The Dale Jr. Download - Bonus: Tuesday Q&A Session Live from North Wilkesboro

Episode Date: September 1, 2022

On today’s episode of the Dale Jr. Download, we have a special bonus episode live from North Wilkesboro Speedway. On Tuesday, August 30th, Dale Jr. hosted a Q&A session with 6 late model drivers. Brenden Queen (2:46)Bobby McCarty (11:47)Connor Hall (20:44)Brian Obiedzenski (30:43)Chad McCumbee (40:08)Landon Huffman (52:28)Brenden Queen hails from the Virginia Beach area. You can catch him racing weekly at Langley Speedway driving the #03 car with Mario characters painted all over it. Dale and Brenden discussed the car and its unique font style, making Brenden a favorite amongst the younger generation of race fans. They also discussed his famous nickname “Butterbean.”Bobby McCarty is just 29 years old but considers himself the old guy on the CARS tour. Before hopping on stage with Dale Jr., Bobby was hard at work making sure his car was ready for practice, showing the true grassroots of the CARS tour. Bobby attempted to qualify for his first Xfinity Series race earlier this year in New Hampshire. He talked about how that deal came about and what future plans he might have to try the series again.Connor Hall is Elliott Sadler’s favorite race car driver. The multiple-time Cup series winner and former JR Motorsports driver has high praise for Connor and believes his talent is real. Dale Jr and Connor talked about Connor's knack for finding sponsors, his journey from a small family team to racing for Chad Bryant, and how to make it all work on a small family-sized budget. Brian Obiedzenski may have a difficult name to pronounce, but his personality is hard to forget. Dale and Brian first connected over Twitter DMing back and forth about car parts. Brian is a limited late model driver, but by trade, he’s been a Cadillac service technician for 20 years. Dale and Brian shared stories from their days as service techs and talked about why Brian uses the #29 because of Kevin Harvick.Chad McCumbee is possibly one of the more interesting stories on the CARS Tour. Not only did Chad portray Dale Jr. in the ESPN movie “3”. But Chad drove cars as a stunt driver in the film “Talladega Nights.” That’s right Chad McCumbee was the real-life Ricky Bobby and Cal Naughton Jr. In addition, Chad talked about his transition to an ownership role in Sports Car on the IMSA circuit and how his journey through the ranks have NASCAR has prepared him to be an owner.Landon Huffman’s content game is second to none in asphalt racing. The third-generation driver has the personality to stand out and attract fans and sponsors like no other. Maybe that’s the reason Dale Jr. approached Landon to sponsor his Limited Late Model with High Rock Vodka colors. The two talked about how that deal came together, plus Landon’s impending track championship at Hickory Motor Speedway.  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.

Hey everybody, welcome to a bonus episode of the Dale Jr. Download. I'm Alex Timms, and today you'll hear the first Q&A session Dale Jr. did with some late-mile drivers live from North Wilkesburg. It was a really cool hour. You actually get to meet some of the drivers that are racing in the cars tour and a couple limited late model drivers as well. You may have heard of them before. May not have heard of them before, but after today's episode, you'll know them inside and out, where they came from, where you can find them. racing at and even what car they drove in the film Talladega Nights. No for real that really happens. Some guy actually drove the cars as a stuntman in Talladega Nights. It's wild. That's why you have to listen to this Q&A session. So without further ado, here's Dale Jr. live from

North Wilkesboro. Hey, everybody. Appreciate y'all coming. I just got here. So this is like super overwhelming. And I know you guys are here early. today we got a little practice happening later and then qualifying and then we got the limited and the street stocks running this evening so appreciate y'all coming early and definitely appreciate y'all supporting everything happening here today and tomorrow it's been pretty incredible to pull in here and see all the camping and listening about you know how things are going as far as sales and ticket sales and how many people are excited about this that's awesome getting the support

obviously from all of the drivers. You got cars to order guys that just race this weekend at Motor Mile, and they worked around the clock to turn those cars around and bring them over here to race for you guys. So big hand to the cars tour for doing that. They kind of plucked this race right into the middle of the schedule they already had. So it's pretty incredible how flexible and how much work the drivers and the teams are putting in to be here.

So we're very thankful for that. I really believe in the cars tour and we've been a part of that for a while But we got a lot of limited guys here and street stockers as well from all over To try to compete and run some labs here. So I know they had a little test day yesterday. I was watching that on the internet But we're gonna get started with a little Q&A I wanted to bring some of the drivers up here so that we could Together you know learn about these guys. I know the names and I've watched them race, but we don't you know maybe between you and I, we can learn something about them and be able to cheer them on tomorrow in the race when you see them out on the track. So first guy I want to bring up here, I think Brandon Queen.

We're going to learn about Brandon. Brandon's been racing for a while, mostly, I believe, at Langley. It's good to me, man. Hey, thanks for having me, man. Thanks for coming up here today. So Brendan, I've been watching your race for a couple years now, but. But tell everybody kind of where you've been racing at and how you got you start. Yeah, so I started racing when I was six in the go-karts on dirt,

and then, you know, moved up arena cars, legend cars, kind of the normal process, it seems. Then went late model racing, and I feel like my program really elevated when Phil Warren started crew chief inform me. Langley Speedway legend. Yeah, he is. So everything he's taught me, man, he's helped me. on and off the track as a person, learning about the cars, learning how to work on them, learning what it takes to win. Obviously, it's tough to win in the late models,

but the last couple of years have really turned around for us. I met Phil when I was really young. My mom lived in Norfolk for a long time. She lived in Norfolk. And so he was a legend around those parts. And, you know, it's guys like him that, you know, kind of kept this lay model stock car alive, you know, through those years. And now you're carrying that on as well. So you run into cars tour. You raced at Langley a lot, though, right? So

how do you divide your schedule and really where's your focus at now as far as where you'd like to spend most of your time racing? Well, you know, for us being kind of a littler team in our backyard, you know, Langley's easy to go to. It's right up the road for budget-wise. But I've always love the cars tour. It's the best of the best. I always wanted to run the full deal, just hadn't quite put it together. We're working on some things right now to make that happen here in the future, but we definitely wanted to run Langley because it was a very doable race to do do, being at home. Never thought it would have, we thought we'd have a shot, but never thought it would turn out the way it was. You know, we're just super blessed to have that opportunity

to even have a shot at it and to make it happen. on your car on the last lap you know i mean um don't get much better than that for a fan uh i know you probably wanted to eight car to win but we were trying to put on the show so um Phil warn was having surgery on that Monday and um that was kind of like a send off I wanted to win that race really bad and uh you know and then this race popped up and I had the opportunity to get in it and it's a no-brainer I mean you know when this came on eye racing that was a big deal for me uh just to I love to history of the sport and then to be able to be here in person it's just incredible yeah so Brendan mentions eye racing this racetrack did have some super late

model races back around 2010 2011 they really put a lot of effort in to try to revive the racetrack but that eventually went away and probably about three years ago I talked to Marcus Smith who owns a property and said I want to go out there and clean the surface up and scan this racetrack so that we can have in ira-racing if it can't exist in the real world and we can't come here and race at least on i racing guys like us can go out there and have some fun on the computer in the sim world and that's really the very reason why we're all here today that little moment where we came out here and clean that track up

is what kind of kick started this whole idea of having racing back at North Woodsboro well I appreciate getting a little bit of credit there but Marcus really had to have an open mind about opening this place back up. Marcus really deserves a lot of credit because he's taking a risk himself. Of course, you know, we know what Marcus Smith and their program's all about. They got Charlemurrower Speedway and Texas and a lot of other racetracks that they're responsible for, right? And so for them to really be open-minded to bring this place back says a lot about Marcus. And his, he's a, me and Marcus used to meet in the, meet in the, um, Grandstands during the races at Charlotte on Saturday, the 300-mile sportsman race, we were 10, 11, 12 years old.

So Marcus is just like me. Been in this sport, been running around in the pits in the garage since he was a little kid, and he loves a history. And so it's awesome that he was able to kind of see what the possibilities are. Brennan, what were your emotions, I guess, when you guys were packing up to drive up here and y'all came into this gate today? mainly for me, man, I just was thankful just to, you know, have the opportunity to go race. A lot of people don't ever get to even sit in the seat. And sometimes I felt like through my career I may have took that for granted when I was having bad nights. And, you know, a couple of things that really struck me was just how good I really have it.

whether I run last tomorrow night or when or wherever I run. Just thankful to be a part of history, be in this race with the stout field it is. And, you know, every time I get to go racing with my group of guys, it's fun. Thankful for, you know, all my sponsors to help me out and let me be here. And for everybody that went into putting this event, man, just the ride down here, you know, it's sinking.

in the whole way and then when you finally get here and you just see the place it's just I mean this is it's just history man it's crazy it looks great it looks awesome I couldn't believe all the campers when I pulled in they got camping over here behind these sweets man I was like holy smokes for late model stock race this is pretty good the place is going to be packed and uh I can't wait to see what the the whole atmosphere looks like tomorrow when we're getting getting closer to strapping in You know, it's already awesome, but I mean, you know how that gets when it gets close to race time. It starts getting real. So you got a nickname.

How did you get that nickname? Tell us about that and how you got that. All right. So in the racing world, obviously everybody knows me by Butterbean. When I was born, I was fat and chubby and had blonde chicken hair like the boxer butterbean. Oh. So it stuck. And then, you know, in the racing world, it kind of became my brand.

And so I figured I'd stick with it. My Twitter is O3 Butterbean and Instagram's Butterbean and, you know, our Facebook page. And we've really branded it onto our logos and stuff because I feel like it's a lot easier to remember that than a name nowadays. And people will be like, man, I remember that name. I don't remember Brennan Cweed, but I remember Butterbean. And then it helps, you know, with the Mario Car, that's really, really stuck out to the younger, you know, to the younger generation and the older because I got so much

video game look to the car and I noticed the number font was really unique and so that makes a lot of sense now that you explain it that way but that's so smart you know everybody we were talking about that on the drive up here how you know certain drivers have a way of

leaning into a brand or an identity man and that's exactly what you need to do people are absolutely going to remember you from that nickname and obviously the look of your race car when they see it tonight some people are seeing it for the first time tomorrow. And that will stick out to them, the unique font of the number and the way the car looks. And, of course, obviously, if you're on the PA system running in the top five or he actually

went in the race, nobody's ever going to forget that name for sure. Exactly. I mean, it's just, you know, just like the Sundrop car is unique. I actually have the die cast from when I was younger. So I thought it was really cool to see it in person. I love my car. I think it's became very popular. No matter where I run, people will remember that.

And, you know, in this day and time, that's what you have to do. You know, you have to represent your partners really strong because without them, this isn't possible. And, you know, I'm really thankful for them. Well, man, we appreciate you giving us a little bit of time today. We know you've got a busy schedule, get over there to help you guys get your car out and get it ready to go. We're going to have some practice today from about 3 o'clock to 6.

And hopefully you have a good qualifying run tonight. I hope to have a lot of fun out on the race track. with you. I feel so lucky to be able to compete with you guys. I've been watching y'all race for years in the cars tour. This is a big dream for me to be able to come out here and compete finally. So let's have some fun. Hey, I appreciate you having me. Appreciate your time. Got to come by and see Phil. He'd love to see you, man. I'll definitely do that. All right. Thank you. Thank you. The next driver we're going to bring up here to the stage is a guy that I've been really wanting to talk to.

I hadn't been able to meet Bobby, but Bobby McCarty is a very successful racer in the cars tour, so let's welcome Bobby up to the stage. Bobby's been working. How you doing, man? Good to see you. Bobby's all sweaty because he's been working, like most of these guys. I got so many people helping me. I ain't got a break the sweat yet, but I'm lucky.

Bobby's a one-man band here. You know, you're one of the guys on the tour that I think, really stands out because of the way you race, the way you carry yourself. You race hard, you race aggressively. We've had some bounce with you with the junior motorsports cars over the years, some pretty heated run-ins. But I think one thing that always remains is the respect. You know, everybody respects you and, you know, you'll give it as good as you get it, but you also are a guy who's a mentor helps a lot of these young drivers in the series. So tell us about, you know,

know where you from where you started racing and how you got to this point today so I started racing when I was six go-karts in Madison North Carolina about an hour and 45 minutes from here I did that for about 12 or 13 years and we moved up to the legacy series run by Donna Allison and them and did that for a couple of years and then went to limited at South Boston did that for a few years and then we started running a late model and that really was just kind of the definition of my career at that point, you know, my family runs a small-time mechanic shop in Greensboro, and I worked there Monday through Friday, and we didn't have money to run late model, you know, and we won the limited championship, and an engine builder approached me and said, hey, I'll furnish the engine, you give me 30% of the win-ins, and you can run late model. And that's how we got started in late model, and then just by chance, I met Timothy at Martinsville, and it was kind of the same deal. Did you meet Timothy Peters? 2016.

Okay. We started talking then, and so they, you know, like I said, me and my dad is, we've done everything. You know, we never had any professional help. It's always been him and I since I was six, and we got into the late models, and they started the bump stop and in the coal bind, and then we was lost. You know, we had no idea. We come from go cards. Yeah.

So we met up with Timothy, and they said they would help with the setup. And so we did that for the year. 2016 and then come Martinsville time he was in the final four in the trucks and they didn't want to run in Martinsville So they called me and I mean that's pretty much how my whole career is being once I got in late models Just been the right spot at the right time and and capitalizing on the opportunities because it If I'd have been a day later a dollar short on any of it, I wouldn't be right here right now Yeah, so it's just I've gotten lucky. Yeah, talk about Timothy to Timothy Peters everybody probably recognizes that name from the truck series and And Timothy's a late model stock guy from around the North Carolina area.

And still dabbles a little bit. I know he still works with your program. Talk about the program you guys got. Y'all run multiple cars. And that's been one of the strongest teams in the cars tour for many years. Yeah, so we do a driver developmental program. And it's kind of, I believe it would be the same deal like Josh was doing with y'all. You know, that's your experience guy.

That's your guy that kind of shows the younger kids coming up through the divisions. You know, a lot of these kids have speed. They just kind of struggle with race and how to be there at the end. You know, that's kind of my deal. And everything I've learned, I've learned from Timothy. Because I was not the race car driver I am now when I first got with the team. And Timothy really taught me a lot. And to be able to take that information and pass it on to these younger kids.

and I feel like I played a part helping their career. You know, it's really cool. It means a lot to me personally. And, you know, and now I got a lot of these younger drivers come up and ask me advice and I don't even work on their car or help them at all. You know, just for me mentally, I never thought I would be in this situation in my career. So it's really cool. It's been a journey and, you know, I've loved every second of it.

How old? 29. 29 years old. Just this year. Bobby got an opportunity to go qualify for an Xfinity race at New Hampshire. Didn't work out like he wanted to. It was one of the cars that typically runs toward the very back of the field. I want you to try to talk about that a little bit.

How did that deal come about? And, you know, what opportunities do you think are out there for you in the future to be able to try to get back in the Xfinity series for some more runs? So my main sponsor, Kirk, with Solid Rock, he set that whole deal up. And, you know, we had been talking for the last, especially after last year, you know, we had a really good last year. And we won a lot of stuff. And we kind of wanted to make the jump. And they deal with Harmon just kind of presented itself.

You live and you learn. Yeah. But it was a good experience. Kind of get used to the cars. The cars are heavier. The brakes are way better than what we got. So it was an experience. I do plan on trying to.

to run a couple more races this year. You know, it's just the whole sponsorship deal. It's tough. Especially in these days, it's really hard to find sponsors. And it takes a village to do anything like that or even stuff like this. So, you know, I'm working on it. We're trying to put some stuff together. I really want to run Bristol.

You know, New Hampshire was a track I'd never even seen before. I got to the track and I thought the dirt track was the asphalt track. I was like, dang it don't look that big. and my buddy's like no that is the right one I was like oh hell here we go and then I see the track and I was like wow this this that's way different than what I'm used to but the Exfinity deal really has a very similar feel to the light model you know with the year rules it don't really have that initial tort you know it kind of pulls you back like these cars do but as far as the way the front feels and the way it sets and everything it's just really similar

in these so I definitely want to try to run Bristol because that is a track I have raced at before and I'm at least familiar with it but um We're close. Yeah. I'm going to try to run Bristol next year maybe. We're working on our deals to put together some stuff for next year. I always kind of run one race. Right.

And I run a deal with Helmonds, and Helmonds wants me to run into southeast, so that really limits the tracks I go to. But anyways, maybe we'll get to race together. Yeah, yeah, that would be great. Yeah. I want to know, you know, did you, I know you race a lot. You go to all types of race tracks. All these tracks on the tour that you guys run have history.

But when you pulled into this racetrack today, did it feel a little different? Yeah, so I actually raced the Alice and Lacey car here in 2010 or 11 when they try to open up back in. Obviously, there's going to be nowhere near the same field. Those cars have steel shocks, no sway bars, no power steering. I mean, there's nothing there. But, you know, it's kind of like it's almost like Martinsville for me, just more amplified. You know, there's a ton more, at least to me, I never grew up watching races here. You know, I was born in 92.

By the time I really got into racing and watching it, you know, I think they stopped here in 98 or 99, somewhere in that neighborhood. So I never really actually got to watch races here like I did. We live 20 minutes from Martinsville. We go to Martinsville all the time. So somewhere like here that has a ton of history, but I never actually got to watch a race and see what it was like. It's just a different feel. You know, there's a ton of history here. A lot of really big names in the sport of won here,

but I never got to see any of it, unfortunately. So it's a different feel for me, but it's still really cool. You know, you come to these places, it kind of takes your breath away for a second because this is what kind of paved the road for guys like us. You know, this is kind of where it all started. And to be able to race here, I'm really looking forward to it. Yeah, me too. Well, man, we're going to be watching you.

I'll be out on the track with you, I'm sure I'll be seeing you some, but hope we have a lot of fun out there. Good qualifying effort tonight. Hope you have a good result tomorrow. Maybe we'll both be up there. I'm just hoping to get all the laps ran. That's my goal. My goal is just to get to the checker.

I've had the same goal you have because we haven't had a good 20-22, so a lot of DNS this year. So we can make it to the end. I'll be happy. Well, drives the red and white number 22. One of the legends on the tour, Bobby McCarty, give him a hand for coming out here, give us a little bit of his time today. Thank you.

Thank you for having me. Of course. Good to see you. You got it. All right. All right. I think I know who's next, but I want to just check my phone just to be sure. Yep.

The next guy coming up here, he's, I think he's racing for the championship. Connor Hall. Come on up here, Connor. Got your long pants on. Connor, you've had some pretty good success here in the last couple of weeks. I know you've been, you know, racing well all year long, but big win at Hickory just a couple weeks ago. And right there in the thick of this thing for the title hunt with Carson for the championship.

Tell us about where you came from, how you got to this point, some of the racing you've done, where you were racing at, and how excited you are to be here today. Well, first off, I think being here is just incredible. Was we're super pumped up when it got released on eye racing. thought, man, that's just that worn-out track that nobody's ever going to race again down in Wilkesbro. So here we are about a year later from when it released or two. So like I said, first off, hats off to the car store, you know, Jack and Keely, you know, yourself, everybody else who did this to help put all this together.

But as far as me and my background, I'm from Virginia Beach, Virginia. I should have picked up a surfboard, but somehow got a hold of a steering wheel. My dad grew up racing unlimited hydroplanes out on the West Coast and overseas. Really? like both like the Miss Budweiser, and then my mom actually grew up in Newton Conover. So that's why the whole hickory thing was so big for my family. All I'd ever heard is how hard hickory is. And me growing up, you know, I was a one car, one motor, me and dad kind of team.

So it was super, the learning curve was so slow. So to be able to finally get our program, you know, thanks to the help of Chad Bryant, and be able to take my own personal car and go run really well down there, as well as do it in Chad's car. It just means a lot to me. And, you know, it's such a slow building process. And I'm sure, you know, yourself even experienced it at one time. But, you know, to finally kind of not arrive,

but just to be where we can unload and be good everywhere or competitive. And, you know, we're still doing a lot of learning. I'm doing more of a learning, you know, experience myself this year. The car's been great. I just haven't been to most of these places. I've never been to Hickory. I'd never been to good year. and ran one race at the Dominion.

So just super, super excited and thankful for all of all. One of the guys that texts me about Connor was Elliot Sadler. He's a big fan of yours, man, big believer in your ability and your future. Elliot was always trying to pitching me, you know, ideas about what's going on in a sport, and he really thinks that you're one of the guys to be paying attention to. Where did you run your first race? Like, how did you get behind the wheel of a race car competitively? So I started out in go-carts, then I did arena racing, then I did the legend's car.

Arena racing is unique. So, you know, they built the track in these indoor arenas, and it was a bit of a slug fest. Every time I've ever seen it, I used to, who was, who ran that whole deal back in the day? Ricky Dennis. Yeah. So he used to work with towns and race cars before, right? I used to get towns and cars back in the 90s, but so I kind of know all them guys. and I don't know how you survived the arena racing

because it was pretty rough. Just plan A, get out front and run. But yeah, it was really good. Then I did, as I mentioned, the Legends Car deal. And that's where, you know, the Go-Carts and the arena stuff, I was too young to really take in the experiences out, you know, the learning curves and everything. I was just, luckily I had really good equipment.

It was kind of just a hold it wide open kind of thing and run away from everybody else if you could. Then we started traveling all over the country doing Legends stuff, and then we did very much. really well. I ran the year that William Byron ran Legends Cars and him and I won to for the national title. And we kind of knew he was moving up with y'all's program. And we kind of always wanted to mimic ourselves after the bigger Legends Car guy. So we kind of never thought it was possible, but we were like, well, we're guests. We'll try to find a late model somewhere. And thankfully,

my mom hated Legends cars because they were pretty dangerous. So she was always like, we need a full body car. I'm like, yeah, they're dangerous. We need a full body car. So we finally made the move in 2015, and then I ran my own program, and still do on the side, but I ran my own program until about 2019. Where do you run your own car at mostly? So usually it was Langley. Some stuff happened last year where I just decided that I needed to kind of have my Josh Barry moment and do something different.

And so I started just traveling everywhere. and absolutely, you know, just living life on the road kind of thing. And going to places I had never really been before, went to Martinsville, ran the Rodney Cook, went to South Boston, just really was like I need to really see what I can do for myself. And if I can't figure anything out, then I need, you know, maybe just reevaluate my program and keep staying at the local level. So then, like I said, in 2019, I was at the Daytona test to get approved for Dover,

because I was a big believer of the K&N series. Yeah. And I was trying to run for a team out of the north by the name of Marsh Racing. It was the cheapest I could find. They allowed me to work on it myself. Just my hell married. This is my one kind of chance. And so I went to the test, and I was a big Hedgecock guy, just as y'all are.

And Jay Hedgcock called me and said, hey, do you know who Chad Bryan is? And I said, no, I don't know anybody here. and he was like go up to him tomorrow and you know just go talk to him and i was like all right and i don't know how familiar you're all with chad but he's very blunt and he walked i walk up and he was like hey man i was like hi he was like i'm jad you're connor i was like yeah he was like here take my car he was like you want to run that car in two weeks here at the race i was like yeah call monday morning he's like how much money you got and i was like oh yeah he's like i'll give you one week to raise as much money as you can. We made it work. And then ever since then, I just,

I never stopped calling the poor guy every Monday. Hey, you got a driver for Michigan. You got a driver for Pocono, blah, blah, and just, sadly, he always had the seat filled. Yeah. But eventually, you know, him and Elliot and some other guys, I guess we're trying to help me, you know, start talking to Brian and yourself and some other guys to possibly make the move to, you know, try to run with y'all this year. So then when, you know, the, you know, Carson got brought on and all the other stuff. He was kind of like, well, you know, we tried, but let's just start our team. We'll go see if we can hang with them.

Yeah. And it's been like the land of the misfits kind of. We just, my motors, their cars, this truck, this trailer, it's different every week. But we've been putting a really good effort forward, and, you know, I'm super thankful for the Chad Bryant group. Yeah. Yeah. Talk about the big win at Hickory.

Seemed like, you know, that was, like you say, very important. I watched it on, on the stream and just how excited. you're excited y'all were about being able to get that done. Talk about how, is that the biggest win of your career? I would say it's, it's probably is. I always value my first Hampton heat a lot. That was kind of my breakout, you know, first big win. But, and then, like I said, you got to value my first Carter's Tour win, but I say it's like just a true awesomeness of just a kickbutt kind of win. And that, that would be the Carters Tour win at, you know, throwback race. just like I said

I literally rush home in like middle school and high school the Monday after a race and just sit there and watch YouTube videos of like you know Josh when he was in the speed co car and Lee and Philip and all these guys and I really never thought I was ever going to make it to late models because at the time

my family dynamics weren't you know they weren't what they are now we didn't think it was going to be possible on our end of the things and as well as I didn't have any big sponsors and now I'm very fortunate to have people you know like Town Bank and, you know, Blue Water and breeding concrete and not done yet sport fishing. And I have Ashton Lewis on the car.

Ashton? Yep. Yep. The old Xfinity driver. Yep. All kinds of the cool connections. Yep. They're with first team automotive.

So it's just, like I said, it's just if you can kind of don't forget where you came from, but always still remember where you want to go kind of thing. And just slowly pick away each week and find one more little sponsor or one more opportunity. And that's just the whole goal. That is a dude, I'm telling you, you should be giving a seminar to some of these younger guys that are trying to, I get that question all the time. How do I get going? How do I get started? And that's exactly the right answer. That's a better answer that I could even give about every day picking away, every day trying to bring somebody on board that can support and help you. You're making it happen, man. You're believing an impact because people know your name. People know who you are because of the success you're having out there on the racetrack. And looking forward to having a, A lot of fun with you these a couple of days. Hope you have a great qualifying run and a great race. Tell everybody the number of car you run.

Some of these people haven't seen it yet. And you're right there in a thick of a battle for the championship in the cars tour. Yep. I run a predominantly all white and turquoise blue number 77. It's got Gold Leaftown Bank on the side, and hopefully you'll find us up front. Yep. We're going to have a lot of fun battling you all the way to the end of this thing, man. Good luck to you.

And thanks for giving us some time today. Yes, sir. And that was great information. about how to make this work. You know, it's a lot of people try a lot of different ways, and there are many, many ways to be able to be out there competing on the racetrack, and everybody's got their own story. But right there is a great example of a guy who's doing all the work

every minute of the day trying to make opportunities for himself. So our next guest, I know this guy, he runs a limited car. I wanted to bring one of the limited drivers up here to talk about their experience at the racetrack. they're going to run a 50 lap or tonight and another one tomorrow. I'm not going to try to pronounce his last name, and we'll get him up there to do that. But, Brian, come on up here. I've been social media buddies with this guy, so I'm finally glad to meet him. Good to see you.

So, yeah, do us a favor and tell us how to say it. It's Obijinsky. Obijetsky. Polish from New York. All right. And so, Brian here, a great guy that I met on Twitter, just kind of in the racing. industry, NASCAR, Twitter, whatever you want to call it. But you run a limited car. Predominantly, I guess, at South Boston, is that right? And so the limited car to me, man,

when I look at it on the racetrack or sitting here in the garage, looks just like a late model car. What's the difference? Sure is. Most of the times, they're identical. We run scuff tires, most of the tracks we go to. We run crate engines from Chevrolet or Ford, the Chevy guy, so we only run Chevy. But the comes down to carburetor, some shocks. It's not much different. usually run about three, four tents off of you guys, but we're able to save a bunch of money, run more times during the year, and creates a little bit of more family time, too. I'm not in the shop, you know, nine days a week. I'm in there six days a week instead.

So how, I know you showed on Twitter your excitement for this weekend or this week, and so just try to tell us the best words you can about what this, what this means to you. You know, you're, you know, you've been, you've been, you know, you could be racing, anywhere, right? Why is it important for you to be here as a limited driver or some of these streetstock guys? How excited are y'all to kind of be a part of this whole program this week? Yeah. Growing up in New York, there was only a couple options of tracks to race at. Riverhead Raceway. I met a guy named Matthew Dillner. I think you might know him. He covered my racing early in my years, but I met a family, ended up marrying my wife. They're a racing family.

We're on the modified tour for a long time. Stafford, Thompson, Waterford, all the tracks up there. Being able to read stock car magazines and watch on TV and see names like Beggerley and Earnhardt. Seeing the tracks down here as a young man, if you would have told me at 10 years old, that when I'm getting closer to 40, I'll find myself at a race at North Wilkesboro. I'd have been beside myself. Like I said, the name's Allison, Richmond, Waltrip, the people that have won here, the track that you guys are all at today, this is a special place. It's an incredible place.

Hell yeah. When I walked in that gate yesterday, I pulled in this track, and I couldn't believe the feeling. It was like almost a ghost was with me, a good ghost, a Casper, the friendly ghost. But, man, the history, I'm a student of this sport. I can't watch enough and read enough. That's why I see a lot in this guy with a lot that he's done with the history of the sport. But if you really can immerse yourself and the people that came before you, huge fan of Junior Johnson.

I am. Just everything that he did for the sport. the people he helped along, the grandfathers of this sport. Today I get the opportunity to run here. We were fast in practice yesterday. If I could bring a trophy home from this track, man, it would just mean the world to me. I've won championships.

I've done it all. I'm getting close to retirement here, but this would be it, man. This is what we all won. Come on now, retirement. Yeah, man. I got two beautiful children. I enjoy fishing, and my father-in-law,

we just came back from Atlantic City. We were golfing. I'm getting good at this golf thing. Okay, okay. I heard your comments about getting close to 40 how hard it is to win races over 40, and Mark Martin told me the same thing. So I'm all on page. We'll wind it down here. So tell us how you did make the, what are you doing racing in the South? How are you racing at South Boston? Where are you at, live in what's your responsibility is your profession? Yeah, by trade, I'm a General Motors world-class technician. I worked in a dealership like someone else.

ASE certified. I'm one of I guess it's about 100 guys in the world that are factory 100% trained. So I'm in a Cadillac dealership. I've been there for 20 years. Cards is my hobby. If you can find if there's any young people in the crowd, if you can find something that you love doing so much

that you never work a day in your life, like that's what you need to do. So I work on cars in the morning. I work on cars at night. I live just about an hour north of Raleigh. It's a beautiful place. We just built a beautiful house up there. And racing in the south, I couldn't give it up in the north. You know, I just When I got down here, I took one year off, went right back to it, racing at A Speedway near Elon, and just kept on digging, ma'am.

And, you know, that's where we are. So I met Brian. I'd seen him liking some of the tweets that I liked, and we were talking about some of the same things because he runs his limited car, and we race late models. But I was actually trying to put a disc brake package on the back end in my 48 pickup truck, and I couldn't figure out why the pedal wasn't long. The pedal was way too long, and I couldn't get any brake pedal in it. We got to looking at the, what the hell is that thing called? It was a proportion valve? Yeah, the proportion valve.

And so, and I'm like, man, I need to change that because this is a disc brake front, drum brake, rear portion valve, and I think I need to disc disc. And so I just reached out on Twitter. Anytime you need a lot of smart-ass answers, but one really good one, ask the question on Twitter. And so I knew I'd get the right answer. but I'd have to sift through all the bullshit.

But this man right here had the right answer. He's like, you're on the right track, man. You're on the right track. So a DM, we started talking a little bit in a DM about it, and I got the right proportion valve and fixed my truck. I did all this right there in the garage at my house. But that's how we became buddies. I expect to ride, by the way, one day.

You can ride in a pasture seat today if you want. But it's great to be able to have guys like. you come up here and give us a perspective of some of the other series that are going to be competing here. You guys are going to run your tails off tonight. So you've got a 50 lap for tonight and then another 50 lapar tomorrow. So I know you've ran doubles before. So you know the mentality of that first race is a little bit different than tomorrow. So tell us about that. Yeah, first race when you got a two-day event. You definitely, you want to save a little bit of equipment. We can't go ripping offenders off it tonight. That's for tomorrow. But you want to keep the car in one piece. You want to really get a good read.

Find a hotel room, find a dinner table, talk it over with your crew chief and your crew and figure out what you can do to be better tomorrow. You know, there's a second race. There's a second chance. If we can't get it done tonight, I'm blessed to have two opportunities at this to make it happen tomorrow. So a little bit of saving tonight. Hopefully we're quick enough after qualifying the track positions, you know, in our favor and don't have to just absolutely blow the doors off the car or get there.

But two days is cool, and we're going to try and get it done both times. So you'll be racing against a lot of guys you've never raced before. People from all over different racetracks are here. you know, how do you navigate the uncertainty of knowing what your fellow competitor is going to do in any situation around them? That's the best question I've ever been asked. You just got to play a little bit of safety when you're in that car, but you've got to trust that the guy is going to have a head-on, right, and you're going to be able to get in there and run door-to-door with them, not have any problems. But, you know, it's when you're two, three inches off of each other, you're just trusting that that guy that runs at Hickory

or that guy runs in Kingsport, Lonesome Pines, wherever it may be is just got as much talent as you do, going to put on a show. So you run the number 29. Where did you get that number from? Well, remember I said the GM thing. When I first got into General Motors, there was a 29-minute oil change. And soon after that, there was a cat came along named Kevin Harvick, and I thought that cool, and it looked pretty cool. And I said, I need a number. And I was going to go with two for Rusty, but Mom said he cursed too much, so I wasn't allowed to do that. So we ended up with the 29, and I've been running it ever since. So I used to change oil at Dad's dealership I did that for about three years.

And they had the 29 minute quick loop, and I could do it in eight. You put the drain plug back in? One time I did forget to put the filter on. So we drive the car in, we put it on the lift, we changed oil, we dropped it down, we park it back out in the parking

lot for the customer, and I got out and stood and walked to the back of the car to go back in, and there was a trail of oil all the way back to my stall where it pumped all the oil out of that, where the filter goes. but and one time you know I made I was paid hourly but then I talked to me into putting me on commission yeah and that lasted like a week and a half because I made about 300 bucks yeah I was like double my paycheck but they didn't like that so because I could do them so fast I could do so many and then eventually I got

fired but that's a whole other story I never was ASE certified either I never and I yeah and I failed the inspection part you know so I couldn't do a federal inspection just changing oil. That was me. But I enjoy having you up here, man. I finally got to meet you. Thanks for coming up here and giving us a little perspective on the series you're in and what you guys are going to try to accomplish.

Everybody get Brian a hand. Number 29. Make sure you pull it for him out there on the racetrack tonight. I'll be watching. All right. I think, let me make a million to live. Yeah. All right.

Is Chad here? All right. So everybody ever heard of name Chad McCombie? All right. Well, I've been following Chad a long time. Some of you all might remember that Chad played me in a movie about Dale Earnhardt on ESPN, the movie three, I believe was the name of it. And that's the first time I ever saw, or not, what was the main?

It was three, right? So Chad, that's the first time I ever saw Chad. But then I saw him racing in a truck series. He's a hell of a race car driver. He's racing in late model stocks these days. He's also got a little road course racing program that he does on the MSA tour. But let's get Chad up here real quick. Give Chad a hand for coming up here.

I've always wanted to sit down and talk to him for so long. Just a great guy. I've been following ever since we had that connection through the movie. I just always had my eye on Chad or any kind of piece of news that come across the table or across my phone screen or anything, just always kind of pulling for this guy. And he's a hard worker. I remember when you race in a truck series

and with Bobby Daughter's car. And then you work for Hillenberg. So I ran Hillenberg's driving school at Charlotte way back in the mid-90s. So I kind of had a pretty good friendship with him. But I know Hillenberg and I know his operation, and that really told me a lot about you, how much you could get out of that equipment.

And so for the longest time, man, I've really respected how talented you are. But thanks for coming up here. You're racing in late models now, but also I want to hear more about your MPSA program that you are part owner in. Tell us about that. Yeah, so I've got a lot going on.

I appreciate you having me, man. It's awesome. I stay super busy. And I've been very fortunate to just be in the right place at the right time and have connections and just keep working hard. and that's turned into a lot of sports car racing, which I never thought I would ever do.

I had my goal set on NASCAR for such a long time, and trying to work my way up through the Arka ranks and the trucks and run a few cup races there with Petty for a while. And then just the opportunity came up to turn right on purpose. And I had a partner in the Circle Track stuff that wanted to put all their investment, in sports car racing. And oh, hey, will you come drive our car?

Well, yes, you know, where? What are we doing? So I went to Daytona and turned down an infield on purpose for the first time. And man, I've been doing sports car stuff ever since. And that led into a contract with Mazda. I'm doing a lot of work with Ford right now. And that actually turned into even owning a team

in the Mazda ranks. So trying to continue to make a living in this sport, man. I love the sport. And this is all I know. So this is the only option I have. I'm going to make it work and figure out what we're doing. Again, being in the right place at the right time, and Mr. Robert Elliott doing this local short track stuff for him

and running in the car store, man, Sammy Arbor and I are fortunate to run that program for him and get to come out here and enjoy, you know, really great events like this. And it's been a whirlwind, man. You know how the racing world and trying to just keep something going in it. sometimes every November, December, you don't have a clue what January brings, but good Lord has put me in really good places, and so far so good. You mentioned Robert Elliott. That's the guy you driving for today, and it runs a number, it's a red number 16.

Arons is on the side. Everybody remembers errands from Michael Waltrip's days in the Cup series. But I raced against Robert Elliott at Florence and Myrtle Beach, and we actually bought a car from Robert for Kelly to race at Tri-County and Hickory in places like that. But just it's crazy. All the guys that we've had up here, there's been some sort of connection some way somehow to multiple different people in our lives.

But so how often do you run, you run the full cars tour. Do you run anywhere else besides that with your late model stock car? I personally don't this year. We have a second car that Sam Yarborough has been driving and he's running the triple ground this year. He'll go to Martinsville here in a few weeks.

I thought it was longer than that away, but it sneaked up on us. He'll probably run the 400 over at Florence and, you know, try to run as many races as we can. It's a little tough to run, you know, the full cars tour and a full, you know, schedule somewhere at a local racetrack. But both of us run as much as we possibly can for Robert, and he's been awesome to us, man. He just wants to race. He retired from his business a couple of years ago, and he's always loved Lake Mall stock racing. and this is what he wants to do, and we're just the fortunate ones that get to do it for him.

Your road course EPSA schedule, how many races is that? When does that start and end? So on our Mazda program, it's a seven-event, 14 race schedule. It starts in Daytona, ends at Petitlaman in Atlanta here at the end of the next month. And then the Mustang that I drive in Michelin Pilot Challenge, that's a 10-race schedule, same schedule. It starts in Daytona ends at a road Atlanta. Yeah.

Do you ever get confused on where you're supposed to be? Sometimes. Like so last week of motor mile, I drove over to VIR on Thursday, drove back over to motor mile on Friday. Thought I was going to have to go back over, but I ended up not going back over there. And, man, it is busy. Heck, our to tote her home broke down on the way to motor mile,

so I had to get one of my Mazda rigs to take our trailer to motor mile, drop it at midnight, then go back over to VIR. So it's a whirlwind, man. But the sports car stuff is really cool. and that it's just a whole other arena that I never thought I'd be a part of, right? You know, like here I am one year thinking, you know, about going to Daytona and Talladega

and Bristol and Richmond and all these places, and then the next year, I'm going to a place called Sebring. I'm going to Rhode America. I'm going to Laguna Seika. You know, places that weren't on my radar. And I even got to go over to UK and race a little bit at Silverstone and Alton Parks. Really?

Yeah, with Ford. So it's places that I never dreamed. Right. But I really think it's actually helped me probably be a better competitor now than what I was coming up through the ranks earlier in my career. Yeah. I think that you're – I love your style, man. You're really fast, set on a lot of poles, win some races, but you're clean. You're super, super clean.

Drive with respect. You know, in a short track world, you don't – you know, it's kind of expected and almost, you know, okay. to be kind of rough with guys and beat on guys, lean on guys, and sometimes you have to do that. But I've never really see you do that. I mean, what would you pattern your driving style after? Who's your mentor? Who's your hero?

Well, I think a lot of that comes from working on my own cars, right? So if we tear up some stuff, you know, when I was driving for Hillenberg, when I was driving for a daughter, even with my family when we had Allison Legacy cars and late models ourselves, you know, that was a lot of work to fix those things. And you can win races without doing it. So, and that's what I tried to really, you know, I think that having to do that early in my career, there's pluses and minuses to it, right?

But it made who I was. And Andy Hillenberg told me a long time ago, one of the first things, he said, you know, there's white hat and there's black hat guys. He said, there's really, there's a lot of black hat guys out there right now. He said, but I promise you there's still some room for a couple white hat guys to be one of those guys. So what's the future for you? Do you even look far into the next couple of years? I know you're probably real happy running the pilot car and having all your insin connections.

But how much longer you think you're going to stick around doing these late models and driving stock cars on a circle track? Well, you know, I'd like to do it as long as I can. I'm still having fun. How old are you? I'm 37. Yeah, you've got some years left. I mean, as long as Mr. Robert wants to do it, I mean, I'm happy to do it for him just because he has been so good to us. And I want to respect him and run with him and race with him as long as he wants to race.

I mean, there's certainly opportunities that I think are going to potentially come up on the EMSA side. I'd like to grow my own little team on the EMSA side and maybe move up a division or two. But just kind of waiting to see what gets put in my path, you know, and what opportunities arise. And if those opportunities come up and it seems like something that's a positive step, then I think, well, you know, to seriously talk about it. But I'm always looking for that next thing. I probably don't put myself out there as far as trying to find a truck ride or a cup ride. You know, I'd love to go and run a car at a road course or something nowadays, but I don't really pursue it.

And not that I don't want to do it, but I am enjoying what I'm doing. And I think that the growth in the sports car side, I haven't made it to the top top level on that. But I think there's potential opportunities in the future. So just do the best I can and whatever, kind of whatever presents itself. Well, I know we can't let you go without asking your question about the movie. And I don't want to ask it because I'm sure I might ask. the wrong question so if we got a mic we got a mic I want to anybody raise your hand if you got a question that you might want to ask Chad up here about his

experience on a three movie and and come on I know somebody's got one question there we go thank you ma'am got a brave one first of all how was that like playing the part of Del Earnhardt Jr. well so at the time you know he mentioned working for Andy Hillenberg that's what I was doing that's the reason I got that role. Hillingberg did all the cars for the movies. And so we were at the fast track driving school and they brought everybody through and they said, man, we are having a hard time finding Adele Jr. But you already have that southern twang like you think you'd come read some lines. That is literally all I did, guys, I promise you. I read lines, you know, like I had no

idea and I would read a line. They'd be perfect, perfect. Well, that was great, you know. They got their monies worth out of me because I did all moans. stunts too. So I didn't have to have a stunt double or anything and it was like did did you get paid double yeah no unfortunately not the but it was a little nerve wracking you know what the coolest thing about it was I was worried to death about missing a couple weeks of racing at Burnell Beach because I and I was going to college at the time and I and I wanted to make sure that I wasn't doing something I weren't supposed to as I said Hillenberg can you reach out to Dale make sure he's good with that I think he did at some point and he said man he said go for it so I'm like okay well here we go

and but just learning the atmosphere and what it takes to put a production on I think it actually helped me later in my career to understand the media side of things and what goes on behind the scenes and but it was a great experience I mean that's something that at the time I was I was man I could do it or not do it but it helped with instant name face recognition this was why you knew me you know and I think that one day man that's going to be I can tell my grandkids or whatever I was in the movies one time that was it right one and done no more no more no more no more in Hollywood after that that was it so we did uh Hillenberg did all the cars for the Talladega nights oh um we did I'm drawing a blank now but so I got to do a lot of stunt driving now that was a riot like the stunt driving stuff especially when we started accidentally wrecking a bunch of cars or doing something we weren't

supposed to. I got to do a lot of the, I think I actually, believe it or not, I was Aaron's car in the night scenes at Charlotte and Talladega nights. Really? I was the old Spice car in the Talladega scenes when they're coming to a checker flag. So I got to do some other cool stuff too and production-wise that, I don't know, it was a great experience. Well, I appreciate you coming up here and giving us a little bit of time. Chad runs the Red number 16. You guys can cheer him on tomorrow night. Hope you have a great run, man. We'll see you in the garage. Thank you, buddy. All right, the last guy I want to bring up here is a local, kind of local. You'll recognize the last name for sure.

Landon Huffman. Landon and I kind of have become friends just over the last little bit. Obviously, I knew his dad, but there was a little bit of a connection that our father share in racing. but I've been watching Landon race only because of the content this guy creates. He's got a little YouTube channel, a couple thousand followers, and it's growing. I've watched it grow, literally right in front of my own eyes. And some of the content that Landon produces is really unique. He's very transparent.

It reminds me, you know, kind of like a Timmy Hill. So Timmy Hill starts a truck team. Everybody knows Timmy Hill. I've been racing his guts out his whole life. But Timmy starts a truck team. And when I see Timmy on social media, boy, he's got a nice looking truck, clean shop. So I called Timmy. I'm like, Timmy, how in the hell you start this truck team up?

I think it looks pretty good. And so he laid the whole thing out in front of me, all his numbers. And I was amazed at just how smart and how tight and clean he runs that operation. And it reminds me a lot of Landon because Landon has that same transparency. He actually created a video on his social media, basically outlining all the expense that it takes for him to compete. weekly at Hickory. And it's a smart video for anybody who kind of, you know, what wonders what it might take just to be a weekend warrior at some of these local

racetracks. Guys, I know a lot of y'all know him, but some of you might not. He's closing in on a possibility of winning the track championship over Hickory. I think that he wants to put his name on the wall over there where his dad's is. So we're excited about that. And he'll be racing in the limited car tonight and tomorrow night, and it's a number 75. high rock vodka cars so he's supporting a brand me and my wife started a vodka business with Sugarlands and Gatlinburg and this man right here was lucky enough to to take the deal I offered him or he was kind enough to take the deal I offered him to be able to wrap that car lucky yeah well he thinks he's lucky I think he did he did as a solid but we're you know with the

sun drop car out here I'm you I got an agenda landing so I I'm trying to get a ready to drink, sundrop, high rock. All right, and so I'm trying to convince sun drop, but this is a good idea. And we can't have, we can't tell them about it unless there's a high rock car on the racetrack. So, uh, I was going to say,

if anybody is going to convince them to do it, it's going to be you. Yeah. And I will say that the combination is pretty good. It's a little deadly, but it's pretty good. But anyways, Landon, tell us about yourself. I mean, you know, you grew up at a race of family. What do you, you know, what have you been doing?

You ran trucks? You've done a bit of everything, but how did you get here? Yeah, so my grandfather race, my dad race. I'm a third-generation driver. Both of them grew up racing at Hickory Motor Speedway. So I grew up at the racetrack, been going there for as long as I can remember. My dad graduated from late models. He won two-track championships at Hickory and then moved up to Bush Grand National at the time.

They were trying to do it all out of a shop there at my house back when you could do that at that level. And, you know, he struggled a lot, had a lot of mechanics. mechanical failures, you know, the typical deal of a hometown, you know, grassroots kind of guy trying to move up and run some national stuff. And he actually got burned pretty bad in the early 90s at Daytona in a Bush race. So after that, they got rid of a lot of the Bush stuff, I think after 92, and he kind of went back and started racing locally again. And then ended up finding a career in the Goody's Dash series, which unfortunately is no longer here. But a fantastic touring division in NASCAR. And dad supported the White House Apple Juice colors during that.

Yellow 37, probably, if you guys remember the Goody's Dash series, that car was one of the more prevalent ones. It was in the series for 10 years, so it's easy to remember and one that stood out. He found a lot of success there, won five championships and was Toyota's first NASCAR driver to win a race for Toyota in NASCAR and a championship. So that's really cool. Developed a good relationship with Toyota, then moved on to the truck series. But me personally, I started racing at Hickory when I was 14. back then that was the age you couldn't be I say back then you know back when you're in when you started I think you had to be 16 right yeah yeah so you had to be 14 then now you can race at 12 which is just

absolutely incredible but but uh started racing limited we did it you know out of a little shop there at our house again and then graduated up to late model stocks raced a bit I actually only ran two full seasons really won 2015 finished second in the points 14 I race majority of the year got to race against Dale's cars a lot. Great competition at Hickory. Learned a lot. Growing up, I worked on my race cars with my dad, and there's so much value in doing that as a young driver that I feel like is skipped over in the current time, but not only mechanically, but just the lessons you learn from doing it a certain way and then how rewarding it is after you find success to celebrate that with your family, my dad, my crew, all of my crew guys, your people from my high school,

days and actually the sons of people that work and helped my dad on his dash car. So it's a lot, it's really cool. It's family support. But after that, I moved up, ran a couple truck races, got some opportunities with Mike Miller, some lower funded teams. And it was tough, you know, racing at that level without premium funding, it'll suck the life out of you. It's, you know, you ask anybody that's fought through that grind. It really is a grind. And I was spotting full time during that time period. So I was at the racetrack every weekend, but I was still trying to find money to get in the seat. You know, it didn't really work out, and I kind of found myself back at my roots here last year and this year. A guy named Jason Smith, I was good friends with him throughout this process of me trying to move up.

And he kind of stepped up and gave me an opportunity to drive his race cars when I could on the off weekends that I wasn't traveling. And then now last year we'd come back, run a few late model races, built his program up. And then I've got the race car at my shop now, and we kind of work it kind of as a lot. a joint deal like I did with my dad and then Jason and his guys. And we've been running for the track championship this year. So we've had a lot of fun. We've won three times. It's been good.

What was the light bulb that went off that made you want to start creating content and find, how have you found value in that? Well, nobody was doing it in the asphalt side of things. And if you pay attention to YouTube at all in the racing or automotive side, there's a lot of dirt content creators and a lot of people that are running dirt late models, dirt street stocks. They've already figured it out, right? So they're making race day blogs and shop videos and stuff. And I was like, well, if they're doing it, you know, there's got to be,

it's got to be a niche there for asphalt racing. So I started doing that. And at first it was a little slow, but I had one video that, like, popped off. It was a race shop restoration video. So the old shop. That was the first one I saw. Yeah. Yeah.

The old shop that my dad raced out of in the late 80s and early 90s kind of went to the wayside when he moved out of the sport in 2003 or quit racing his own stuff. And it had become basically a storage building. So it was on the brink of falling down. And every time I walked by it, it was just like an eyesore. And I hated to see it that way. There's so much history in there. There's trophies all in it, you know, and just seeing it fall.

So I got in there and started cleaning it up with my guys, my grandpa, and got it to the point, it's still not clean, but it's clean enough. Got it to the point where I could race out of it this year. So that's been really cool. First ever win to go back to that, or first trophy to go back into that shop since like 2003, so that was pretty cool. Yeah. In that first video, he climbed up on the roof of this thing.

I don't know how safe that was, but... It was not safe. It was a lot of problems with the roof. And that was the moment when I said, this is never going to get done. So, I mean, what stage of restoration are we in? I know we're probably not finished, but is the roof leaking anymore?

Only in minor areas. Only in the places you ain't working? Yeah, not where my race car sets. It doesn't leak there. This winter is still going to take a lot of work. I mean, I got air working again, so that was a big deal, making sure I had air compressor working. Did you fire up the old compressor? Oh, same compressor.

Took about $200 just replaced a couple belts on it and a pipe, and she works like a charm. Fascinating. Yeah. So that works, and I replaced all the old ballast lights. I just switched them over to LEDs. I made a video doing that. I almost shocked myself like five times doing that. First time I'd ever done that.

So I got a few lights working in there now that are LEDs. They put out good lights. all the heaters and all that stuff still in there. The bathroom and all the plumbing is still in there. Does it work? So, bathroom doesn't work. I'm luckily, my apartment, Liz, right there. You're home.

Yeah. You're married. Yeah. How does she put up with all of this? I'm very grateful for her. She's sacrificing. You know that, right? Oh, 100%.

Yeah. If my wife did, I don't, I can't believe she ain't left me yet, be honest. No, I'm very fortunate for my wife. She loves me dearly and she has to to put up with everything that I put her through. So you got your late model car. in this shop and also you got a limited car that you're racing today and you sometimes rent that out and then you have a pro late model so you know you did on you did a video where you went and found this pro late model car and this is sort of a micro you know this is kind of the the vision for your

whole whole deal is like you you take somebody else's junk and you turn it into good working functioning equipment i mean the shops kind of like that but um you know you're limited is like that to extent, but this pro late model car, you're going, you know, you'll do a video where you bit the front clip on the late model car and you do a whole video on cutting that front clip off, going over to the building, going over to a guy to get a front clip put on, you show the whole world, you know, kind of the dirty, nitty gritty, un, you know, unfun part of racing. It's great to watch. Yeah.

You know, you kind of go through this struggle, but it's fascinating. I watch you do these videos and you, like, have no. You don't care that everything's not pristine. You're not worried about somebody giving you a hard time about doing something one way and not doing it the other. Because, I mean, everybody on YouTube's got an opinion, and they got a better idea than you. Oh, every time.

There's a lot of their Facebook crew chiefs out there. A lot of those. YouTube's not as bad. There are a lot of Facebook crew chiefs. But there is some YouTube crew members that seem to know better than we do. My favorite one is when they watch my onboard. So in all my race day vlogs, I usually feature some type of onboard videos.

and my favorite ones are the people like, oh, you know, cars tight, you need to do this to it. I'm like, yeah, well, I appreciate it. I'll give you a call next week. Let me know what I need to change. Put that in the tracks. Yeah, yeah. But, no, I mean, it's definitely a lost start.

I feel like in our late model world now, and short track racing in general, what it used to be versus what it is now. There's a lot more money in it now. Not necessarily a bad thing. The equipment has, you know, just like any type of racing, it's developed over time.

There's technology trickle down from our upper series. So naturally it's going to get more sophisticated, but, you know, at the root of it, it's just metal, man. It's metal. And the outside of my race cars, you know, the body, they look great for the first race. And then after that, they're like 15 footers. And then maybe at the end of the year, they're like 25 footers. So you just stand back, they look great.

Don't get too close. They still look good in Victory Lane, though. So you are trying to win the track championship at Hickory this year. You're 15 points in the lead right now? Yeah, 15 points. I had a 130 point lead. going into the reset. They reset just to have a playoff system this year's brand new, right? So he's got this big giant lead. It resets, but now with two races to go, 15 points ahead,

how doable is that? That's pretty doable. I think I kind of hurt us a little bit last week. We won the second race, but my preparation was a little lackluster, and I had a plug wire come off running second in the first race. So I don't know why I didn't come off. I had the plug wires off and had the headers out of it working on them, because I bound. the headers off the track the week before and I guess I didn't get it pushed back on all the way so we found that I got a nice ass chewing from the dad for that one and we ended up winning the second race both so we maintained our lead it had reset all the way down I think six was the start so we've gained on it every week and we're in a good spot we've got 150 laps this Saturday for the

Bobby Isaac Memorial that's a long one it's a long one it's a prestigious race so there's going to be more cars there and it's a bucket list one for me I'd like to win it I finish second in it twice. That's a points race? It's a points race. Yeah. So that's a little wrench in the mix there, and then we're off the following league, and then September 17th is championship night, 75 lapar, but it's double points. So there's

another, yeah, I'm telling you, they're trying to throw an ever wrench at me possible. Well, hopefully that sells a ton of tickets. I'm sure it will. People are going to be coming out there to see if you can get the job done. I know you wanted to race here really bad. You've been able to create that opportunity with this limited car. What was the feelings

when he pulled into the gate today. Well, first of all, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't thanks to you in High Rock Blanca, so thank you guys for the support. It's tough, racing. Yeah, round of applause for that. I mean, Dale stepped up, and he really did help us. So for a small team, it's tough, man. I mean, I'm running full-time at Hickory, and we have basically one late-model stock car.

Now, the limited cars are essentially the same thing, but, you know, the late-mile stock's are nicer car, and I didn't want to risk it, bringing it out here, being that we've worked all year in the points championship. I wasn't sure if I was going to get to race, and then thankful for Dale, we were able to put this deal together with Jason Smith, the guy who owns the car, and he's a good friend of mine, and get a high rock on the car, and we're out here. And yesterday, dude, I'm telling you, it is an incredible experience. Like, I never, I've come to this place many of times, one of my best friends, Dylan Wilson, his grandpa, Dean Combs, at one point, the Combs family owned this place. So he lives literally right next to the property. I got to come in here, and it's, like, largest amount of decay. And it was so depressing to come in here. and see it like that because it just had this feeling. Like, it almost just felt like it was crying at you, like screaming at you to bring it back. You know, it was depressing, but at the same time, it was like invigorating kind of. And to see Barry Braun XR, Race XR and everyone bring this back, even when you did the first video to get it scanned in eye racing, that was awesome.

But to get an experience or to have the experience and opportunity to come out here and at least run laps yesterday, I mean, just pulling onto the racetrack was incredible. This place is actually in immaculate shape to set for as long as it has. It really is. I kind of hate that we're digging the pavement up after this, but that's part of it. It is going to provide some interesting racing. It wears the tires a lot, but incredible experience pulling out here. Man, I never thought I'd get to do it, so I'm really excited to go to battle for 50 tonight

and then tomorrow too. All right, man. We'll be pulling for you, number 75, High Rock Vaca, Chevrolet. Landon will be out there. Give me a hand for giving us some time today. Thank you, Landon. pretty good, man. Thank you.

I'll take that. He's going to take that mic with him. All right, no problem. How much time we got, Stefan? All right. Well, I appreciate you guys sticking around and listening to some of the drivers. I would have loved to sit up here and rambled for an hour, but I really wanted to highlight some of the people that are racing here

and just hear their story, get to know some of these drivers. And, yeah, I mean, like I said, said, it's super overwhelming to be here, to pull in here today. Tomorrow we're going to do this exact same thing and talk to some more drivers and sort of just get to know what's happening here a little bit better. But, you know, just want to thank y'all for being here. It's been a lot of fun. And I guess we're going to do a little media.

And then what's coming up next, Barry? What's the plan? Well, there it is the first Q&A session from North Wilkesboro. Now, I'm not Barry. But if we were able to hear the rest of that conversation, what I think he was going to tell you tomorrow. The second Q&A session, live from North Wilkesboro, will drop on the Dale Jr. Download feed.

That's right. We'll have another bonus episode of the Dale Jr. download dropping tomorrow, Friday, wherever you listen to podcasts. You don't want to miss that. And I'll let you know on a little secret. Some are saying this Q&A session was better than the first one. Now, some people are saying, I'm not going to name names, but some people were saying. It's a secret, though, so keep your mouth shut.

If you're starving from more Dale Jr. North Wilkesboro content, or, you know, you're even moderately hungry. Maybe you want a snack. I don't know. Make sure you watch Roots and Revival on Dirty Mo Media's YouTube channel. Subscribe over there. Chapter 4 just dropped. It's amazing. The access, the quality, and just the overall vibes that video gives off.

It's extremely well done on all fronts. So if you don't want to miss that. go watch and subscribe to the YouTube channel. And we'll see y'all tomorrow.