An Unrelentless Drive To Make It Brought Jefferson Hodges To JRM and Team Penske | Dale Jr. Download

Dale Earnhardt Jr. reconnects with a figure from his past when he sits down with Team Penske NASCAR team manager Jefferson Hodges.

After growing up admiring his Uncle Dale Lemonds’ racing career, Jefferson found his way into the racing world through Rick Townsend’s late model stock outfit in the Richmond, Virginia area. From there, he’d make his way onto the NASCAR Cup scene thanks to Tommy Baldwin, who was working for Junie Donlavey Racing at the time. When the Donlavey team began to slow, Jefferson returned to Townsend and found his footing as a team leader and crew chief.

Jefferson would play an integral role in the progression of JR Motorsports from a late-model stock team to one of the leading organizations in the NASCAR Xfinity roster. Jefferson had found success in the late model ranks with driver Mark McFarland, and after taking home a NASCAR Whelen All-American Championship, the two were destined for Charlotte. Through a driver switch up, the two found themselves at JR Motorsports, and when success in late models led to the possibility of expanding into NASCAR’s secondary division, the number-88 Xfinity ride was born.

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Hey everybody it’s Dell junr back again for another episode of the Dell junr download here on this Wednesday Our Guest segment brought to you by Ally here in the Bojangle Studio Jefferson Hodges is our guest all right we’re ready for our guest segment brought to you by Ali do it right episode

516 we’re going to talk about why Jefferson Hodges this is probably not a a name that you recognize but I always get asked about how to get involved in NASCAR and I Jefferson’s story about how he was able to get involved in this Sport and all the different paths that

It took him down is really uh compelling to me but he also literally helped us get Junior Motorsports off the ground back when Junior Motorsports first started we were a solely a lake model stock team he tells the story of how we grew into an exfinity race team and he

Was at the controls of getting all the operations going so I’m uh looking forward to reliving some of those memories and also hearing just the sacrifices that Jefferson had to make uh to be able to get into this Sport and and stay and make it work so appreciate

Uh Ally and everything they do uh let’s get right to it and get Jefferson in the Room get up on that mic all right we’re going for a ride all right um Jefferson Hodges is here on the Dell junr download and um I wanted to tell people this is the way I’ve been teeing up this show it’s like we I know your story and and it’s a

Great one we’re going to hear it but um I get asked all the time how to get in racing how do you get in racing how do you get in racing how do what do I do what do I do and I think that you’re a great example or story of this

Is how you do it this is the sacrifices that you’re going to have to make this is this you know your path is not going to be perfect and uh and it will be with uh challenges everybody thinks you turn in a resume and and they call you and

You show up and off you go yeah not like not not quite that easy is it no I’ve got one from Pensky that said thanks but no thanks 20 years ago yeah and now um now you’re a big player over there at Pinsky helping them have a ton of

Success but before we get there um I wanted to say thanks for coming in Jefferson I saw you in La a couple weeks ago and I was we got to talking and I was like man I think it’d be great to get you on the show and talk about where

You where youve been and and and your story and plus um one thing that’s unique about you is you helped us get Junior mer for started yeah I’d like to think so yeah you did and so you were you’re a massive uh we we leaned on you

When it came to to put our program together and I want to talk about that as well but first off man from Williamsburg Virginia um a lot of late model stock racing happening up and around that area but uh what was your what was your original connection to Motorsport so I’m

From a semi- racing family my uncle raced growing up not anyone in my immediate family yeah so kind of grew up in and around Langley um was a huge Elton Sawyer fan when I was a kid and you know his cars were always beautiful and clean and and erased clean and and I

Just thought it was like pretty interesting the way he did it uh but you know just kind of kept up with my uncle a lot and and as his career progressed and I got a little bit older you know I could start driving myself to the race

Shop and and helping him a little bit and and you know I’m sure some of it was he was just being nice cuz he was family but like he really started kind of leaning on me and and you know I you know I remember the first time he took

My advice and and tried something and it worked and was like dang this guy’s been you know winning my whole life and do you remember what that advice was yeah we were he was uh he was letting square and up a rear end mess with him you know

Just cuz had struggling to figure out like why he couldn’t get it square and so you know it’s like back then it was a three step process and each step would mess up one of the other ones and you just kind of had to keep getting it

Closer and closer and um I just that gave me that sense of like I can do this yeah like I can do this better than somebody else so I’m going to do it so um you’re helping your Uncle and going to the racetrack and getting introduced

To racing um did you ever want to drive no no um you worked with uh so was Langley sort of the only track you went to there for a while did you go to the RAC tracks yeah I went to Southside on Friday nights they’d run and that was

Before you know Southampton came along but that was like after I had already started kind of doing it for a living um but Langley was always home you know it was where my grandparents lived really close to it so we could kind of like go down there um and you know spend the

Weekend they lived on the bay on the water and you could you know you could do a little boa and do a little racing at night and kind of just it all went together um but that’s that’s where I got the first you know taste of it it’s

Like my dad took me to Southside every Friday night and and uh you know Langley was like the the rabbit for behaving if I was if I behaved and I was good and my grades were where they needed to be then then we got to go there and and like you

Know see some some better stuff so what Rick Townsen is a a really cool dude uh that me and you both know really well um and um I I you know I I think we’ll learn how big of an influence he was for you but I I um always thought he uh was

Such a great guy uh how how did you meet Rick Rick is a Rick is as we would you know as as we would understand him at least as I would know him was a chassis Builder yep um but he was more than that um so talk

About Rick and and getting to know him and how you ended up over there so Rick was a legend in Virginia in all the late M stock car world and um you know kind of had like this whole other path even before he came to Virginia he was you

Know him and Mike beam were were with Butch Lindley when but was just tearing up short track racing all over the place and um he he had this idea to build these what was called a late mile stock car and you know they started in 1982 at Old Dominion Speedway up in Manasses

Virginia so there was really at the time there was two people that built him Emanuel cvus and Rick and his partner Ricky Dennis um so you know just kind of growing up in that area it was you know you either had one or the other you were

Either a Cowboys fan or a fan like you couldn’t be both right um and you know just through coincidence one of the cars that my uncle had when I was younger Rick had built and I kind of just always remembered it it was just better looking than the other ones like

The you know the welds and the detail and the little things were nicer and you know he would wreck it and and it would go to Rick and when it would come back it looked better than it did before he wrecked it right so I graduated from

High school went to college stayed close to Richmond wasn’t really the plan um I had all intentions of doing a semester close to home and then transferring to Virginia Tech and in the meantime I found Rick’s shop it was close to school and like just pure coincidence drove by

It saw the sign and was like Ah that’s where I belong so I went in and and introduced myself and I’ll never forget it I didn’t actually meet Rick the first time I went there I met Ricky Dennis Y and I told him who my uncle was and he

Said man I’m sorry he was kind of just you know the way to break the ice um um and I asked for a job and I offered to come in at night and clean the shop and empty trash cans and do whatever um you know just for that opportunity and they

Said well man we’re not going to make you do that but we are looking for somebody and they needed someone to cut pipe Notch it bend it for these roll cages that they were building around the corner and you know looking back on it been better off emptying the trash cans

It was tough work but um yeah they gave me my start and they were both Rick and Ricky both were just as adamant about me finishing College as my parents were um I still lived at home when I was doing this and that was kind of the deal like

You’re going to finish school um so I worked part-time for them for quite a while until I finished you know and and graduated and then once I did that it was game on yeah so um you know what kind of person was Rick I like I like to

Talk about him because he was yeah he was a special guy yeah his story needs to be told more rck was like one of the coolest people you could ever meet he was brilliant like there was he bar nun one of the smartest race car people I’ve

Ever met in my life there was nobody’s car that he touched that he didn’t make better right like he made he made people that raced winners and he made winners Champions all over the East Coast um but there was something about him that he wanted to

Share all this knowledge you where a lot of these guys especially back then they they might have known everything that Rick knew but they wanted to keep it close to their pocket and and they didn’t want to share it and they were afraid that you know the next guy was

Going to replace him or outdo him and and Rick was just wanted to share with whoever would pick up the phone and call him you didn’t even have to have one of his cars like I mean that was his way of selling stuff was making somebody else’s

Race car better yeah um but he didn’t care I mean he obviously cared cuz he had a business and he needed to pay the bills but making money wasn’t why Rick was in it he just loved racing and he loved helping people and and I don’t I

Never really got a straight answer out of him what it was about me that that he latched on to but I mean it it was unbelievable and I wouldn’t I wouldn’t be anywhere without him so you worked there for about four years at the same time um you’re you started calling Tommy

Baldwin yeah right who’s working at junor dun Livy team yep how did you get his number so they there was you know like in Richmond there was three games in town right you either worked for Rick Emanuel survis and if you went Cup racing you work for Mr dunlevy um and

There was there was two guys that worked with me at Townsen um they were they were great Fabricators um still very close friends of mine and they both left and went to work for juny and honestly it really hadn’t crossed my mind at the time I was still still pretty young I

Was like 19 years old barely 20 um and I thought if they can do it I can do it I just need a chance I just need someone to give me a chance so looking back on it the fact that Tommy We went on break at Townson at 9:45 every morning and

Every Monday morning at 9:45 I would call Tommy Baldwin and ask him for an interview and I’m still to this day convinced that the only reason he gave me the interview is so I would stop calling him um um but think about it now there was no private planes back then

Juny was barely flying commercial back then and this guy was at work at 9:45 on Monday mornings no matter where they raced and like now that I look back on it and think about it it’s like that was more impressive than than even you know my opportunity just the work ethic that

That dude has is crazy and he still has it like um but yeah went up there and and uh it kind of turned out to be a funny story I was super nervous like went in there and like you know it’s Cup racing man it’s like the coolest thing in the

World and we sit down and we talk for a little bit and we go in the back and he said I’m goingon to give you a welding test and and here’s the deal if I can weld better than you don’t ever call me again yeah if you weld better than

Me then you got a job so we go back there to the welder and I had my welding helmet my glove and like if nothing else if you welded for Rick Townsen you’re you can well better than anybody Bar None So I knew it like I had it in the

Bag like you got I got you I got you right where I want you now so he you know he made a valid attempt and and then I you know then I did mine and and I got my job and it was cool damn yeah

How long did you work there about a year and a half yeah so I worked there all of 98 half of 99 driver Dick Trickle drove in 98 had H Myers it was the last year that um and you know at the end of the season the highight Myers company ended

Up shutting down um very soon after that and trickle went on his way and and uh after that it was kind of like you know they had the Dukes mayonnaise deal the sour company and Hut Strickland drove it Hut was a great dude and he was a ton of

Fun y but you could kind of see the writing on the wall you know the the um everything was pushing towards Charlotte and there wasn’t a line of sponsors out the door to come you know sponsor the 90 car in Richmond Virginia so kind of looked around and you got 30

Really talented guys and they’ve all got Cup racing on their resume now and there’s not a lot of other people in Richmond that do and it was like I got to beat these guys back to work for Rick before the floodgates open and this place shuts down you needed to go back

To Rick Town’s because you thought it’d be a heavy competition for that yeah and I knew there would that or they were all going to have you know the sun might move to Charlotte to try to pursue opportunities there and and Charlotte to me still wasn’t in the conversation

Because even though I was pretty well-rounded from working for Rick it was still at a late model level you know we built some Xfinity cars some trucks and stuff like that but like my Niche was late model racing was short track racing um and and working for juny you

Get to do a lot of things I was a shock Builder changed front tires set cars up was a fabricator but you come down here and you start telling people in Charlotte that in the late 90s and they’re going to be like yeah right cuz everybody kind of had a thing that they

Did and and I didn’t want to be that guy I didn’t want to move to Charlotte um away from everything I knew sure just to put rear windows in a stock car for the rest of my life like as cool as it would have been so I made a little

Attempt at it I talked to some people down here I you know Ricky Rd was obviously local Legend knew some people that knew him came down here and talked to him and W Wilson at the time and um applied at Pensky just because it was Pensky and

And um you know either didn’t get what I thought was right for me or didn’t get anything and went back to work for Rick yeah um and that was kind of the deal with the him and I like I want to be able to do this stand on my own two feet

And that’s what we did what do you remember working with uh with uh Dick Trickle I he was a pretty interesting guy like I mean he was you know he was kind of the guy that would which it was a little bit different different back then it wasn’t you know the drivers

Weren’t as private they were you know they stay at the hotel with you and they kind of ride around but he just wanted to be one of the guys and race um you know a lot of the you know like a lot of the rumors you hear about the briefcase

With the hard candy and the extra cigarettes like they were true they’re real um but the the coolest Dick Trickle story I have 1998 was the 50th anniversary of NASCAR right so they changed the logo for like the first time now they do it all the time but now it

That was the first time we had ever seen a massive logo change and it had the 50th anniversary and the gold and the last race of the Season he had two different fire suits depending on whatever the uh paint on the car was one was solid white and one

Was black the white one he gave me after the last race like took it off baled it up handed it to me and said here thanks and it’s like I still have it to this day it’s just cool like it’s got the little zipper you know where the

Cigarettes and the lighter lived it’s got his name on it this 50th anniversary and like it just to be that young 98 so I was 20 and and to have you have the did you have the lighter inside the car the lighter was in the car yep where how

How it was on the door so what was the what was the mediate reaction when when you got when you went to the race shop to work there the first time and somebody said yep uh got the checklist uh y got the lighter in there like no

Race car no that’s the only race car in the history of NASCAR yeah in those days at least that had a lighter in it yeah and I don’t think Mr dunlevy was a huge fan of it so it was kind of like the unspoken thing you did for for trickle

Right um but yeah it was true you know and i’ had seen people that had taped gum on their Dash or different little things but but yeah that was uh it was real and um you know obviously there was places that he didn’t use it like a road

Course where he had his hands full or something but um think about that yeah open face helmets and and he did actually convert to a closed face helmet for a couple races like later in that year and it it kind of kashed that but um it was real it was real that’s

Awesome yeah I got to hang around him when I was young we uh one of my friends dad worked on the 66 tropo car that he drove to Kell ARB and he was so nice I mean a couple Punk kids you know 13 12 14 years old being in the way he

Couldn’t have been nicer um and and he had the briefcase with underwear and and cigarettes and Reesey cups yeah I was going to leave the underwear part out you you can see yeah and pair of Whitey ties in there that’s right um so when so what does are you there till the last

Day no no you left before done Liv I did junor shut down y um and you went back to Rick’s I did right so when you go back to Rick are you you just slot right back into where you were you got a better position uh a little bit of both

And one one thing about leaving jun’s Tommy Baldwin left at the end of 98 right and it was nothing against the people that came in after him but they weren’t Tommy Baldwin yeah um and I felt like for a year I was drinking from a

Water F like a big garden hose like just learning so much so it wasn’t just about leaving juny or or beating the mad rush that I did see coming it was also I was too young to not not have anyone to look up to not have anyone to learn from and by no

Means am I saying that I knew everything yeah I was just surrounded by a bunch of people like me um so I knew yeah I’d go back to work for Rick and just go back to learning yeah so you go back to work with uh with Rick and

Um it said you worked with Robert poell yeah so I’m surprised by that because I grew up racing Robert at the beach in 90 in 934 five Robert raced at Florence in the beach every week and his you know his dad ran Somerville and uh Florence M

Speed Way and Robert lived around that area how is he and I know he did in the in the earlier 90s or late 80s run a run a a bush race or two so I know he got out of that little bubble down there in in Myrtle Beach in that area but how

Does he end up driving for Rick so he only ran two races for us but but it was a really good record the two that he ran so what happened was whoever he had driven for before he had lost his ride but he owned the

Motor so he came he came to Rick and Ricky and wanted had a motor and wanted us to build him a car to go to Martinsville and uh just like that just like that and truth be told it turned out really well so he might deny it but

Ricky Dennis wasn’t a huge fan of it right was the one that made sure we all got paid every Friday and it’s definitely something uh looking back on it and him and I have talked about this I didn’t understand how hard that was to do when you own a small business until I

Had to worry about you know paying people uh but Rick and I were like yeah we’re going to build this car we’ve only got like two weeks to do it we’ll work all day we’ll work all night and like I just thought the world of Rick like if I

Could hang around him for 23 hours a day like I was going to do it so we drug the metal out of the rack and and that was kind of the deal Ricky made with us was like you can’t take anything out of production you can’t take anything off

The shelf if you’re going to do this build it all like everything else is already inventory and has a place and you know at the end of the day had a price tag on it so we built this car and we barely made it to the racetrack um

Went to Martinsville and thing was lightning quick um so special about it it was um there was a a guy named Lee mallister had come with Robert and him and Rick had kind of Lee was like brilliant when it came to short track racing and he and Rick put their head

Together and redesigned the whole front clip it was like nothing that you would ever seen and there was so many attempts at what the right heights were that we ultimately ended up like welding washers over all these slots in random holes cuz they kept working on it getting it

Better getting it better and there was no pull Downs or anything like you know you’re talking Plum Bobs and chalk on the floor and was like when it got all done you know we welded washers around all these slots to like make what would be the hole on the final product yeah

And um it it just worked and it was it was new and it was awesome and the car was beautiful and you know we had you know over there trying to build this thing as fast as we could and weighing every part that we put on it and just

Kind of just super conscious of it and got a lot of buying from some of the other guys in the shop and you know when it was all said and done it was like the morning before you used to go there and you’d Park your trailer like the day

Before and you’d have to be in line the day before that and it was a whole event and we didn’t leave till like the night of yeah Drove all night to get there and you know it was awesome parked in the back and parked in the back didn’t have

Anything we had to borrow jack stands and a jack Danny Edwards Jr like it was a it was a thing and you won the race yeah beat him bad really it was impressive yeah he started ninth he uh he raced up front you know back then

They had to invert I got inverted back to S sth it didn’t take him very long to get back to the front and just you know just ran away with it um and then pass Tech which back then was really hard and Rick and I didn’t know a whole lot about

The motor at the time you know was like Robert pal had brought it and you know it’s like you know Robert pal kind of wasn’t necessarily always the straightest shooter in the tech shed so it was like where you ran another race with him where was that Myrtle Beach the

400 oh yeah and prob that’s his wheelhouse yeah yeah it was his wheelhouse so he probably yep he ran good there what year was this 99 99 yeah so like I did the world 600 with juny and that was the last race I ran with

Him and then kind of went back yeah and and we started working on this little project the two races with Robert foul man that that I love when that name comes up in in in in a conversation because I spent many years chasing him yeah around the beach he’s a beast he

Was good I ran I have the car that I have I have a car that I raced in 96 that I’m going to put back together it’s won One race like who restores a car that’s only won one event right it ran 16 races at Florence in 1996 and ran

Second to Robert 14 of those races I believe it uh you know when he was and so that we won a race I come home walk in the shop put the trophy up on top of the Lance cracker machine first thing I want Dad to see when he comes home comes

In the shop that morning he walks in looks up there sees a trophy and the first thing he says is was Robert there and he was like yeah he didn’t he wasn’t there dad he well you didn’t beat him was he really not there he wasn’t ohz he

Wasn’t there that night and we won but um yeah I uh Robert pal Charlie and and and that whole family man it’s uh it was it was it taught me a lot racing against them because they were so hard to beat so um you around this time you get to work

On Mark McFarland’s cars yeah yeah so that was 99 and then um 2000 is when is is actually it turned out to be much more ironic than it seemed at the time but that’s when NASCAR’s Diversity Program was all spread all over the country every there was different race teams that represented

Each one of these drivers and at towns in the house car we had an opportunity to be one of those um through a guy named Sam Belz that was you know a player at Rous at the time and Rick came to me after this Martinsville Race and

Said I think you’re ready to to crew chief this car and and to take care of it we’re going to build it but we’re going to keep it here and we’re going to race it all season and you’re going to be responsible for everything from the

Truck to the drinks in the cooler to the car itself and so that was my first real opportunity to do something like to crew chief something to be in charge of something to have something that was mine you know sink or swim and and Rick

Didn’t let me do it by myself he he was there with me um but but it was kind of my deal so we had some luck with that we actually won um at in Jacksonville North Carolina um was the first race that program had ever won and then that lured

Mark the fact that we had these house cars now cuz Mark was kind of like uh at the time in 20002 2001 he was like he was going to drive for whoever had the hot lit car at the time or whoever was going to help him the most cuz they were

Trying it was a family run deal and they were trying not to spend everything they made um and we never could get him in one of these towns in cars cuz that was like that was definitely one of our things we didn’t give anything to anybody like everybody paid the same

Price nobody was getting anything for free like we didn’t Rick and Ricky didn’t feel like they had to give anything away to put the best in their cars yeah so once there was this house car program and there was a little bit more to it that’s how we got Mark in the

Towns and car and and then Mark and I you know were the same age had a you know really similar ideas on what we wanted to to do with life which was nothing but race um and we were both willing to do no matter what no matter

How much work it took it was kind of unspoken it just happened but he never left my side and I wasn’t leaving his and we just won everything there was to win yeah yall uh won the National Championship together um Mark McFarland would would end up driving for Junior

Motorsports um at at one point in his career and then he goes on later uh in his career as a really successful crew chief himself in K&N series and and and working with Tai Gibbs and other drivers um but uh you mark moves to Charlotte

He’s gonna go drive a truck yeah so part of winning that Dodge weekly RAC in series which you got an opportunity to drive a Dodge truck right Y and so he he’s going to take that opportunity and he goes down south to do that uh you go

Back to Rick’s Rick town I had never left you never left car was there so all the time that Mark and I were racing it was all that’s why I say you we worked it was all at night and on the weekends I still worked seven to five building

Chassis for Rick yeah and so um I bought a car from y’all I’ve been racing y’all Rick’s cars since the mid 90s but I bought a car from y’all um because of my appreciation for for Rick and and and and Ricky Dennis and and um just the good quality cars that they

Were uh we started racing TJ Majors yep and uh we B we basically so we built a street stock car for TJ he ran that for a year at Concord and then we’re like all it’s time to go late model stock racing we’ll buy a car Willie uh Jackson

My my my mom’s husband was going to manage all that for me and we’d send them down the road to race um we had a lot of different people trying to help make that thing work and we struggled y um I didn’t know much about how to get

Them to where they needed to be and um uh we would bring the car to you uh and and you would always kind of straighten us out yeah so so help help me understand where we are at that point yeah so we built that car and I remember

The first time we went and tested at Orange County and had Timothy Peters Drive at first and it was like TJ wasn’t that much that far off Timothy and and at the time Timothy was like the guy at Orange County so we all kind of left

With you know some high hopes and um it was you know I I’ve described it before as it was kind of a a cycle we would we would get the car and kind of hand it off to you guys and tjd go run third and then he’d run fifth and then he’d run

Eighth and then the phone would ring and we’d get the car back and then he’d go run second and then he’d run fifth and then he’d run 10th and then we’d get the car back and you know TJ called one day I’ll never forget it I was had a

Wheelbarrow full of door bars that like I was putting on the Shelf because at the time I had transitioned to you know building chassis but I was also like kind of in charge of a lot of inventory and dealing with customers and you know now we have portable phones and so like

I wore one at work and when the phone would ring and someone needed setup advice like Rick was you know overwhelmed with there was too many people calling now like it the business was really running yeah um so I was kind of doing parts of that and the phone

Rings and I answer it as TJ and he was looking for someone to come work on his car and like there was a part of me that meant it and there was a part of me that was just being a smartass and was like I’ll come do it and like didn’t really

Think much of it and he asked if I was serious and I said yeah sure like you know at that point I felt like um not that I needed to cash in on the success that Mark and I had had but Mark was down here in Charlotte and I

Wasn’t and it was kind of like driving me nuts cuz I you know I knew that that we were capable of doing some some great stuff not just me and him but like him and then me um um so I needed to go so like like I said

Part of it was being a smartass but part of it I meant luckily somebody else called me back who your sister yep yeah so Kelly called you and y’all sorted out I mean how hard was that decision how hard was it to go tell Rick what what

Were their thoughts so yeah it was it was it was interesting cuz like we had done a bunch of not a bunch we had done quite a bit of testing with Kelly right to where like I didn’t um it wasn’t that strange to be talking to her on the

Phone right like we had gone to South Boston and tested with her when she drove a couple times so like I knew her a little bit um to where I was comfortable enough to like talk about all the things that you know concerned me yeah um and and you know truth be

Told I don’t to tell you this but you guys took really good care of me during that whole process like I was married and owned a house and um you know made us feel like part of the family from day one the it the hardest part even harder

Than telling my parents and my sister um was telling Rick like I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth oh my gosh like the earlier you know in in ’98 like it was the the com you know I didn’t have the position I had at Townson when I

Left to go work for juny um and the company wasn’t doing like competitively it was always doing well but it wasn’t doing as good as it was the second time um I felt like I was leaving him and Ricky in a pickle and um you know that was hard

Yeah um Rick is this bearded big big dude big dude he’s like Santa Claus he like one of El’s telling Santa he’s gonna have to leave but he actually told me when I told him why I was leaving that if I didn’t leave that I wasn’t

Near as smart as he thought I was and then he would fire me so it defin it ended like you know relieved but I I’ll never forget it I sat in his office he had a picture of him and Mike beam and Butch Lindley like down their shop in

Greenville behind him from this from the late yep from the long time ago from the early ‘ 80s I guess and it was like it just I don’t know what happened but nothing would come out of my mouth and like you know just tears and it was a

Mess like I felt like I was leaving my own dad oh yeah yeah all right so um you come to moresville yeah all right what was your first impressions when you walked in the shop I mean you you weren’t unfamiliar with the shop but no and and I don’t

Don’t it’s hard to explain without sounding like you know you a hurt forget I’m here no it’s not about you it just it there was nothing about it that I didn’t think that this was just going to be easy like it’s just a late model it just had a different address right we

Were going to go to the same racetracks we were going to race the same people um you know now we’re just going to do it with TJ yeah and and the car is orange and instead of red but like it was the exact same car I literally built that

Car like the chassis from the ground up the rear end every piece of it other than the internal parts of the motor I built it so I knew it like the back of my hand um you know I knew and nothing against anybody that had worked on it

But you get a bunch of people that are you know that friends and they all want to come help they’ve all got different opinions and you kind of mix it all together and it’s just not going to work right it’s like individually any one of them probably could have made that car

Go faster and that was kind of the opportunity that I had there was nobody else it was just me like I was in that room by myself me and Willie and you know Willie was like he was was willing to do anything I asked to help but he

Wasn’t going to tell me sure what to do on the car no um and he didn’t which I really appreciated like and you know it probably didn’t go appreciated enough that he let people do their jobs but I changed everything and just put it back

But I knew what was right like we had won car with races with those type cars all over the country so like it sounds arrogant but I didn’t come down here with like there was not an ounce of me that was nervous I just wanted to go

Racing yeah how did it go it went pretty good I think uh I think it was the fifth race we ran we went to South Boston for that was kind of the deal we made you didn’t want us camping out at a racetrack so I was a little jealous when

Your late Mall program progressed and then you guys started camping out at Hickory and all these places it was like dang we had to move all over the place so we uh our deal is three races and then move on so we went and ran our three at at South Boston and

Progressively you know better each week I think you know TJ got to understand me and and he was um you know he was like that part of his career and his age where like trust was a big thing and he was trying to figure out who he could

Trust and who he couldn’t um and the second stop was Motor Mile and we went up there and and we didn’t just win it was a they had it was a big money race they had a bounty on Frank Denny Jr which was like another Richmond guy that

Like there was nobody better to beat than Frank Denny Jr he’s always you know barking and you know talking about how great he was and and we won and took all his money and it was great Danny Hamlin was in that race yeah yeah yeah so um

You know the thing about TJ you you you mentioned it we we went to we took that car brand new tested it Orange County and ran third in his very first race in that car yep and uh I was like oh man we’re going to be good MH third um and

TJ had TJ did have real ability absolutely right did he had it um the one thing that TJ didn’t have was a filter and and an ability to to button it up his mouth when when when he needed to does he now yeah I don’t think so I

Don’t think he’s learned that but he’s got he’s earned the right to be the way he is now but back then we were like hey you know um and so things there was a uh I remember you might remember it differently I remember we’re coming up on there was an

Announcement there would be a late mile stock race at Bristol and I remember thinking damn I don’t know if TJ needs to go run that and I was like I think we need we need to te I need to tell TJ that he he probably can’t run that race I don’t

Know what we’re going to do and that pissed TJ off yeah and TJ really really got annoyed by that and then I got annoyed by his reaction to it I’m like well it’s my damn car and I don’t think you’re going to run Bristol I don’t want

It I don’t want you to go up there and run it yeah and we ended up getting a bit of a spat about it and we called Mark and Mark would end up getting in the car is that pretty much the sequent of events no that’s yeah I mean I think

Everyone recognized that putting a late mile stock around Bristol at the time was dangerous yeah right like the cars um it’s not made for that kind they’re not made for that kind of stuff and that race was originally that was the old U Stars tour and that’s what it was

Supposed to be was like the most elite late model drivers in the country um you know it it wasn’t made for the ones that that were learning how to do it yep um so yeah I mean that’s that’s pretty much exactly how I remember it and I don’t

Know that I really ever knew what was after Bristol for TJ right but I do remember his reaction and I remember thinking I get it but you’re going to regret it and and you know it was it was a while like it was a bumpy road there for

A minute you know getting you know for TJ to understand but I think there was I always felt like there was a part that you know everybody’s got a place in this Sport and I think you know maybe you had kind of started to realize that that might

Not be his place in the seat but that there was something bigger for him out there and and obviously like he’s found it right he’s awesome so we we called um Mark yep Mark was in between jobs and uh we said hey Mark McFarland come drive

This car we got this four race sort of schedule we’re going to do in a solid month yep um I know Nashville Fairgrounds was one of the races y’all didn’t want to go there n but I was like please go run that race I want to win I

Want a card that can go win a race there yep um you ran three other places and we we got 40 Grand in four weeks yep total yeah and then we were like all right yeah we’re done mhm um what do you remember after that yeah so we we went

On that little tear yep the Nashville thing always stuck out cuz they had a different motor rule there and our motor was supposed to be not competitive um and not because of of who built it just because of the rules and I remember going calling some friends at race there and getting lap

Times and we had just gotten this new totor home right like it was like fancy and it was beautiful and we get in it we drive to Nashville and and I don’t remember what the lap times were they said you were supposed to run but we

Were like a second quicker and I thought these guys are lying to us and we just kept working and it like Mark’s like ah like no they’re lying like we just work work worked all day we worked that’s all we did was work on this car slept in the

Totor home when the GU showed up the next morning like sign in Saturday morning like there’s these you know two or three bums from North Carolina that like slept in the parking lot the thought of going downtown Nashville and like you know having a beer listening

Like it never crossed our mind like we were just racing and uh they weren’t lying that is as fast as they could go and like we had worked our fingers to the Bone and were just lightning fast and it was the one and only time that Mark and I ever had

Any and it was comical it wasn’t heated at each other but it was the one and only time there was ever any animation on the radio he had such a big lead all I could think about was that they’re going to tear this thing down to the

Last nut and bolt and you’re going to expect us to race again in six days and it’s like dude slow down like you’ve got to slow down like and and he finally came over the radio and he was like you know if I go any slower I’m going to wreck this piece of

Sh but anyway we won by a country mile do the whole thing like got the coolest trophy like it gave the it gave the the grandfather clock at Martinville a runford his money like big bronze eagle and we go to Tech and like I’m Sweating Bullets like we’re going to be there

Till the sun comes up like they hate us right and you know the guy comes over and he says is it legal I like yeah built it myself it’s legal and he gave us a case of Schafer oil and told us not ever come back that was it no so there

Was like no tech there was nothing we like got this case of oil we got this cool Trophy and a big check and and you know back to moresville we go that’s hilarious y but they told us not to ever come back the wait is over NASCAR fans

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I think your exact words were I’m not going to pay you two to go around the east coast and beat up on these late mile guys anymore so it was what are we going to do and it was the choice there was the Hooters Pro Cup Series which

Ended up being like the coolest racing still to this day I’ve ever done really like maybe excluding the Rolex 24 the indy500 or something like that but like just short track racing like the people that did it were just awesome and it was so hard mainly cuz Mark and I were

Clueless of what was going on but it was just fun or arcer racing and you know we decided to go pro Cup racing so we built a couple cars uh got them from Steve levit got some Motors oh yeah we did get Lev’s cars got some mot we get lit’s car

We had those in the cup series I was running them on my cup cars on the front clip they that Levitz clip was a thing that was the thing and he and he was awesome like I remember begging Rick to build these cars like I had this like

Pipe dream in my head that I was I was going to go back to Richmond for like a month we were going to build these two pro cup cars just me and Rick it was going to be like the good old days like that’s why our late model program in my

Mind was so successful cuz like I built it with my own hands i’ never really at this point in my life I had never raced a car that I didn’t build like literally build like not just assembled from the box but like built the chassis so there

Was a part of me that was a little leery of like how this was going to go down and I just Rick wasn’t having it like he had built Pro cup cars before um he had kind of been burnt by the rule book like we had before I moved here like the most

Dominant Pro cup cars there were and they changed the rule book and made them illegal so he was just not going to deal with it so he had kind of like seconded the vote to go to levit so that’s how we ended up there yeah um had some motors

From Automotive Specialists and the only real requirement you had was that we hired your uncles to put the bodies on which you know I I’ll never forget Uncle Robert y so we go over to their shop over in Concord and they’re like gosh we we got uh you know it’s like hey they

Had a speck greenhouse and a nose and tail and then the rest of it was like a free for all yes and so go over there and meet them and like I knew who they were but I didn’t know them personally right and like when you meet them they’re characters right like

They’re a blast from the past oh yeah um and they’re really not into someone like they don’t want to hear my crap right like they’re going to do their thing and they don’t need me and like I’m just a fly on the wall so I’m like can you do this yeah have

You ever done it before nope and I’m like oh this a they’re like what do you need a rule book that’s it yeah just give us a rulebook how about a template nope just the rule book like okay so we Dro these cars off and one thing I did

Learn this process is you’re not going to rush them cuz they’re not going to hurry up for you yeah so we got this first car like if we needed it a month before the first race at Lakeland we got it like two weeks before and they really

Didn’t see the problem with it or care so we put this thing together we go test it and it was kind of like the Nashville story all over again like we went down there and you know you’re racing against Shane Huffman and Kay Rogers and Jay

Fogelman and you know Bobby Gil and just like the who’s who of short track racing and like we were faster than all of them and we’re like d they’re lying to us like there’s no way like there’s no way we’re faster than they are so we come

Back to from the test and go back down there to race and I never forget we rolled it through Tech and there’s like 60 cars would show up these races in and um our car was wrapped and not painted which was unique at the time um they

Pulled it out of the techline there’s all these cars in the techline and they come through there and they took ours out it’s like what and it looked a little bit different there was a little bit but not like a ton but it was different and they’re checking the body

They were convinced that the fenders were carbon or that you know like it just didn’t look like all the rest of them but but it was and it fit and the magnet stuck because it was like it was everything was by the rule book it was just the G’s interpretation of the rule

Book was better than everybody else’s so we ended up being like the fastest car in practice we sat on the pole we’re like dominating the race and the motor blows up like the things you can’t control but it just kind of went on from there and we

Had a lot of luck I think we sat on nine poles and sat three track records and we only won one race the the whole pit stop thing was like throw Mark and I for a loop like we were used to late model racing and they dropped the green flag

And it’s like you know you’re on your own go race I’m going to clean up the trailer and wait for you in Tech shed all these guys had come down Pit Road and and they made their cars better like they understood about putting these tires and you know these radial tires in

Different sets to like adjust the Stagger as the track rubbered up all these things that you know I learned later on in life but Mark and I are just like what the heck is going on like yeah and we’re so fast and and we qualify so

Good and we kick their butt in the first half of the race and then we finish second finish third like every week we’re second we’re third we’re we’re leading the points we’re doing all this stuff like we can’t win and we weren’t really used to not winning especially

Not together yeah so that was that was difficult but there was a big chunk of money that paid for leading halfway so we just take that and go home so we end up um I we end up we me and Kelly end up uh there’s really it’s me Kelly and Steve

Crisp and and you mhm um for the most part uh Mark worked there as well a couple other people here and there but we got a call from Navy and the Navy says are y’all interested in starting Infinity team we’re looking around for for a new team M uh they

Offered uh enough money for us to get something off the ground um and so we decided literally like just just sitting here like this all right we’re going to I guess we’re going to do this everybody in favor yes sounds great um we I don’t remember

Where we got our trailer I think we bought it from n we didn’t have a trailer for the first race yeah we got the trailer for the second year from Nim yep so our first hauler I guess was Nim what did we we borrow one from somebody

We or we use our own so the first race that we ran was Homestead yes and we went and tested that was when you could go test Y and TRX was running for the championship with their deal uh we got the car from the 15 team yeah the car

Was one of pal ard’s Bush car correct yep and uh we took our totor home to the test gotcha and Mark and I drove it like it was just like we’re going pro Cup racing but we’re going to do it Homestead instead of Lakeland it’s no different right it’s going to be great

So we get down there and we got you know Hovis and Mark’s cousin Travis worked with us at the time and and uh we get there for the test and it’s like you kind of look around and you’re like well this is not pro Cup racing like there’s

Some big names here and some you know like beautiful equipment fancy trailers and all this stuff and like we’re still doing our own grocery shopping for the toor home so the trailer beside us was the JTG Bush team and they roll their car out and forgot to put the chalks on the lift

Gate oh and dropped the back tires off the lift gate and it landed on the exhaust pipe and it was kind of just dangling and I remember Mark and I looking at each other and we like well we might be dumb but we’re not that dumb we’ll be all

Right so so we just kind kind of went from there and and we actually had a really good test like we couldn’t stop smoking the left front tire through the fender and we had really no idea why it was doing it like until we got home and

Um had some people with a lot more experience tell us what was happening but nevertheless it was fast like the car was I think we definitely outputted our coverage with that whole thing just making it up as we went along I remember the race um I remember sitting on our

Pit box and looking down Pit Road and us had we had the smallest pit box of anybody um it was all Sher stuff that’s to answer your question that’s where the trailer came from for Homestead we Bor shers trailer wow and some of his people

Like his people were his P crew on that truck deal all of that Holy sh and he we just literally asked him yeah yeah it was a buddy deal yes holy yep oh I forgot all about that and so I just remember sitting there and it was just

Me and you on that pit box and Mark ran like 20th all night pretty good I remember um I remember we run like 20th all night but like the top you know 10th to 20th were like all on the same straightaway like it was yeah and the end result doesn’t

Really show he got a flat tire on the last lap and lost like I think he was running about 14th and finished whatever 17th or 18th I remember we were watching him race uh and he kept he would had he had a habit at least that night of driving down the straightaway looking

Looking on on the left side of the car in front of him and I’m like I tap you on the side I’m like he’s like a half a car length off the wall down the straightway and it’s like he just was in the habit of like driving down the

Straightaway like I don’t know why he wasn’t used to having somebody in front of him yeah he used to be able to see where he could go yeah I just remember that and I was like man Mark Mark can you get up on the straightway get up

Against the wall yep um but that was our introduction to um the Xfinity series we got to run we agreed to do this deal with the Navy the next year but we got all the equipment and forced ourselves to get to Homestead to run the final

Race that’s right it gave us this sort of understanding of what we’re getting ourselves into then you’ve got this off season where you’re going to build our Infinity team MH right yep that was a plan how’d that go not real well yeah it didn’t uh I don’t think it turned out

The way that that I expected it to anyway um you know we hired a bunch of people and it was like that deal um had been it was a close-nit group of people right like we had Mark’s cousin Hovis who was like a really good friend

Of yours um and we had kind of done everything together and now there was all these new people um that had come in and individually like some of them were great like some of them were you know like really good but there was others that kind of you know they didn’t

Necessarily want to listen to someone as young as me right like that was the roadblock like you know what have you done nothing but we’re going to do something and it was you couldn’t really understand the people that were coming from these Big Cup teams you know like

Dale junor started an exfinity team you could get people from anywhere you wanted right like people were quitting big teams to come work there they didn’t want to listen to a guy that had late M stockar raced his whole life yeah so you know it was tough um I remember you know

I’d spent a lot of time with Robert and Jimmy because by then I had kind of gotten close with them and and you know I think they knew that I was serious and that that I could do this if I just be left alone um and and you know there was

Some there was some people that that got opportunities in my opinion there that honestly didn’t deserve them um and then it didn’t take long to weed them all out yeah but I wasn’t necessarily there for all of it but they all they weeded themselves out the ones that belong

There are still here yeah yeah uh so middleway through the year Mark gets hurt Mark’s driving the car um we’re actually getting a little traction you know um you’re starting to see a bit of uh light at the end of the tunnel but when markk gets hurt it was a big

Setback for the team yeah what do you remember about um your final you know six months with Junior Motor Sports so I knew that Mark getting hurt was a bigger deal than just Mark getting hurt like physically he was going to recover for it from it right like he had he had been

Hurt in cars or in life before and he was fine the problem was Martin Truex Jr who was a two-time exfinity champion and Robbie Gordon who would drive the wheels off anything were who was going to replace Mark and the experience alone that they had was going to help accelerate everything right like

Maybe the fact that the cars weren’t being set up correctly was going to get exposed maybe the fact that the crew chief might not have been the best person for that job Trux was going to expose it where Mark didn’t know Mark didn’t know what was right or wrong like

That’s how him and I had raced like we just raced and learned as we went so all these things were going to get they were getting ready to come out right like everyone that that that was pulling the wool over their eyes and pointing their finger at Mark which

There was a lot of it um they were getting ready to get exposed and all this stuff was magically going to get fixed at the expense of Mark’s injury right and honestly at the end of the day that’s kind of what happened yeah so why did you decide to leave what

Happens um I don’t think it was 100% my idea yeah um it wasn’t in the plan for sure um but you know once you guys had released Mark there was obviously I took it personal right like it was it was um I didn’t I knew what was happening in that shop probably

Better than everybody and I there was people there that wanted you know you to think that every day was sunny and that there was rainbows everywhere and that wasn’t the case but they had a bigger voice than I did cuz they had more experience or a longer resume

So when when Mark got let go I probably wasn’t the best employee that you had ever had right like from that point on because I took it it was hard for me yeah the the Saving Grace of it was got to go pro Cup racing with Johnny Rumley which was awesome like so

That went really well and and I enjoyed it but when it was all said done you know there was a massive divide between me and everyone in that exfinity shop because I knew I knew what had happened and there was to this day I’m not going

To Sure pardon any of those people yeah um they took an opportunity from somebody that’s probably one of the greatest short track racers we’ve ever seen um so I think somewhere along the line you know in the meantime um my dad had passed away so I

Was angry in general um had never really dealt with it is I I went home for a brief amount of time and you know I had my sister and mom take care of and I did that but uh I just wanted to go back racing and that was what was going to

Fix everything and now that was a mess and there was only one person that I would ever call that would fix it and I couldn’t call him so it just snowballed right who your dad my dad yeah so so somewhere along the line the the conversation came we’re

Going to expand the late model stock car program CU it had kind of sat idle during the time of the pro cup cars and the growth of the Xfinity we’re going to bring it back get some new people in maybe even have two of them whatever whatever whatever and I just remember

Thinking like I didn’t move away from my family and and not get to spend the last years of my Dad’s life with him till L mile stockar race for the rest of my life like I could have done that in Virginia could have done it with Rick

Like I didn’t I don’t need this so I’m not doing that like the deal was I promised that we would win late mile races and I promised that we could Pro Cup race and and and in return I wanted to be a crew chief like I wanted to be a

Crew chief at the national series level so I felt like that promise was being broken I had held up my end of the bargain and now I’m not getting what because my connection I’m getting drug down with what happened to Mark basically so yeah it was uh it was a

Rough day yeah yeah there’s stuff I left at your shop that I never came back and got just cuz I didn’t want to come back probably still there yeah those are um those are not easy uh those are never easy they’re easy when people deserve it

Yeah they’re easy it’s a sense of relief but when they don’t it’s tough yeah yeah you let so after you leave Junior Motorsport um where do you go from there so through the pro cup stuff I had met Jeff Foltz and you know I really didn’t know

What I was going to do um I was really good friends with a guy named Matt Miller who ended up becoming a pretty big player in some ARCA and K&N stuff down here um but he has a very successful business back home um and he was actually one of the first people I

Reached out to uh you know had a had a young young son had a house like had never really you know found myself in that position and so like first box you got to check is make sure you got something right so I was like yeah come

On home you can work for me but I didn’t want to go home um so folz had needed someone the very last race of the year for the pro cup stuff back then was it Iowa and actually it was Iowa than then Myrtle Beach and he w

Wanted he needed a crew chief whoever was helping him was no longer helping him and I thought you know like I said back I was a different person back then I was a little angry had chip on my shoulder like was just full of myself and I thought there’s no better way to

St in my ground than to go to these last two pro Cup races and beat that Junior Motorsports car like we’re we’re going to beat Johnny rumbley that’s what we’re going to do and then I’m G to be able to walk away and feel like I’ve accomplished something so

We ran those two races Iowa uh that was the big tire debacle like no one could finish people were putting tires on Woody Howard won on a set of tires from the Bristol race like it was a mess it was fun but it was a mess yeah um went

To Myrtle Beach and folz took the White Flag leading and Benny Gordon wrecked him in three and four and like we ended up fighting on Pit Road it was it was like it was really cool it was like great short track stuff but the I had checked the box I needed to check

Because we were going to win that race and we were going to beat that 88 car and like to me that was all that mattered my car your car yeah go beat it so through that at the time folz was the setup plate guy at mb2 on the 01 car and

Mb2 was talking about starting an Xfinity team so he introduced me to a guy named Doug Randol yep and if there was anyone that could give a rick Townson a run for their money of somebody that’s done the most for me in my career it’s Doug rol wow um so he

Introduced me to him and I’ll never forget it was like the second interview he said he was looking for a car Chief and I’m like okay I didn’t even know what a car Chief was so I’m like sure and he asks if I could do it and I’m

Like look man I don’t know but I can do it all like I’m used to driving the truck setting them up building them like I don’t know what small percentage the car Chief does but yeah it sounds like sounds easy I’ll do it yeah and I don’t

Know why but he hired me and um so anyway we we went on a run together and put that EX program together who drove it uh Regan Smith and Craig kenzer which was like really cool cuz I ended up getting to I ended up getting to arer

Race with Craig kenzer and later on in my career Kevin Swindell so like growing up watching Thursday night Thunder now I’m racing with like you know Steve and Samy’s sons and it was like and they were both badasses um but what I didn’t realize at the time

Was we basically started your late mile program from nothing we completely started your pro Cup car from nothing and we started this Xfinity team for nothing and it never like the light bulb that maybe like crew chiefing was like maybe there was something else I was

Good at like on the business side but it I didn’t want to do that I didn’t want to hear that but mb2 started this Xfinity team from nothing well there was one person that was part of it that had done this multiple times and it was me

Like the youngest kid in the room so we started this whole thing and and ran and you know you know mb2 became Gin Gin became Dei and it was like it was just this kind of whole thing but that was Doug gave me that chance and he calmed

Me down he taught me not because he sat me down and like gave me life lessons but I just watched him he knew how to treat people he knew how to get the most out of people he knew how to get the most out of his drivers um he never

Yelled he never screamed even when things weren’t going right and I was like man but everybody worked I mean worked hard for him so I was like you really can get people to do stuff that you need them to do without yelling at them yeah and so like it was he’s still

Like one of my closest friends and you know now I think when when there’s that question that that like I would have called my dad for like I’mma call Doug now so and I think I’m on a list of a lot of people that do that yeah you were

I’ve heard a lot of great things from about Doug and um he is well respected in the industry uh gassie ends up becoming the owner of that whole program and and you’re still there so you went through all of those changes from from gin to Dei to gassie yeah I think one

Year I had four W2s and never change desks like from all different ones but yeah so we you know I ended up um I ended up being Sterling Marlin’s Cup car chief on the 14 car yep before the original merger who TJ’s a spotter for

TJ was spot yep yeah so it goes full circle don’t burn a bridge that’s right um and then when they merged with Dei they put Doug and I on the 15 car with Paul Menard which was which was great Paul’s a great guy like I was a lot of

Fun um definitely think it was the best way to to baby step your way into the Dei culture cuz like there was a lot of lifers there and they weren’t really into this merger and who are these people and I might have had a little bit

Of a leg up on some of them cuz they recognized me from like working on your light model across the street and it was a little bit helpful um um but I think if you know you’d have gotten thrown to the wolves on that eight car like they’d

Have chewed me up and spit me out but we went you know did the 15 and then that ended up that Dei merged with gassie and it was like flashbacks to the juny dun Levy thing like I knew we were in trouble like we we moved to gassie

Shop the 15 disappeared so now I’m the Carie for the eight Eric Al Maro is going to drive it which we were like really good buddies and had lived together and you know had this whole like late model racing background together and it’s like okay this is

Going to be cool then you look around and there was no Executives from Dei there nobody that we had no representation and it’s like oh boy we’re in trouble yeah so the eight car um eventually shuts down and he got laid off yep in April after Texas there damn

Before the middle of the Season yep so what you do then um so ironically another somebody that works here with you uh Jim Pullman yeah was um he kind of was like the head of like the the Engineering Group at gassie that actually did the work you know like

Not the nothing against the ones that are on design in Parts but he was like the pull down guy and the spring guy and he kind of made it reality so when you would go to pull your cars down at D gassie Pullman and Tiffany Daniels who

Also is here were the two Engineers damn that um took care of that stuff wow so Pullman had connections with Eddie sharp in his arcade deal and a guy named Steve Arpin I think who also drove here um was going to start this arcade deal and he

Wanted me to go Eddie had all gassie cars so it was kind of like there are chassis there are Springs I’ve got all the data like go over there this kid can drive make it happen so I did so I went over there and like I didn’t necessarily

Want to arcer race right like I’m thinking like uh kind of you know Cup car Chief and things are going good and maybe I should do something different um but Eddie had a nice place and Arpin was like pretty talented and I just thought maybe this is what I need

To do like I I I wanted I still had in the back of my head I wanted to be a crew chief and there is a path from being a cup car Chief to a cup crew chief but it’s pretty Narrow Path right so I said well I’ll go do this for a

While so I went over there to Eddy’s and and and um you know did that deal with the Arca stuff and then Eddie decided he wanted to have a truck team and Steve Park was going to drive it which was awesome like we ran a couple races with

Steve they put Skinner in um took Steve out that wasn’t as awesome why not he’s just tough as nails like Mike SK yeah like he still thought that like you know Eddie’s Eddie’s trucks like literally were the trucks that Aaron Crocker had driven right like it was a startup deal like he’s just

Getting it off the ground like he didn’t have the manufacturer support and and Skinner was still expecting it to be like the Lowe’s number 31 truck and it was not going to ever be that yeah um so you know I ended up um that turned into an opportunity to go Crew Chief and

Exfinity car for for Kevin Conway wow yeah the extends Chevrolet so you did that for one year did it for a whole year yep yep and then uh Billy hes yep yep the the deal with way um you know it was over there at R3 it was like it was

Perfect for me Mark McFarland was my car Chief like we were back together again yeah we were racing like we were having a good time you know expectations in reality were lined up with that program which was kind of good for me um a lot of the cars came from RCR and the

Engines were ECR engines sometimes um and at the time Doug Rand off was crew chief in the 29 over there RCR so like yep I had somebody to lean on and everything was going really well until it wasn’t and then you know the the extends money dried up at the end of the

Season after the last race and you know R3 had a two-car team like well his son drove the other one so you know which one they’re going to keep right and I’m like this is not good so I went over to talk to Billy hes and Billy kind of

Reminded me of Rick um he was you know old school and he was definitely a little bit um tougher he was a little bit harder on people than Rick was but lot of lot of similarities and and you know he said well I need some help and

It sounds like you need a break so I went to work for Billy and what you do whatever he told me to okay like we went late mod stock car racing we built a couple of those and and did that um he was taking care of the beard oil guy

That’s now does the 62 Cup car he had an ARCA car that um Kay Rogers drove M um so we went and did a couple ARCA races here and there um built a bunch of K&N cars for Ben kennedy yeah before anybody knew who Ben was um which you know that

Was it was fun just nothing whatever I yeah yeah so how did you get to that point in your life to where like going back to the late model stock race to to help somebody was okay so it wasn’t really necessarily okay that it just

Happened to be what we did at the time I haven’t got to that that Crossroad yet but I did um I just needed I was tired of changing jobs right like I mean you go from mb2 to Gin to Dei to gassie and never asked for any of it and it was

Like and then you finally get out of that deal and you’re ARCA racing with Eddie and he’s like oh I want to run a truck and it’s like this is not good like you’re an ARCA guy like you have a great footprint here don’t mess it up

Yeah like but we’re going to go try to truck race and mess it up and that’s what happened um so I was just exhausted like I just wanted to go have fun again so anyway while I was at Billy’s the phone started ringing um and and there were you know I

Didn’t want to go be a car Chief again right like nothing against him um I just I felt like I had done enough since I had done that that wasn’t what I wanted to do and thankfully I had Billy hes who was providing me an opportunity that I didn’t have to right

Like he was giving me a great place to work and um I was able to take my time and do what was right but that’s when you know that’s when the the whole 8 Mile Crossroads came when Max called back so max um is uh Max seagull the the the

Owner of rev racing yep so he calls you and he knows you because of the Dei days yep when he was a general manager at Dei yep he says hey man I got this general manager position at rev racing that’s not crew chief um so what what was in what was

Enticing about that idea not a lot at first it’s like they were in a mess like they had theirselves um so the super short version before that they started that deal Al marola and I had a late model that we had built and we were going to

Do a little side racing with um we ended up doing too good of a job building it and Timothy Peters came and bought it before we ever raced it so we never actually raced it but we had this like deal going um this is when John story and Max

Were going up put this rev racing and if you go back to the Diversity Program being all over the country with different race teams that wasn’t working there was no way to compare the drivers to each other because you didn’t know what opportunities they were getting

When they’re all over the place and even what kind of cars they’re driving someone would be driving a modify the next person be driving a superly m so max had this idea to get it under one roof and he had presented this idea to nasar and and they they agreed and it

Was absolutely the right decision but in that process they had asked for some for some budget help and my responsibility with Eric was the late mile stock car portion of this so now Eric’s driving the eight Car Max knew from us working at Dei that I had a

Deep rooted background in short track racing and you know really probably is and still is where my heart is most of the days um that we put this budget together for him and it was kind of like the first time we had ever done anything like this

Right so we go and we present this budget to John story and he was based here out of Charlotte Max had moved back to Indianapolis and John looks at it and reads it and the number was higher than he wanted it to be and there was no

Benefit for us to make the number what it was it just is what it is I mean late M Stocker racing is expensive um and and I’ll never forget it he said I believe the two of you have late mile RAC with a Golden Spoon in your mouth and I just

Remember like it rubbing me the wrong way right cuz that was kind of the deal with your car was everybody thought we were out dolling them and we weren’t we were out working them like we didn’t have anything that the average person racing out of their two-car garage could

Have we had one car we had one you know what I mean we just worked so I always took offense for a long time it was on your behalf of people that thought we were just winning races with your money which that wasn’t true but now you’re like I’m

Telling you what this cost there’s no benefit for this in me you’re not paying me you’re not doing anything for me I don’t work for you anymore I’m just trying to help because I want to see this program succeed because if you back up to 2000 like I’ve already won a race

With this program and it has not had a lot of success since so they went and did their thing and nine months later they were in massive financial trouble they had overstepped everything they had and like what they wanted to spend and what it cost were two different things yeah and

That that’s when Max started calling so he talked you into coming over there to to manage yep to manage the the late it started with just the late model stock car program all right so how many cars do they run at time six oh geez yeah

Yeah they had six late models um Andy Santa was running the K&N program at the time so Andy had the late the K&N stuff was competitively it was amazing they won their very first race with Daryl Wallace um I think won maybe two more that year um with

Daryl uh the other other kids that were running the Kann cars were all competitive yeah um now financially it wasn’t doing as well like Andy Andy raced it the way he knew it needed to be raced and he raced it off the promises that were made to him and they were

Expensive um The Late Model program was a different story like it was just a mess it was a train wreck the cars were were a mess the the motors were a mess like everything about it was just bad really bad um but the debt was what blew me

Away um so anyway that was the problem was when it was like okay I didn’t want to do this 10 years ago I didn’t want a late mile stock car race for a living cuz I had all these things that I wanted to accomplish but now I kind of accomplished them like I

Felt like I had checked a lot of these boxes and maybe I needed to remind myself how fun racing was and I knew late M stockar racing I’d be able to remind myself how much fun it was yeah so I did fear that there’s this whole

Out of sight out of- mind element to racing where if I’m not present in the cup garage or the bush garage that like I was going to get forgotten about um which I think is real but it also forced me to to be the best thing that ever

Happened to that program because I had no choice but to make it work so I treated it like it was mine not Max’s I treated the money like it was mine not Max’s like and was determined to make this work yeah um and I was there probably six months when after the

Basically after the first season I might be missing it by a month or two but um Andy had had enough and he left and then it was what what are we going to do and yeah I just told Max like I got it you just don’t worry about it you know he’s

He’s got um a really he’s really successful outside of racing and he needed to concentrate on that because he was making some massive gains with USA Track and Field at the time yeah and so I just told him you know you go do your thing I’m going to do my thing and I

Promise you success so um you ever saw uh k uh the Rev racings K&N series or wheel and All-American series late model in their Legend programs um how long did that happen 10 years geez 10 years yeah like the farest Gump yeah NASCAR y like years how did you it’s

Like you lived 80 years already I know right I started when I was super young yeah yeah and so rev racing you know it is a reputable functioning successful program goes to the racetrack it runs well yeah it wins races yeah and it serves an incredible incredibly important purpose in the NASCAR industry

Yeah um I mean they’ve won two or three truck races this year and half the Cup races with their graduates yeah and they’re creating opportunities um and so talk about that so as someone who has lived that program right talk about how important the purpose of that program is

To give these drivers these opport unities it’s everybody gets an opportunity right it’s not just the drivers it’s a it’s a true development program and you know if you go back to 2000 that program gave me an opportunity to be a crew chief right like I wasn’t

One and we got that house car at Townson and I became one because of that program right so it’s it’s not just the drivers um I think you know whether it’s the pit crew members or the people that work in the shop you know like Dylan Smith mamba

Was he wanted to be a race car driver and and he could do it but it just didn’t seem to be panning out the way he wanted it to but we knew there was a place for him in the sports so we made him a mechanic and we taught him that

And had him he he worked for me for years um and look at him now right like it’s it doesn’t necessarily and that was kind of the thing I tried to explain to every parent and every driver that came through there your place in this sport

Might not be in the seat right and maybe that was something that I learned from TJ but there’s a place for everyone here you just have to find it and and depending on how hard you’re willing to look is whether you’ll find it or

Not H how do you make the decision to to leave uh it was tough um I had so no intentions of ever leaving like I had I had um I had seen it go from inbt to debt free we want championships we won races like you know you along the way

I’ve been fortunate to win some cool stuff you go to South Boston and you win a late mile stock car race with a 16-year-old girl that Philip Morris and Lee pulam and pton sellers are all in that race and you beat them like it’s fun like it’s fun to know that

That you provided an opportunity for somebody that was not there without the program and the people that work there so I had started um spotting more and more just I started doing it even before I moved to Charlotte but it was just here there gigs and Joey Meyer somehow through are

Working together at Dei um he reached out and asked me if I wanted to start doing all the second spot and stuff with him so it was with Brad you know Watkins Glenn Indie whatever it was that kind of parlayed into the oneoff exfinity races for

Pensky um so now I kind of had my foot in the door Brad was actually really helpful with the program you know there was things he could donate that that he would through his truck team and he was big help um so like everything was going

Great I was perfectly happy like I was get in the Moonlight and do this stuff every here and I felt like I was staying relevant in those garages and never wanted to become a full-time spotter so like I didn’t really have to worry about like trying to push my way through that

Pile and and um it was just going well and um Travis gesler called me one day and he was kind of who like lined up the spot and stuff with um so you know I answered didn’t think anything of it he wanted to talk and there was some rumors going around that

Maybe Joey and Brad were going to go their separate ways and I was like oh boy like I really don’t want to be a full-time Spotter and I really don’t want to upset Joey like I don’t I would never do that um that was a that was a tough conversation because Joey thought

That I was and he was pretty upset with me until he realized what was happening um but yeah it started out like I’m not going to burn a bridge right I’m gonna go have this conversation um but this is not going to lure me away from rev like we’re winning

You know K big KNN races I mean we’re winning at do and Lowden and like big places like um so he asked me to come to their bus at Charlotte in the infield which rev racing is right behind the speedway so it was really easy and I texted him and

Told him I was there and he said go on inside walk straight to the back there’s an office in the back I’ll be there in a minute so I sling the door up like I own the place and RP stand in there at the table signing champagne bottles from the

8500 win I’m like whoa I don’t think this is about spotting like I don’t feel like RP does the spotter interviews so anyway that’s kind of how it came and and it wasn’t about spotting what was it about uh they were looking for a team manager for their NASCAR side and

Ultimately there’s three of us there’s a there’s an impsa version of me there’s a NASCAR and then there’s an indie car um and they were looking to um you know hire somebody for the NASCAR side yeah so that was kind of what it was about and it was still

Surprisingly um it was a very hard decision cuz it wasn’t you know it wasn’t like every one of those employees at rev which which Jimmy G was one of them right like your uncle was he um he worked for me for five or six years right like those were people I hired

Those were people that I gave my word that you’re going to get paid and we’re going to have fun and we’re going to win races I can’t control that if I don’t work there anymore so like there was a part of me that I felt like I was

Breaking that promise yeah to them what would happen if you left what would happen if I left yep um Max and I had a partnership that’s more like a Brotherhood and it still is um he never questioned a thing I did and I didn’t question anything he did um we just we

Had a plan we stuck to it uh we had provided a lot of opportunities put a lot of pick crew members and drivers in the National level um and there was really no stopping it so it was a tough decision yeah and you know lots of people were like God you’re crazy this

Isn’t a tough decision but they didn’t know how emotionally connected I was to what Max and I were doing um so believe it or not I called kelly my sister yeah and um you know time heals everything right so like I remember who sat at the

Table um when you know when I didn’t work at Junior Motor Sports anymore but enough time had passed and like you know I feel like her and I had had some good conversations along the way and you kids that are similar age and just things um

And I was like I I need I need to ask you something like and I know it’s going to sound crazy but like I feel like her place in this sport uh and you know her reputation for being brutally honest was like it’s what I needed and I also know that she

Understands what it’s like to be a female race car driver in his sport right so if anything was going to you know tug on the heartstrings a little bit it’s that so I knew I’d get the truth so I laid it all out there and she

Was like are you crazy and I was like no it’s like it’s a tough decision so I asked her I said let me ask you a question at the time Ryan pton was here like things were rolling good like everything was great and I you know I

Asked her I said if Ryan came in tomorrow and turned in his notice and you had to make a list of people to interview to replace him would my name be on that list and she was like No And I’m like dang I thought we had a history

Like come on you can at least put me at the bottom of the list right and she was like no like I didn’t even know this is what you did like I thought you were you know like I didn’t realize you were running an entire organization like for

Our sanctioning body like it was way more than just racing like sure the the relationships with NASCAR were like the best thing that came of that program for me really and I said all right well well what if I take this job and then we have

The same conversation in 3 years would I be on the list then and she was like absolutely top of the list like one of the top three no questions asked like anybody that comes from Team Pensky is like you know top of the list I’m like

All right well there’s my decision so I went home and was like Kelly said I need to take this job and he was like okay this is what we’re gonna do so yeah how long have you been there this is uh six six six years six working

On six and what has all happened in the six years God it’s unbelievable man like two exfinity championships like so I think um you know I think that you and I have gotten along from day one cuz I when you would come to towns and

You know you were Dale’s son right to a lot of the guys that work there I didn’t care right I just wanted you to go home and say man there’s this badass that works on models in Richmond and he should be here and maybe that happened a couple years later same similar story

Happened with Austin like I had no idea who Austin centric’s dad was none I spotted for Austin at all the non-companion truck races and we were at Elora for the truck race in the dirt and we were going to leave there and drive to Indie to orp to go he was going to

Run an arcer race the next night and he asked me if we could take his dad um to the racetrack to Indie sure so we’re riding down the road it’s the middle of the night and he asked me what I do and I’m telling him all about what

I do at rev and like super proud of myself and I asked him what he did for a living I had no idea like none and I think that’s just like you know who I was like right like I just Austin was a good kid

And I wanted to be a part of what he was doing because I saw something there he’s extremely intelligent I didn’t care who his dad was and I think a lot of people maybe did and I didn’t even know had no idea so that like I got to be there for

I was like Austin’s first Arc win I spotted for him Austin’s first truck win I was there Austin’s first Infinity win I was there right like I’ve been got to see that so it was like this still this development leg that I’ve found this niche in yeah um but man since then

Daytona 500s Indie 500s Rolex 24s like things that were completely unimaginable to a kid sitting in the wooden bleachers at Langley Speedway have happened yeah I remember um coming to The Cup race and seeing you walking around in the in the pits wearing a wearing black slacks and

A button- down white Co college shirt with Pinsky on it thinking how in the hell you know like that is a long way from home it’s a long way from home um you know your story is probably not unlike a lot of people in the industry but it’s it’s an

It’s an easier one to tell um and I think it does answer a lot of questions for people out there who are young people that are that kid that you were when you were working over at Townsen wondering man how am I gonna H how what is the

Path like how do I get there it seems impossible improbable I don’t even know where to begin and so I have such a hard time telling people how to begin right what what to do I mean literally man I woke up and I was plugged in right because of who I

Am when you get that question how do I get into this sport what is your answer it’s tough I think I think the first thing you have to you have to make sure of is is like are you really willing to do the work or it’s it’s fun

To talk about it’s not always necessarily cut out for everybody right we’re gone a lot it’s a lot of hard work you’re probably going to get kicked When You’re Down When You’re vulnerable um and then when you least expect it the most amazing things in the world are

Going to happen but most of them I mean the simple answer is you know you got to go to a short track and you got to find somebody right like I was lucky I found Rick you know Rick introduced me to people like Danny Edwards Jr and people

That were just local Legends and kind of they didn’t necessarily they gave me confidence right like watching these these guys so that’s that happened so that that’s the simple answer as you go to your short track but nowadays probably better start with college really yeah I feel like I feel like

Those those you know it’s it’s pretty engineering driven sport I I think it it helps a lot um I did not ever think that my college education was going to do anything for me especially when I was hanging upside down in a roll cage welding it up at towns ‘s like what good

Is it there but I feel certain somewhere along the line somebody at Pensky looked to see if I was college educated or not like so did help it just took a lot longer than I expected um but yeah I mean the biggest thing is you know it’s

The work ethic like the the the people in this in this industry are the hardest working human beings in the country like it’s it is unbelievable that the mountains that we can move like you look at the the way NASCAR adapted to to the covid situation or the way like

Thousands of people in the middle of Los Angeles never blinked an eye when they were like hey guys we’re going to race later today like that wasn’t on anybody’s radar when we woke up that morning yeah and move the Clash yeah and nobody cared like it’s just okay that’s

What we’re going to do let’s go do it so that’s the thing like you just got to be willing to work hard yeah the sacrifice that you got to make um I love telling the story about a buddy of mine Wesley Cheryl who works over at Gibbs

Now he wouldn’t uh Dad wouldn’t hire him dad I mean all dad all I needed dad to do was give this guy a couple hundred bucks right and and dad would not do it dad said hey if you work here if you’re here long enough to prove that you

Deserve it you might get the job and he literally had to work for more than a month without pay MH and he kept coming back every day and I was he’s like when do you think it’s going to happen I was like I don’t know man but don’t give up

You’re almost there I don’t even I can’t even give you an answer when this might go go right for you but don’t stop coming to work and eventually it just clicked one day dad walks in goes all right you’re hired you know yep and I know that’s probably not the way it’s

Going to go for everybody but I mean you got to be willing to do something do it for nothing yeah not for the money right right I worked for three years for Rick for $6 an hour never got a raise not not a nickel didn’t think anything of it

It’s just happy to clock in every day yeah I hired a guy at rev who’s still there awesome he was he was willing to do anything and and that came out of his mouth and we were heading to Iowa and I told him I’m like man I need the help

And I think you’d be great but all the plane tickets are bought and paid for and there’s no money left in the cookie jar like if you want to go if you want a job when we get to Iowa get in that truck I’ll see you there and he did damn

That’s what has how bad he wanted to do it and and he’s still employed there yeah well man I’m glad that you came to share today uh about your your life and your career and especially uncovering some of the memories from uh Junior Motorsports and how that all got started

Um and it’s not always easy to talk about some of the things that happen in our lives especially the the breakup um I’ve had a lot of experiences here at this table with talking about some things that went down between me and Michael wal and a few other people where

Um you know you’re not always proud of the the the choices you made um but I’m glad that we are friendly and close enough that we can do that yeah and I’m going to tell you man I when I started seeing you um and hearing about these opportunities you were getting you you

Have to know that um you had a fan in me wanting to see you have that success and to know where you’ve gotten today is just incredible um but I think that it’s motivation for anybody who listens uh that the the opportunities if you’re willing like you say to put in

That work ethic are Limitless MH and don’t be scared to go anywhere cuz there’s not really many places that you didn’t end up right right and there’s not many scenarios and and working environments in the NASCAR industry that you didn’t find yourself in and um you know so that’s pretty

Impressive um I appreciate you your uh influence on uh you I mean that Junior Motorsports doesn’t exist without you having uh you know you having the ability to help us get that off the ground you’ve influenced us in a positive way even today we still ride

The wave of of of how you helped us get our stuff going in the right direction yep had a lot of fun won a lot of races together um and who know I I don’t I for some reason I feel like you’re going to be at Pinsky you’ll be a lifer there for

For as long as you want and um it’ll be surprising I guess to see you know where you end up 20 years from now uh maybe running the whole thing 20 years is a long time man how old are you 46 46 you can do it yeah

Yeah I mean you see the rest of them guys around there you know they’re older now oh yeah oh yeah no it’s a great place to be and I don’t really want to envision myself anywhere else for sure well you got hell of an opportunity to to make that uh something special yeah

And I do take a lot of you know there’s a small part of me that you know anytime one of your cars wins no matter you know there was a little bit of time where when it it took a while so I did I did

Take pride in that but it was a little bit of time where when you were winning all these late M Stocker races it was like God dang I think I’ve been outdone like we didn’t win a National Championship over there but we weren’t allowed to race for one either yeah um

But it doesn’t you know there is a sense of Pride that I don’t however many wind banners you stack in this shop like there’s still only one first one so that’s kind of cool well I love the fact that you were part of our um our beginning and um it’s interesting that

You made the point to not burn any Bridges because literally like all the people that you came in contact with throughout your career that you know that you knew some way somehow TJ and and and Joey and and Max seagull and you know every you’ve done a really good job

Of know even though you’ve sort of you know you’ve had some unfortunate moments in your career you’ve worked in a lot of different places those people that you had those relationships with would at time s call you right and and and say hey man I I know a guy that can do this

Job for us um that says a lot about your character you know I know you were frustrated and angry at points in your life um and had a chip on your shoulder but to be honest I mean n you did nothing to to ruin any relationships you

Ever created that says a lot um there’s not many people out there that can say that yeah Jefferson thank you very much yeah appreciate you coming in today bud thanks for everything you do for us yes sir Jefferson Hodes on the Dell junr download All right so Jefferson Hodges on the Dale junr download um you know I I really am glad I was able to sit here and and hear that whole story about his career and um I want to thank Ally for supporting us here at at Dell at the

Dell junr download and for and at Dirty Mo media allly does a great job uh you know in this industry and in our Sport and and they’re responsible for bringing our guest segments every single week um and no matter what you’re saving for whether it’s race tickets a brand

New car a new house doesn’t matter uh we’re all better off with an ally and I would say that Jefferson Hodges is definitely an ally the um the one thing that was you know not always easy is when you are sitting here with a guest at the table and and and

You have to talk about something that maybe didn’t go as well as you’d hoped and certainly his the final end of his tenure at Junior Motorsports was an emotional one for him you could hear it he’s still a bit you know disappointed by it um and I’m glad though that uh we are

Still friends today um I’m sure he wish I would have handled things differently I’m I’m sure he wish things would have turned out differently I’m I think that um I certainly uh may have done things differently with the experience I have today but um knowing everything we knew

Back then we were doing what we thought was the right thing to do and um but it it it doesn’t ever get easy uh when you’re sitting here and you have to kind of cover that part of the the conversation or that part of the the past um but Jefferson is a

He’s a great example of just you know a grinder that eventually found his place um I meet drivers crew chiefs I meet people of all kinds of walks of life that come into this industry and they have this vision of where they want to go and who they want to

Be and there are times when you know that that’s not going to work out you know that they’re never going they’re never going to achieve that Vision they may find another space in this industry where they can exist and make a living and TJ is a great example

Of that he had the talent to be a driver and it just all the pieces of the puzzle and and the brakes didn’t go that way right and he found a new Lane and um Richard Boswell is another example right Richard Boswell drove our Pro Cup

Car and God he wanted to be a race car driver so badly as bad as anyone ever met as bad as I wanted to be one but I knew that the you know the opportunities of that were closing and narrowing up and he had to make the decision to lean

On his engineering background and his his knowledge and and and take a new role and and he’s done that as a crew chief and so you know Jefferson’s uh story is a great one of trying to find your lane and also not giving up but also taking opportunities maybe not the you know

Maybe you’re getting a an opportunity that feels like a demotion or feels like a step back but he took those and and made them work and made them a success and um it’s pretty impressive um and so glad he was able to come in today and tell us

About that uh there’s a there’s a lot of guys like him in the industry that have those those kind of stories but it was a fun one for me today um and it brought back a lot of memories a lot of that startup around Junior Motorsports the

Late model car the pro Cup team a lot of that stuff man I was wide open with my own career um raising hell with my friends you know I wasn’t in that shop every day seeing what was going on and so it was great to kind of be reminded

On some of the things that we did and how things went um and even my mind my mindset on like where they should race and what they should be doing but um fun but uh let’s get to the White Flag uh on on Monday the tear down obviously with Jeff

Gluck and Jordan bian dropped actions detrimental with Denny Hamlin came out as well and door bumper clear um yesterday D dirty air that show is out lson Christopher Bell and Connor zillich all called in and today Speed Street will drop with Conor Dy and and Chase Holden tomorrow dirty mod D with Steve

With tar gambling is legal in North Carolina I’m hoping that you know that maybe uh adds some value to dirty mod D and people can find some more um value out of that show I think the the information that Steve shares with us every week uh has been pretty

Incredible and uh they’re going to be previewing the Bristol race also don’t forget our Thursday show our episode of the Dale junr download reloaded will be out always a lot of fun you never know who’s going to call in or what these guys and girls are going to be up to a

Lot of shenan shenanigans on that show and I’ve actually found myself when I’m not calling in I’m actually finding myself listening uh just because of the entertainment value is pretty high so um uh yeah should be a lot of fun this week on on on uh dirty mode media also um one

Of the thing I want to give a shout out Dalton I guess you’re um some whoever’s posting at the beginning of the week uh it’s sort of a a JPEG of of our you know our week full of content man I’m loving that it’s like a TV Guide thank you very

Much uh very appreciative it just helps everybody it’s a reminder all the things we have going on plus when it’s happening so people can make sure they’re they’re tuning in Busters trip to Victory Lane also the board book is and I have this right next to me on the

Table um I asked for this board book to be made they weren’t I don’t think they were going to make this board book but I got a three-year-old and she’s not into the big long form stories that that buster has has been here in the in the past several uh versions so thought

Maybe we could get a board book for those those toddlers out there so that uh board book is you’re able to purchase your copy today everywhere books are sold um and also uh for the Dell Jr uh Foundation if you want a chance to spend seven days on Lake Norman in our

Family’s Lakehouse the Dell junr foundation’s annual vacation at Dell Junior’s uh Lake House Raffle is underway now through April 29th purchase your raffle ticket for $10 you can win a stay at the Lakehouse uh there’s boat rentals uh provided tour of Junior Motorsports as well uh you’re going to

Run into me at some point during this experience uh the Dale junr foundation.org uh will give you all the details to be able to get your raffle tickets and you’re just helping us raise money for the foundation that does a lot of great work um in our community and nationally um

So thank you for anybody who who purchased a raffle ticket for that that’s the Wednesday show looking forward to Bristol this weekend looking forward to everything else going on um here at the dirty mod media and hope everybody has a great week we’ll see you