My Racing Heroes

I've always wanted to do some sort of writing, however the the issue with that is that I don't follow the rules of writing and my spelling and grammar suck. But I continue to write blog posts off and on. As many know I love racing, specifically at a local level. Maybe not as much as let's say Dan Plan, but I do love local racing.
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A lot of little kids sit in the crowd each week and have a driver who is there "hero" or somebody who they look up to. Obviously I've been around the track since I was little. So of course the first person who comes to my mind as my racing hero would be my dad. I don't remember much from back when he was racing full time and winning... A lot. 183 times to be exact... Was always cool to see other kids come up and want an autograph from my dad. I do remember one time at the track when dad won and we got to run across the track to the infield to take a picture with him in victory lane. I remember this specifically because I still have the picture, it had my dad, mom, and brother all in it with me. Means a lot to me to look back and be able to really remember that night. I could obviously talk about my dad and racing for hours, so I'll keep his part short. I do however owe everything in my racing career to him. Thank you dad.

I did have a few other drivers who were my "racing heroes" when I was growing up. I think another very popular driver back in the 90s and early 2000s was Jason Schneider. I always remember when he raced against my dad in late models, two of my favorite drivers together on the track. I don't remember a night when I was younger that I didn't stop and get an autograph on my flag from Jason. He has always been one of the fan favorites simply because of how he interacts with the fans. Truly one of the best guys at the track, I'll never forget during this last season with all the problems I'd had he took the time to send me a personal message.

"Kiddo--- pull them pants up- put on your boots and start digging- I've raced for 23 years on hardly anything, if you want it bad enough you can make this happen... your car is the fastest out there, God will reward you... It's a challenge , testing your strength, don't give up... I've got faith in you!"

That simple message motivated me to get back out there and keep digging. My results after that message in three races included two top fives, three top tens, and most importantly my first feature win. In a way I almost owe Jason for keeping me motivated and getting me going again. Thanks Jason if you read this for all you have done... Dating back to when I really was a little kiddo.

Like I said earlier I only had a handful of drivers at the local level that I looked up to or I guess still look up to as my racing heroes. Two more people come to mind and believe it or not they race on a weekly basis and seem to finish in the top three in points every year they race. I remember being about 10 years old and see this cool late model at Raceway Park. Never saw paint scheme quite like it before, but the car sure was fast. Who doesn't cheer for a fast car when you are just kid, but this was different the way he drove even caught my dad's attention and to me that's when I knew somebody was talented. Little did I know that this guy would go on to win back to back championships and he has an opportunity to make it three in a row. I also didn't realize that his brother would soon be racing...

If you haven't figured out which two drivers I'm talking about yet then I'll let you know right now, it'd be Jacob and Matt Goede. I always thought it was cool when I was younger that two brothers (like Max and I) were racing together. Max has never wanted to actually race so he takes on more of the Alex roll... By the way if you don't know who Alex is then you need to go down and talk with Jacob. Alex is another Goede brother however he doesn't race, he is the one in Jacob's earbuds telling him one to go. Very smart guy who deserves a lot of credit for all his hard work. Anyways back to Jacob and Matt....

Probably two of smoothest drivers I've ever seen, both of them winning races every time I seemed to go to the track. I always wanted to be like them. At home when Max and I would "race" around on our dirt bikes or anything that moved for that matter we were Jacob and Matt racing against each other. Never thought that I would ever develop a relationship with either of them, however when Max and I were struggling with the Big 8 Jacob stepped in and offered his help. In the middle of running for his first championship he took the time to come over and redo the entire set up in our car. On top of that Jacob and Matt came out to practice and worked on our car to try and fine tune it. I can even say Jacob Goede drove my car!

I've never quite seen anything like the 3G Racing Team, but if the Prusak Racing Team could be anything like them it'd be a dream come true. Each an every week you'll see Max and I standing in turns one and two cheering on Jacob and Matt. And it doesn't matter which one of those two wins... As long as it's a 3G Racing car pulling into victory lane.
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Kind of a long blog post but I was looking at old racing pictures and I just started to think about who my racing heroes were when I was growing up. Like I said I only had a few of them and I talked about almost all of them on here. But I just became curious as to who your racing heroes were/are... Comment with your favorite drivers!