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Rob:

Welcome to our podcast All about the car brought to you by Schierl Tire and Service. I'm your host Rob Hoffman, an auto service specialist with over 46 years of industry experience. A regular guest on the ride with me today is Bill Schierl, a guy that logs a lot of Wisconsin miles and always has a lot of great questions. Welcome back Bill.

Bill:

Thank you Rob. Wonderful to be here.

Rob:

We also have back in the studio today Bryan Call a guy that's been in the business a long, long time. Welcome back Bryan.

New Speaker:

Hey, great to be here.

Rob:

Also joining us, we have a very special guest with us today, Darren Jackson of Darren Jackson Racing. Welcome Darren, and thanks for joining us.

Darren:

Thanks for having me.

Rob:

Great o see you here. The thrill of auto racing by drivers and spectators alike has been a part of our culture since the beginning of cars. The need for speed and the thrill of the chase actually got its start from running moonshine in the south. Some of the sports early stars owned, built and drove moonshine cars. Organized stock car racing then took hold in Pennsylvania 1939 and later formed the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. And what does that spell? Nascar

Bill:

I was gonna say, I don't know, what does that spell? Oh yeah, NASCAR

Rob:

And that started back in 1947, then back in Wisconsin, closer to home short tracks were starting to pop up, providing playgrounds for the local racing teams as early as the mid fifties racing greats such as Dick Trickle and Richard Head became well known on third and half mile tracks like Golden Sands and Marshfield Speedways. Today the sport is faster and more heart pounding than ever. Thanks to race teams like Darren Jackson Racing who provide great entertainment for all ages. Darren, welcome again, appreciate you having here with us. And so you're a local guy, right?

Darren:

Yeah.

New Speaker:

Born and raised, right in the area.

Darren:

Yeah, I got...

New Speaker:

Central Wisconsin...

Darren:

Grew up in Wisconsin Rapids. I'm still there.

Rob:

Cool. Sounds like that's home.

Darren:

Yep.

New Speaker:

So when did it all begin for you? I think you've got some stories to tell.

Darren:

Yeah, it started back, my dad raced back in the nineties and growing up I kind of took over racing go-karts when he gave it up and I haven't stopped ever since.

Bill:

So how did the progression from go-karts to vehicles happen?

Darren:

We started just kind of outgrowing the go-karts. We started traveling pretty much the whole country and once we got through that make the jump, it's time and it's been rough times but it's been 15 years now.

New Speaker:

How old were you when you made the jump?

Darren:

13.

Rob:

Oh wow.

Darren:

Yeah.

Bill:

So you were driving on a racetrack at 13?

Darren:

Yep.

Bill:

Is that legal?

Darren:

Yeah.

New Speaker:

Can't get to the track but I can race on the track.

Rob:

Yeah.

Bill:

Yeah.

Darren:

My dad would wait for me to get off the bus and we'd go on the racetrack.

Bill:

Okay. All right.

Rob:

So you mentioned go-karts and you said traveling around the country. Is that with go-karts?

Darren:

Yeah.

New Speaker:

So that's a serious go-kart race. That's not your backyard stuff.

Darren:

No, we raced against the best of the best in the go-karts. Then we won the Grand National Championship in '06 after that pretty much just sold everything and decided we were moving up.

Bill:

So at the go-kart level, how fast are you going?

Darren:

They still went 60.

Bill:

Okay.

Rob:

Wow.

Darren:

I was 12 years old and...

Bill:

I was gonna say yeah, yeah,

Bryan:

No suspension and about that far off the ground?

Darren:

The way they mounted the seats here, you're about that far off.

Rob:

Wow. And that's just open wheel, right? There's no body or anything.

Darren:

Oh, they had bodies on 'em.

Rob:

They did?

Darren:

Yeah. You could still get hit in the rear tires. The bumper didn't go, didn't block it. But yeah, for the most part it was all wrapped around.

Bill:

So what got you interested in gocarts? I mean like as kids you grew up with a lot of stuff and a lot of options nowadays.

Darren:

My dad just kind of researched it one day looking for something for me to get into. Cause I was six years old and he found some tracks around the area. So we went and watched one day, thought it was pretty cool. So then he ended up buying one.

Rob:

So during that time he was racing cars?

Darren:

Yeah, he had just pretty much finished racing himself. Yeah.

Bryan:

So what did they run for engines on those gokarts?

Darren:

Uh those had like a Briggs and Strat and Five Horse.

Bryan:

Oh really?

Darren:

Then a guy would build them up,

Bill:

Say wait a five horses taking you 60 miles an hour?

Darren:

They were 25 horse by the time were done.

Rob:

Wow.

Darren:

It's pretty impressive on 'em. Just a little...

Rob:

It is.

Bryan:

Yeah. There's not much to them.

Darren:

No.

Rob:

Let's kind of wind into Darren Jackson racing. Not so much Darren, but your team. I mean it takes a team and I would assume that you have a team that makes this happen every season or maybe there's no season with your hobby. I don't know.

Darren:

It's pretty much year round.

Rob:

Is it? Okay.

Darren:

Yeah. It started going through high school. I had raced a late model for a guy like I still do now. And then I got older and I bought my own car and started my own team. At 19, that's when Darren Jackson racing kind of started.

Rob:

Cool.

Darren:

And then over the years more and more of my buddies started helping, my family helps. Now it's like me, my buddy Jordan full-time car actually stays at his house and then a whole group of us, we are pretty well committed to it.

Rob:

So you mentioned full-time, so full-time, year round.

Darren:

Yeah, we work on it. This winter's been a little lighter. We do once a week, but last winter we built that new car and from January till race season started it was, I think I was there five nights a week.

Rob:

Wow.

Bill:

You are not racing year round or do you go south?

Darren:

No, it just preparing the car. Going through the whole thing. We tore it about halfway down this winter, got a bunch of stuff rebuilt, putting a lot of new body panels on to make it look fresh again, just get it ready, make sure nothing was bent, nothing replaced, anything that could be wrong.

Bill:

Is that typical of race teams and things in the area that they're working on their vehicle year round?

Darren:

Oh yeah.

Bill:

Okay.

Darren:

You pretty much have to now if you wanna compete you better be in it full out.

Bill:

I would guess. Cuz they're competing against people who are.

Rob:

I would imagine it's almost like a perfect storm to be able to do this at the level that you're at because I mean it's gotta really suck the pocketbook dry.

Darren:

Oh yeah.

Rob:

The money has to be going out constantly.

Darren:

Yeah.

Rob:

So you've gotta have the perfect storm.

Darren:

Mm-hmm .

Rob:

You have to have the right people on a good team. What's the secret? Or don't you want to give that that?

Darren:

Well, I've been fortunate enough the last few years now to get partners like you guys, sunrise buster, he ended up actually pretty much financially helping me buy the new car. Without that I would've never got one and everybody involved. I mean I couldn't do it myself.

Rob:

When you say buy the car, he mentioned that a couple times. Are you buying a car or are you buying pieces and putting it together?

Darren:

We bought the bare frame and then put the whole thing together.

Rob:

Built it.

Darren:

Yeah.

Rob:

Wow. So just one car in the fleet.

Darren:

We have three.

Rob:

Oh.

Darren:

But two of them we parked and put all of our, pretty much all of our eggs in a basket on a new one.

Rob:

So super late model. That's what I learned about you in my research.

Darren:

Yep.

Rob:

What does that mean?

Darren:

Pretty much no limitations really. It's I'd say compared to like a limit late model, we are on wider tires, our shock rules, there's less shock rules you can buy more expensive shocks. Engines are bigger. Less rules with transmissions.

Bryan:

So what's size engine you run?

Darren:

I have a five three Ls in this car.

Bill:

Now what does a five three mean?

Darren:

It's a...

Bill:

503?

Speaker 3:

5.3 liter...

Bill:

Oh.

Darren:

LS

Rob:

Jargon alert.

Bill:

Right, exactly. I'm like all right.

Darren:

Yep. Which is standard in your Chevy pickups.

Bill:

Right.

Bryan:

Carbureted or fuel injected?

Darren:

That is carburetor. We got a four barrel carburetor on it. Yep.

Rob:

Wow.

Speaker 4:

Restrictor plates?

Darren:

No.

Bryan:

Not the big speedway.

Darren:

No.

Bill:

So is there a maximum engine size that you can have?

Darren:

So in the rule book, there's different engine packages you can have.

Bill:

Okay.

Darren:

And that correlates with what weight the car has to be. So if you go with like what we have, we weigh a certain amount, which is a little less than you can go like a bigger engine package. But you weigh more, they're more expensive. So ours is one of the more affordable engine packages. Then we get a weight break for using it. So, and a lot of it depends on what track you're running, what engine you wanna have, depending where you wanna race. This here is kind of what you wanna put in your car for the year.

Bill:

Got it.

Darren:

If you can't have multiple cars or skies, they'll take one car to this track and the next day they'll take another one to that track.

Bill:

And is that because of who they're racing against or the style of the track?

Darren:

The weight break versus the track basically.

Bill:

Okay.

Darren:

If you have a high horsepower track, you're gonna bring your biggest motor you got.

Bill:

Got it

Bryan:

You run on all short track right?

Darren:

Yeah. We run...

Bryan:

Third mile, quarter mile, half mile.

Darren:

Yep. Marshfields's half, but it's a flat half. Use a lot of momentum there. You can get away with a smaller engine package with a weight break. More beneficial in my opinion there.

Bill:

So in general, the car that you have today, how many horsepower is this 5.3 liter engine?

Darren:

Oh we're pushing 500 yet.

Bill:

That's a lot of horses.

Darren:

Yeah.

Rob:

That's a lot of horses.

Darren:

Yeah.

Bill:

I always like to think about the number of horses that are out in front of you.

Rob:

You get like 20 cars out there and that's a herd.

Darren:

Yeah.

Bill:

Yeah. Exactly.

Rob:

So for the sake of our listeners, kind of keeping a watch and watching you on the track, number two...

Darren:

Yep.

Rob:

Is your car number any significance to that?

Darren:

That's the number my dad ran.

Rob:

Nice.

Darren:

When he ran the late model and then I kind of just inherited it. It's where I've been ever since.

Rob:

Cool.

New Speaker:

I had my own car, it's been number two so.

Rob:

So I would imagine where you keep number two in your buddy's garage or buddy's shop, a lot of spare parts hanging around body parts.

Darren:

We've got parts everywhere.

Rob:

You do huh? Because you gotta be ready, right?

Darren:

Yeah.

Rob:

Something happens on this Friday night and you gotta be ready to go to the next Friday or whatever is the next race day. It's probably a real quick change type situation.

Darren:

Yep. Yeah. There's a lot of nights we were on Friday night, we basically get it back to the shop Friday night, unload it, change what we have to change then in the morning load it back up. Go again.

Rob:

Do you ever have to dig deep into the engine throughout the season?

Darren:

Not unless something really bad happened. It's pretty well maintenance free changing oil a couple times. We do every two races.

Rob:

Okay.

Darren:

Otherwise it's well built where we don't have to set the valves so we don't have to pretty much even worry about it. It makes it nice to...

Bill:

So the parts that you're changing out are what parts?

Darren:

We'll change the gears for size of the track.

Bryan:

Oh, quick change?

Darren:

Yep. So it goes fairly quick. It's just still getting up in the morning and doing it before you go again. A lot of shock parts suspension wise between tracks, what you prefer to run, that sort of thing.

Bill:

So what in the suspension as part of the suspension makes the difference on the track?

Darren:

Your spring rate, you change your springs, you change, call 'em bump stops, they go inside your on the shaft of the shock that changes from track to track day to day.

Bill:

Explain to me on a track, do you want it firm? You want it soft like and why would you want it one way versus the other.

Darren:

Flatter tracks. You want it more soft or even across bank tracks go Golden Sands, you're gonna want your right front little stiffer. It's cuz the banking.

Bill:

So you change it by tire.

Darren:

Yeah. Change the springs on the...

Bryan:

By wheel position.

Darren:

Yep.

Rob:

That's a science

Bill:

Each wheel right has a different based on when you're going.

Darren:

Yeah.

Bill:

That's what I was curious about. Like you're changing these parts out based on the track.

Darren:

Yep.

Bill:

And so much you're talking about is what you're physically running on dictates a lot of the car.

Darren:

Yeah.

Bill:

I don't think most people think about it that way. You're like, oh they have a nice car. They just go out and run the same thing and wouldn't think about that. The track is what makes the difference.

Darren:

Yeah.

Bill:

In getting the car ready for the track.

Darren:

Yeah.

Bryan:

And then you change air pressure depending on what you're running.

Darren:

Yep. Depending if you're qualifying your heat race feature temperature...

Bryan:

Half a pound makes...

Darren:

Yeah.

Bill:

Now I have the temperature there. But depending on the race, like why would that change the pressure?

Darren:

Qualifying you're only out there for three laps. Feature your out there 50, a hundred laps.

Bill:

So...

Darren:

How much it builds.

Bill:

Okay. Heat.

Darren:

Heat and air pressure. We start it low so it doesn't build up higher towards the end of the race. You want it to kind of level out at a certain...

Bill:

For blowing out a tire?

Darren:

No, just for optimum performance.

Bill:

Okay. Kind of like what we've talked about on other podcasts.

Rob:

Yes.

Bill:

That stickiness of the tire to the road and not having, having it over underinflated.

Darren:

Yep.

Bill:

All right, now I got it.

Rob:

Of course, being proud sponsors Schierl Tire and Service, we want to know how long those tires last. How many rounds do they before you gotta change 'em out?

Darren:

Usually like on our practice set hundred laps we get rid of 'em.

Rob:

Okay.

Bryan:

So are you limited to the amount of tires that you can use throughout a season to try and keep the cost of the racing down?

Darren:

Most... So at Marshfield for example, we get one new tire every race middle of the year we'll get, there'll be one night we'll get two tires.

Bill:

You mean when you say one tire, you mean one tire of the four on the car...

Darren:

Gets to be brand new every week.

Rob:

Oh wow.

Bill:

Oh.

Rob:

Gee, I didn't know this.

Bill:

And then you get to select where that placement is?

Speaker 3:

Yep. You can pick wherever you want it to be.

Bill:

Okay.

Darren:

But it has to be on the car that night.

Bryan:

So right front a lot of times.

Darren:

Yeah. Right front, right rear, left rear. That'll come your pretty much your mid-season and put a left rear on.

Bill:

You said one in Marshfield, you get one tire and then there was something mid-season you get two tires.

Darren:

Yep. With that program you'll get two tires about mid-season they'll give you a second tire. Then like Golden Sands, when we run there weekly, we get two tires every week.

Bryan:

So you hold onto those tires for the specific racetrack that you're running.

Darren:

They stay right there.

Bryan:

Oh really?

Darren:

Yep.

Bryan:

So you get there, you jack it up, take tires off...

Darren:

Grab yours out of the tire shed. They have there. Go get your new ones and then you can bring 'em. They scan 'em.

Rob:

So they're not even your tires at start. They're giving you these tires.

Darren:

Oh you buy 'em.

Bryan:

Well yeah.

Rob:

But they deliver you tires.

Darren:

Yeah, you go pick 'em out. They're already at the track. You pick 'em out, bring 'em to your car at...

Rob:

Oh wow.

Darren:

When you get there.

Bill:

Do you have a choice of the tire that you're getting?

Darren:

Yep.

Bill:

Okay.

Bryan:

So do you got different diameters so you can stagger 'em and stuff like that?

Darren:

Yep.

Bryan:

So that plays into which tire that you're choosing?

Darren:

Yeah.

Bryan:

Out of that four?

Darren:

Yeah. Depends on, say you show up and you first week you got a small right rear. Well next week you're putting right rear on, get a bigger one. So that has a lot to do with it as well.

Bill:

So the other tires that are on the vehicle, then you're going to the track. How does that that ever keep track? You gotta have a spreadsheet for which tire at which track you're able to put on in which position you had it on.

Darren:

Yep.

Bill:

All right.

Darren:

We have 'em all marked. We have a chart.

Bill:

Okay.

Darren:

This tire's here.

Bill:

I'm not missing the complexity of this decision.

Rob:

Bill, you're gonna start racing pretty soon.

Bill:

Hey, yeah, I'll do the spreadsheet.

Darren:

I think he's gonna be a tire guy at least.

Rob:

I think he is.

Bryan:

Bus driver.

Bill:

Yeah.

Bryan:

Let's get the bus guy down.

Rob:

Who was the bus driver? Oh...

Bill:

I think he was...

Rob:

That's right. We had a bus driver.

Bill:

Yes. It was not me.

Rob:

You got the bus ready.

Bill:

I think it was Bryan.

Bryan:

I got the bus ready.

Rob:

You carved it up. Got it running.

Bill:

This is when Golden's had bus...

Darren:

Oh yeah, I remember that.

Rob:

We had a bus.

Bryan:

It was a hoot.

Bill:

Yeah. For a long time. Okay.

Rob:

Can't believe more of those buses didn't end up on their side. Yeah, that was interesting. So with every all about the car podcast we always break away about halfway through and do a Wisconsin road trip and just to keep in the lane that we're currently in, we're gonna go to Elkhart Lake to Road America. I have not been there. I know Darren, you said you were there once Bryan.

Bryan:

I got to ride around the track in a two door. That was a hoot.

Rob:

Okay, so you've got the real experience. But this place is amazing frommy research. I mean they've got something going every single weekend and you can buy season passes, you can even do driving schools there. Winter...

Bill:

Teen driving.

Rob:

Driving. Yeah.

Bill:

Teen driving is a great place to have your young driver learn what is possible or not possible in a car.

Rob:

I think that's the best way for young drivers is to go out there and take it beyond the limits a little bit than what they would learn in a regular behind the wheel. So that's a great opportunity as well. One of the neatest things that I saw on their lineup for the year is the Art on Wheels vintage weekend. I'm kind of a vintage guy as you all know. And to see some of these old cars going around the track would be just awesome. I think it'd be kind of neat.

Darren:

I think that'd be a cool one to go to.

Rob:

Yeah, so I had picked that out as one of my favorites and they of course NASCAR Xfinity series is there Trans Am Speed tour, indy car. There's a lot of stuff going on

Bill:

And talking about the teens. You also have winter driving safety courses so that...

Rob:

Yes.

Bill:

If you're new to the area or just ever wondered what should I really be doing in winter? Driving on different pavements. They have it all set up for classes. That's pretty cool.

Darren:

I didn't know they did that.

Bill:

Yeah.

Rob:

Yeah, everything's going on down there. 640 acre park-like grounds. So it's definitely a destination. A place you'd wanna probably go for a long weekend. I don't think you do it in one day. You gotta travel there. You may as well camp. You may as well stay in hotels, motels sounds like a great place to go. Another one on my list cuz I have not been there. So let's get back to our podcast. We've got Darren Jackson of Darren Jackson racing here with us again and we're gonna be talking about race day. So we've talked about all the details and learned a lot about how you keep the car going and tires. We learned a lot about tires, which is awesome. Bill took a lot of notes.

Bill:

Before we go on to that, are there any other parts that you change out? You have the gear, we talked about the springs, the gears, the tires. Is there anything else that you change out that affects the vehicle and the performance on now I'll say on that particular track, is there anything that you change out on your vehicle? We talked about tires, shocks and things like that that change based on the track.

Darren:

We once in a while will change your positioning like where the rear end is. You can twist in...

Rob:

You can shift that. Okay.

Darren:

Side to side, back and forth.

Bill:

Like the body frame?

Darren:

Nope. The rear end itself.

Rob:

Okay. The rear axle.

Bill:

The length of the vehicle.

Darren:

One side to the other, just the rear end itself. Move that around.

Rob:

So the differential, the axle that the wheel's bolted to.

Bill:

Oh okay. Yeah. Oh.

Rob:

Really didn't know that was adjustable.

Darren:

Yep. The upper control arms, you can adjust that. Different angles, different links.

Rob:

Now there's no limit to how much you can adjust it or when you can adjust it in the series.

Darren:

Not really. It's you got a wheel base limit and a tread with limit. You stay within that. You can move it wherever you want.

Rob:

Cool. Cool.

Bill:

So I just have to ask outta curiosity. So like when you're shifting that axle length or direction, what difference does that again make on a particular track? Is it based on bank or flat?

Darren:

Lot of it. Like how long the corner is. If you need to get your car to turn a little more, you adjust it one way or the other. If your car's turning too well, you adjust it the opposite way. You can change the angles of the trailing arms that bolt the rear end in you change the angles of all that.

Rob:

Are these decisions that you are making based on what you're feeling? So you're the guy, you're saying we gotta do this, we gotta do that.

Darren:

Between me and then my buddy Jordan, like our crew chief, him and I basically.

Rob:

Your heads are working together all the time on this?

Darren:

Yeah. At all. Yeah. We're always thinking. We even the other day I told him some ideas. We were looking at stuff in the shop, we just never stop thinking about it.

Bryan:

So after you qualify, do you make adjustments at the track then? Based on what it felt like?

Darren:

Yeah.

Bryan:

And your lap times?

Rob:

Yep.

Rob:

That makes sense.

Darren:

We'll do it between practice. If we liked how it qualified, we'll run the heat race in that the way it is. Otherwise we'll make adjustments between the heat, between the feature. After qualifying though, pretty much

Bill:

Things are changing throughout the night then. And based on what,

Darren:

How the car feels. The time of day.

Bill:

Yep.

Darren:

Traffic...

Bryan:

Temperature

Darren:

Yep. As it gets towards night, the humidity and the air will change everything. The it's everything about the weather. It changes the car.

Bill:

Do you feel that your particular physical presence that day also changes the car?

Darren:

Absolutely.

Bill:

Okay.

Rob:

Explain that Bill. Explain that question.

Bill:

Well I just think of like, oh I have a tight shoulder today.

Rob:

Ah.

Bill:

And I have to turn left or right or whatever. I need to have the car adjusted because I am in a different physical situation.

Darren:

Even where your head's at that day will change if you're just not thinking clearly.

Rob:

Sure.

Darren:

It all affects it.

Rob:

You ever have a camera in your car or GoPro? Anything like that?

Darren:

Yeah, we had one on my helmet one time.

Rob:

That'd be cool.

Darren:

Yeah.

Bill:

One time?

Darren:

Yeah. Well just the way it positioned on my helmet, it sat kind of high so we didn't get the greatest of footage but we haven't done it in about a year now, so I was gonna try it again.

Rob:

So how many different tracks do you race on in a season?

Darren:

Well last year we ran on about six.

Rob:

Oh really?

Darren:

Yeah.

Rob:

What tracks are those?

Darren:

We ran Golden Sands full-time. We ran Marshfield full-time. We went up to Norway, Speedway in Michigan for their state line challenge. That was a fun one. We went to Lacrosse for Octoberfest. This year we're gonna do some Dell's races. We did Wausau last year. Our state park speedway, we went to their season opener. So we kind of got around a little bit last year and it was kind of fun. Something a little different.

Rob:

See it going that direction in the future too.

Darren:

Yeah.

Rob:

Traveling that much.

Darren:

Yeah. We were talking this year about the Dells is doing something a little different. They're gonna have two different points series, like more of like a weekly super late model deal with six races. We were looking at doing, we're gonna do Marshfield pretty much full-time like we have been,

Bill:

Is there any time that you have to make that decision to be able to enter that race or that series? Or can you just kind of show up the day before?

Darren:

You can just show up.

Bill:

Okay.

Darren:

Pretty much some of them bigger races, they'll have like a pre-entry or they give you a little bit of a deal if you pre-enter. But if you show up they're not gonna tell you you can't race

Bryan:

As long as you qualify.

Darren:

Right

Bill:

Right. And how much does it cost to enter a race?

Darren:

Depending on like your weekly stuff, it's not too bad. Get into a race for a few hundred dollars between your entry fees and then your tires and stuff. You go to the big shows for, you put four tires on, you're buying four practice tires too.

Bill:

I assume the track makes money off those sales. Yeah.

Rob:

Nothing's free.

Bill:

I'm just like, I never knew that the track controlled tires like that, so... Hmm...

Bryan:

So you guys run Hoosiers then?

Darren:

Yes, we do.

Bryan:

Goodyear's not at that level?

Darren:

Oh, Goodyear used to make 'em and they got out of the short track racing. Probably 10, 12 years ago from what I remember was about then.

Bryan:

Do you run any races that are high mileage where you gotta have pit crew change tires, refuel.

Darren:

We never changed tires, but the state line challenge last year had a pit stop halfway through.

Bryan:

Splash and go?

Darren:

It was kind of neat. They parked you on the front stretch so the fans could see you and you had 10 minutes. The crews come running out, the announcers go through, interview some of the drivers as...

Bryan:

That's cool.

Darren:

It was more for the fans, but it was a very cool experience. Work on the car as long as you didn't change tires, you do whatever you wanted.

Rob:

Oh that's different. That's neat. Yeah,

Darren:

I really liked it. We're doing that again this year. That was for sure on our list. If we had to do one race next year, that's the one we're doing.

Bill:

And where is that run at?

Darren:

That is Norway. Michigan.

Bill:

Okay.

Bryan:

How many miles was it then?

Darren:

Oh, it was a hundred lapper. So...

Bryan:

It's a third mile track.

Darren:

Yeah.

Bryan:

So about 30 miles.

Speaker 3:

Yeah. .

Rob:

It's a long night, isn't it?

Darren:

Yeah.

Bryan:

Sick of turning left at the end.

Darren:

Oh. We ended up getting wrecked with about 20 to go.

Bill:

Oh.

Bryan:

Oh no.

Darren:

We were the fastest car on the track too. We were about passing for fifth and guy behind us got into us and ended our both our nights, but it was a good time anyway.

Rob:

So I would imagine the speed that you're racing at really varies with the different length of tracks.

Darren:

Oh yeah.

Rob:

I mean by how much, what's the difference or what are the different lengths of tracks that you're running on?

Darren:

State park in Wausau, is a 1/4 mile for real small, not much grip. If you get to 65 miles an hour I'd...

Rob:

Okay.

Darren:

Be about it probably.

Bryan:

And Golden Sands got a high bank...

Darren:

High bank and you keep your speed up.

Bryan:

That's third mile.

Darren:

Yep. I'd say we're still going a hundred at the end of the straightaway at Golden Sands and go like...

Bryan:

That's like 10 seconds to make a lap or something like that.

Darren:

About 12.1 . We had fast time with the 12.1 This year.

Bill:

You made the comment about get six tires, train lap. Do you ever get dizzy?

Darren:

No.

Rob:

How do you do that? You talking about the hundreds laps, a hundred laps of going, going as fast as you can turning left.

Bill:

Yeah.

Rob:

How the heck do you do that?

Bryan:

Lots of concentration.

Bill:

Yeah.

Rob:

Who's clicking the laps? How do you know? Is there a sign that...

Darren:

Yeah.

Rob:

Goes up? Okay. Okay.

Bryan:

And you got so much time to read that sign.

Darren:

That particular one. I couldn't even see it, which was all right. They said at 50 Lap 50. It's time for a break. I'm like, all right.

Rob:

Wow. I can't imagine. So Darren on race night or when you're in the race, I mean, what's the one thing that you can do that makes the biggest difference in the outcome? In other words, what's your number one focus and what can you change as a driver as you're going round and round? Turning left, punching it to the floor.

Darren:

Part of it, depending on the track. I mean some tracks, there's just not much you can do. Golden Sands for example, is a lot of, you have to be super smooth. You have to hit the same mark every time. That's about all you can do. You go to Marshfield, you got some options. You can go high, you can go low. They've got rumble strips. If you can get your car to run on the rumble strips. You're gonna be good.

Rob:

Rumble strips are towards the inside?

Darren:

Yep.

Rob:

Okay.

Darren:

Pretty much a whole lane wide. They got on the bottom.

Rob:

So you say if you can get your car to run on the rumble strips, in other words, if you're successful in the rumble strips...

Darren:

Yeah.

Rob:

It's good?

Darren:

Yeah.

Rob:

Okay.

Darren:

It's just another lane for you.

Bill:

Uhhuh.

Darren:

It's just another lane for you at that point.

Rob:

Really?

Darren:

Yeah.

Bill:

That can't be comfortable running on the rumble strip

Darren:

I can just get used to it, I guess.

Bill:

Okay. All right. I'm just checking here.

Darren:

That's one nice part about Marshfield makes it fun to drive is you have options. If a guy's sitting in the middle, if you can make a car go high. If you can get low, you can go anywhere. And there's things a driver can do to make it better for yourself on the track.

Bryan:

Just like watching my Golden Sands try to pass somebody, It's...

Darren:

It's tough.

Bryan:

That's a challenge.

Darren:

Yes. Because everyone's so close in speed there and over the years the outside groove has kind of washed away just with age and it makes it tough passing.

Bill:

So then how do you ever win?

Rob:

Or lap?

Bryan:

You gotta pass.

Bill:

I guess so somehow you do, right?

Bryan:

Qualify number one.

Darren:

Gotta be good with the front bumper at some point.

Bill:

Okay. All right.

Rob:

Are there moves that you can't do that are against the rules? Such as you talked about the front bumper, I'm assuming that bumper's touching somebody.

Darren:

Yep.

Rob:

Okay. What can't you do?

Darren:

Mainly is you can't three wide golden sands. You can't go three wide.

Rob:

Okay.

Darren:

Marshfield is, it's iffy because you can go three wide, but if you cause a caution, you're disqualified. So it's kind of one of those should I or should I not do it?

Bill:

And that's usually dipping down on the inside.

Darren:

Yeah.

Bill:

I mean there's two cars ahead of you. You going into the inside of a...

Darren:

Yeah. Yeah. You'd never make it on the outside.

Rob:

Right.

Bryan:

They'd be looking at you for cheating.

Darren:

Yeah. Yeah.

Bill:

And you said that there's marks on the track. What does that mean? Are you hitting your marks?

Darren:

Just spots on the track where you're looking to put your tires, where you're looking to pick up the throttle, where you let off brake.

Rob:

So it sounds like consistency is really what you're looking for.

Darren:

Yeah. Especially at a place like Golden Sands where you have to be smooth the whole time. You cannot make a mistake there. That's why it's one of the tougher tracks to race really.

Bryan:

Any aspirations to jump up?

Darren:

No. There really isn't much unless we went, I would like to someday take our super late, maybe do some bigger races. That'd be about as far up as I'd like to go.

Bryan:

Like Milwaukee or something like that?

Darren:

Yeah. Something...

Bryan:

That's a mile track.

Darren:

Yep.

Bryan:

Flat track.

Darren:

Which they do run super lates there once a year. We'd need a bigger engine package for that.

Rob:

Might there be another generation of Darren Racing?

Darren:

Not yet.

Rob:

Not yet? I can see you passing it off like your dad did.

Darren:

Yep.

Bill:

Rob had talked about like what you can do in the race. What are the things that you do to get ready to race? Just physically or mentally?

Darren:

I don't know... Just try to stay relaxed really.

Bill:

Okay.

Darren:

Don't get too worked out.

Rob:

Do you get worked up anymore?

Darren:

Oh yeah.

Rob:

Do you? That's probably a good thing though. There's a certain level of that that you need adrenaline and...

Bryan:

No fear.

Darren:

Yeah. I've gotten hotheaded a couple times. People don't believe it, but it's happened.

Bill:

Got it. Right.

Bryan:

Must have the adrenaline...

Darren:

Yeah.

Bryan:

Is flowin' your race and...

Rob:

Now the part of race night, I always enjoyed the days that I had spent or the evenings at Golden Sands was at the end going in the pits and just looking at it. All the aftermath, I guess you can almost see the smoke still and smell the hot tires. I gotta believe you got some stories about the pits.

Darren:

Oh yeah.

Rob:

You got some things you could share with us.

Darren:

Yeah, we're usually in the top five for last people in the pits.

Rob:

Okay,

Darren:

So...

Rob:

So there's a little partying going on.

Darren:

Yeah, usually the cooler comes out and not usually every time... It's...

Rob:

And the spectators are able to come in and wander on through and...

Darren:

Yep. Which is nice. You get to interact with everybody, get to talk to 'em after the races. I enjoy that.

Rob:

And do you hand things out to the little kids or anything like that?

Darren:

Oh yeah. We got hero cards with picture of the car. Used to sign 'em for 'em.

Bryan:

Oh that's cool.

Rob:

Yeah, that's neat.

Darren:

Other sponsors give us business cards, can coozies, whatever they want handed out. It's all on the back of the car with the candy.

Bryan:

Nice.

Darren:

So... It works out pretty well.

Rob:

A lot of pictures going on.

Darren:

A lot of pictures.

Rob:

Yeah.

Darren:

It's fun you meet people that I've never met before that are sitting there cheering you on. It's kind of cool.

Rob:

Yeah, that's cool. Feel like you're on top of the world.

Darren:

Yeah.

Rob:

For sure.

Bill:

Is there anything that we have not asked that you would like to talk about or answer?

Darren:

I guess I don't really know. I think I'm good.

Bill:

Okay.

Rob:

As a proud third year sponsor, Schierl Tire, The Store and Subway, we know that night at the races isn't possible without your loyal fans. What do your fans mean to you and your team?

Darren:

That's the reason we do it. Really. I've always wanted to be the guy, some little kid's looking up to, cause I was that kid at one point and just wishing one day I could be there being that guy and now I hope I'm that guy for somebody else.

Rob:

So here's your shot. If you could give one message of inspiration to those little go-kart drivers out there, what would that be?

Darren:

Don't give up when it gets hard cause it's always hard.

Bill:

That makes sense.

Rob:

Perseverance. Just keep going. Well thank you very much Darren, for allowing the rare inside look at the super late model racing in central Wisconsin through the eyes of Darren Jackson Racing. From your Proud sponsors Team Schierl Companies we wish you a number one season for good old number two.

Darren:

Thanks for having me.

Rob:

We hope to have you ride along next time on All About the Car. To listen to previous episodes, find additional resources, or to simply send us a message, head to all about the car podcast dot com. We'll see you next time.