modified's coming up here, you don't get to see them. He said, But you know, when you feel them and you hear 'em, he said, you're hooked. He said, but look at the grandstand. He said, We haven't had this crowd forever. And he said, Thank you for coming. Absolutely. And so when the fans are look forwarding to you to come on your tour and series, um, it's a destination. It it you know, it changes, you know, the verbiage when they leave. Did you put on a good show? Was it a good race? Very competitive race this week. Uh Carson M ran extremely good. You know, that place is bad fast, and you know, it's it you can get yourself with 30 cars in a hurry. We had 15 cautions, but I didn't think it was you know detriment, um, but it did take some time. But it means that place, if you've never been, you need to go because it it is very fast.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Unfortunately, cautions mean action. Action means excitement. Excitement gets the fans back there and they're gonna want to come next year. Because as much as we all love Carson, and I'm sure, Brian, if you're watching, listen, Carson, uh Mike too, if Carson would have set the pole and lap The field six times, the racers would have never quit talking about it, and race fans would never come back. Yeah, because that's completely boring to watch it. But yes, yeah. So we've talked about uh all the stuff that's going on. You guys have got some magical races, car count. People are coming from up north, they're from the south. Guys are bringing, they're dusting out old stuff, guys are building brand new cars. It's all that. For the folks that don't know Chris Williams, because there are still folks at Bowman Gray that don't know you, people in our own backyard. There are people sitting in your grandstands that don't know who Chris Williams is. Walk us through the historical data of Chris Williams. Where did you start? What was your involvement? I knew you a little bit from the NASCAR days back in the day. Tell us who Chris Williams is, because I think a lot of folks might not know really who you are and where your foundation is, Chris.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

No, he's just a kid from Ridgway, Virginia. Um I say Martinsville because the road to the racetrack we lived on racetrack road actually is a Ridgway address.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

And so when you turn down to the racetrack, you're in Ridgway. When you get to the turn four of the racetrack, you're in Martinsville. But you go to turn one, you're still in Ridgway.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

Wow, okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

But uh I lived on a racetrack road and you know I had a uh passion for racing. And when you get to see the world go by and see the cars and the the events that Martinsville had with the modified back in the day, and got to see how cool they were, and got to go down to the racetrack at three, four, five, six, seven because you lived it, um, those modified, you just became hooked. Um, the modified was faster, you know, when they wrecked, it was more violent. You know what I'm saying? By the look of it. And so I got hooked on the modified, and um, so uh when I play ball, uh very athletic, played all sports in school, and uh wanted to get out and I wanted to go to college and play basketball and baseball, and I got going and it just didn't work out for me, and of course my passion was in racing. My dad was the general manager there, and I got hooked up with uh Hank Jones. Uh they they got stuck um across from mom and dad's. There was no souvenir trailers allowed on track property back in the 70s and the 80s, and uh there was only a few handful.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

And um it's crazy that they weren't allowed to be on track property.

SPEAKER_00 24:19

They weren't allowed at all. Wow. And you know, and and and some of these was owned by the drivers, but they weren't allowed. And so I helped Hank and them get unstuck, and Hank's like, Why don't you come over here and you know work with me? And I'm like, I don't know. Uh you know, I'm trying to go to college and I just got married and uh hadn't had a kid yet, I was 87. And I was like, I don't know, maybe. And so I talked through it and with my wife at the time, and I was like, you know, I think I want to try this. This is where my passion is and what on. It didn't hurt that he was representing Dell Earnhardt, which had become my favorite driver because I was a Pearson fan. Yeah. And kind of moved to Earnhardt.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

And uh for those, there's a lot of a lot of young kids watching. David Pearson was a bad dude. So it's not like you were representing a bad guy. So the Woods Brothers, they were kind of local. Absolutely, man.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

And um, so I I decided to go try it out. Uh went to Pocono for the first time and and worked on the souvenirs. And I'd already known a lot about souvenirs. I'd already known my dad made me do t-shirts, hats. I I I mean, I cut onions, I set chairs, I'd have done everything at the racetrack that could be done at Martinsville.

SPEAKER_01 25:23

And so And I'm gonna bet early on in your career for very little to no compensation, it was just the love of the year.

SPEAKER_00 25:29

It was the love to be there because daddy said so. Yeah, that's right. That's right. As a matter of fact, I got chewed out one time because the water main had broke in March at the modified doubleheader then. And the water main had broken he came at like one o'clock or two o'clock in the morning and said, Let's go. I said, What do you mean? We gotta go dig a ditch, we gotta go seal up this water main. Oh, wow. And so we got done about four, but we had to be there at five, you know, to open up. And so we had a wreck, tore down a fence. I don't think it was when Satch flipped in the the gremlin at the time. Doesn't really matter, but the fence got tore up. So I'm part of the track, and so it said on the PA system everybody had to be down in the straightaway. Well, I didn't go, I was eating a hot dog. What he found me. Oh my! I didn't miss I didn't miss an appointment after that.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

So if there was a fence torn down, you were the first guy on the scene, yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Yeah. So um my dad was uh he was a uh perfectionist, and I tell this all the time. Uh uh I play basketball three state championships, and it was never that I scored 20 or 25 points, it was I turned the ball over or I did something. But it it it made me look at things totally different. Sure. I didn't take it negative, uh you know, the love, oh good job, here's your participation trophy. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

I looked at we didn't have those when we were kids.

SPEAKER_00 26:42

No, didn't work back then. But he made me think about how to make what I did wrong better. Yeah, and and that's kind of what I did when I went into the souvenirs is how can I do it better? How can I help? How can I lead people to look at things that it's it's not a detriment all the time, how to fix it, right? How do we fix what we do going forward? And so when I started working, you know, with Hank, um I represented Dale and I volunteered to do everything. If Dale done a special event in India or whatever, I'd volunteer. Sure. Because I wanted to be around Dale. I didn't do it for the money, I wanted to be around Dale. And so we became friends, which was probably the best thing that's happened to me because he was a hero, but didn't you find out that's sometimes it's not about a hero, it's about a person and an individual. And Dale treated me as an individual and he taught me a lot about the industry, and we went hunting together and we done a lot of things together that I I will cherish forever. True. And uh, but and the whole time I started learning credibility, I started learning how to lead, and then uh Dale bought the company and he came to me and he basically said, I want you to be my VP of track side. And I said, Not a problem. But you never never talked about money or anything. Um, I have a cool story about that. Um I was doing it for a year, and uh him and Joe Mattis, they come to me and they said, Hey, you know, you've been doing this, you definitely, you know, showed us what you can do, how you know how much you want to get paid. And I'm sitting there saying, Well, Darren, anything I say is gonna be wrong.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

Right.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

And I said, How much am I worth? Well, they gave me way more than I was expecting.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

That doesn't happen often.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

It doesn't happen often, but you have to you do that at the pay window, you're smart winners, right?

SPEAKER_00 28:24

Yeah, 100% all the time. Yeah, that's pretty awesome, man.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

So so they knew your value, they saw what you were doing, they knew you were driving sales, you were making things happen.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

So yeah, and so we went from five trailers, six trailers to sixty some trailers. Gracious. And the whole industry, we we got on track right after 87. We got on track, um, started, you know, paying, you know, the tracks a certain percentage and stuff, and then it it the the the souvenir industry expanded, exploded. And I represented every driver. I mean, Rusty Wallace, Harvick, Bernhardt, everybody. I represented them all, and I got to build a great relationship with them. And you know, uh NASCAR, we got really big um quick. Um, and then we went public, you know, with action performance bought out Dale's rights, and it just changed because we had to follow Sabane's Oxley, and so credibility, everything had to be done. Inventory controls, you know, the monies, everything had to be done. And uh we took it and we we expanded. I had 162 employees at track side, and we done it all. Action got big. NASCAR said you're making too much money, we're gonna move you guys out. And then uh a few years later, um fanatics come in. Uh everybody knows fanatics, uh huge brand in the racing and football and basketball and whatever, and then they they come to me and I became vice president for them. Went through that for about seven years, pandemic hit, and then that kind of changed the direction of everything. Retail stopped, everything stopped. Um I basically kind of semi-retired. Um, you know, they weren't going to do retail anymore anyway, and so they were making changes, and so I said, Yeah, yeah, I'm uh, you know, I'm stopped. Kind of started racing a little bit in 18 at the stadium, holding the stern wheel.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

Right riding around, smiling, right? Riding around, smiling. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

That's how I was that's how I was racing.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

See, you would have been a great candidate for open face helmets so we could have seen the smile every lap, right?

SPEAKER_00 30:28

Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. And uh so I, you know, once I got to going over to the stadium and like I said, seeing what everybody was doing, I decided, you know, let's let's try it, let's race a little bit. Did it. Of course, Buzzy and Bert and a few others come to me. We had the meeting and kind of the rest history. There's a lot more to it than what I told everybody.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Well, we try to keep the podcast to about an hour. So we'll have you know what, we'll have to do a part two with Chris. We're gonna do a follow up.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

Probably a part two, three, and four. Um, but that's kind of how it all went. That's kind of how where I transcended into NASCAR and um representing and know so many drivers and teams and respect. I mean, I had a couple of teams, uh, drivers tell me that I paid more money to them than they ever made in the sport from the souvenir side of it. Um there's some jokes out there about the Taj Mahal and the Car Mahal, Earnhardt's and whatever. That money was built off of souvenirs with you know, Richard Childress and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 31:26

You know, there's there really is some magic in that. And I I I say that uh not even loosely. We had uh Bobby Pierce, uh very accomplished World of Outlaws, late model racer, two-time world champion. Um in fact, I think Bobby either did or is getting married very soon. Um we we've had some pretty candid conversations, and and honestly, souvenirs for all practical purposes is the week to week. Oh, yeah, because it's the only thing that's kind of guaranteed. Yeah, because if you finish 27th, it doesn't pay nearly as good as it did if you won. Um, but the souvenirs, if the 30,000 fans still show up and a third of those are your fans and you got the new t-shirt, the new hoodie or whatever, those dollars and cents are there.

SPEAKER_00 32:05

Well, that's one thing that we did in the smart tour is we knew the value of some of the drivers that's out there and some of the people that could sell um souvenirs and stuff of that nature. And so we kind of created the pit party, not only for the fan to actually touch and feel the car, but actually see the drivers and meet them. But we don't get a percentage or anything off of that that um souvenirs because that goes and pays for tires or whatever if they sell 10 or 15 shirts at 20 bucks. I mean, that$200 goes a long way. Sure. And so we wanted to create that. The tracks, uh, we sat down in tracks and said, hey, we don't want to give you a percentage. You know, I know it's a little bit of money on your side, but it'll go a long way for that pit party for that fan to create that moment and get that t-shirt. And so that's the reason we started kind of doing the pit party, and it's grown to be a lot larger than anything. And you know, at first, I don't remember a lot of people doing a pit party until we started, not saying we created it. It's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is now the tracks was like, oh, we can't let people on track. Insurance, we can't let I'm like, dude, you're gonna bring that kid back. Absolutely. You got to get them to touch on the city.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

He got to touch that race car, yes.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

And it's it's worked extremely well.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

So uh is there ever a vision, and maybe this is an idea, I don't know. Um, I talk with Austin at Bowman Gray on a regular basis. Has there ever been a vision of buying a 53-foot competition drop deck with swing up doors and having every driver's souvenirs in there? Yeah, yeah. I love it. I'm with you, man. The first guy I saw who did it, Mike Vaughn, I'll praise him 525 Super Series. If you don't know Mike, he was the first guy to put a crate engine in a dirt late model. Yeah, he's the reason we race crate engines. And uh he did that. He had a deal, and I don't remember the deal, but I think it was uh I'm gonna put a souvenir truck up here, and you can bring me your shirts, and I'm gonna give you five, six, seven dollars every time I sell your shirt. If I print your shirt, I'm gonna give you 25 cents, not percent, 25 cents every time I sell one. So if you want to bring me some shirts, and man, I mean, like, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 34:08

Weekly, it just it's my background. Sure. I'm and I'm almost a little surprised it's not there yet.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

But hey, we're five years deep.

SPEAKER_00 34:16

I'm gonna tell you something. Everything's in progression, and you know, I've not made any money. People people don't believe that, but I didn't do this for money. I've done this because of the passion of the sport, the passion of racing, but the passion for modifies. And you can see the progression of my check marks kind of going. I mean, I just bought our first tech trailer this week. It's a 35-footer. I mean, we'll have it at Caraway. I've been running off an eight-foot trailer carrying everything that we have to use.

SPEAKER_01 34:43

Wild in there like crazy.

SPEAKER_00 34:44

Crazy. I'm taking flows, you know, broadcast stuff with me and everything, and I've I've outgrown it. But it took me a while to do it. Um and so everything that I've done, I I've I've actually looked for three years in a row a souvenir trailer that would best represent our guys because I can't just represent two or three. I gotta represent everybody. Everybody. So I gotta have it at least a 20-some-foot trailer. So every team that wants to be a part of it can be that can be outside.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

And I'm gonna be excited to see your 20-foot trailer that covers all the drivers. I gotta see this, man.

SPEAKER_00 35:20

It's gonna probably be a little bit bigger now. Yeah, I was gonna say, I'm thinking it's longer. You know, I I call Fanatics and try to get one of their trailers back. Those trailers are really hard to find because when we sold the 60 that we had um after Fanatics bought us, they went to drag racing. I mean, you know, Beyonce bought some to take on her. I mean, they're everywhere. Some of them was flown all the way overseas. And those designs, I created myself, all those feather lights. Matter of fact, on on the title, uh, on the tag, it says Chris Williams design because I I I bought 60 of them.

SPEAKER_01 35:51

Well, you knew what worked, so it was easier for you to put the flow.

SPEAKER_00 35:54

Yeah, and so I've been trying to get some of them back, and they're 53 footers, and trying to find a CDL driver that wants to go 15 races a week is getting difficult. So which, oh, by the way, I still have mine, so I could drive it if I had to.

SPEAKER_02 36:06

I gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 36:07

But they're not making money is a a budget of what they need, right, to be competitive. And so if a team locally can make money, that's never that's unheard of in the racing world unless you win a national championship.

SPEAKER_02 36:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 36:23

So I don't know if it makes it salty, but they're trying to figure it out. A true business person looks at it totally different. How can it be sustainable? You can have a$250,000 purse, but on the back side of that, you're putting 200 people in the grandstand at$20 a pop, it doesn't work. It doesn't work. And so how do you make it better, right? How do you grow the series with the fans and everything else? Um, it's a fine line of a big purse every week versus a big purse every once in a while, but you can't not look at all the projections of of what they're doing. And it's I don't know if it's salty as the word. I just think that every once in a while they're gonna have to go do it to try to be competitive to make some money so they can race elsewhere because they can't travel, a lot of people can't travel outside of a four-hour radius. And so um I like what Daryl and M's doing at the IRHA uh uh HRA. Uh I think they have uh a lot of assets and opportunity to do things good. It's just what they're gonna do with it on a sustainable basis, is what we're looking at.

SPEAKER_01 37:32

Yeah, I didn't mean to interrupt your flow there, but the reason that I bring that up is uh we see we work with a lot of different series, asphalt and dirt, and you'll see that you'll have a king of the modified. And the next week we're racing for five grand, and you've got you've got the haters. And maybe they're the ones who speak up all the time about everything that doesn't go their way or they don't get the things that they need or that they want. I just wonder, you know, well, they paid it last week. Yeah, can we come pay it now? You know what I mean? I also say on a regular basis, um I've put on a handful of uh races myself. I think every racer in America, everyone, should be made to promote and put on two events a year. Federal law, you can't race if you don't put on two races.

SPEAKER_00 38:11

Yeah. I I I I kind of like that too. And you know, and I I look at it to where you know, if you get the sponsorship out there and you have those relationships and that sponsor's willing to pay you X amount, that's great. At the same time, you know, you gotta pay show money, you know, you gotta pay extra bonuses for laps lead, you gotta pay those extra stuff. And if you're doing four or five hundred dollars a week, you know, time fifteen, then all of a sudden you're into seventy five hundred dollars again. Oh and and people don't realize that those little things go a long way. You can have a three hundred thousand sponsor and you think that goes a long way. It don't last no time.

SPEAKER_01 38:48

No, because it's it it's a lot of money spread really thin over a whole lot of areas.

SPEAKER_00 38:52

Yeah, and you're doing a tour, you know, you're you're paying for 24 people to travel, you're paying for you know, cars and rental cars, and you're paying for hotels and everything of that nature. It gets expensive quick and it doesn't go a long way. But you know, for the ones that do do that, um, they also have to look at the tracks, you know, relationship to them because some lease it, as we talked about, some marry into, okay, this is what I think we can do with a thousand people, I can give you twenty thousand. Well, by the time you do twenty and ten, you're still only at a thirty thousand purse. But if you're doing a thirty thousand purse at fifteen races, right, you're at four hundred and fifty thousand dollars with a three hundred thousand dollar sponsor.

SPEAKER_01 39:36

So you've only got a hundred and fifty thousand dollar deficit.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

100%. So it's just it's it's tough. It and you know, and I know the racers want more, I know we want more, um, but at the same time, you got to create. I mean, the car's tour's done an extremely good job, you know, of trying to marry the two together. Sometimes they lease you know the property and stuff, which is a a big deal for them. Uh the second thing is is you know, the tracks are committed to where they're traveling. Um, you're trying to keep it confined so your competitors aren't spending that much kind of money and the time away. So I think there's a few series that love grassroots racing and they're doing it for the grassroots. I know we are at the car's tour is. Um sometimes, you know, you're gonna take that loss, you know, to get this thing established, but eventually you're gonna have to turn and figure out the best way to do it. And you know, as I stated a few minutes ago, if somebody came up and you know wanted to purchase the tour, you know, I would probably consider looking at it. Um I would do things totally different. I've had this conversation with many people. I would probably give the competitors a certain percentage of it, but I would want to go to work for it to make sure that our direction is going in the right direction. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

So one of the things that I think that I see with like uh cars tour, maybe even some of the ASA stuff, Speed Weeks is a you know, kind of a standalone deal, King of the Modifieds. Uh, one of the things that I see that appears to make the cars tour tick from a financial standpoint is I can't think of too many places that I've been for cars tour that wasn't a sellout crowd.

SPEAKER_00 41:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:12

Not beating on you at all, but I don't see that a lot with smart. That's right. Now, some of that may be you're going to different venues, bigger venues, time of year, whatever it is. Arguably, and I'm a modified guy, so it's easy for me to say this, but modified racing is better than late model racing, in my opinion. It's better than pro-late model racing, it's better than late model stock. Late model stock cars are beautiful and they are slow as cold molasses. There ain't nothing so the slowest guy who makes your field is a second and a half faster than those guys on their best day. It is a better deal. We're cheating danger every lap, we're cheating death every lap. There's a lot more to it. How do we, I say collectively, we, because I'm a modified fan, I support the modified tour, how do we collectively build that awareness to put more people in the stands? And and and over there, obviously, you've got three or four cup players that even though uh Junior doesn't raise cup anymore, he's still a cup guy. How do we build the fan buzz and popularity to get honestly as many people or more people in the stands as the guys are doing with honestly, Chris, with boring late model cars? Sorry guys, I said that. I like late models too, but nothing like the modified.

SPEAKER_00 42:23

Well, I mean, we are exciting. Um, you know, they they do a good job of a mixture of talent, um, you know, with Queen and Junior course racing and everything. So Cars Tour does an extremely good job of putting people in there. And and we got riding you and we had Bobby. Bobby the Bonnie, yeah, absolutely. Um we've got some you know, studs as we consider coming in. I mean, Elliot Sadler came in. I do like what uh Hermie Sadler and them's doing with the 16 car this year. We've got some great news of some people that's coming in the back half, and so star power is is it. Um, you know, Jimmy Blewett and the ones coming from the north that adds to it because he's a wheel man. Um Hirschman when he shows up, you know, Silk Winning the King and the Modified, they are names that everybody looks at. And so coming to the racetrack and being a part of that is it. If you can ever come to a modified race and feel the power that we have and see it, you you're hooked. But a lot of people don't do it because they are introduced to stock car racing. Sure. And, you know, I would never tear down another series because I know how hard each and every one of them work to do what they do. Um, you know, their fenders, we're not, you know, their certain horsepower, we're not. You know, we're no ride hikes, you know, they have a lit limited, um, but they they're the best at what they do. And by far. By far.

SPEAKER_01 43:44

And here's the thing the cars tour had been around for a very long time before the explosion that we have seen with the cars tour. So kudos to those guys for doing what they have done with the tour. And I think they all had visions of that, yeah, much like what you've done with smart.

SPEAKER_00 43:59

Yeah. Yeah, and and you know, when we ran a couple of races with them, it showed how everybody got to see the fender side of the world and the non-fender side of the world. And and the the true doubleheaders are probably one of the better things in the South that people look forward to. But you go right back to the same thing we're all talking about. You know, the tracks can't pay, you know, us a purse and their purse, you know, and and not have 20,000 people in a grandstand. You know, it it just don't work, it's not feasible. And that would be that would be the the best thing for everybody is to have a true doubleheader with the cars tour because you get to see the best of two worlds and travel at these venues that we travel to. It's just not sustainable for the racetrack if they're responsible for the purse.

SPEAKER_01 44:46

Is there a magic wand that could be waved if if you were walking down the beach and the lamp popped up and the Juni came out and he said you got one wish, what would it be?

SPEAKER_00 44:55

Um the wish would be to um showcase the best of the best together. Um and maybe it is us in the cars tour uh to show people the different realms of do you buy a ticket, you get to see this type of racing and that type of racing. Um that would be the magic wand. It would have to be somebody up there with you know uh pockets to purchase or to combine the two series so they can maintain that two hundred thousand dollar purse. Um I'm kind of laying it out of kind of the vision of what's going on, and it's been going on in my mind for quite some time. It's just you know, just making it sustainable that the sponsors and the fans can create in the tracks um all are in it together. We're not gonna make money, but at the same time, we don't want to lose money to do it. And so uh I think that's the magic wand of how it would really work. Um I got some ideas, but we're not there yet.

SPEAKER_01 45:53

You think I mean uh North Wilksboro holds how many?

SPEAKER_00 45:57

Uh$20,000.

SPEAKER_01 45:58

Let's just say$20,000 at a reasonable, just say a$30 ticket. That sounds like$600,000.

SPEAKER_00 46:04

Yeah,$600,000. I don't care how you add it up.

SPEAKER_01 46:06

Yeah, it doesn't really matter. I think Dominion holds how many?

SPEAKER_00 46:09

Uh about$3,000.

SPEAKER_01 46:11

About$3,000.$3,000 at that ticket sure sounds like$90,000. Obviously, a smaller purse. There's gotta be somebody out there. Johnny, you know, Bass Pro Shops look good on this deal. Um there's gotta be somebody out there that there is enough value in that to do it three, four, five, six, seven times a year. There's gotta be. Yeah, there is gotta hold on one sec, Chris. How do we tighten that mic up? It's swinging back, it's about to take his chin out. Oh we get uh we get random guests in here that do uh that do adjustments. It's kind of like uh it's kind of like the guy adjusting on his race car but doesn't know what this bolt does. That's what I was doing. I touched both it in when they were in the middle. What happens? Yeah, so um, but uh I feel like, like I say, there's gotta be that value in there for somebody. Uh again, and maybe that's where Chris is able to leverage those corporate relationships, this, that, and the other. The thing that I think so many racers sometimes don't see is sponsorship is a sticker on a car. Um, both of my cars at Bowman Gray are extremely well funded. They ain't a single decal on either one. They go, How in the world do you do that? Well, it's really not about what they see on the racetrack. It's about when that guy gives me a call and goes, hey man, I'm looking at building ABC. Where would you go? These are my top three choices. Bam, bam, bam. All three of those guys are writing us checks to help us out. You've got the exposure, you've got flow, you've got the TV thing going on, you've got the venues going on. It just seems to make sense, Chris. Like, for but who is that? Rhetorical question, obviously, but who is that that comes in there and makes that deal happen, man? I mean, Cheerwine Tour looks good, the Bass Pro Shops tour looks good, the Chevrolet tour looks good. Who's got that added value where we can physically make the cash register ring? And at the end of the weekend they go, man, that was that was a deal.

SPEAKER_00 48:03

Yeah, I've I've talked to a couple of different people. I've I've got one that I kind of joke around. So some of my presentations are um in other languages.

SPEAKER_01 48:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 48:16

And so I've been working on them. It's kind of comical, but uh getting closer to a couple of different uh ones that uh you know they've got to they gotta understand that it's it's brand recognition, but it's a partnership, you know, and and what does that brand need? You know, and it's gotta be it's gotta be local, it's gotta be product centric, it's gotta be, you know, how they communicate to that blue-collar individual. And I and I think I found two that I've been working on for the last two to three months. Um we've been waiting on some things, but I think we're getting closer and closer to get that. Uh once we do that, then you know, I don't have to rely on the tracks to put a thousand people in a grandstand. I don't have to, you know, rely on the weather each and every day and a specific time. So we're getting closer. I don't I don't want to say, I do want to say, but I can't say no, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 49:09

You know, you know what? Uh part two, we'll have you back for the announcement. How about that? How about that? We can absolutely make that happen. So we kind of got a little sidetracked talking about that, but I think you can see I'm as passionate about you are as filling up those stands. And I mean, because I was that little kid. I'm a dogwood 500 kid. Yeah. So you remember Tom Parnell.

SPEAKER_00 49:26

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_01 49:26

You remember the little short guy that used to be with Tom Oak? Yeah. That's my dad. That was Bob. So I've been there since 73, man. So yes. So for me, it's the Dogwood 500. It was going to Wilkesboro in the fall and watching the late model sportsmen's and the six cylinders and the modified. And you're right, those doubleheader, triple header shows, the Mid-Atlantic Championship 500, remembering these big events. And I do think that there's a lot of sizzle, a lot of mileage. And I think that's probably what's missing. But we kind of got sidetracked there. Continue to give us the kind of the vision, the forward thought here. You've touched on the sponsorship thing, where you're going. What does that next five-year program look like?

SPEAKER_00 50:01

Um, you know, we've had a lot of conversations of uh some combined events uh with different, like uh Monaco Tri-Track, a few others. You know, we've been massaging um, you know, their rule book and some of their things and fabrications, uh, motor combinations. I mean, we're not exactly like the Wheel and Tour. Um, we're really, really close, but because we're trying to get people out of the garage and race, and not everybody has to have a spec motor, you know what I'm saying? Built motors and stuff. So we're a little bit different, but we're trying to give these people a place that, you know, their hundred and some thousand dollar investment with their race car and stuff, they got a place to go.

SPEAKER_01 50:40

So now they can run the progressive motor, right?

SPEAKER_00 50:42

Yeah, they can run progressive.

SPEAKER_01 50:43

Burt cost me a set of tires on that. You remember that deal that we made the first one? And now the dang thing's legal. I want my money back, Bert. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 50:49

Yeah, but uh, you know, we we allow the progressive, you know, we we have some different combinations, and um, you know, we don't really want to travel north, even though we've had a lot of people up north ask us to come. You know, we talked to Wall Stadium, you know, we we've talked to just a different host of people that want us to come run, and it it would be great, but our guys are probably not going to travel like that, to be perfectly honest with you. We're more of that local two to three state movement. Um, we've had a lot of conversations about you know uh running a snowball derby, you know, um the night before or the Friday before.

SPEAKER_01 51:27

That'd be a lot of fun. But that's that's a long haul.

SPEAKER_00 51:30

Again, if you don't have a combination series to run with you, half your people run, half won't. Sure. Do you keep it points? Do you not keep it points? Do you say, okay, if we're gonna run one of those big events, do we take out one of you can drop one of your lowest ones. So you if you have to miss it, it's not gonna cost you in the points. So we've had that conversation with Tim, Brian, and them, and you know, we we're probably gonna run there one time. We just don't know when. That'd be awesome. Um they kind of wanted me to kind of move to the arcadate in March, but that's that's not really conducive for me because of the King of the Modified's and what we're doing in March to go before.

SPEAKER_01 52:09

No, I think you're right. I think it needs to happen with the Derby. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 52:12

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 52:12

And so we've we've And Tim probably truthfully knows it needs to happen with the Derby. He's just looking at his schedule, going, how do I get how do I get these guys in here?

SPEAKER_00 52:20

Yeah, we we we talked to Hoosier, we talked to some people. We were going to run Winchester up in Indiana, but uh, I mean, we know it's fast. Newman was on part of that conversation with them. We didn't work it out. It's an eight-hour travel from Winston-Salem because that's what we considered a hub. Sure. Um, you know, and if you don't get another series to run with you, so we've had some major conversations with different tracks about coming and doing it because they see us on flow, they see the competition, they see the car count and how competitive our series is compared to any other series because you know, we only allow five tires. You you you it we're trying not to spend money. And so that creates different people up front, different people being competitive. One chooses to run quicker than the other uh and when to get that tire, and and you know, we have a lot of lead changes. We don't have a lot of follow the leader in our series, never have, um, because of that, um, and and to keep costs down, but it has created better competition. But we've um we've been searching outside of that box, you know, of of where we take the series and how to be very cognizant of the ones that's trying to run for the championship, uh, not to travel too far, but um we're always looking to do something different for sure.

SPEAKER_01 53:37

Absolutely, man. Well, we are uh we've been blown away with the growth of the series. Um, some of the guys that we would have thought we would have never seen run or are back running all the time. Um, and it's just it's been exciting to see. And what's really interesting, uh in my opinion, you know that you have gotten their attention when the guys from north of the Mason Dixon are hauling south to race, they've got more opportunities. Eddie Harvey and I talked one day, and I was like, Eddie, why do you feel like northern modified are better than southern modified? He says, it's simple, it's opportunities. Yeah, they can run SKs at Stafford, they can run at Thompson, they can run, you know, Manada, they they got all these other places. He goes, they have more tracks, more opportunities. They have a weekly home. And for all practical purposes, our weekly home is not applicable to larger track racing because of the that the dynamics of what we do there. So uh Eddie said, you know, you can't do something sometimes somebody does all the time and expect to be that good. Well, we've shown by God, we can. We can we're getting there.

SPEAKER_00 54:40

Yeah. And you know, and I I talk to the guys up north a lot, and you're right, it seems to be a little bit more money up there towards that part of racing. Sure. That people are more invested in it. Um, you know, maybe it's because of four or five different series. You know, how how do we have when right now we talk about this a lot. When you're down south, you're in the Bandolero Legends, then where?

unknown 55:05

Right.

SPEAKER_00 55:05

Then it stops.

SPEAKER_01 55:06

You you get you've got to find a V8-powered stock car somewhere. Well, somewhere, right?

SPEAKER_00 55:10

Right. And Carolina Crates doing a little bit of it, trying to start there. I mean, a lot of people's been pushing me to do a crate with our series, you know.

SPEAKER_01 55:19

Is there a discussion about a 602 with you guys? Yeah. The 602 modified, and be really clear about that.

SPEAKER_00 55:24

Very clear. I've been very open with Keith Graham and them. A lot of people we've talked to Keith about you know how we do it. They changed their motor program this year for the first time because that was one of the sticklers everybody was saying. It was not something that was looked at as legal.

SPEAKER_02 55:38

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 55:38

Uh Keith changed that a lot. Um, you know, we've had conversations about starting it um or continue to grow with it. Um, I've been open with Keith about it. I've had some sponsors that's in the last couple of months said they would like to get into something like that and take it over. The thing that is, you know, Keith doesn't run with us each and every week. If we run with us each and every week, you know, there's another purse, right? There's another. You know, we could probably get more cars because some of these teams already own a 602.

SPEAKER_01 56:08

So we didn't stack and ring it.

SPEAKER_00 56:10

There has to be, in our series, in our in our racing down here, there has to be a stepping stone to the modified. Sure. Not every Polly Horrick's gonna get in a car, not every Carson Lofton's gonna get in, not every Keelan Harvick's gonna get in, you know, and take off, right? So there needs to be a progression. Let's get them used to these open-wheel cars, competition, um, you know, keeping their momentum up, even though you don't really have to do it in a modified, but you've got to learn that um skill. Um, and there has to be that place before that. And I think we're at it, just like the North's already doing it. I think we're at the point now it needs to happen. If if modified's gonna grow, we need that series below us that they can grow into it so we can have the exact same thing that's going up north.

SPEAKER_01 56:57

And I see uh Ace has finally done away with their built motor program, they're all 602 modified, which I think because they're a NASCAR track, you may see some of our Saturday night guys from Bowman Gray go there. Now they got more national opportunities. So you've got that going on. Darren and his crowd, they've been killing it with the 602 modifieds for a while with what Keith's going on. But having those two weekly, almost weekly racing series tracks, I think they're gonna run opposite every other week. Um, who knows? Who knows where we could see that? I'd love to show up to a smart race and have 36 602s and 36 uh tour mods, and we got to figure it out. And while you don't want to send anybody home, when we have to start sending cars home, that's when the that's when that's when the playing field gets stacked. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 57:41

And you know, a lot of people ask me, it's like, you know, what do you think about you know the open shows or what do you think about the 602s is going to hurt the smart? I said exactly the opposite, it's gonna help. It's gonna help because it's gonna feed, it's a filler. And I said, you know, them getting that time in the race car, that you know, control, getting to understand what the modified needs, you know, from a setup and what it does from a tire standpoint, even though it may be a smaller tire, burning that right rear off is going to teach you a lot more about car control with the shorter wheelbase. Sure. I think it's very positive that you see this growth in the south and the tracks working with each other, not to work on the same weekend to have an alternating uh date. I think it's uh says volumes to a lot of these tracks in the south because there's a lot, there's a lot of tracks in Virginia and North Carolina. People don't realize you can pick and choose, but if you're running the same week, then the fan has to pick, then the competitor has to pick. And then your purses are X. I think if you got a true alternating deal with the local tracks, like these guys are trying to do, I think it's gonna make the racing, I think it's gonna make the fan not have to choose more, but I think it's gonna put on a better show, and I think the car counts are gonna get much better, and the purses are gonna get better because those sponsorships don't have to be in one location, they can be at multiple locations. So I I think the growth of uh modified racing will be very beneficial for the the health of 602.

SPEAKER_01 59:05

This episode brought to you in part by Schoenfeld Headers, Van Buren, Arkansas, all the way back to Daddy Schoenfeld building the best headers for all types of racing. If you need headers for your race cars, Schoenfeldheaders.com, check them out online or at any of their thousands of retailers nationwide. What do you think that purse looks like for the 602? What does that 602 purse need to be to come run with your deal?

SPEAKER_00 59:29

Yeah, so I mean that's the common denominator with legends and stuff. It's a$200 purse, you know, you're not running for the money. Um the 602 is a huge investment because that car technically really is is a is a smart modifier.

SPEAKER_01 59:42

It's the same car with a little smaller motor and a little smaller diet. It's the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 59:46

Yeah. Um, I mean, I think I I don't, like I said, I don't like talking about the negativities of other series, but if if your purse has been$2,000 with eight or nine cars, you know what I'm saying? It's X. But if you can get that purse to grow to six to eight to ten thousand and have sixteen cars, then it's going to make more competitive. The tracks more willing to run you because you're bringing more people to the back gate. Um, so I think that thing needs to be in that ten to twelve thousand range each and every week to start with. Um, it'll help pay people don't realize you tear the front off this car, you're looking at fifteen hundred dollars if you don't get in a header. Sure. Every time. I mean, that's fifteen hundred dollars you're not gonna win at, right? Right now at that rate, you're not gonna do it. So it's a negative proposition. If you get into the, you know, the the the engine or you know, the the exhaust and stuff, you know, you're looking at thirty-some hundred dollars. And so that's what I did at the stadium. If I seen somebody wreck, I say up fifteen hundred. Oh, yeah, I've got to do it. Yeah, that's because people don't realize they don't really.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:53

I mean, you know, the motor situation too. I mean, just to refresh them a year is anywhere from eight to twelve thousand to refresh. That's not if it's blown or a piston or whatever else. And uh so you have to look at that. Um, but I I I think that um, you know, you have to look at the purses being a little bit better, but it cannot all be on the track because you're putting all the emphasis on the racetrack to go out and find the sponsorships. And uh, I won't tell you who told me this, but they said the promote promoter's got to be better than the promoter. Because if he's not better than himself, then he's gonna get lazy. And then what happens is nobody wants to come and run because you don't have the purses you're looking at.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:34

And we've seen that happen many times.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:36

So I become my own promoter and work it out with the tracks that they have something to relate with, and you know, I just overwork the next person trying to find the the money. So that's kind of how it works.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:48

So and we see, and this is an interesting conversation, it comes up from time to time. So uh I know you don't live terribly far from Virginia International Raceway. Um, I've been to the SECA runoffs there three or four times, and we have a little over a thousand race cars, and all these guys were paying a six to eight hundred dollar entry fee for the week, and they race for how much, Chris? Go ahead and say it out loud so everybody knows.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:09

I don't think I want to tell you. It's zero American dollars. It's zero.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:14

And how many of them are complaining about it?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:16

None.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:16

Hmm. So we turned that, and granted, this is go-karts. Uh I raced uh international level shifter carts and uh tag carts for many, many years. Um, back when I was slim and good looking and had mostly brown hair. And our entry fee would be$800 to$1,500, and we would show up and we'd have$1,200 or$1,500 uh there. And guess how much we raced for?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:37

Nothing.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:38

And guess how many people complained?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:39

Nobody.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:40

Let's talk about low purse. Not even arguably, uh IMCA is the largest circuit sanctioning body on the globe. Um take SECA out because if you've got a Subaru brat with lat belts, we have a class for you. But real life, real race cars, roll cage race cars, nobody's bigger than IMCA, supernational was last year. We had almost 1,200 cars, 1,200 in five divisions. Top division being the modified division there. Also, what do you think it pays to win the A-Mane Supernational's night in Boone, Iowa?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:12

How much?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:13

I think the whole thing is 4,000 American dollars. You had to beat 400 guys in the country to do that.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:19

Guess who complains?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:20

Nobody.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:21

So I'm not saying that our guys are wrong.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:24

I'm not saying that their guys are right, but there's got to be a balance somewhere in the middle. When we were kids, 87, you mentioned 87, 87 was my glory year. I accidentally won four national championships that year. We were on fire. Competition carding was top of the heap. Two-cycle program was great, four-cycle, we couldn't be beat. Um, my dad, I have no idea what my dad spent in 1987. I I heard that it was somewhere around 50 grand in 1987. That was a tremendous amount of money. Um, and we received zero dollars. I got them gold cups and them rings and them leather jackets that I never wore. But nobody seemed to matter. And back in the day, if the state race was running for zero dollars and there was a money race down the road, state race was packed, nobody was at the money race. What has changed? Obviously, it's gotten more expensive, but we see it in different regions of the world where racing for low or no purse doesn't seem to matter. But yet, right here in our own backyard, Winston-Salem, we're in we're in downtown beautiful welcome, North Carolina, guys are screaming for more purse. It is no less expensive to run that GT1 card to SEC runoffs, probably more expensive. Yeah, it's no less expensive for that guy to tow to boon for supernationals or to the SEC runoffs. Why do you think these guys are on so far opposite of the ends of the fence?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:33

Well, I think uh EmSA, I mean, I happen to know um the Porsche head guy there. Um, you know, they get a lot of factory money, you know. So, you know, they're getting their kind of money on the front. I'm not saying every single person. I'm just talking about the factory team.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:47

So I just threw out like Spec Miata, for example. Totally different. I know a hundred spec meata guys that have$70,000,$80,000 in those cars that are racing for now glory.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:56

Well, you're talking about they're doing it for pure passion, they're not doing it for the money.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:01

But but aren't aren't we too, but we also kind of want the money?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:04

I think our I think our world is we're competitors, you know, we we feel like that the modified's is a showpiece. I feel like that um it's been the progression of purses. You go back and look at Martinsville Speedway in 1970s and 80s, went 6,000 or 5,000 to win. Now our series is 4,000, 5,000, 10 at a couple of races, 20, you know, so it hasn't progressed as much as everybody else. And I think our guys look at it as, you know, our cost of our cars went from 30 to 60 to 70 to 100, some thousand on one car, right? Now a motor, if you're running a spec motor, is forty thousand. So I I think the passion is there to compete, but I think the return investment is is is not the same. Now for the Miata guy. And everybody else, their passion is to be on the racetrack, compete with their competitors as a club. Where I think ours is a pure competition.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:10

And I that's a and that's a great perspective. And like I say, I talk about this with Brett Root, owner of president of IMCA, and I've talked about this with the SECA guys. And it's interesting, you know, in my circle track guys, like, man, we don't care nothing about road racing, this, that, and the other. I'm telling you, the guys who live in Weston-Salem, when the runoffs come, drive up there. Go up there on Friday when they actually run the TA2 cars, which they do. The TA2 guys do get paid. Absolutely. TA1 gets paid. Um, but GT1 doesn't, GT2 doesn't, GT3 doesn't. None of the other 97 classes uh get paid. And if you don't think that it's racing, brother, go watch.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:43

Oh, I got some guys that compete in it. Oh, yeah. From Martinsville, and they're very good. Yes. And they, I mean, their their whole deal is to work to pay for it. Sure. And to be a part of it. And they have the same passion, but they just don't get paid to do it.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:56

No, and I just uh we just hear that a lot. Obviously, we see it on social media a lot. Guys are bashing purses, bassing tracks, series, this, that, and the other. And I mean, uh fortunate enough, I live right down the road here at a little lake. Uh, every Saturday morning, there's 15 bass boats in front of my dock. I have a very good fishery there. There's 15 bass boats in front of my dock. You guys fishing tournament? No, just fishing. My man's got$150,000,$200,000 bass boat. He's gonna spend three or four hundred dollars for the day. Well, maybe. But here's the thing. At some point, where does the hobby come back in? Well, where does the I mean if we went if we went and played Pinehurst number two today, if we could even get in?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:32

We can get in.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:33

What would what would we spend to play golf for today?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:35

Me and you just go to if we went to Pinehurst, well, if my invitation is from Reagan Smith or somebody else, it wouldn't be much of nothing. Sure. But if a local in there, you're going to pay anywhere from 500 to eight, 800 bucks.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:49

So I just wonder at what point does the hobby wear off and the business begin? And I I don't say that as a negative. Remember, I st I mean I still have I got a sprint car team in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and two cars here that run local. I am all for hire persons. Don't misunderstand this. We just see that, and it's really interesting to take it from your perspective because you're the guy who has to write those checks on liquid basis.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:14

I I think it I think it changes when you've had enough of spending money that you don't feel like you're getting anything out of it. And uh and and we're all passionate about what we're doing. Uh the the you know, modifies, uh the Miattas, everybody. Um you're gonna take it for so long and then you're gonna finally say, somewhere along the line, I've had enough, I'm not gonna continue to spend my investment or my retirement. Sure. Um, because eventually you're the one that's gonna have to foot it.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:40

Because you're not gonna find the full sponsorship, or you're not gonna find it that person out there to give you tire money in each and every week. And finally you're gonna say, How much do I have to give up to continue to live my life? And so I I that's the one thing that I do is talk to these competitors all the time. You know, what do you need? What you know, what are you looking for? How you know where you need help? Sure. I'm a different breed. I mean, I'm truly trying to help the competitor. Um, you know, you talk about bass fishing, and I, you know, I do I compete. I I got a tournament next week, uh, and and I do have a nice boat. And you know, my dad was the Virginia Bass Federation president for five years, and so I grew up in it, wanting to do it. And you know Chris wants my GPS numbers. He's like, Where's the doc at the end of the day?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:27

I'll get you fixed up so off-air can't share that with everybody.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:30

But I mean I go out there and I spend a hundred dollars in in boat fuel, I spend a hundred dollars in travel and you know, the fifty dollars for the entry and this, that, and other to not win any money, even though I do win tournaments. Don't get me wrong, I'm that competitive. Um, but I do it because I passionately love to do it. I'm gonna be doing it whether I'm competitive or I'm gonna be just fishing with my daughter. Because you love it. Because I love it. And that's exactly what's going on in the racing world is they've been introduced by their uncle, their brother, their granddad. They want that relationship to continue to build off of what they felt when they was coming to that racetrack at eight, nine, ten, eleven years old and the people they met. Because a lot of these people right here, it's not about the money. Sometimes it's not about the competition because when they walk away from the racetrack, they lose the relationship with the person that parked inside of them. Sure. The person they walked in the gate with, the person they were sitting in a grandstand with. And that's the one thing about racing is we are connected not only from history, but our passion for the sport.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:31

Sure. We're family.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:32

We're 100%.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:33

We might not be blood kin, but you know what? I'd rather be kin to some of those folks than I ever had some of the folks I'm probably legitimately related to.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:40

They'll support you, they'll come to fight you and help you at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:45

And if some family members won't do that, you know, uh, we had Ronnie Bassett senior on several months ago and uh talk about community. Uh Ronnie Bassett and I were a bit of rivals when we were kids racing the little four-soner cars at Baum and Gray. Bert raced with us too. And uh Bert and I were better rivals. But one of the most unbelievable moments that I remember was the first time I remember a moment of silence when his son, John, a lot of folks didn't even know, he and Lisa had a young son that died at a very young age. And uh as much as I didn't like Ronnie Bassett at that time, as much as I was looking forward to spending him out on a regular basis, when they rolled that car out with that child's wreath on it and pushed that car around, nobody spoke. It was dead silent. And as much as I wanted in that moment to still not be a Ronnie Bassett fan, I wept. Yeah, man, I wept like it was one of my own family members. And you looked around, and there were grown men bigger and stronger and mightier than I that were also weeping. When you see that, and we hope that never happens to anybody ever again, but when we do lose a member, a family member, part of that group, you really do see the whole community come together, and it's a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:57

Yeah, me and Earnhardt had a long conversation about this one time, and you know, the person that you want to beat, or that person that you feel like you're better than actually molds you because you want to either replace, beat, be competitive, or at least be known that you're as good as that individual. And so you strive everything you can. DW was his. A lot of people don't believe that. But he wanted to show everybody from granddad, Robert G, and you know, everything, they wanted to make sure that father-in-law, whatever. But my point is they wanted to make sure that he could show that he was better. You might have more sponsorship, you may have a better car, but I can do that. And when I get to the pinnacle of that, you help me strive to be that person. Sure. And then, competitor, you're built not to hate, you're built to sustain, I don't like him, and I've got to do everything I can to beat him. But as the years progress and you sit back and you're like, you know, guy was pretty good too. You know, that guy was really good. Absolutely. He puts his pants on the same way I do. He struggles the same way to show up and and do this for his family or do that. And he he sacrificed as much as I did to compete against me, and you have a different compassion for that competitor, and you you guys are bonded. I mean, heck, it's no different than Bird and Tim. Sure. It's no different than Bobby Allison and Petty when all them years. It's no different, you know, than than Dale and Bodine.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:31

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:32

They're connected. And they're connected for a reason because they have the same passion to show the world that they can be as good as that individual.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:39

Great perspective. Chris, I keep you on the show all day, man. Where I know we're a little run a little short on time. Uh, how can fans find out more about the smart tour? More importantly, how could partners potentially get involved with you? Give us a website, give us a phone number, Facebook contacts, that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:55

Yeah, smartmod.com, you know, SmartMod on Facebook, you know, SmartMod pretty much anywhere that you want to look in Instagram. Um, you know, I I think if anybody goes on there, uh I have my numbers on there, you can call me from a sponsor standpoint. I mean, you can find me on Facebook, you can find me anywhere. Um, I have a lot of uh time. I talked to individuals I talked to, one this morning that called about sponsorship and got my number from a friend, but um you can find us there. It it shows if you want to get in contact with us for whatever reason. If you want to be a competitor, you want to be it, it's right there on the smart smartmod.com. Awesome. And smart modified tour. We have both of them uh.com. So that's pretty much how you can get a hold of us. If not, just come to the racetrack. There, you'll be surprised at how many people that built a race car that we met at the racetrack, you know, like the young's did at Franklin County and whatever, they just come and talk to me. I told them who to come see, who builds motors, who builds chassis, and they they built two race cars, and we've had quite a few to do that. So if you're at the racetrack, holler at me. I'm I'm generally gonna talk to you. Um I'm I'm that person, so that's kind of how you can find to be a part of the smart modified. Look forward to it. But come out and watch a modified race. I mean, we're gonna be at Hickory this weekend, you know, two weeks. We're our first race at Wake. Cannot wait to see what that puts on. And then, you know, we got Franklin County in about six weeks. And so, you know, we're still heated up on Friday nights when the stadium's going on. You're gonna see me at the stadium because I support those guys. I love going over there and watching what they put on because it's modified racing, and we're all trying to elevate modified racing. And so it no matter where they're at, go out and see them.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:34

Well, Chris Williams, I think I speak for every Southern Modified fan. Thank you. Yeah, we appreciate the passion, we appreciate what you're doing, we appreciate you putting forth the commitment, the effort every day to just make Southern Modified Racing great again. Uh, man, great foundation that started all the way back in the 80s. Here we are sitting in 2026. Things are looking great. Uh, again, from every Southern Modified fan, I sincerely say thank you and and we look forward to more. Also, want to get you back on when you make that sponsor announcement.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:01

Absolutely. So, my next question to you is now, and you you gonna come back and run a modified? I mean, we got Ellis Adder coming out, we've got some announcement coming out, older uh guys coming back. When you when are you coming out running?

SPEAKER_01 1:16:12

We talked about this. Uh I I was gonna practice one of my cars uh this past week at Bowman Grain, didn't get a chance to, but uh if you had a senior tour, if you had a senior tour, I'm I've I've passed the half a century mark. And you know, man, stuff moves faster than it used to. And uh I've been out of the seat for a really, really, really long time. You know, I think uh uh after my entering the dirt late model, um I've reassigned my task and role. I enjoy being a car owner. So uh maybe uh you know what? I've got a bright young kid in my arsenal right now. We're really excited. We're gonna put a year or two in with him, and uh the long-term vision for him, honestly, is to go modified. And I hope I'm able to uh to court him and get him that far.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:53

Good. I hope you do. We're looking forward to youngsters coming in. I mean, we've had a lot of great youngsters in our series because there's a gap between legends and everywhere else. And you know, Luke's done extremely well, Carson's done extremely well. Slade has showed so much more progression than I've ever thought at this time. I mean, he ran extremely good last week, you know, and and and it's you can see it, you know, we've got McMurray. Yeah, you know, we've got all these youngsters that's gonna be great, and it's good to learn car control and the modifieds. It's a it's a great tool that you can see everything working, the speed, the short wheelbase, but the competition is. It's been great. Great in the in the modified. And so we're looking forward to you, youngster, coming.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:38

We're hoping, we're hoping we're gonna get there. Well, folks, that's gonna do it for another episode of Driving Fast and Taking Chances. If you're in the market for safety gear and apparel, of course, Velocity USA has got you covered. Velocity-USA.com. Shop is 247 365 right online. We do over 50 national trade shows every year with a full retail store. We'd love it to help you out there. You can shop our showroom right here in beautiful downtown Welcome, North Carolina for this episode of Driving Fast and Taking Chances. Drive Fast Take Chances.