The Dale Jr. Download - 309 - Rodney Childers: Three-Wide in an S10

Episode Date: August 4, 2020

Childhood friends Dale Earnhardt Jr. and NASCAR Championship Crew Chief Rodney Childers reconnect about racing, crew chiefing and causing trouble as youths. Most know Rodney as Kevin Harvick's pit boss, but prior to his role on the box, he was a winning racecar driver. Childers details how his racing career began with a go-kart and his mom. While dominating in Late Models, he reveals why he was told to not come back to the track. Oh, and how close did he come to making it it NASCAR's top ranks? He was one vote away from an Xfinity Series ride and shares the story. Childers then reveals tales of hanging out with Dale Jr. that even Dale doesn't remember. Like the time they broke into Mamaw's house or when they cruised around Kannapolis in Dale's S-10 truck three-wide and picked up two-more passengers. That night ended with a grocery store trip and egging the town! Rodney then recounts deer-games played on Dale Sr.'s property that gets the gang laughing out loud. Rodney talks about transitioning from a driver to a crew member in the sport and the dark times that preceded his rise in the Cup Series. He covers the beginnings with Blaney, his role with Scott Riggs, moving to MWR, his landing spot with SHR, and how Kevin Harvick changed his career. What's next for Rodney? And does he want to return to driving a racecar?Dale Jr, along with co-host Mike Davis discuss a sudden silly season with news from Brad Keselowski and Leavine Family Racing. Leah Vaughn brings the fans closer to Dale Jr. with questions about Sim-Similarities and College Football in this week's AskJr. presented by Xfinity. Plus, Dale has an idea to finally bring negativity to social media and potentially save the world. We also learn of mixed-up frequencies in Odd History and lastly, give some special birthday love that derails the close of the show. Enjoy! Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Marker one. Marker one outside. And we are rolling. Oh, yeah. Hey, everybody. It's Dale Jr. back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. download. My guest is Rodney Childers. What a first name.

Rodney. What a last name. Yeah. Childers. Mike Davis is here. Matthew Dillner, Leah. Everybody's in the house. Me and Rodney have been friends for a really long time.

I was in the same grade in high school with his brother. And went, yeah, so I know Rodney. Okay. Had no clue he was going to become who he is today. Incredible. We're going to hear about his story. It's a great one. And we've got a really good show for you.

Ask Jr., odd history, all that's coming up. A lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifice. I came from, you know, the hardworking side of the track. gonna work so hard gonna work all day you drive with a I don't know with a sincerity

you're real you're serious he worked hard why you gotta work so hard that was the hardest hardest race ever drove what are you'll talk about in our open segment I don't know let's just have some

Damn fun. About what? Yeah. Too much news. Who? What is going on? Kiselowski signed. Oh, okay.

Kislowski. All right. So he signed a one-year deal. Everybody's like, oh, what happened? Why one year? I got an idea. Do y'all know?

I don't know, but I mean, that's good for Kislauski, isn't it? I think so. Yeah. Brad? You just don't want to be locked in for a long time. Yeah. So it isn't really,

I don't think, anything to do with Penske. I bet you that. considering the uncertainty of the times and COVID and all that, I feel like that Brad probably said, hey, let's just get a year. And I'm hoping that the market resets and comes back. Right. And apparently, you know, and he's hoping to get a better deal.

And he doesn't want to lock himself into something long term that he doesn't think is worth his employment, right? So I, it's a risk. you know, it's like a player, I guess, signing the franchise tag in a way, right? Playing a year without a deal. Possibility of, you know, obviously. Like a bridge deal? Injury.

Things like that. It's just a risk. It's a one-year deal. There's no long-term security that Brad would probably want. But he's going to try to, you know, hope that things reset and come back strong. Once fans are back at the track and the money's flowing back into the sport, you know, he's hoping that he'll get a better job. or there might be another opportunity that isn't available this year but is available next year.

That's what I suspect. Yeah. And I have nothing to base it off of. I have just especially, that's why to me if you're a driver, which he's not an old driver, so he's not looking. I mean, he's got a lot of gas lift in the tank here. So I think he, if I'm Brad, I feel good about my talent. I've got, you know, I'm winning races right now.

and there may be some opportunities that come up when this whole market sort of resets and we get, you know, get out of this pandemic. Brad is extremely philosophical and will do things the hard, complex way if that's the way he chooses to do them. Yeah, he will. I know. And you're going to go on with him. Right. I was going to say, there's been some breaking news on Twitter that Levine sold his team. They were running through the end of the year.

I didn't know if you guys had seen that. You do that? Bob Levine has sold his race team. Levine family, Levine. Levine Family Racing. And you're the one that bought it, right? I did not. Who bought it?

This is the mystery right now as we're recording it. Yeah, we're here. Yeah, thank you for telling us about this, by the way. With great sadness today, I announced the sale of the Levine family racing team assets and charter since 2011. Our entire family has enjoyed being a part of NASCAR community. He's had a co-owner since 2007. Matt DeLiberto

DeLberto I never heard that name Debertolo We will say goodbye At the conclusion of the 2020 Cup series season I'll say this man When they came on to the scene

You know this is an expensive It's expensive as heck To race in the Cup series It's tough It costs a lot of money To be competitive And Bob In the most recent year

has really put an effort in to achieve anything and everything possible for their race team to get more competitive, and they've done that. They run fifth at New Hampshire last year with Matt de Benedetto. They've had some great runs. You know, they've had some other great runs, almost won at Bristol with Matt last year. They've had some really solid efforts this year with Christopher Bell. The team is really on the uptick. But I believe that, you know, much like Furniture Row,

You know, it just comes to a point, and these are also tough times with the pandemic and all of that. So we don't really know everything going on in Bob's life, but it just comes to times in the process where you've got to pass a baton, right? Somebody else's got to take over. Or, yeah, it just runs its course. So he says with great sadness, and I'm sure he'd love to stick around. But I expect that that team will continue. I won't be surprised if they continue to be competitive and grow. Adam Stern tweeted that it was apparently sold to Spire.

Sold to Spire. Hmm. Wait, let's process this for a second. Wow. Spire has the 77 Charter. Right, so they just bought another charter. Bought another charter. Wow.

Yeah. That is interesting. According to Adam Sten. Now I'm not as quite as confident. Well, but, you know, Spire's first purchase was interesting. Go ahead. No, no, no, no, no. Go ahead. I'm still processing. I don't know what Spire's intentions are as far as continuing what they have going on now, right? So I can't say I'm as confident, I guess, is in the, is a, would be if Bob was continuing the team. Bob and them have forged a relationship with Joe Gives Racing. They're sharing a lot of information. Will that continue? I don't know.

they'll have a difficult time being as competitive and continuing this growth without that type of relationship with a team of Joe Gibbs Racing's caliber. If that continues, maybe the progress of the team continues. If that doesn't continue, that may be more, make things difficult for them to stay, you know, be a top 10 contender as they are currently. But we've seen teams do that. listen, there's no reason why Spire can't be the next Bob Levine or Furniture Rope. I'm telling you, I'm sure there's some cases or some situations that happened in the past that are similar to this, but I don't remember them.

I don't ever remember a team like Furniture Rowe coming into the sport, being a back marker, qualifying last, barely making shows, missing shows for years. and then turning into a championship-winning organization. That, to me, is Cinderella. Oh, yeah. No. Unheard of. All right. Bob Levine's team, they're on that same path.

They're on the exact same path that Furniture Row has paid before them. There's no reason why Spire can't do the same thing. I don't want to discredit them and say, hey, Spire's never going to make it. Let's say for those that are not aware what Spire even is. I mean, Spire is a marketing agency. They represent drivers. They're an athlete representation and marketing company. And they currently have the charter and the team in 77 right now.

They sort of made big news when they bought a charter a couple years ago. Does Jeff Dickerson still own Spire? Jeff Dickerson, I believe, is still part-owner. I remember Dickerson saying when they bought that first one that they had really, like it blew everybody. They're like, what are they, they're going to buy, they're now in race ownership. And Dickerson had laid it out on, they have a plan and a business model in which they would get a return on investment after like two or three years. I think it was three years. I really could be wrong on the details here, but I remember being just captivated by this.

It was very intriguing at the time. And so then they went off and won a race with Justin Haley. Remember this? Daytona. And it was like, wow, they did. this and it was kind of they themselves are a bit of a Cinderella story. We got some friends over there now that it's Spire. Now wow though, to buy a second charter that is interesting.

I can't wait to, assuming that Adam Stern's report is true. Stearns report says that there were several suitors and it appears that Spire is the one that got them. I'm also texting with another team right now that's been trying to, that is trying to get it within cup that said that they fell two million. short. You're texting with them right now? Yeah.

Go find out these details. Get the information. Go to the top. It's interesting. Well, back to your point, though, Dale. Yeah, the Cinderella story that was Levine and Furniture Row. Levine. Oh, is that how you say it, Levine?

Is it Levine, Levine, potato, tomato? One of the lives. We are going to get killed either way. Destroyed for not knowing this. I've always said Bob Levine. Well, listen, I mean, we still don't even know how to pronounce the name of its own company. I mean, sometimes it's JR, sometimes it's junior.

What kind of motorsports company are we? We don't apologize for that. Every time one of these, I don't want to call them smaller, and I don't even want to call them underfunded because they were competitive, but one of these, let's call them independent. Anytime these independent teams sort of go away, it makes me sad because it feels like we're,

it reeks of being backed into this situation by the pandemic. It would be really hard for these independent teams to survive. this pandemic, I would assume. Sponsorship. I mean, you get the whole thing. So if that is what this is,

man, I hate to lose these independents. I mean, you would too be in like an old school, historical, you know, appreciator of all that racing gives. I mean, without the Jimmy Means and the independence and those guys, I mean, that's a big part of the sport. You see it on the Xfinity series so much right now.

You know, you have independence. But to have that in cup is, you know, even though they have an alliance, it's always neat to see the teams that are our single car teams and inspire was in that category unless they are the actual buyers of this and now they are a multi-car team now so I don't know yeah they are but they're still an independent to me yeah I agree I see what you're saying I'll be it'd be interesting to see how it'll be interesting to see what they take and do with

this opportunity with this little nucleus of the race team that's really doing extremely well right now congratulations to them if that's true I mean that's interesting news. Yeah. All right. Let's get Roddy Childer's in here. All right, guys, just like we promised this week's guest, Rodney Childer's, great friend of mine. Roddy, thanks for coming out and here and hanging out with us. How you doing?

I'm doing good. How about you guys? Pretty good. See all them trophies in the background? It blinked up this shot right here. Look at this. I was trying to make it look somewhat decent. The first shot I had was the kitchen in the background. I didn't think y'all liked that a whole lot. Where's all your late-mile trophies? Most of those are still in the attic at my parents' house.

Some of them are still in our attic also. Yeah, golly, man. I heard he had a lot of those. Yeah. Do you ever get them out or look at them, show them your kids or anything like that? I started to get them out at my mom and dad's not long ago, but just from sitting in the attic and the temperature changed, all the bolts that hold them all together.

You know, all those were the taller ones and all the bolts and nuts. have kind of fallen apart. That's crazy. It would take some time to get them back going again. That makes you feel old when you're so old that your trophies are falling apart. Yeah. So, you know, in introducing the show, I've been telling everybody that we were, we knew each other since high school.

I was in the same grade as your brother. How's he doing? He's doing good. Yeah. What's his name? What's your brother's name, Rodney? His name's Todd. So, all right.

Yep. So we, we went to, we were in the same grade. And we, we and him were, we and him were kind of the same in the sense that we weren't, we weren't in the end crowd. Oh, I got you. There ain't no way you were in the crowd. And so we would, me and him, we were, we were friendly because kind of we were both outcast, I guess, in a way. But, uh, I ended up going over to your house to see, to see him about something. and Rodney's there

and he's like, hey, watch my racing video. You had these VHS stacks of VHS tapes. And I'm like, what's all this? I've seen the pictures. You know, he's got pictures of him on his go-kart trophies everywhere. I'm like, man, let me see some of these races. And he throws in a couple VHS tapes with him racing. That was my first memory of us.

That was the first time we met. Am I right? Yeah, I believe so. And then I think it was the year after that's when we we sat beside each other in drafting class. I think it was a year later. Are you older or younger than Dale? I'm a little bit younger. Okay.

Is that how you greeted everybody that came over to your house? Hey, you want to watch my VHS racing tapes? So like my room, you know, a lot of the nationals and state races back then, you would get plaques. So I started hanging plaques on my wall. So when you walked in my room, every wall, all four walls were nothing but plaques the whole way around. So it was pretty crazy just to see. So, you know, if somebody saw it, they're automatically going to start asking questions like, what in the world have you got going on here? Awesome.

And there's Rodney with the answer. Well, let me just pop in this VHS tape and then you're going to find your answer about these plaques. Yeah. So Ronnie. So how did you get into racing? What was the interest? So, as you know, my dad was a car. salesman. He was never in racing at all. So I had one uncle that drag race. I had one uncle that

dirt race. The one uncle that dirt race was the one that ran over at Metralina a good bit. Wow. So, you know, when I was probably about eight years old, one of my uncles took me to Metroline, watched some races in there. And then my other uncle started taking me to Morseville Dragway every Friday night and just different things. But my grandma, honestly, was a huge Richard Petty fan. And if she was at our house on Sunday, she would make me sit and watch the races with her. So I loved watching the races. You know, there really wasn't a race.

I didn't watch every Sunday, even though I was not in a racing family, I guess you could say. But I had one friend, his dad bought a go-kart and started racing it over in Lincoln, and I went with them a couple times and watched his dad race and went back home and asked my my parents for a racing go-kart. So my mom, she was making homemade quilts at the time and started working her butt off and sold a quilt to this lady down in Charlotte for a gob of money.

I still don't understand how she got that much money for a quilt, but she went and bought my racing go-kart and got me started and me and her went to the racetrack. How did it go? Well, it's kind of interesting. The first one that we went to, we bought this used go-kart. old Marge, you know, Briggs and Stratt and a junior stock class.

But it was kind of race ready. He had some continental tires on it ready to go and everything was good. And he kind of told me how to, you know, put diesel fuel on them and get them, you know, prep for that weekend and stuff. So we go over there and I honestly finished third in my first race. Wow. Out of about 12, I guess there was. And then went back the next week and I think finished four.

or fifth and then the third week I won. Well, I got throwing out after I won the race. Why did they throw you? Something with the carburetor wasn't right, which, you know, me and my mom didn't know. We just bought the thing and went to the racetrack. But, you know, that kind of started another part of my, of my, you know, story, I guess. It was because, you know, I met a cart shop that was willing to help us fix the engine and get it ready and they started helping me.

And next thing you knew, six months later, they were hauling me around everywhere they went. So everything happens for every reason. Who's that guy? His name was Creighton Gibson. He was up in Troutman, there's a place called Gibson Cart Sales, and they would haul their trailer around

to all the local dirt tracks around here and sell parts and, you know, sell go-carts and built some engines and stuff. And, you know, just out of the blue, they told my mom one weekend, instead of y'all hauling that thing around and the back of that S-10 truck, why don't you just let him keep it in our trailer and he can work on it in our shop and we'll haul him around. So, you know, that was a huge step for us, you know, compared to just me and my mom going and her trying to get me cranked on the grid all the time. You know, Creighton kind of

stepped in, him and his wife, Tracy, and helped me get going there. So that was a huge step. So it's just you and your mom. What's the rest of your family? family doing while you're dry, while you're go car racing? Well, my dad, he would work till 9 o'clock every night. You know, he was a car salesman, still he is. And, you know, he worked every day but Sunday. So Friday nights, we would go over to two flags over in Concord and race over there. And then, you know, Saturday nights, we would go down to Indian land, South Carolina and race down there.

But my dad never really got to see me race. He was always working. and my mom was always helping me and timing me. And, you know, everybody would feel sorry for her because she'd be up there on the grid trying to get me cranked up. And, you know, those old, those old Briggs, you know, you'd have to blow in the gas tank. And you'd blow in the gas tank in order to get the methanol up in the carburetor.

But she'd be down there blowing in the gas tank, and some guy would walk over and say, man, just don't do this. Let us help him. So, you know, it was, yeah. Yeah, she hauled me around a little bit everywhere. So you get teamed up with this guy, and is that when the plaques started coming in? Yeah, some of them. You know, the interesting thing with Creighton is, you know, his goal was to sell parts.

And the more racetracks you went to, the more parts you sold. So, you know, that's kind of when that started of going to two flags on Friday night, Indian land on Saturday. We would haul up the hickory and racing the infield and halfway around the Oval on Sundays. once a month we would go down to Rockingham and run the Gold Cup track down there in the end field. So you're running all types of carts, not just your typical, you know, not just your typical, you know, small dirt cart. Well, honestly, it was the same cart and we would change stuff from day to day. Wow. Oh, crap. Yeah. Yeah, it was an old Phoenix card. I've still got it. I actually had Kerry Parnell restore it.

How did you find it? I've had it the whole time. I never got rid of it. Oh, really? Yeah. my parents garage forever. It's there with you, like it's at your house? No, it's actually, it's down at my shop. I've got a shop down in Cornice, but it's down there, and it's immaculate. Carrie did an awesome job getting it all fixed back up.

I saw that on social media, but I didn't know the history on the cart. So. Well, hold on. Rodney, about how old are you when you got started? Because I don't know. Are you in high school at this point, or are you younger? I was 12 when I started racing. So I wasn't one of the young pups that started when I was seven or eight.

But honestly, I think that helped me, you know, because starting at 12, you know, I got a four-wheeler when I was eight. I got a yard cart when I was 10. I got a motorcycle when I was 11. You know, so I was doing so many things. I knew how to drive before I ever got in racing. And so it wasn't this huge step to where somebody had to take me to the racetrack and set some cones out and figure out how to go around the racetrack. Like I knew, you know, I just went out there and practice and started my first race and had no instructions. So that part of it, I think, was actually a good thing for me.

So was, so you're running all over the, you know, all over the place and you're winning nationals and like your state championship, national championships. What are those, what are some of the accomplishments that you acquired during those times in the go-carts? Yeah, I mean, going into, I think it was 90s. that's when a guy named Mark Mogue called from Olympic Carts. And, you know, he wanted me to come, you know, drive for him. The guy that was driving for him had left him. And he's like, let's just go down to Georgia and run this big money race and down in Athens.

And we'll see how it goes. And if it goes good, then we'll go from there. And we went down there and we won every class. And, you know, he hauled me back home. and when he pulled in the driveway, he gave me, what did he give me, $2,500 cash before I got out of the truck. I was going to ask you, like, how did you get paid? Yeah, so he gave me some cash, which was unusual for me. So, you know, I started driving for him, and that's when it took off.

You know, driving for a factory team, that's when we ran all the state races and nationals. And, man, we were winning everything that you can think of, you know, all the big money races and stuff. And that went on. Yeah, we won God, we won three or four national championships together. And I think four or five state race, South Carolina state championships together.

It's kind of weird because everybody's like, why did you run South Carolina championship stuff? North Carolina just didn't really have anything back then. And if you ran the South Carolina championship stuff, it was all the guys that were in the nationals. And it was a big deal. So, you know, we did that. And then honestly, when it got to like the end of 95,

I felt like I was, you know, I was ready to do it on my own. And I talked, you know, quite a few people into doing stuff for me. I had a guy that was supplying engines, a guy that was buying my tires, a guy that was supplying go-carts, which was Mark. And I kind of went on my own. And in 96, honestly, I won everything that I went to, it seemed. it was it was pretty silly looking back on it I wish those are the cards I wish I still had because that that season was just immaculate you know it was it was pretty crazy that year and

and a lot of fun this is so crazy where does this look I forgive me if I'm not buying the fact that you had a motorcycle and a four-wheeler before this is where all this talent came from I mean like you know this is almost like that William Byron story before William Byron it's like he had no bloodline of like, you know, all this racing lineage. That's accurate, right? Your dad's a car salesman. Your mom's making quilts, which, by the way, every successful race team came, started with the sale of a quilt.

I mean, I've always said that, right? I mean, that's where it happens. But why are you good? I mean, that's a fair question, and you can still be humble by answering that. What made you good? What made you a national champion? Somebody had to help you. You had to learn somewhere.

Yeah, I mean, racing for Olympic trick cards. was part that helped me mentally, I think, the most, just on the carts and learning the tires. And, I mean, when I drove from Mark, we had 147 tires in the truck, I mean, in the trailer. You know, we raced it at Delaware one weekend and Tennessee one week and, you know, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, wherever you went, you had to have a different kind of tire, a different wheel, you know, stagger and all that stuff. So that's where I kind of learned all that was, you know, for the, you know, for the, you. You know, the factory team, building a different go-kart every week, you know, different kinds of metals, you know, different ways of welding it up.

Just all those things is what helped. But the actual driving part, I can't tell you, you know, that part was naturally something that I was good at. And, you know, it was kind of crazy when I was, you know, this is before I even started racing. and Lake Norman back then, there wasn't a whole lot on it. I mean, you know, you could buy 20 acres on the lake and didn't cost you a whole lot. But we bought some wave runners, one for me and one for my brother. And my dad didn't know how to back a trailer. So we had to go get the wave runners, and I had to back them in the driveway.

So then after that, he didn't know what to do. He's like, well, you can just take it to the lake on your own. So I was 10 years old. I would drive down the road. I would pull the wave runners down the road to the boat ramp, back them in the lake, ride all day long, and drive back home when I was 10. That sounds like a Mark Martin story.

Yeah, I was just thinking about Mark Martin's. But, uh, dad of the year, by the way. It's different times. Dad of the year, by the way, I don't know how to back this in. So let me have a 10-year-old son take these wave runners down to the lake. I just can't believe that my mom let me ride on the lake all day long when I was 10 or 11 years old.

No cell phone, no nothing. I have 11-year-olds now, and there's no way I would let them do that. No way, right, right. Wow, this is fascinating. Yeah. Junior has been looking forward to this, by the way, because for a year,

because he has been telling me, I mean, for years, he's like, you don't understand how good Rodney Childers was. Yeah. And I guess, did you guys race against each other eventually? No, I don't think we ever did. No, not really. But, like, I think that, you know,

the people that know how good you are, you know, will go to. their grave's going, no, this guy was legit winning everything. There was a win. But Rodney's so understated. You don't ever see, like you, you just don't see it, right? Unless you were there. Yeah, and I think some of what hurt me a little bit.

And my dad told my wife this just two weeks ago. And, you know, we were sitting there eating dinner and he's like, he completely skipped childhood. Like he was never a child. Like he just completely was, you know, like a adult, acted like an adult. And the other side of it is I was quiet. You know, I just wanted to race. I just wanted to win.

And I wasn't very talkative. You know, I wasn't the type that was just going to go out and get sponsors. I never, I never was into any of that. So, and, you know, looking back on it, I think always driving for somebody else and my parents not paying for things that that was the part of me that I never had to chase money and um so when it come time to you know bush race and you know you walk in an office and somebody wants you know a couple hundred grand for you to go go bush racing for a little while or whatever and you tell them you don't have any money they just laugh and show you you know on out the door so um you know that's that's

part of it you know it's uh it's all part of my story and And every bit of it's been a lot of fun. So you're dominating the whole, you know, East Coast in go-carts. How does, how do you get to a point to where you make the decision to get out of the go-cart? This is something you know so well, like the back of your hand, and you're so good at it. How do you make that? I imagine it wasn't a tough decision to get into a full-body car. You know, it was crazy how this happened.

you'll remember some of this as I talk about it. But, you know, during 95 and 96, I started helping younger kids. You know, by that time, by 96, I'm 20 years old racing go-karts. So, you know, at 20 years old, you can kind of handle a lot, I guess you could say. You've got a lot of experience. And honestly, I was good with those kids. And I started helping a lot of them. I would work on their go-carts during the week.

their dads would pay me some money to help me get by. So I'd been helping Clayton Rogers for a couple years. And, you know, Keith, he would always, you know, call me and want me to meet him over in Concord to, you know, eat lunch with him. Well, he on the sprinkler system business over in Concord, so I would ride over there and eat lunch. And he called me over there one day, and he said, hey, I got an idea. He said, I'm going to buy a late model. And I said, man, that's cool. I said, you know, Clayton's going to love that.

I said, well, they let him race it at the age that he's at because he was a couple years younger than me. And he said, I'm not buying the late mall for Clayton. I'm buying it for you. And I about fell on the floor, you know. And he said, I think what I want to do is to let you race it for a year and figure it out. And then I'm going to buy another one in both y'all can race. And so we went for that first half of the year. We built a brand new Childress car from Joey Childress, you know, got the engine straight out of Dennis Setzer's car.

You know, it was no slouch. It was all the right stuff. He spent the, you know, the money where he needed to. But we had no idea how to set it up. You know, we just got some notes from different people and tried to set it up and went to Chow County and Hickory a few different times and couldn't get it to turn for anything. It was pretty bad. And then ended up getting an arrest. at tri-county and getting turned around and destroyed it.

I mean, knocked the front clip all the way back to the truck arm cross member. So we were out the rest of the year. I think we only ran about eight races in that year. And he was a man of his word. He went straight to Greg Marlow and bought Greg's car out from under him and bought a brand new engine from Robert Charlie Long. And he's like, he said, which one do you want to race? I said, honestly, I would rather run the Chevrolet.

I shouldn't say that because I've probably got a Ford shirt on. But, you know, so I moved to the Chevrolet. It was an old Monte Carlo and Clayton went to, you know, in the Ford and the T-Bird. You know, Keith, I was always a Ford guy. So they worked out good. And then that's kind of when we started, you know, I kept up both cars full time. I worked in the shop every day of the week. And I would race at Tri-County on Friday nights.

and Clayton would run on at Concord on Saturday nights. And that first year was a ton of fun, you know, in 98 there. I think I sat on the pole like 10 or 11 times at Tri-County and won 10 races, went on the Hickory and won the fall brawl race there, went to Myrtle Beach the next week, and we qualified first and third out of, I think it was about 117 cars there back then. And at the halfway point, they threw the, you know, caution at the halfway point of it so everybody could come down pit road and put tires on.

But at halfway, I was leading. And when I crossed the start finish line, Clayton was getting into three. And the third place guy was in the middle of the back straight away. And, but, you know, it was a, it was a good year. A lot of fun. We learned a lot. And, you know, that just kept propelling me into the next thing of my life.

And, you know, I got a call from, you know, the Craig's, you know, Matthew Craig that runs now. super late miles, like in the cars tour and stuff. That was his family, and they called him, wanted me to go AS, I mean, not ASA, right. They wanted me to go all-pro racing with them the next year, and so that's what we did. And we've gone from there. What happened in that all-pro car? It was okay. You know, looking back on it, we all wish we could have done it differently.

You know, that all-pro car is a lot different machine than a late-mile stock. I just figured out the late-mall stock stuff. and you jump in an all pro car that's a three link car and uh you know we went from running 49 and a half percent wedge to an all pro car where you got 61 percent wedge in it and you know just a lot different you know we uh we had some good runs you know i'm not going to say we didn't we we had some good runs we went down to st augustine which was maybe the the second or third race of the year and settled in the pole and run top five in that um you know we led a bunch of laps of that year. I think if you look at laps lead,

I actually led quite a few lapsed. I was probably fourth or fifth on the list of laps lead, but man, you had some good people in that deal. You had Billy Bigley won a bunch of races, Howard Goodson, Wayne Anderson, all people that had always drove those type of cars

and knew what to do to them. But, you know, with the Craigs, we were always a, it was a battle every week, you know, what springs were going to put in it. And the two brothers, they were going to argue with each other every week of how we're going to set it up. And, you know, some weeks it was good and some weeks it was bad. But, you know, they're a great group.

And obviously, they have learned a lot over the years. And Matthew is doing an incredible job right now in those cars. Then what happened after that? Well, I mean, it kind of went back and forth. You know, we got to the end of the year there. And I think I remember one part of it. We went to the banquet in Nashville. and I was never somebody that liked to get up in front of people and speak and all that stuff.

And honestly, I got up there and got my award and I didn't even thank the right people. And it kind of made some people mad, I think. But we split up. It was a one-year deal. And I went back to racing. They really wanted to be thanked, did they? What did you go back to? Well, I went back to running some late models.

You know, somebody had told me that. A guy named Jay Robinson had some late models. He had bought a car from Robbie Faggart. And it was a children's car, which I was kind of tied to with Joey Childress. And no relation. Just, man, we just hit it off from day one. But, you know, he had bought that car from Robbie. And Jay said that he wanted to go racing and wanted somebody to drive it.

So I went down to talk to him. And man, the car was a tank. You know, even though it was one of Joey's cars, it was a tank. And we made a deal. I said, look, if you want to go race, we're going to spend some money. And he said, I'm fine with spending money. I just want to win races. And about that time is when they released the press about the Cool Seal Challenge series,

which is, you know, what was it called, ARA Cool Seal Challenge, and they were all going to be televised. But it was going to be late mall stock cars traveling around. So Jay said that I could do it. And we took that thing apart. I remember it had 257 pounds of lead in it when we started, and it had 425 when we ended. And we went. And honestly, we won every race we went to in that series until the promoter pulled us beside the trailer at Tri-County and told Jay, he said,

look, I don't mean this to be rude, but you guys are coming in here with a tractor-trailer, and you're winning every one of my races. You're leading every lap, and I worked too hard to get this television. deal to throw it all away and I would appreciate it if y'all wouldn't come back. Oh, wow. And I about fell on the ground. And he walked away and

I looked at Jay, I said, that guy can kiss my ass. And Jay, he looked back at me and he's like, no, we need to, we don't need to be doing this. I'm going to go to an auction this week and I'm going to buy a bush car and we're going to figure something else out. So he was true. I mean, like he didn't lie to him. He went to an auction.

I think it was that Lance Cracker's car They were having an auction back then I don't remember whose car that was He went over there and he bought a car Who is it Rain Man? Well, 98? What are you talking? 92,000.

Ronnie Combs? Might have been Ronnie Coleman. It was a 99 Monte Carlo. I do know that. It might have been Finch. A four? No. No, no.

43? Lance. Lance Crackers. Because Pervis drove that, but that was afterwards. I don't know. I don't remember. Yeah. But yeah, he went and bought it.

And then we thought we were going to go to Myrtle Beach, run a bush race. But none of us, none of us in my group knew that the thing had intermediate breaks on it. And we went down to Myrtle Beach and tried to run the short track race down there with intermediate brakes. But we made the race. I think there was quite a few cars down there. And we qualified 30th. And they run there for a little while. And then it's funny you said Purvis because Purvis and Randy LaJoy crashed each other getting into three.

And then all the rest of us started piling in behind and I ended up wrecked down and turn one. Honestly, I should have just hit Blaze in the back end. And I probably would have been okay. But I tried to miss him and ended up in the inside wall. But, you know, that's kind of when things started changing for me. You know, I wanted to go bush racing pretty bad. and was kind of going to some of the Bush races and just kind of hanging around and trying to talk to the right people.

And that same year, I think is when maybe Jeff Bodine got hurt. Maybe it was at Kentucky or somewhere like that. And somebody come over and asked me if I had my helmet with me. And I got excited for a minute and then they put somebody else in it. And then the Golds Pumps car, I was supposed to go test it at Nashville. and that fell through. Chevlae ended up giving a little bit of money for Shane Mill to hop in there and do that. I went and tested the 17 car for Riser up at Hickory,

and that was probably a good story. I should probably tell that one. John Riser called me, and John, you know, has passed away now, an incredible person, by the way. Absolutely incredible. So, you know, he called me up and he wants to talk. a little bit and I went over to Denver and talked to him. And they set up a test over at Hickory and said that he's going to have some more people

test the car that day and kind of have a little bit of a shootout type of thing. And so two days before the test, I called Clayton and told Clayton, I said, man, John Reiser called me. He wants me to test the 17 car up at Hickory this week. And he said, no way. I said, what? And he said, he called me too. I'm going to.

I was like, oh, my God. So, you know, two of us that had worked together, that I crew chief for him, and, you know, we're good friends, and now we're going to go bow it out to try to get this bush ride. And so we go up there and Tracy Hines is there when we get there. And, you know, they basically let all three of us go out and practice a little bit. And then we're supposed to tell the crew what we would change on the car. And I was the last one to go. And I went out and made some little. laps and, you know, I was a little bit too free and we were supposed to run like, I think, I think they wanted us to run like 60 or 70 laps straight without stopping and they were going

to keep up with times and stuff like that. So I went out and practice a little bit and Clayton had made a couple of adjustments and I went out and honestly, it was just too free and I had them drop the track bar half inch on each side and went back out and I said, yeah, it's good there. It'd be fine. and so Tracy runs his, you know, 60 or 70 laps, and then they put another set of tires on, and Clayton runs his, and then I hop in there and run mine. And, man, when I got done with it,

I felt pretty dang good about things. I was like, man, if somebody can do it better than that, then they can have it. And so, you know, Tuesday the next week, John calls me and says, man, come on over here and let's have some lunch. But at that point, I just knew I had it. I knew it. I knew it.

And rode over to Denver and we sit down and start talking. And he said, sounds like your test went really good. And the guys all liked you and all this and that. And I said, man, it felt good. I said, all those guys were really nice. And I felt like my run that I ran was really good. And he said, yeah, he said, I'm just going to be honest with you. I got all of it right here.

And he said, Tracy was all for you and Clayton. and we're not really going to talk about that. They said, Clayton's run, his first 10 laps, he was a tenth of a lap faster than you for the first 10 laps. And he said, from like lap 20, from lap 10 to like 25, you and Clayton were the exact same speed. And from lap 25 or 30 till 60 or 70, I don't remember how many it was.

He said, you're about two-tenths a lap faster than Clayton. and I knew that's kind of how I felt about it too after my run. So, you know, at that point inside, I'm just like, oh, man, I've got this. I've got this. And then he turns around and says, but this is a family deal. We got the whole team together, and we all just took a vote between you and Clayton, and you lost the vote by one vote. Oh, man.

I was like, are you kidding me? and so Clayton ended up getting a deal and run part-time with Matt in that 17 car and you know I think if Clayton was you know Clayton and I are still great friends but if he was sitting here he would agree with what I'm getting ready to say

it was almost the worst thing for both of us like I was to the age where I had to get in something or I was you know everybody was starting to look at me as being too old and Clayton was at the point where he was almost too young and I had always done everything for him from a car standpoint, well, that 17 car, it operated different than a lot.

You know, like, Rust was the crew chief, but Matt told them everything to do all the time. You know, I would, you know, go to some of the races and listen to them on the radio, and Matt would tell them, you know, what spring to put in and what sway bar to change to and where to move the track bar and what they're going to change before the race.

And Clayton wasn't to that point to where he could do that. and it just ended up, you know, not working out throughout the year. I remember he qualified fifth at Kentucky one weekend. I was racing somewhere else, and he called me, and he said, what would you do before the race? And I said, if you're comfortable, I wouldn't do anything. And he said, well, Matt told him to raise the track bar on both sides, three quarters of an inch and put a rubber in the right rear because the track was going to get tight.

Well, he run until about lap five or seven and spun out back in the fence and knocked the rear clip off. So, you know, those things, you know, he didn't, you know, he didn't know what to tell. them and it just ended up being bad for him. And what, you know, that one thing almost ruined my driving career. It almost ruined his driving career. So, you know, it's crazy how it all happened. But, you know, I stayed after it. You know, I was still trying to do everything I could, talk to people, you know,

and, you know, it was fortunate enough to actually get another opportunity with Herzog, you know, when Jimmy was getting out of that deal and was able to go run an ASA race for them and, you know, was able to run with, yeah, over at Concord and Howie Leto was the crew chief and, you know, Howie, another guy that was just incredible. But, you know, Howie had always run ASA cars. He was one of the best in the ASA garage. Well, here you go with a kid that's from Moresville that has never seen ASA car before. I knew nothing about them at all.

And they want me to come down to the bush shop and help put my seat in. So I went and put my seat in. Howie and those guys scaled the car out. And there's no test day. There's no nothing. We're just going to show up and you're going to practice and you're going to qualify and you're going to race and we're going to see how you do. And I was like, man, this is going to be nuts. And, you know, I was a nervous wreck.

I had been out of a car for like three months. I remember laying on my bed on my right side of my head laying off the side of my bed for like, you know, hours at a time trying to get my neck strong enough to where it wouldn't give up in a 300 lap race. And then and then come to find out it's going to be 95 degrees and you're going to run 300 laps and around Concord, which all, you know, some people know, Concord, you don't ever get a break. You know, it'll wear you out. Yeah. So we went over there and went out and practice. And it wasn't bad. It was a little bit too tight at the beginning of practice.

And he put a rubber in the right rear and raised the right side of the track bar a little bit. And we got better. And I kept telling Howie, I said, I know you're not going to believe me. I said, but it needs some right front spring in it or it needs some sway bar in it. I said, it's rolled over on the right front. And that's what's making it push. and he said, these cars don't work that way. And I said, well, I'm just telling you, Concord, it does work that way.

And, you know, getting into three, if it rolls on the right front, it's not ever going to turn. And he didn't want to believe me, and we didn't change anything. And anyway, we qualified third. And, you know, I think Johnny Soder was on the pole and qualified third right behind him and ran third. I mean, like the whole race. And, um, and, and, ended up having a right rear tire started leaking down and I started getting out of control. And I probably should have said something before I did or just pitted.

But I was trying to ride it out as long as I could and got loose getting into three and backed it in the fence. And, you know, that part kind of stunk. You know, it was such a good day. And, you know, for a team that, you know, had a bushel car and was looking for somebody to drive it. And, you know, it just wasn't my day. And I did another thing wrong after that race. I was about to pass out when I got out of the car. And I pulled my suit down and tied my arms around my waist like most of us do on a normal Saturday night.

And when you're on television with TN, you're not supposed to do that. You're supposed to have all your logos showing when you talk when you talk. So I did that wrong. I don't know. But Howie called me on Thursday the next week. And he said, hey, we had a couple people drive a car. Tuesday, a couple of people drive Wednesday, and a couple people drive Thursday. And he said, I just wanted to tell you, he said two out of the six people we had said

that it was rolled over on the right front. So I put 50 pounds of spring in the right front, picked up a tenth of lap. And then I put a bigger bar and it picked up another tenth of lap. So you probably would have kicked Johnny's ass if I'd have just listened to you. Yeah. Hey, if I could back up a little bit. I mean, you guys became friends at some point, right? And so obviously we're talking, I mean, this ASA race would have been in 2001 maybe.

Does that sound about right? Yeah. Okay. So in this time, Dale Jr. is now already a cup driver. Back up and tell me about you guys. I mean, I know where you met, but where did you guys become friends? And was that in high school? Yeah, I mean, in high school, we sat beside each other in drafting class.

And it was kind of funny because he would sit there and draw. race car pictures and then he'd put my name above the door. Oh my gosh. It shocks me that you weren't in the end crowd. I mean, this is the, now, but it's all coming together. I'd draw cars racing and it'd be me and Rodney. We were going to be cup racers together. Got it.

So he's basically doing paint schemes for the first time. I'm trying to bring that to reality. Hey, as you would. So, okay, y'all are drawing in what class is this? Drafting. Drafting class. Got it. All right.

All right. And so that's where you guys became friends. because he's basically drawing your race cars. Yeah, I mean, I remember when he was first putting that first streetstock together. And he told me one day at school, he's like, I'm going to take that thing over to Concord if you want to go with us. And I'm like, yeah, I'll go. He's like, I'll pick you up.

So he shows up with that open trailer in front of my house with his streetstock on it, which I had never seen it before then. So I didn't help with that at all. But, you know, he showed up in front of my house. house and he comes walking down the driveway. He said, hey, you got an air tank and air gauge? I don't have one with me. So, of course I had that.

So I grabbed my air tank. He probably don't remember this. I do. I grabbed my air tank and my air gauge and we went to Concord. And he goes out there practicing for a while. And it wasn't, it wasn't long. We realized that the gears in the rear end weren't ever welded up. And it was spinning one tire all the way down the straightaway, I believe.

Something like that. I don't remember exactly, but I remember him talking about that. But, and then he went and run it a few more times, and I remember going over there and beating the doors out on it. He needed a volunteer to hold a big four by four piece of wood through the car up against the door while he hit it with a sledgehammer. And this is still how you, this is how you beat out cars today, right? I mean, this is kind of how you do it, right? Is this where you get the idea? It was fun, though.

But, yeah, I mean, you know, after that, he got to racing a lot. And honestly, when I race, and I'll go back to me just being quiet and all that kind of thing, I just raced. And, you know, I didn't ever hang out with anybody. I just wanted to race and that kind of thing. And that kind of separated us a little bit. But every time he would win a Bush race, I'd still show up over there. It was always the Motown. The Motown would have a little party every time he wanted to race.

so I would show up over there. And then it would be a couple of people that don't talk and that are shy. It's like a couple of, a couple of mimes looking at each other, looking at the race cars. You know what I remember? You know what I remember about that day with the air tank? Is that we,

I busted the air tank. You remember that? Oh, you did? I don't. Well, it either, it either happened while we were at the track or rolling around in the bed of the pickup truck on the way home, but we knocked the top off of it and broke it.

And I felt so bad. I was like, damn. I ain't even got an air tank and a tire gauge and I done broke his. Yeah. Yeah, we had some fun. Go ahead.

I remember you had, I think it was a New Year's Eve party or something. This was back in the back garage. Yeah. One time. And I remember walking in this, and you may not remember this one, but I walked in, and as soon as I walked in, you and Matt were standing there talking. And as soon as I walked up, Matt's like, hey,

and you said, hey, and you look straight over at Matt, and you said, hey, dumbass, that's the, that's the guy you should have put in that bush car. Wow. And Matt's like, oh, I know, I know, I know. But anyway, yeah, just another one of them stories where shoulda, should have could have got a bush ride. Did, Matthew, did you call him for these notes? Maybe. So what's the egging?

I don't remember that. Oh, God. You don't remember that? No. So we hopped in your little S-10 truck one night, and you wanted to go to Canapolis. And you had a friend that lived in Canapolis over and knew your grandma somewhere. Walter, Monroe. Yeah.

So you said, we're going to go over there for a little while, and we show up at your grandma's house. You wanted to stop at your grandma's house, and you knocked on the door, and nobody's there. And you said, oh, come on, I know how to get in. We went through the back window at the grandma's house. And we're sitting on the couch when she walks in the door. I was scared her to death. But we sat over there at your grandmalls for a little while, and I got to meet her and all that.

And then we went and picked up Walter. And then we went cruising in the Concord Mall parking lot, going round and round and round. So there was these two girls walking down the sidewalk at the Concord Mall. And, of course, we were like, you know, trying to talk to them and all this and that. Well, somehow we got both of them in this little S-10 truck, and there wasn't a whole lot of room in the S-10 truck.

So there were three guys and two girls in S-10 truck. It's a single-cab, S-10. Yeah, I got it. I got it. So this Walter guy, you know, he's got somebody, one sitting on his lap, one sitting on my lap. So we drive around for a little while, and finally we realized that this wasn't going nowhere,

and we pull back in the mall and we pull up the sidewalk. Well, this one girl gets out and then I get out to try to help the rest of the party get out of the truck, I guess you could say. So this other girl gets out. Well, about that time, you start taking off like you're going to leave me and the door's hanging wide open. And I'm kind of running beside the truck and hop in. And it wasn't like 30 seconds later blue lights pull up behind us. And said the guys like, you know, what were y'all doing? And he said, well, we were just dropping them off.

And he said, no, you weren't. You had the door hanging open, trying to get them in your truck. He had no clue what had really happened. But he was trying to blame. He was trying to blame us on something that really did happen. Do you remember none of this? None of this. What kind of life of crime do you leave?

He remembers none of this. And he wanted your license and registration. or something like that. And you hand him your license and he said, oh, y'all go ahead. Hand it right back to you. Oh, come on. It is K-Town. Wow.

But we ended up, after that, we went to a grocery store. Oh, no. And we all split up. We all split up the three of us. And I got like two cartons of eggs and you got two cartons of eggs. And the other boy got two cartons of eggs. And we all went to three different cash registers. And this lady, she said, I'm just going to tell you right now.

I know what's going on here. And if there's eggs on my car, I can remember your face. So we rode around and we didn't throw any eggs in anybody's cars, but we threw them at every stop sign and speed limit sign that we could come across going down the road. But we didn't tear up anything. Golly. I cannot believe you don't remember any of this. Your cheeks are hurting so bad.

We need Rodney just to come over here and tell us everything else that Dale Jr. doesn't remember about his life. Oh, my God. That is something. What is the chasing deer on Dad's land? God. So we were over there beating him doors out on that street stop, and I had never been over there,

and I was trying to look through the little window in the bus shop at one point, and you're like, don't look over there. He said if my dad sees he's going to get pissed. And, no, it wasn't your dad. You said if somebody else saw me, they'd be pissed. Anyway, we beat the doors out for a while, and everybody had left. It was in the afternoon, and everybody had left the shop. And you said, you want to ride back through there and see the land?

And I said, yeah. And so this is also in the low S-10. So we started that big circle back through the land, back through the property. And we were coming back, and about halfway back, there was deer everywhere. And you're like, this is going to be good. here and I said what? He said, I'm going to get out and you slide over here and put it in drive. And when I tell you to go, you haul ass.

So you got out of the truck and you started walking up into the field a little bit. And all of a sudden you said, go! And I floored it. Well, I floored it. Well, the next thing I know, the deer are running straight at me and like jumping over the hood of this S-10. And I slammed on brakes. I slammed on breaks and stopped, and you're like, that was cool as hell, wasn't it? I was like, my God, that'll get you shot over there from what I heard.

I mean, like, is that the people, is that the deer you want to be messing with? Not, not, not, not, not from what I heard. I don't really been pissed off. Oh, yeah, he would have. Oh, man, he would have, he would have, he would have shot both of us. Did you ever meet dad? No, I honestly didn't. Damn.

You know, that was, that was kind of a, you know, that was a, you know, that was a, that was a weird part, you know, like everybody always asked me, like, what was the first cup race you went to? And I said, well, the first cup race I ever went to was the one that I was,

uh, an interior guy on the 77 car. Yeah. And they're like, you never went to a cup race until you actually went working for a cup team. And I said, no, I used to go,

remember when they used to qualify over at, uh, Charlotte, like on Wednesday nights, wasn't it? Oh. So I would go over there and watch qualifying. You know,

the guy I race go courts with Mark Mode. We would go over there and race, I mean, watch Qualifying. And what was the other class? They ran after Qualifying. Sportsman? Yeah. Yeah, that was a scary deal.

But we would watch that, we would watch that sportsman race. But, you know, I was racing every weekend. So I just, I never got to go to any cup races. I would listen to them or watch them if I could, but I never actually went to any. Yeah. No, I mean, that's not unusual for folks like you or me. I tell people to, you know, to their surprise all the time about the first Daytona 500. ever saw was from starting an eighth place right in 2000 right

I'd never been to the Daytona 500 in my life till I drove in it that's crazy it is right but it's no different than you because you know when you're I never went to did you go to like prom or dances or any of that stuff I was always racing or I at least used racing as an excuse not to go I actually went to one prom I missed one of them and went to one and then my graduation I almost missed that. We had a national up in Liberty, North Carolina, and was racing up there. And I had no intentions in going to my graduation. I'd already said, I'm not going to be there. And, man, these huge storms come rolling through up there and just tore everything up and rutted up the racetrack.

And they got, you know, they had just caught it off for the day. So I hopped in my truck and went, you know, hauling butt back to Mooresville and took a shower and went out and washed my truck because it had been at a dirt track for two days and went to my graduation and pulled in right when they were walking from the school out to the field. You know, behind Morrisville Junior High back then, you'd walk down to that field.

I pulled in right there. I already had my gown and stuff on, plop my hat on, and got in line and walked down to the field. But, yeah, I wasn't into all the dances. I don't even... I'm surprised you got the two girls in that pickup truck. Like, knowing that kind of game y'all lacked.

I know. I am surprised, too, that we had any interactions with girls. Exactly. I'm sure y'all talk about. Especially three guys riding in an S-10. I mean, we had literally been hip-hipped in that thing. Hey, guys, want to get in? You want to get in?

Absolutely. Scoot it over. Yeah. You know the three of us had no game at all, so I don't know how that happened. Well, we ended up buying eggs later that night, so that's how much game we had. Hey, does Mooresville High, do you guys have any interactions with them? I mean, you guys are both very successful. The school?

Yeah, Moresville High School. I mean, maybe there's others at Moresville High. Maybe they're numb to, you know, being right in the middle of the NASCAR world. But, like, you know, you won a championship or championship crew chief. You know, you've got all your success. I mean, do you guys, are you at least in a trophy case back at Moresville? Anybody's Hall of Fame or something? No, I don't think so.

Man, nothing. There's no reunions. Our class hasn't had a reunion. It's crazy. Oh, my God. We haven't either. If y'all did have a reunion, though, you got to get an S-10. I've had the S-10.

Roll, you do. He's got the S-10. You guys just roll on in, find somebody else to pile in that truck. It's got to be three-wide. It's got to be three-wide. My goodness. Yeah. Rodney, you know, at what point in your career as a crew chief,

did you ever sort of come to terms with your driving career? Is there times, I guess, now, even today, when you get caught sort of thinking and daydreaming a little bit about, you know, those times and how you miss it or how what could have been or what you wish it would have became? And it's totally got to, it's completely human to do that. but I wonder, you know, because let me say, I think the world of you as a crew chief, as a mechanic, as a mastermind of cars and how to make them work and how to make fast race cars, it's not an easy thing to do and you're one of the best at it. But one of the things that I know a lot of people don't know and what we've tried to highlight on this show is what kind of talent you were behind the wheel.

And really what you, you know, what you were capable of. you could have been had the brakes fall in the right way a regular in the Winston Cup series. And so I wonder, you know, how you deal with that. You know, do you think about it like that? Do you feel like you could have made it that far? Yeah, I mean, you know, I think some of it, in the early years I did think about it. You know, there were still some people that were racing in the truck series and different things that I had raced with growing up.

And I'm like, how in the world did I not get a ride? And those people are still out there racing. And, you know, and I mean that in the utmost respect, too. And I think that they would say that about me, too. And, you know, it just, it just, you know, honestly, that year before I finally went to work for a cup team, it was, it was dark for me. You know, I, I wasn't, I wasn't doing very good and just really depressed. and just things weren't going the way that I want them to go. And, you know, I was, you know, God, how old was I at that time?

I was almost 25 years old or something like that. So, you know, making $250 a week at 25 years old, there comes a time when you're going to have to do something different. And, you know, so when I first started, you know, Cup racing. I honestly didn't think about it a lot. You know, my first cup job was underneath, you know, Dave Blaney racing, and I'd always watch Dave race and respected Dave.

And it wasn't but a couple weeks, and Dave loved me. And he knew what I was about and how much I wanted to win and how hard I wanted to work. And honestly, I think that helped me because he kept, you know, pushing me up the ladder as much as he could. And he kind of got run out of that. car, you know, at the end of that year and, and, uh, Penske bought that team and, and Brendan, and the same thing happened with Brendan. Brennan, you know, within just a month or two, you know, Brendan loved me and,

and knew, uh, what I was about. And I started car chief in that car and, and, um, you know, everybody, and it was people like Dale and people that knew me growing up that knew, you know, what I was about. And, um, you know, that's, that's what led me to where I am today is those relationships and stuff. And, you know, when I was car chief in that, that 77 car for Penske, it was Scott Riggs that called, wanted me to come over there and be his car chief at MB2 and MBV. And, you know, so that, you know, I remember going to that job interview with Doug Randolph. And, and, you know, I told my wife, I said, she said, you're not going to take that, are you?

Don't you think you need to stay at Penske? And I was like, yeah, I probably do. I was like, I guess if they offer me this amount, that I would do it. And it was like 25% more than what I was making. And so Doug offered me 25% more than what I was making. I went back home and I told my wife, I was like, I guess I'm going over there. This is what he offered me. She goes like, oh, yeah, you got to go over there.

So I went over there and, you know, working with Scott, you know, they would not run very good. And man, when I got over there, everything was messed up. I mean, you would travel the car and looked at the sway ball arms and hymns and the spring alignment and all that stuff. And it was horrible. Like everything was bound up. And the car couldn't travel. It couldn't work. And, you know, fixed all that before we even got the season started and went down there and we finished, I think, third in the Daytona 500.

We went to Atlanta and run top five. We went to Vegas run top five. I mean, we were knocking out top fives, you know, every week. and then it kind of got to a dead spot there in the season. And it wasn't because of the people. It wasn't because Doug was doing a bad job or anything like that. It was really because the rotation of the cars looking back on it. And, you know, that's stuff I know now, but I didn't know them.

But you kept running the same car and the body keeps getting messed up a little bit more and more. And, you know, the front clip gets, you know, mileage out and all this stuff. Well, all because it was a good car, we just ran it every week. And it finally just started falling apart. and but you know things just led one thing to another and and it come about June I guess we're going to Pocono and they called me in the office and said I was going to crew chief and I didn't know I didn't know what to do I don't think I was even ready for that but we started car chief I started crew chiefing and and been crew chiefing ever since it's been a long time now but you know it was Scott Riggs that started that and and it was

because of late models. It was because of the things that we had done against each other and together throughout my life that got all that going. But Rodney, back to Dale's question. Like at what point by the time you became, by the time you went to MB2, had you already come to terms with it? Now you're on a trajectory that seems that you're making 25% more and now you're making some money that can support your family. Is that what helped you? you come to terms and sort of put some finality to the to the driving career or did you ever get to a point of finality you know i don't think i ever set on a team on a pit box and thought to myself that i could do better than that person i will say that up front i never i never felt that

way it was always the other people that were in like the truck series and stuff that i'm like How was that guy still racing? It wasn't ever that I thought that I could hop in there and drive better than Brendan Gone or better than Scott Riggs or anything like that. And honestly, I think some of that had come to terms even before I started racing in the Cup series because I knew the reason I won a lot of races is because I worked on my stuff all the time and I understood it. you know, and helping people like Clayton and all the other people that I helped, kind of crew chief, you know, like, you know, even though it was go-carts,

it was still kind of crew chief. And you were picking out what tires you were going to put with those guys and what staggered there was. And you were coaching them on how to drive. And that part of my life got me prepared to go do that stuff. And actually it was a friend of mine named Scott Monsgaard. He was a shock guy. He had owned his own shock business and got people running gas shocks in late miles. Before that, everybody wanted to just run 61 series careers.

That was a monotube shock. But anyway, Scott pulled me aside one day and wanted to go to launch. And he said, look, he said, I know you're struggling right now. I can see it on your face. And me and him were great friends at the time. And he knew I was struggling. And he said, look, you just need to go work for a cup team. He said, I've been on a cup team for three years now.

He was at Jasper at the time. He said, you're smarter than anybody there. And he said, there's no reason that you can't succeed doing something other than driving. He said, you just need to look a different avenue. And at that time, I had just met Katrina and, you know, realizing that I did need to make money. And so, you know, to answer you a question, I kind of got over it to begin with and wanted to just go make money and wanted to win races at different. way and I never went back and I haven't run a single late model race ever since. I was going to ask you, what's the last time you raced?

I think maybe a couple years into it. Mark wanted me to go run a big money champ cart race down in Carnesville, Georgia, and we went and did that and finished third. But, you know, other than that, I still go ride some go-karts over at GoPro, but I haven't raced at all. I could have, you know, with what I've done throughout my career, yeah, I could have paid somebody and got the best car and go run late model race every now and then. But that's not, that's just not me. I don't really have any interest in it.

You know, me and you have talked about just running laps of hickory on a test day and stuff. That would be fun. But, man, just going out there and taking a chance on getting hurt or doing something right now probably isn't the right thing for me. trying to win another cup championship and trying to win cup races is the most important thing. How many more years you think you got as a crew chief? And I'm not trying to rush you in retirement. My question really is about what's next? Because you're certainly not just a championship crew chief.

There's got to, there's more, you know, you're overqualified almost for that role at this particular point in your life. what's next for you and do you even think about that? Do you even think about having an opportunity to run an organization or manage a shop, you know, manage a team from the top? Yeah, I really don't know yet. You know, I've went through different swings when I was at Waltrip. You know, we were doing the part-time deal with Mark and Vickers and Michael and I kind of got to the point then that I was, you know,

when I knew Mark wasn't going to run anymore and all that, I was kind of the point that I just want to stop. And I'll do some kind of management role or I'll do something like that. And then that's kind of when the opportunity come about with Kevin. And that, you know, the deal with Kevin completely changed things and my outlook and all that stuff. So, you know, right now I want to win races as long as he wants to win. races and I want to win championships as long as he wants to win them. You know, when he's done, I don't know what I'll do because I think, you know,

I think we have something that it's just hard to come by and I don't think it'll ever be the same. You know, you know, if I had to say a person that, that I would want a crew chief after Kevin, it would probably be Blaney just because I started my career with Blaney and, you know, I love that family and all that that goes. on there. And I know, Ryan probably thinks the same thing, but I don't know.

I used to think I wanted Zippy's job, and now I look at it, and I'm like, man, I don't want his job. Who wants that job? Right. And then, you know, you look at the NASCAR side of it. And it's like, you know, would you want to go to the NASCAR side of it? And some days I'm like, yeah, it would be cool because I think I could help things. I could help the sport. And then other days, I'm like, man, I don't want it in the middle of that.

Right. So, you know, You know how it is. Things change over and over. I'm not the personality to probably be on radio or TV and all that. I'm not the LaTart of the crew chiefing deal, but, you know, I just want to work and, you know, I want to make money and want to have a good family and enjoy life.

And, you know, I've tried to do a little bit more of that lately, but, you know, it's still about winning races. Yeah. I could see you a Cup Series director. something like that, that'd be pretty incredible. You know, some of the best years the sport I ever saw was when the garage was governed by crew chiefs, you know, retired crew chiefs, like

Terry Nelson. Yeah, they go to work for NASCAR. I mean, you knew you weren't getting, you knew that everything was going to be on the up and up. Right. Yeah. Yeah, Rodney Childers had worked for NASCAR one day. Running the garage, is that what you're suggesting? If they can afford you. Hey, let's, if they can afford it, right. 25% more than what he's making now. That's what we know.

It'll be cheap. You want the best. You got to pay for it. And a cart of eggs. Hey, Rod, okay. Let's keep down this hypothetical road because this is going to tell me something. I could ask you what makes you and Harvick work so well. But I ask it a different way.

Let's say you do get this other opportunity and you are now leaving at least the crew chiefing role. And you can handpick somebody to be Harvick's crew chief. What is your piece of advice for that person on how? to make it work with Kevin Harvick? I think the biggest thing is you kind of got to be opposites in a way. You know, you can't argue with each other and you can't butt heads and, you know, people make fun of me because he'll say something on their, you know, radio that's, you know, this blankety-blank thing won't turn and I'll just say 10-4.

You know, like, I listened to them. a little bit on the radio before I took the job. And he would say something smart. And Gil would say something smart. And then it would turn into a five-minute battle of who's right. Like, you're just wasting time. You're wasting laps and you're wasting time and everything else. So I don't know.

I mean, you just can't argue. You can't argue and you've got to be productive. You've got to work hard. And you've got to want the same things. And I think he knows that I want the same thing that he wants. I want to win. I want to be the fastest in practice. I want to qualify on the front row and win the race and win championships.

And to finish fifth, that sucks to me. And I've always been that way. And I know people tell me all the time you need to enjoy it a little bit more. But, you know, it takes me a day to get over finishing fifth. And that's just the way I am. And he's the same way. What is it? All right, remove Harvard from the equation.

what does it pissed off Rodney Childers look like? And what has to happen to get you to that point? Surely you've been mad and surely you have expressed anger, right? We've just never seen this. Yeah, and for me, I was always one of those that had like this weird line in the sand where all of a sudden I just completely flipped out. Like I was calm and everything is going good. And then all of a sudden out of the blue, it's like a complete.

bomb goes off and you're like what in the world just happened and um that that's kind of how i always was um it was almost too bad at one point in my life oh really um yeah i mean i would throw something and break something and and um but it it would take a lot to get me there but um but yeah i could get pretty mad and um but since then man i've grown up i'll let things flat off my shoulder a little bit and realized over the years that some things aren't worth it, you know. You just got to move on and worry about the things that you can control and keep going. Well, Rodney, this has been a great conversation. I learned so much.

You know, we've known each other a long time, but you are quiet. And I've learned a lot today. About yourself. You know, talk to you. Hey, man, I've ran pretty hard. All right. I've forgotten. He's got some stories.

I've forgotten a lot. When you run as hard as I do, you don't retain that stuff. Yeah, you don't even want to, do you? But, man, we appreciate you coming on the show. People are going to love here in this part of your life, and people know you as this championship crew chief that's one of the best at the top of the sport right now, but what they're going to learn about your life

and how you got there is so important to your story. So I'm glad we can bring it to them. You're going to love the reaction that you get from the fans and the support. I can tell you that. But thanks for giving us some time today. I know that you, you know, as one of the best, busiest crew chiefs in the sport, you don't have a lot of time to do things like this.

That's right. So thank you. And we'll see you at the racetrack, hopefully, very soon. Yeah, I appreciate it, guys. I mean, y'all's podcast is definitely the best out there, in my opinion. I listen to it every week on the airplane flying to the racetrack. So y'all have had some tremendous people on there, and it's fun to listen to, so keep up for good work.

Well, you were one of them, buddy. Thank you for coming on, and good luck this weekend in Michigan. I'll be in the booth. That's going to be pretty interesting to back-to-back days of cup racing from that racetrack. But have some fun and enjoy it. Yeah, thank you guys. Appreciate it. Okay.

Y'all know what time it is. We are live. This is the Ask Junior portion of the podcast where I'll, answer the questions that you sent in. It's all brought to you by Xfinity, from your partner of NASCAR and our podcast, and your partner for Fast Internet. So we got some great questions.

I hope Leah's on the line with you guys and getting your questions in, so let's get started. All right, first question is coming in from Dave Phillips. He wants to know, how much will irasing at the Daytona Roadcourse help the drivers prepare for the races there next weekend? And how does eye racing differ from the Sims that the teams have.

So the Sims that the teams, there's a lot of different things. So I-Racing obviously is something you can do at home. If I was going to race at the road course at Daytona, I would probably spend at least one day, you know, anywhere from four to eight hours on I-Racings version of that track. I think one day would be enough if you wanted to put a little more time in, you could, and preferably right before you go to the racetrack. So it can be very helpful, and I'll use an example of that.

I've never been to Road Atlanta as far as driving around the track. I never raced around it, never practiced, tested there, or anything. Jimmy Johnson had a two-day test back when we were teammates, and he had to leave on the second day and go somewhere. So they called me and said, hey, can you come run this car? We got some simple things that we need to accomplish that, you know, we just need a driver, and you'll do, you'll be fine. So I spent the day before that on eye racing running Road Atlanta.

And I showed up to getting Jimmy's car. I was really nervous. You know, Chad is a, Chad canals is pretty intimidating. It's a crew chief. He doesn't put up with anything. Definitely doesn't like to be slow. So even in a test, I felt a little pressure to go out there. put forth a really good effort.

And I hit the track and in the first run on the race track, I was very, very close within a tenth or two of Jimmy's time and right on top of his lap times in the second run. And literally hadn't been there in an hour. And I got out of the car and I'm messing around on my phone and one of the engineers walks up and goes, so where did you get, where have you, when did you get laps here? And I was like, I've never ran here.

He's like, that's what I heard, but I don't believe it. I was like never ran here before. I've only ran on iraicing the last, you know, the day before for about four or five hours. I'm telling you. Had I not spent that day on eye racing, it would have taken me at least two hours to learn the track and get up to speed. So we didn't have to waste time doing that. So that's a great example of how you can use eye racing or even the team or the manufacturers simulators, the drivers do. They take and use either I racing or the manufacturer

simulators to learn these tracks that they've never been to. Now, if you've been to a race track, it's not quite as useful. It's just for fun. But especially when you're going to road courses for the first time, it can be an incredible tool. The Sims that the teams have are basically programs that run on a tablet or your computer, and it's basically, there's no driving, You plug in a setup, you push a button, and the program runs laps with that setup and tells you how the car is going to handle, where the wedge is and how the wedge changes through the corner, and it gives it to you in graph form. And if your driver comes in and says, basically, an engineer will run SIM all week. He'll basically start the program with their baseline setup that they're going to show up with at the racetrack.

and the crew chief may give him a list of things that he would like to ask the simulation to try, raising the track bar, more right rear spring, a unique shot for the left front. The engineer will change all of those components one at a time in the simulation and let the simulation run it. The simulation will spit out data that says, this change is going to tighten the car up in the middle of turn three or four. This change is going to loosen the car up getting into turn one. and he'll you know the engineer has that information that the sims telling him so when they go to the track and the driver drives a car and says hey i'm tied off a turn two well we've got something that sims says

we'll fix that so let's put that in hopefully it works so that's what the simulation that the team's on that's how they function i have no idea yeah pretty cool stuff next question is from blake webster what college football team do you pull for, roll tide, question mark. Tar Hills. Yeah. Mac Brown, back as a coach of the Tar Hills. I actually got to go and meet him last year.

Pretty excited about the direction they're going. I was a Steve Spurrier fan because when he was a coach at Florida, he sent me a couple autographed footballs. I wasn't a fan of Florida. didn't hardly know really who Steve Spurrier was, but these footballs showing up in my office way back in like 98,99, 2000. And so I kept them. I thought that was very nice, very cool.

I'm going to keep these. Actually, I'm going to watch Steve Spurrier coach. And, you know, he gets hired by Washington in the NFL, which is my favorite team. That's incredible. Didn't quite work out like we'd hoped. It was fun. but didn't succeed.

And then he goes and coaches South Carolina, who coincidentally had been coached by Lou Holtz, who I had asked to come speak at DEI when Dad passed away. Dad passes away in Daytona, and I was like, I got to get this company fired up about the year. Somebody told me Lou Holtz can do that. I got Lou to come in. He talks to the company.

I'm like, you know what, this man's cool, I'm going to start watching the Gamecocks. I become a Gamecox fan. We actually had Gamecox recruited one of the players from Mooresville, local high school that I went to. I got to watch that. I got to see how he does. Local guy from Moorsville. So I'm watching the Gamecox, and then that's where Spurrier goes. I'm like, well, this is great.

So I'm kind of a Gamecox fan. I'm a Steve Spurterer fan, so I was a big fan of theirs for a long time. And then when Spirder left, I had to go back, I think, and take my allegiance to Carolina Blue Tar Hills. So, yeah, long story. Sorry if I was rambling, but that's where it's at. We've got a gift. All right. Oh, yeah.

This is my college helmet right there. Is this for Mike? This is for me, yeah. That's for Mike? Yeah, that's for me. And this is for you. Okay. From Lenny Buller's kid.

Thank you. Look at that. Very cool. Out of nowhere. You told me about this, Mike. It's nice. Tell people what this is. This is a helmet that Georgia Southern University sent me.

That's where I went to college for about 12 years. And this is a, I don't know, man. It looks sporty, man. I just love it. It's like that flat blue. Yeah, that's new. That's something that they didn't have back when I was there. But we're going to put it in here somewhere, man.

I mean, this isn't the only helmet. The old school number on the helmet? That's pretty cool. Yeah, yeah. So I was really appreciative of that. Back in. We're college football people right here. Yeah. I got about 80 helmets.

You do have a lot of helmets. That's right. This one is not 81. I don't have one of those. You ain't getting this one. Go ahead, Lee. Next question from Jeremy Tussie. Who was your very first crew chief, like back in the late model days?

Gary Hargett was the guy that was my first crew chief. Dad put me together with Gary. when I got out of street stocks and went into late models, I ran street stocks for a year, legends cars for a year, and then run into late models. And Gary owned a car down in Union County, South Carolina, or around Pagelin, Marshville,

is actually where Gary lived, home of Randy Travis. It used to be a sign when you drove into Marshville. I said, home of Randy Travis. Anyhow, Gary, and if you look at old pictures of my dad, there's this one picture of dad driving this. White number eight Nova back in 1976, and it says on the door, Gary Hargott's auto parts.

And actually, Gary helped my dad as a, you know, a crew chief in a way or a mechanic. He also worked with Harry Gant, when Harry Gant drove the Orange 77 in the Sportsman Series in the 70s, Harget worked on that car. But he was in racing all his life. Also, he was a pig farmer. and just a hardworking guy. But Dad put me with him and said, hey, I think Gary can help you craft you into the driver, and away we went.

We raced at Myrtle Beach, which is closing, sadly. We raced at Florence I-95 Speedway. We'd go to Nashville's fairgrounds every once in a while, but we had a lot of fun. And Gary's still around. I don't know that he's in racing these days, but he was like, He was like a grandfather to me, and then I had to make the decision to leave, which is another long story. But that was my first crew chief.

It was a big, big impact on my life. All right, guys, that's it for today. All right, that's some great questions. Really, really good. You got to be fast in this sport, and Exfinity knows a thing or two about that with Xfinity. Get blazing fast Wi-Fi without any pit stops. X-Fi delivers the speed, coverage security,

and control that you need to stay connected to NASCAR and Dirty Mode Media. all season long. This is beyond Wi-Fi. This is X-Fi. Keep your questions rolling in at At Xfinity Racing and at Dirty Mo Media on Twitter using hashtag Ask Junior for a chance to have your questions answered

by Dale Jr. himself. We're proud to partner with Xfinity keeping us connected to the sport all season long. Shout out to Xfinity, premier partner of NASCAR. All right. Odd it up. Odd history.

I've had some radio issues back in the day, Mike. It's common with any driver you're going to get in the car and things just don't work, right? Radios, they go way back in our sport, but the history isn't exactly perfect, right? The 1975 World 600 at Charlotte Murder Speedway was the first time that David Pearson and the Wood Brothers decided to use a radio during a race. They were starting on the pole, but realized on the pace laps that they had a huge problem. The team, they bought their radios from an IndyCar team. and found out that the frequency used was the same one that Bud Moore and his team were using. Well, this meant throughout the race that Pearson and the Wood Brothers had to share the radio with Bud Moore's team and Bud's driver, Buddy Baker.

And that gave both teams a lot of problems. At one point, Bud Moore called Baker on the pit road and David Pearson came anyways. He thought the call was for him and the Wood brothers just sat there confused when he showed up in the pit stall. That forced Pearson to go back out on the track without any service whatsoever. The first time the Wood Brothers ever didn't service their car when it came to the pits. They're still confused. They're usually chomping up a bit. But there is a positive.

The drivers thought it was funny that they could talk to each other. And at one point, Pearson was able to thank Baker for letting him pass. That's very cool. Pearson finished third. Baker finished fifth. So overall, it wasn't a bad day. Although at the time, Leonard Wood wasn't happy with all the confusion and said that they might go back to using the old chalkboard

instead of radios. Or just think to check which frequencies others are using and pick a different frequency. Shockboard. Thank you for not picking on my title. I was so shocked that you didn't. I didn't read it. Oh my gosh. As a music

fan, I thought, I did that for you. That's pretty good. I love R.M. He said, what's your frequency can't? That's a good song. They have... Not a fan of that band, but that's a great song. I love... R.M. I don't know why I never like them. Last call.

Last call. We're wrapping up the show. With Darlington on the horizon, the throwbacks are going to start popping up on social media. And we've got an announcement of our own for Junior Motorsports. A special throwback scheme on Daniel Hemmerich, number eight car. John N's ready. And I'm telling you, man, it's a good-looking car. That's right. Go check it out.

There's a video on our Dirty Mo Media YouTube page. J.R. Motorsports will let you know all of the significance to this paint scheme and why Daniel and the guys wanted to choose it. But just a really cool car. A lot of times they try to go and do these throwbacks and some of them kind of miss the mark when they get a little bit this complex

because this is a unique design. A lot of detail. The video does tell a good story. There's no... A lot of detail went into it. And there's an Easter egg there. I gave you on the desk. On the desk.

Right there it is. There it is, sir. Right there. Yeah. Lost Speedways. If you haven't seen Lost Speedway, shame on you. I know, right. No excuses.

And I know the Canadians are sitting there carrying on, and I get it. Roku people and the fire stick people are listening. Somebody on problems that are way out of our control. But you can find ways. Somebody on social media says on PlayStation now. Yeah, PlayStation and, yeah, yeah, Xbox, I think. And yeah. And yeah.

You ever heard that service? Have you ever played that? I haven't been on yet. No, no. But that's coming. Yeah. No, not no. Yeah.

We should. We should mute, Dillner. So anyways, Lost Speedways, go to Peacock TV, which is the streaming platform for NBC. It's free to watch our show. Just download it and watch it. It's that simple. binge it. Enjoy it.

You can watch all eight episodes at once. And from the positive feedback that we've gotten, we are already brainstorming. We are brainstorming. On what tracks we want to do for our next season. A lot of people asking for more. You know what? Leave them one more, they say.

I like the short eight episode. It is. It feels right. It's not too much. There couldn't be too much. What would be too many lost speedways? 16 episodes in the season be too many. 16 would be way too many.

13? Anything more? I don't know why I like 8 so much. It's just a good round number. I don't know why you would like 8. I don't know. I have no idea. It's a good round number.

I don't know. Have you guys heard any negative feedback yet? None. Besides the Canadians. Is that not amazing? Besides the Canadians. No, no. That doesn't count.

Not about from people that have seen it. Yeah, yeah. People that have seen it and I have literally, like I believe the show belongs in the Smithsonian. Because I have not seen a piece of negative feedback. Even on Twitter. On social media. And that has never happened. All right, Mike.

Humanity. Let's go to our dirty-mo media Twitter handle and say, we need some feedback on Lost Speedway. Negative only, please. Negative feedback on. We'll block you if it's positive. Yes. Do it.

Yeah, I'd like to hear if there's any constructive criticism. You know, I'm going to ask you guys. Because it would hurt our feelings. No. I think everybody understands. to be sarcastic. It could be fun. It could be fun to read it next week.

You know what's popular on social media is you post a picture and say, what is this driver? Only wrong answers, please. That is fun. Yeah. Oh, well. Well, look, yes, go watch Law Speedways. And watch it again if you've already seen. I'm not kidding about the social media posts.

Hey, Leah, do you hear us? Mike, you think I'm joking. I hope you're joking. That would be funny. It would be until it's not. Why do we care? Oh, are you, you're talking. Wait, wait, Dale.

Who is talking right now? It doesn't do it, you do it. Dale Jr. would be so upset if people would be like, listen, what if the criticism was, what if it was like, I love Lost Speedways, but I cannot take the damn Earnhardt guy. Fine. That's not. You know that's not going to happen. Right. That is like the nicest thing that anybody has said to me on Twitter.

That's why he's all about it. But like, we would be taking shots like, God, Dillner will not shut up. up. That's funny. Or the Dillian. If you're not named Dillner. If you go into it knowing that they're being sarcastic. Oh, yeah.

You don't have to take it so personal, Mike. I got you. All right. Maybe you should do it on your social. I'm happy to. I wouldn't want to take liberties with all of our show on my social media handle. I figured if anything, we could post it on Dirtymo Media's Twitter handle. No.

Okay. Leah, what were you going to say since we cut you off? Yeah. Hey, let me go encourage people to talk. about not only me, but everyone else in the room on my Twitter handle. That's not very nice. It just does not sound like fun for me to read. Oh, yeah, that's right.

Right. You know what? That's the thing. That's right. Leah probably has seen a lot of negative stuff and she's like, no, you don't know what you're asking for. No, I actually haven't seen anything negative on Lost Beways. That's the joke.

It's not everything else. That is the joke. What happens? All right? What does happen? How do we know what happens when you go on Twitter looking to get negative feedback. Maybe the opposite happens. Maybe something really nice comes out of it. Maybe we change the world.

Maybe we change the world or change social media. No, the nicest part of social media is not being on it. It's not fair, Mike. Coming from the social media person. I love it. Hey, did we ever hire one? Hire what? A social media person? I don't know. Have we hired a social media person? No, I was helping them this morning.

Yeah. Oh, are you talking about Junior. I thought you were about Leah. This guy's going to. Mike! Well, no, that's what I, listen. Dale Jr.'s full of jokes today, apparently. We're going opposite day.

We're going to go ask for negative feedback and wonder if we've had any. Have we ever hired a social media person? Okay. Would it be fun if we went on there and said, give us some feedback on Lost Speedway's wrong answers only? Would y'all be okay with that? I think it's awesome. No, on the Dirty Mo Media hand. Let's do it.

Just for fun. How about some, hey, guys, how's, how you enjoying Lost Speedways? Wrong answers only. That can be funny. We've only heard positive. Leah, help us. Leah, go ahead and fire it out there. We'll see what happens.

Too nervous, Leah. She's going to have to leave, take some thumbs. She's muted herself or she's, she's cut it off already. All right. What are the, what are the, Leah's an ostrich right now? Do you need a degree? You know, the job for social media guy out there for junior motorsports, is it helpful to have a degree?

Would you hire somebody that didn't have a degree? Well, I would say now they're having like social media-specific schools in colleges and stuff. I've never really personally. I mean, like, Leah, what was your major in college? My major was in PR and then I had minors in journalism and advertising because social media was just like, you know, Facebook had just started. I remember signing up for Facebook when I got to college. So it wasn't a big thing when I was in college.

So I just kind of learned as I went. By the way, you talk about what seems like the easiest course through college would be making in social media. God, it's not an easy profession. I'm not saying it's an easy profession. I'm just saying, you know, taking classes in social media. It ain't algebra. I'd kind of be interested to see like what they're teaching. You know what it ought to be?

The social media classes ought to be the same as law classes. Like literally. Right. So you can't just hire. It should be like kumbaya. You can't just hire any guy out of the street. Well, we've done it. We've done it before.

Somebody just with a cool person. Somebody with just a fun, jovial personality. Our very first full-time social media person is now in law school. Dang. Do you all remember Davis Williams? First name Davis? Yeah. Yeah.

He was a producer on the show. He was one of the first producers of the show. Yeah, and he's now in law school. So that's what you have to look forward to, Mr. Court. Judge Wapner. Oh, well, speaking of reviews, we have one. Apple Podcast Review. I want some positivity.

Let's hear. Come on. Lurking Tom, he says, wicked good. Did I say that right? Damn New England. Wicked. Wicked good. It's wicked good. The music entries and mashups are amazing, and I love them every time.

It's always something different. This is the best NASCAR-based podcast there ever was. Wasn't a particular fan of Junior when he raced, but man, he's got to be my favorite person in racing world right now. Also, I like how the first winner of any motorized race in U.S. history, yeah, we was a Massachusetts driver from a Massachusetts. using valine and inflated tires. This guy really listens. Wicked sick.

Wicked sick. Oh, and please get Bobby Labani on this podcast. I've been trying, guy. They just won't hear me. I would love to hear you talk with Bobby Labani. Please get Bobby the Bonnie. We're going to get him on. Well, now that Lurking Tom has finally spoke up,

I guess he'll be on here next week. I know, right? I've been asking for a couple months. Yeah. You don't matter. I mean, it's Lurking Tom. Thanks, Tom, from Massachusetts. And keep the reviews coming in, especially these good long ones that mention my name.

Bad reviews only, please. We're not reading any reviews that don't mention me. TV! Is everyone excited about TV? No, yeah, I'm excited about... That's cool. All right, one final nugget. Some birthdays this week.

Wait, what? You know there was actually a little bit more to that TV nugget? I ain't reading it. We've got some news. He only put it in there because it's hockey. Well, it's hockey playoffs. Saturday mooring. There's a reason.

Saturday mooring. Saturday mooring is our show because I type so good. My grammar is so good. Well, the hockey playoffs are on NBCSN, right? Damn, strange. Are they Matthew? I don't know. I'm not following the hockey season.

Let's go. Islanders. Matthew, follow along here. He's asking a question. So the hockey playoffs are on NBC Sports Network. Got it. They're head on in the playoffs, so we've been kind of pushed aside to a different air date this week. But it might be a cool one if your kids are watching cartoons, boot them off the TV, Saturday morning, 10.30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

We are the Saturday morning cartoon. Okay, yeah. All right, birthdays. We never do birthdays. Why are we doing this? It's just something fun. All right. Kurt Bush, Jeff Gordon. All right.

They have the same date. I thought it was ironic. Our buddy Bobby Marcos has a birthday too. Anybody else? Happy birthday! Anybody else ran. Happy birthday. Dale Jr.

available for hire to come to your birthday, be the clown, and make your kid feel awesome. He does bar mitzvahs to. These are 40, 50-year-old men. I think they want to forget their birthday, but we're not going to like that. Thank God we didn't. get to wish Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch a happy birthday. I'm not sure we'd have been able to do a podcast without that. We were close to not including it.

That worries me. I'm just going to keep on putting a random shit in the show. That's funny. Hey, please put the Jeff Gordon Kurt Busch, Happy Birthday in a jingle. That belongs in the same jingle as everything else. 51. All right, everybody. a show. Thanks for Rodney Childers coming on. I learned so much about his driving career.

I've always been interested in learning more about it. And there's a lot of things that me and him did together that I totally have forgotten about. We've been friends a long time. Hope you guys have a great week. Michigan's this weekend. Have fun. Tune in. This bit of bad assery was made by Dirty Mo Media. Dirty Mo! Oh