Aug. 1, 2025

Building relationships drives the National Compact Touring Series with Drew Jach

Send us a text Behind every racing series lies a story of passion, perseverance, and the relentless pursuit of building something meaningful. Drew Jack's 12-year journey with the National Compact Touring Series reveals exactly that—a tale that began in the grandstands of Kalamazoo Speedway where his father would drop him off as a "cheap babysitter" and has evolved into creating opportunities for racers who might otherwise never experience iconic venues. What started with "a chip on my should...

Send us a text

Behind every racing series lies a story of passion, perseverance, and the relentless pursuit of building something meaningful. Drew Jack's 12-year journey with the National Compact Touring Series reveals exactly that—a tale that began in the grandstands of Kalamazoo Speedway where his father would drop him off as a "cheap babysitter" and has evolved into creating opportunities for racers who might otherwise never experience iconic venues.

What started with "a chip on my shoulder" after another touring series canceled an event has blossomed into an organization that's made motorsports history. The NCTS holds the distinction of being the first touring series to race at Garrett and Cleetus McFarland's Freedom Factory during its rebirth and the first on track during North Wilkesboro's revitalization—an achievement that puts this grassroots series in the NASCAR history books.

Drew pulls back the curtain on the challenges of building a touring series, from weathering lean years to handling criticism, and even reveals he nearly sold the series entirely before a pivotal phone call changed everything. He shares candid stories about working a demanding corporate job while building NCTS, sometimes fielding crisis calls during air shows when he wasn't even at the track.

Perhaps most compelling is how the series has used its platform to give back, hosting Down Syndrome awareness events, mental health initiatives, and creating opportunities for children and families who might never otherwise experience live racing. "We use national compacts in our lease events to give back to the community," Drew explains, emphasizing the deeper purpose behind the competition.

Breaking news drops mid-conversation as Drew announces the debut of the NCTS Figure 8 Series at Galesburg Speedway on August 24th and the return of the touring series to the track after a long absence. He outlines their ambitious summer schedule, including events at Berlin Raceway, M40 Speedway, and their World Series of Compacts at Owosso Speedway in September.

Want to experience affordable, competitive racing that's attracted NASCAR talents like Haley Deegan, Ryan Preece, and Ben Rhodes? Check out an NCTS event this summer and discover why these "crap boxes" (as Drew playfully disputes) deliver some of the most entertaining racing in the Midwest.

Support the show

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/womensmotorsportsnetworkandpodcast

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/womensmotorsportsnetwork/

LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melindarussell/

TIKTOK: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melindarussell/

X: https://x.com/IWMANation

FACEBOOK Personal Page: https://www.facebook.com/melinda.ann.russell

00:00 - Show Introduction and Drew's Background

07:02 - Drew's Early Racing Career

14:35 - Birth of the National Compact Touring Series

24:47 - NCTS Achievements and Major Venues

36:14 - Challenges and Almost Selling the Series

48:35 - Breaking News: NCTS Figure 8 Series

58:53 - Upcoming NCTS Schedule and Events

WEBVTT

00:00:01.961 --> 00:00:03.141
Hey, hello everybody.

00:00:03.141 --> 00:00:07.084
This is Melinda Russell with let's Talk Racing Live.

00:00:07.084 --> 00:00:35.231
This is the weekly live show where I'm trying to keep some Southwest Michigan tracks front and center so that you don't forget about them when of tracks that had rain outs, and so you know it's easy to find other things to do, and I don't want you to forget that these tracks are here and providing really good entertainment for your family, and so that's the reason for this show.

00:00:35.231 --> 00:00:39.445
But it's also another way for me to tell some stories.

00:00:39.445 --> 00:00:42.911
I've had Bryce Bozell on.

00:00:42.911 --> 00:00:45.435
He was really cool to interview Nice kid.

00:00:45.435 --> 00:00:54.328
Tony Eldridge was on and Tyler Rourke was on, and so tonight I got a good friend on.

00:00:54.328 --> 00:01:02.787
Drew Jack and I have been friends for probably at least 10 years, if not longer, Probably closer to 15, I'd say.

00:01:03.502 --> 00:01:05.031
It's probably been close to 15.

00:01:05.031 --> 00:01:13.341
We've been doing the traveling series stuff for 12 and I think we've known each other longer than that yeah, so probably 15 or more than for sure.

00:01:13.662 --> 00:01:16.929
And uh, we we've done some fun things together.

00:01:16.929 --> 00:01:24.709
Uh, tony and I were reminiscing about the announcer's choice races that we did and those were pretty fun.

00:01:24.709 --> 00:01:28.700
I can remember one time I had to wear my winter coat.

00:01:28.700 --> 00:01:29.924
It was so cold.

00:01:29.924 --> 00:01:40.641
And then there was another time we did one and it was blazing hot, and so you just never know, but we did have some fun doing those for sure, and I think Seltzer said never again.

00:01:40.641 --> 00:01:43.867
So I think those are over and done with for sure.

00:01:45.349 --> 00:01:50.302
So, drew, I know that a lot of people know who you are.

00:01:50.302 --> 00:01:51.545
You run it.

00:01:51.545 --> 00:01:57.382
You run the National Compact Touring Series and you have for, like you just said, 12 years.

00:01:57.382 --> 00:01:59.266
Wow, doesn't seem possible.

00:01:59.266 --> 00:02:05.328
But just like when I talked to Tony, do people really know your story?

00:02:05.328 --> 00:02:09.151
Do they know how did you get involved with racing?

00:02:09.151 --> 00:02:11.159
And that's what I want to hear about tonight.

00:02:11.159 --> 00:02:27.943
I want you to tell me and the people that listen and I'll be honest with you, there's a lot of people that listen later, not at 7 o'clock on Wednesday night, so don't be discouraged if you don't see any listeners, but I've been having a good amount of people listen later.

00:02:27.943 --> 00:02:32.231
So tell me back to the beginning how.

00:02:32.231 --> 00:02:34.823
How did you get started loving motorsports?

00:02:34.823 --> 00:02:36.606
Who got you interested?

00:02:37.848 --> 00:02:39.031
I was just my family.

00:02:39.031 --> 00:02:47.812
My dad took me to Kalamazoo Speedway as a kid and you know, got older you know 11 or 12.

00:02:47.853 --> 00:02:49.140
It was a cheap babysitter.

00:02:49.140 --> 00:02:54.961
They just dropped me off there and, um, I would hang out with a lot of people don't know who.

00:02:54.961 --> 00:02:58.429
Uh, big Show Mark Flerman is and Brad Schellenbarger.

00:02:58.429 --> 00:03:01.544
I would sit up and turn to top corner of the bleachers with them.

00:03:01.544 --> 00:03:08.525
Um, wouldn't even know it until later that we actually sat next to each other because we didn't know who each other was.

00:03:08.525 --> 00:03:12.461
There was an old guy I think his name was jim deavers or something.

00:03:12.481 --> 00:03:35.235
He was a roofer out of whalen and I would just sit up there with him there was an older couple that was, uh, mike zordan's I want to say aunt and uncle or grandpa and grandma, that sat up there with me too, and it was just like the same four people that sat up there from like 1993 to you know, until I crossed over to the other side.

00:03:35.235 --> 00:03:41.713
So, you know, never ventured much over past Kalamazoo Speedway, galesburg Speedway.

00:03:41.713 --> 00:03:56.864
Once I got my license and we started to travel a little bit more, we found Merle's place down at Southwest Michigan Speedway back when he was still running late models, before it truly became Merle World.

00:03:59.027 --> 00:04:17.216
But, no, it's just, you know, growing up there and you know, unfortunately, all those people have probably passed since then because that was, you know, over 30 years ago sitting in the grandstands and got an opportunity to be a race car driver for a few years.

00:04:17.379 --> 00:04:21.591
And then, you know I won't trade it for anything it worked out.

00:04:21.591 --> 00:04:22.021
I raced.

00:04:22.021 --> 00:04:26.601
You know they didn't have a front wheel drive class back when I started racing.

00:04:26.601 --> 00:04:49.446
It was either street stocks and, uh, late models or super late models, and you know street stocks, or what they call factory stocks back in the day, uh, that wasn't a beginner class because you had mike zordon and jimmy burrows and the leonard family and um, so started racing limited late models, like kalamazoo Speedway, for two or three years and just wasn't for me.

00:04:49.446 --> 00:05:21.362
So I became a car owner and Matt Schick raced with me for a year and then I just decided that I'd have more fun on the other side and, you know, got an opportunity, probably 2001, to become a pit steward at Kalamazoo Speedway and that's kind of how we grew from there, went from being a pit steward to, you know, kind of wanted to be an announcer at the time, but I had to go elsewhere to figure that out got an opportunity for a brief time to be the announcer at Hartford Speedway.

00:05:22.004 --> 00:05:37.990
You know really really green didn't work out and then got a job at Angola Motor Speedway with Craig Everidge as a track announcer there and I spent three I think he had the track for three seasons down there and that's truly where I developed, becoming an announcer.

00:05:37.990 --> 00:05:50.028
When Craig gave it up we came back to Kalamazoo to be a co-announcer with Jason and still kind of wanted to be on the promoter side because I had a lot of fun doing with it at Angola.

00:05:50.028 --> 00:05:52.822
Craig taught me a lot down there at Angola Motor Speedway.

00:05:52.822 --> 00:05:54.105
Let me develop the schedule.

00:05:54.105 --> 00:05:56.851
You know I give him crap to this day.

00:05:56.891 --> 00:06:04.913
We've been friends for probably 20 years now but he was a cheap old guy or cheap young guy back then and he's still a cheap old guy now.

00:06:04.913 --> 00:06:26.283
You know, the last year I was announcing running the storing system and race directing, so there technically was two of us in the tower and I was an intern from the local college there and you know I wouldn't trade that for the world because I had a lot of fun with Craig.

00:06:26.283 --> 00:06:29.451
That's probably the funnest time in racing at Angola Motor Speedway.

00:06:29.451 --> 00:06:32.925
Um, one of my favorite tracks of all time.

00:06:32.925 --> 00:06:43.190
So many friends down there, uh, that I still have today and uh, um, really do miss the place, um, angola was, you know, a great opportunity.

00:06:43.230 --> 00:06:51.790
And probably about the times that we started to cross paths is when I came over to M40 Speedway and worked with Kevin Kosher and promoted it for two years.

00:06:51.790 --> 00:06:55.267
You know, wouldn't trade that for the world.

00:06:55.267 --> 00:07:01.769
In between that decided I was going to move to Las Vegas and you know we had some good times out there with Send Out Cards.

00:07:01.769 --> 00:07:07.244
And when you and Ben and ben came out there again wouldn't trade those experience for the world.

00:07:07.244 --> 00:07:09.369
It was just too dang hot out there.

00:07:09.369 --> 00:07:20.884
And came back here and uh, kind of stayed out of racing for a year or two, um, but ended up in chicago working downtown for almost eight years.

00:07:20.884 --> 00:07:24.250
And that's kind of when we picked up the racing thing again.

00:07:24.250 --> 00:07:35.747
You know, kind of helped out at M40 Speedway and then had a compact touring series cancel an event on us.

00:07:35.869 --> 00:07:41.302
So the bitterness and the grumpiness of me say, you know I kind of joke about it today and that was Vores.

00:07:41.302 --> 00:07:44.411
For whatever reason, they didn't want to come to M40 Speedway.

00:07:44.411 --> 00:07:56.821
And I remember talking to Dan on the phone Dan Redman, he's a really good promoter, I've done a lot of great things at winchester this year and uh, vores, over the last, I think they got me by 13 or 14 years.

00:07:56.821 --> 00:07:57.562
They've been around.

00:07:57.562 --> 00:08:00.773
They just did not want to come to m40.

00:08:00.793 --> 00:08:06.156
Speedway car counts, whatever, innuendo, rumors, whatever made my job harder.

00:08:06.156 --> 00:08:09.786
I said, dude, I had 20 cars ready to come race locally and they just wouldn't.

00:08:09.786 --> 00:08:12.372
So chip on my shoulder.

00:08:12.372 --> 00:08:14.786
That was probably that second announcer's choice.

00:08:14.786 --> 00:08:28.906
We actually ran that first event that was supposed to be bored under my banner of a compact series, and then we ran a test event at south bend, um, and for a full circle back the reason why we started it.

00:08:28.906 --> 00:08:36.350
We ended up going back to work with those guys for the first two years dan and steve, they certainly helped me get this started.

00:08:36.350 --> 00:08:39.763
And, um, you know we already had a great base around here.

00:08:39.763 --> 00:08:45.232
Patrick mclemera again a name you probably haven't heard for a long time.

00:08:45.533 --> 00:08:45.673
No.

00:08:47.221 --> 00:08:47.542
He.

00:08:47.542 --> 00:09:05.510
You know a lot of people can say a lot of things about Patrick, but the one thing Patrick was really good and where I got a lot of my promoting and social media skills is through Patrick, because he built the first ever Vores Cup and I think there were 70 cars our first ever event together that came down to Lucas Oil Speedway.

00:09:05.510 --> 00:09:22.193
And you know Patrick, you know being Patrick kind of didn't get along with the guys in orange, so it left me with the NCTS or North at the time for probably a year or two.

00:09:22.193 --> 00:09:24.548
But again, patrick was very instrumental.

00:09:24.548 --> 00:09:28.528
If it wasn't for Patrick McLemara there would be no national compact touring series.

00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:30.567
I want to give him all the credit.

00:09:30.567 --> 00:09:35.340
It was a team effort for me and him and, like I said, he kind of dropped off the radar for 10 years.

00:09:35.340 --> 00:09:40.706
I think the last time I saw him is when we shared a booth at PRI, you know, two or three years ago.

00:09:40.706 --> 00:09:46.326
You know Patrick has always been good to me, always three years ago, uh, you know Patrick has always been good to me.

00:09:46.326 --> 00:09:47.087
I always been good to the compacts.

00:09:47.087 --> 00:09:59.769
I always went to NCTS and from there I mean it's just grown, it's uh, I never intended to be as big as we are or what we do, but we've accomplished a lot of firsts at our group.

00:09:59.769 --> 00:10:05.567
Um, you know, vores was the first to go to Bristol, but we were the first to go to the Freedom Factory.

00:10:05.700 --> 00:10:10.570
We were the very first race at a rebirth at a racetrack that had been closed.

00:10:10.570 --> 00:10:27.883
Because of that and because of the opportunity that Josh and Garrett Cletus uh gave us there, uh, that got us seen and we got a phone call the following season to be the first touring series on the track um for the first north wilkesboro race.

00:10:27.883 --> 00:10:29.225
So the rebirth of nascar.

00:10:29.225 --> 00:10:42.341
So you'd never think a little compact touring series um would have such a big part of two iconic tracks that are known worldwide, um to have a rebirth.

00:10:42.341 --> 00:10:45.951
And that's something we take a lot of privilege or a lot of pride in.

00:10:45.951 --> 00:10:55.602
And and take it as a privilege because, you know, not everybody's given that opportunity and you know we've had some good years.

00:10:55.602 --> 00:10:58.631
We've had some really tough, lean years.

00:10:59.500 --> 00:11:03.481
We're in a really good year this year with the support that we got for both NCTS.

00:11:03.481 --> 00:11:06.087
We have the national compacts and the Midwest dirt.

00:11:06.087 --> 00:11:13.551
You know we just were talking about, you know we were the first touring series to break in for compacts at Slinger.

00:11:13.551 --> 00:11:15.085
That's another thing on our back.

00:11:15.085 --> 00:11:20.644
You know there were some bumps in the roads but you know we got through it, scott and myself.

00:11:20.644 --> 00:11:22.629
We got through it.

00:11:22.629 --> 00:11:24.666
Put two when you put two entities together.

00:11:24.666 --> 00:11:30.429
We were talking about it Like when we do the North Carolina stuff, the Florida stuff or even in Wisconsin.

00:11:30.429 --> 00:11:32.833
You have so many drivers.

00:11:32.833 --> 00:11:37.152
Compacts are taken, as you know.

00:11:37.794 --> 00:11:47.264
They call them crap boxes and I will dispute that and argue with them all the time and I kind of got it, you'll laugh and argue with them all the time because and I kind of got it you'll laugh.

00:11:47.284 --> 00:11:58.640
I was at a lawnmower race and got it in a disagreement with a lawnmower racer calling her crap boxes, and I said um you know, we've out qualified, uh, street stocks at most tracks that we go to and even some smaller quarter miles.

00:11:59.261 --> 00:12:03.952
Um, my guys have been, wouldn't even been the slowest late model, super late model up a racetrack.

00:12:03.952 --> 00:12:08.772
Um, they probably would have been third or fourth slow at Flat Rock a couple years ago.

00:12:08.772 --> 00:12:12.707
So we take a lot of pride, our drivers take a lot of pride in their cars.

00:12:12.707 --> 00:12:17.250
Obviously we know we're not outlaw super late model racing.

00:12:17.250 --> 00:12:33.464
We're not sprint car racing, but we give a home for guys that don't have a budget for a super late model team that can travel with CRA or JEGS or the Cars Tour, the veterans that just want to drop down and travel to different race tracks, and that's kind of what we're about.

00:12:34.466 --> 00:12:41.835
You know I've completely started this series trying to give it a, you know, young racers a place to start.

00:12:41.835 --> 00:12:50.927
It's kind of a complete opposite where we get the car enthusiasts or guys that just love front-wheel drive racing or compacts or rear-wheel drive four-cylinders.

00:12:50.927 --> 00:12:55.649
You know that's kind of the story of how we're at and where we're at.

00:12:55.649 --> 00:12:59.890
And again, we wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

00:12:59.890 --> 00:13:01.647
We've had a lot of help along the way.

00:13:01.647 --> 00:13:10.125
You know, woody, you know we talk about Patrick McIntyre, woody's probably employee number two, and then you got Denise and Bubba.

00:13:10.125 --> 00:13:11.690
That are employee three and four.

00:13:11.690 --> 00:13:20.186
And we've had a lot of great people like Dan Rigoni, you know, mike Richardson or Kenny Richardson, you know we can't forget JR Long.

00:13:20.259 --> 00:13:21.365
He was with us for a year.

00:13:21.365 --> 00:13:23.865
Yeah, talk about a guy like Patrick.

00:13:23.865 --> 00:13:25.922
That's just disappeared off the planet.

00:13:25.922 --> 00:13:42.206
I know his name mentioned with roars once in a while but, um, you know, brock sweeter, another one, uh, you know one name people won't recognize and the reason I think has helped with a lot of the growth at the beginning.

00:13:42.225 --> 00:13:44.075
So when you're a traveling series, you know I had a lot of the growth at the beginning.

00:13:44.095 --> 00:13:50.332
So when you're a traveling series, you know I had a lot of relationships with M40, kalamazoo, berlin at the time.

00:13:50.332 --> 00:14:02.109
But you know, on the other side of the east side of the state we didn't have a lot of relationships and you know we would have to buy our way into the racetrack or get some sponsors or just get a hard no.

00:14:02.109 --> 00:14:12.571
And a guy that really helped with that and why we're so loyal to the MCR dwarf cars Steve, the former owner who has passed away of the MCR dwarf cars.

00:14:12.571 --> 00:14:20.408
In fact, you know, sponsored our first world series, introduced me to Jim leisure at Corrigan oil, got us there.

00:14:20.408 --> 00:14:25.606
You know Owasso Speedway and stuff like that.

00:14:25.606 --> 00:14:40.850
So you know, without steve martin from mcr dwarf cars and eric hoffman who runs it now, if we ever do a lease event or we have an opportunity to help that brand, and it's just about not forgetting who you came from, where you came from.

00:14:40.850 --> 00:14:46.028
Um, you know, before the the mini cup series that went away.

00:14:46.089 --> 00:14:53.782
Another name that you know kyle trinkline he had his you know, own mini cup series and we would support that anytime, anywhere we could.

00:14:53.782 --> 00:15:00.443
I think one of the events that you were at was galesburg speedway and yeah mini cup series there, even though those aren't super late.

00:15:00.484 --> 00:15:02.326
Model sprint car organizations.

00:15:02.326 --> 00:15:06.475
Those are the groups and the people that have helped us become what we are.

00:15:06.475 --> 00:15:16.460
And you know we're never going to put 5,000 people in the stands, but we have created a lot of cool opportunities.

00:15:16.460 --> 00:15:18.773
I mean because of the Freedom Factory.

00:15:18.773 --> 00:15:22.668
Even before the Freedom Factory we had Kenny Wallace and Kenny Schrader racing with us.

00:15:22.668 --> 00:15:24.740
You know.

00:15:24.740 --> 00:15:27.870
Then we got the opportunity.

00:15:27.870 --> 00:15:37.115
I to this date have not seen Haley Deegan race anything other than her own car or outside of NASCAR or the Indy NEX.

00:15:37.115 --> 00:15:41.731
You know she came to Sandusky Speedway two years ago and raced with National Compacts.

00:15:41.731 --> 00:15:43.307
Last year we had Ben Rhodes.

00:15:43.307 --> 00:15:47.951
We had Ryan Priest a part of our event at Kalamazoo.

00:15:47.951 --> 00:15:49.183
You know he ran a modified.

00:15:49.183 --> 00:15:50.970
He was slated to run a compact this year.

00:15:50.970 --> 00:15:59.191
That kind of fell through at the end because of some approval processes, but Ryan's a great person.

00:15:59.191 --> 00:16:00.399
You know Cletus McFarlane.

00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:11.613
You know probably one of the bigger car YouTubers out there more popular than any NASCAR guys you know has raced with us.

00:16:11.799 --> 00:16:14.227
So there's a lot of cool things.

00:16:14.227 --> 00:16:14.528
You know.

00:16:14.528 --> 00:16:24.303
We were just at Kalamazoo Speedway a month ago for Travis Pastrana was supposed to race when our dirt series was supposed to race in the national compact touring series.

00:16:24.303 --> 00:16:25.145
We got rained out.

00:16:25.145 --> 00:16:28.126
That same day we went to Kalamazoo and ran lawnmowers.

00:16:28.126 --> 00:16:28.408
You know.

00:16:28.408 --> 00:16:30.986
Go look at Channel 199.

00:16:30.986 --> 00:16:31.708
You see their video.

00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:36.793
I mean it's just, you know, a while.

00:16:36.793 --> 00:16:46.894
I never thought this is what I would be doing for a living, or, you know, at least taking a break from working at CDW in Chicago and living that grind.

00:16:46.894 --> 00:16:52.548
A lot of people didn't realize I worked 50, 60 hours at CDW and then I'd have another 30, 40 hours.

00:16:52.548 --> 00:17:11.303
I would get off the train or actually I'd be sitting at my desk at CDW working until 10 o'clock, then get on the 11 o'clock train and head back into Hammond, indiana, or take the red line back over to Wrigleyville when I lived in the city and it just got too much and the way we grew.

00:17:11.303 --> 00:17:14.912
A big part of our business has become the Lee shows.

00:17:14.912 --> 00:17:18.631
The July 4th show at Kalamazoo has been steeple on their schedule.

00:17:19.539 --> 00:17:29.868
I'll talk about something we're going to announce tonight on your podcast that actually might already be released on social media, so I just scheduled it before I came on here.

00:17:29.868 --> 00:17:32.028
But you know we just had a lot of fun.

00:17:32.028 --> 00:17:36.211
Melinda Met a lot of cool people like you both, ben's.

00:17:37.961 --> 00:17:52.250
You know we got rained out at Hartford Speedway two weeks ago and it actually worked out because one of our friends from Virginia that races with us when we're down in Florida, jesse Yopp, was up here.

00:17:52.250 --> 00:17:52.821
They went up there.

00:17:52.821 --> 00:17:59.269
Both me and Denise went up there and watched his kids play hockey and it's about building friendships, relationships and partnerships.

00:17:59.269 --> 00:18:12.648
You know, jim York, you know, has been a very key, instrumental guy in putting a lot of the stuff cool stuff that we get to do with Channel 199 together and we just wouldn't trade it for the world.

00:18:13.662 --> 00:18:18.385
So I don't know if you can see the comments, but Tina Lewis is listening, so she said hi.

00:18:18.385 --> 00:18:24.753
And then Top Row Racing Media said that you guys are the fastest compacts around.

00:18:24.753 --> 00:18:30.846
Media media said that you guys are the fastest compacts around.

00:18:30.846 --> 00:18:32.651
Um, so I'm gonna go back to down memory lane a little bit.

00:18:32.651 --> 00:19:00.509
So, yeah, we did the announcer's choice, but, um, you're, I give you and woody all the credit or the blame I'm not sure which it is from doing a podcast, because back when you had your show and it was a live show similar to this that we did Through a different platform, but it ended up being live and you would interview and talk about Racing or whatever and then you asked me one night If I would be willing to interview a woman On your show.

00:19:00.509 --> 00:19:01.592
Sure, you know.

00:19:03.061 --> 00:19:09.605
So I did and interviewed several different women, haley Deegan or not Haley Deegan, natalie Decker being one of them.

00:19:09.605 --> 00:19:13.593
That we did and, uh, developed a friendship with her.

00:19:13.593 --> 00:19:19.311
Because of that, I've interviewed her several times and met her whole family and and the whole.

00:19:19.311 --> 00:19:27.886
You know, when you meet those people, you hear the name and you have in your mind what you think they're like, and then when you meet them, it's just like they're just like.

00:19:27.886 --> 00:19:29.211
They're just like you and I.

00:19:29.211 --> 00:19:30.241
They just love racing.

00:19:31.183 --> 00:19:36.181
Um, so you know you, you kind of kicked me off your show and told me I needed to.

00:19:36.181 --> 00:19:44.374
I should probably do my own, have my own show, which I know you didn't really kick me off, but started my own show in 2018.

00:19:44.374 --> 00:19:56.169
And I I would never have dreamed that I'm doing what I'm doing either, because I was always a writer and did the magazine and stuff, but I love, love, interviewing and doing the podcast.

00:19:56.169 --> 00:20:10.990
Then I remember going to drive into PRI with you on a in December and you're and you're telling me, asking me if I've heard of this guy, cletus McFarlane and I'm like, yeah, you know that name's familiar, but I don't really know who he is.

00:20:10.990 --> 00:20:12.382
So you're telling me who he is.

00:20:12.823 --> 00:20:33.711
Then, pretty soon, here, somebody calls and we're driving towards Indy and you're putting the deal together to take the compacts to the Freedom Factory and that that was a huge, huge deal, I know for you that weekend and just the different things that you've done and and to watch what you've done.

00:20:33.771 --> 00:20:49.105
And I know you worked hours and hours and hours and and spent I don't know how many hours on the road going from Chicago to Kalamazoo, to wherever, and there's a time that you know people say it's, it's enough, I can't do, I can't do it all.

00:20:49.105 --> 00:20:50.430
That's why I gave up the magazine.

00:20:50.430 --> 00:21:03.851
I couldn't do it all and I liked the podcast and so, um, I love seeing where you are now because you're, you were just a slinger, which is a track I really enjoyed going to a few years ago.

00:21:03.851 --> 00:21:13.211
Um, which is a track I really enjoyed going to a few years ago, and so it's important to me to have you on here and share kind of your story about how you got started.

00:21:13.211 --> 00:21:24.093
So, tanner Johnson I hope you know who that is, maybe or maybe not, he says thoughts on having the MCR dwarf cars around more often.

00:21:25.180 --> 00:21:36.192
So every lease show that we do, they always have an opportunity to come, with this Galesburg show being put together that we'll talk about here in a little bit.

00:21:36.192 --> 00:21:39.200
It just wasn't in the works for 2025.

00:21:39.200 --> 00:22:05.372
But you know, corrigan Oil, kalamazoo uh, even I forgot to tell you I actually took on m40 speedway for a full season under my own leadership and my own money, um, for a year and we brought the mcr dwarf cars in a couple times during that, um, but anything we can do, you know, we I think we helped introduce them to berlin raceway, um, you, it's not just racing with me.

00:22:05.372 --> 00:22:12.114
Any series that works with me and is respectful and you know, is just a partner.

00:22:12.114 --> 00:22:13.526
That's all we ask is a partner.

00:22:13.526 --> 00:22:20.848
We're going to help promote them and help them, because that's what Steve Martin did for me, that's what other racetrack promoters did for me.

00:22:21.461 --> 00:22:54.663
You know Jeff Striegel will stand up at we're lucky enough in Michigan to have a promoters association not many states, the only other one that I'm aware of is Wisconsin and we get to meet at MIS every October and a hotel in Lansing every, you know, twice a year and Jeff Striegel will get up and you know many times, as mentioned, you know the hard work of ncts, not just national compacts or myself, but other other entities that come in there, and that goes a long way.

00:22:54.663 --> 00:22:58.673
So when you know I do the same, I talk mcr dwarf cars.

00:22:58.673 --> 00:23:10.490
Um, you know we we did have a relationship with the ohio wheel, but unfortunately things have worked out where they've needed to stay in Ohio to get their brand going again and they're doing very well down there.

00:23:11.780 --> 00:23:15.991
So it's just all about relationship building, not burning those bridges.

00:23:15.991 --> 00:23:21.090
The dwarf cars I don't think they can take on any more races.

00:23:21.090 --> 00:23:23.048
They have more races than anybody else I know.

00:23:23.048 --> 00:23:28.801
I think Eric has 18 or 19 races a year, almost every other weekend, every weekend.

00:23:28.801 --> 00:23:30.086
Sometimes doubleheaders.

00:23:30.086 --> 00:23:32.662
I see them at Plymouth and all these racetracks.

00:23:32.662 --> 00:23:33.785
They just do a great job.

00:23:33.785 --> 00:23:36.010
They keep a constant car count.

00:23:36.010 --> 00:23:42.164
They go from Whittemore to Plymouth, which is probably an eight-hour difference between that and in between.

00:23:42.164 --> 00:23:49.904
I know I got a little long winded on there, but another thing I need to bring up is Tina Lewis is very instrumental in what we do as well too.

00:23:49.904 --> 00:23:53.817
She's the very first season of NCTS.

00:23:53.817 --> 00:24:02.586
Her and Glenda Metz actually did over, took over my points because I didn't know what the hell I was doing with it, and they did a great job with it.

00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:18.071
And ever since then, her and, uh, you know, the Mets have been, you know, very long time friends we know, we've had some bumps in the road, but they certainly have been there for us yeah, so tell me what this big news is.

00:24:18.152 --> 00:24:19.094
Are you ready to share it?

00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:20.721
I am.

00:24:20.721 --> 00:24:23.442
So you know I always do too much.

00:24:23.442 --> 00:24:25.644
I don't ever listen to anybody.

00:24:25.644 --> 00:24:33.838
I've had a lot of Ohio talk to me and tell me we need to do a certain kind of compact racing.

00:24:33.838 --> 00:24:38.194
So we were going to run a test event at Corrigan Oil.

00:24:38.194 --> 00:24:39.156
It got rained out.

00:24:39.156 --> 00:24:45.775
So after our rain out at Flat Rock we're struggling because we have a Hoosier Challenge Series.

00:24:45.775 --> 00:24:50.512
That's only got one race in and all four races have been completed.

00:24:50.512 --> 00:24:51.971
The other three have been rained out already.

00:24:51.971 --> 00:24:54.051
Flat Rock should have been the last race.

00:24:54.825 --> 00:25:03.884
So my longtime friend Woody has been putting pressure on me to bring NCTS over to Galesburg Speedway.

00:25:03.884 --> 00:25:12.176
So on August 24th we're going to bring the first part of this announcement, the NCTS Figure 8 Series.

00:25:12.176 --> 00:25:14.881
It does have its own Facebook page.

00:25:14.881 --> 00:25:16.769
I'm going to caution you guys.

00:25:16.769 --> 00:25:21.833
We don't know how much of a need or want this is for this.

00:25:21.833 --> 00:25:26.294
This is a test race If you want to see four or five races next year.

00:25:26.294 --> 00:25:31.851
Galesburg Corrigan Oil Lewis brought up talking to New Parish.

00:25:31.851 --> 00:25:36.215
Owasso's got a figure eight track and we have a great relationship with Flat Rock.

00:25:36.215 --> 00:25:40.195
But we can't be bringing three or four cars and we can't be having cars running both.

00:25:40.195 --> 00:25:41.871
It's got to be a separate entity.

00:25:41.871 --> 00:25:45.756
So we'll pay $500 to win, $75 to start.

00:25:45.756 --> 00:25:48.133
And again, I just word the urge of caution.

00:25:48.133 --> 00:25:58.317
If you want to see this take off and be a part of next year's schedule for four or five races, probably mainly on our lease shows, the NCTS Figure Eight series.

00:25:58.317 --> 00:25:59.866
It has its own Facebook page.

00:25:59.866 --> 00:26:06.920
You can find it at NCTS Figure Eight series is the name of the page.

00:26:06.920 --> 00:26:12.817
There is a press release that probably just went out on National Compacts about 10 minutes ago.

00:26:12.817 --> 00:26:19.195
So some people know that I just switched over our mini wedge series.

00:26:19.195 --> 00:26:22.134
Yes, we did mini wedges too for four or five years.

00:26:22.134 --> 00:26:23.911
We've kind of outgrown that.

00:26:23.911 --> 00:26:26.473
So I've been trying to give this page away.

00:26:26.473 --> 00:26:30.076
So I figured I'd just flip it over to the NCTX Figure 8 series.

00:26:31.726 --> 00:26:33.152
So two announcements.

00:26:33.152 --> 00:26:39.096
Tonight, galesburg Speedway, the National Compacts will be returning after about a four-year absence five-year absence.

00:26:39.096 --> 00:26:45.017
We look forward to working with Jeff Sayles and his mom, tammy.

00:26:45.017 --> 00:26:52.976
You know this will be a non-points race, but it will be a Hoosier Challenge Series points race.

00:26:52.976 --> 00:27:00.019
So the main NCTS points won't be there, but all the same guys are running the Hoosier points series.

00:27:01.766 --> 00:27:10.596
There is some rumblings in rule that we might toss the rule book out on this one where they can run wings and sideboards and any tires they want.

00:27:10.596 --> 00:27:12.511
We just got to judge the interest on it.

00:27:12.511 --> 00:27:15.368
So you know we haven't.

00:27:15.368 --> 00:27:31.164
You know honestly, galesburg being one of our, we got Galesburg, m40 and Kalamazoo that are probably within 45 minutes, kalamazoo and Galesburg probably only 20 minutes away from each other, and we have not been to Galesburg many times.

00:27:31.164 --> 00:27:35.856
So if you want to see us back, there's going to be some conditions on this.

00:27:35.856 --> 00:28:00.932
Support the show and be professional while you're there, because we feel that Sales and his family and Tom McGee have done a good job of keeping things in check there and have not heard any negativity over the last three years out of Galesburg Speedway For the most part you know.

00:28:01.073 --> 00:28:02.517
So we're excited to be coming back.

00:28:03.944 --> 00:28:18.938
You know every track, from Kalamazoo to Galesburg to Berlin we all have issues that people don't agree with, and you know, getting on social media, that's another podcast.

00:28:18.938 --> 00:28:20.130
It's just not the answer.

00:28:20.130 --> 00:28:36.088
But the condition is is everybody gets on there, we get supportive of this, we make it a successful event that it's worth the sales family and the McGee family at NCTS we're also running an enduro that night.

00:28:36.088 --> 00:28:42.730
We're going to bring in the power wheels for the kids, a coin toss, spectator drags and we're going to start at six o'clock.

00:28:42.730 --> 00:28:45.277
We're not going to start at 645 on a Sunday.

00:28:45.277 --> 00:28:50.092
Technically we have two classes that really need hot laps and practice.

00:28:50.132 --> 00:29:05.551
We can pull that off in two hours hour and a half and we want to be out of there by 9 o'clock, 9.15 at the latest, and we want to have everybody paid by 9.30 so that they can go to work, they can go home, go to sleep, go to school, because a lot of kids will probably be in school by then.

00:29:05.873 --> 00:29:09.788
Yeah so when we put our events together.

00:29:09.788 --> 00:29:22.117
So when we put our events together, we want to make sure that we're not again compacts and this is no disrespect to this class, but we all know that we're not going to put.

00:29:22.117 --> 00:29:26.201
There's been one occasion that we've done that, two occasions actually.

00:29:26.201 --> 00:29:38.396
Hartford Speedway, for some reason we had 2,500 people on the stands and that was one of our first or second seasons and none of the first season of Tim and Leah's ownership Couldn't explain that we were the headliner.

00:29:38.396 --> 00:29:39.851
There were 2,500 people there.

00:29:39.851 --> 00:29:41.865
The other one was the Freedom Factory.

00:29:41.865 --> 00:29:44.314
But those are the two places that we can get away with it.

00:29:44.314 --> 00:29:48.267
So we've got to do the Endurals, we've got to do the Come Figure 8 racing we the figure eight racing.

00:29:48.267 --> 00:29:50.128
We got to do the family oriented events.

00:29:50.650 --> 00:29:52.672
We're not looking for a sold out crowd.

00:29:52.672 --> 00:30:00.882
That would be great, but if we can get 500, 800, 900 people there, that event will be a huge success and you'll see it on the schedule next year.

00:30:01.945 --> 00:30:03.251
And that's the thing you know.

00:30:03.251 --> 00:30:11.700
People have to remember that you've got to support racing Continuously.

00:30:11.700 --> 00:30:29.952
I guess I would say you can't go one week and then not go for months, because the cost for those tracks and those promoters and all those guys that are trying to race, they don't stop and people get lazy about or take for granted that.

00:30:29.952 --> 00:30:44.498
Granted that, oh, kalamazoo Speedway, it'll always be there for me to go watch whenever I feel like it, or Galesburg or or any of them, and you know you see racetracks closing left and right and so we know that we have to support them.

00:30:44.498 --> 00:30:47.509
So, um, some more comments here, drew.

00:30:47.509 --> 00:30:52.557
So, uh, bill Russell no relation from m40 checked in.

00:30:52.557 --> 00:30:54.968
He said it's hard to hear because they're practicing there.

00:30:54.968 --> 00:31:03.076
And then, um, top row racing says we're looking forward to being there on august 24th, excited for galesburg to have a big showcase.

00:31:03.076 --> 00:31:06.606
Tina lewis wants to run in the power wheels class.

00:31:06.606 --> 00:31:08.371
She said she misses those days.

00:31:08.371 --> 00:31:16.355
And then Tanner Johnson said MCR is ready to storm Russell's M40 Speedway on August 23rd.

00:31:16.355 --> 00:31:18.038
Yes, absolutely.

00:31:18.266 --> 00:31:21.140
Another strong partner and we've become good friends.

00:31:21.140 --> 00:31:24.194
I've known Johnny and Bill forever.

00:31:24.194 --> 00:31:36.395
They actually came to the first announcer's choice and we can talk about that in a minute because that's probably one of the coolest experiences I've ever had and it'll never be duplicated again, even because Montville is gone now.

00:31:36.395 --> 00:31:47.310
But you know they took a chance on our Winter Enduro Series that we've done there in the past and last year was the first year that we did it with them and they went really well.

00:31:47.310 --> 00:31:48.808
Actually it went into the second year.

00:31:48.808 --> 00:31:50.314
I don't know, I'm losing my mind.

00:31:50.314 --> 00:31:58.209
I think this is the second year we worked with them, but Patty and John have become really good friends.

00:31:58.209 --> 00:32:04.349
Bill, you know they work hard as anybody else there and you know that racetrack they deal with.

00:32:04.349 --> 00:32:06.480
Nobody knows it's there and it's not their fault.

00:32:06.480 --> 00:32:08.588
It's been like that for the 20 years it's been there.

00:32:08.990 --> 00:32:17.436
I mean, I'm sitting at a sold out demolition derby last year, 10 miles from that place in cass county, talking to these really nice people.

00:32:17.436 --> 00:32:19.990
I'm like, hey, if you really enjoy this stuff, we got a racetrack.

00:32:19.990 --> 00:32:22.155
Right down the road there's a racetrack.

00:32:22.155 --> 00:32:24.769
Yeah, you drove right by it to get here almost.

00:32:24.769 --> 00:32:29.288
But, um, and that's what they deal with and, uh, they, they do a really good job.

00:32:29.288 --> 00:32:34.148
Megan has done a really good job on social media, you know, making people aware of the racetrack.

00:32:34.148 --> 00:32:46.852
So, um, we hopefully will be doing some enduro stuff with them through the winter and, um, you know, we do a lot of stuff, more than I can't even remember all the stuff that we do I don't know how you had time to work.

00:32:48.193 --> 00:32:48.595
I know that.

00:32:48.595 --> 00:32:57.717
I know there were days I think you spent more time doing this than you did working for CDW, because I don't know how, otherwise how would you've gotten it all done, it's I?

00:32:57.876 --> 00:33:09.664
I've watched you run yourself ragged for a long time, so I made enough phone calls and talk time on conference calls to make it look like I was doing what I was doing and it's all I'm gonna tell you.

00:33:09.664 --> 00:33:12.173
Life is all about relationship building.

00:33:13.105 --> 00:33:18.279
I mean it's the same for your job, for your hobby, for your friendships.

00:33:18.279 --> 00:33:20.666
It's about relationship building.

00:33:20.666 --> 00:33:26.588
I didn't have to make 200 calls at CDW, like they wanted you to, to be a successful salesperson.

00:33:26.588 --> 00:33:29.239
You just had to build those connections and trust.

00:33:29.239 --> 00:33:31.483
And that's the same thing with the racing business.

00:33:31.483 --> 00:33:33.336
And I'll tell you that's the same thing with the racing business, and I'll tell you.

00:33:33.336 --> 00:33:43.176
I've met some characters in the racing business and it's uh, sometimes it's hard to swallow, but there's a lot more good than what there is bad, though yeah, that's for sure.

00:33:43.738 --> 00:33:50.851
So not to not to put you in, uh, get you in trouble with anybody, but do you have a favorite track that you like to go to?

00:33:52.132 --> 00:33:57.657
Um, you know, I, the.

00:33:57.657 --> 00:34:00.480
The honest answer is I really don't.

00:34:00.480 --> 00:34:12.396
You know I, I we've been to Bristol, we've been to the Freedom Factory, I.

00:34:12.396 --> 00:34:14.643
I guess I would say the coolest experience I've ever been a part of is North Lipscrow.

00:34:14.643 --> 00:34:24.356
Yeah, and it has more to do with the experience, because it was a rundown racetrack, yeah, and it still showed shades of being a rundown.

00:34:24.356 --> 00:34:33.422
It did not have the repairs it had, it had just enough to get it open and the community you could see was affected by nascar.

00:34:33.443 --> 00:34:39.717
Leaving there, you know, here in calamas, you see these new holiday ends being built all the time.

00:34:39.717 --> 00:34:47.628
We're on the highways of battle creek or, you know, we're spoiled there, we're, we're trying to find a hotel there and you're staying at like a howard johnson.

00:34:47.628 --> 00:34:54.559
That's, uh, the 1980s, 1970s, even though it's got eight, nine stars on it or five stars on it.

00:34:54.559 --> 00:34:58.572
You know just that experience and it's the people we met.

00:34:58.572 --> 00:35:14.775
We have made lifelong friends with the Carolina Mini Stock Tour from Shane Knipe and we ended up in a, you know, after one practice night they invited us to their pool hall.

00:35:14.925 --> 00:35:19.657
We were driving around, I think it's over by Hickory Speedway somewhere.

00:35:19.657 --> 00:35:26.048
It's about 45 minutes from where Fort Sville couldn't find the place and I kept saying it's here While it's down in a basement.

00:35:26.048 --> 00:35:28.876
It literally felt like it was like a mob story.

00:35:28.876 --> 00:35:34.496
You get down there and it's just a pool hall.

00:35:34.496 --> 00:35:36.608
Really good pizza, really good wings.

00:35:36.608 --> 00:35:43.289
Unfortunately, it's closed now, just because that's how things have changed in the last four or five years.

00:35:43.289 --> 00:35:45.614
But just that experience.

00:35:45.614 --> 00:35:49.148
North volksboro, the community, the people, the racetrack.

00:35:49.148 --> 00:35:52.695
You know dale j Jr watching a compact race.

00:35:52.695 --> 00:36:01.447
Yeah, a lot of people don't know of some of the famous people that follow the MCTS page, not that we follow them, they follow us.

00:36:01.527 --> 00:36:03.391
Dale Jr is one of them right.

00:36:03.550 --> 00:36:06.998
Cletus McFarland, you know stuff like that and people.

00:36:06.998 --> 00:36:17.867
That's why I say be very careful with what you do, because you never know how it will affect you if we did bad things.

00:36:17.927 --> 00:36:22.208
Do you think you know Jim York would entrust us to bring Travis Vistrana in?

00:36:22.208 --> 00:36:24.931
Or Haley Egan would race with us?

00:36:24.931 --> 00:36:33.032
Or you know the defending truck champion last year, kyle Rhodes two years ago?

00:36:33.032 --> 00:36:37.195
Those are just the experiences we get to create with our racers.

00:36:37.195 --> 00:36:50.335
That's why mannerism on social media and just in life and being a good person I understand life can be Nobody takes more heat than a racetrack promoter or a series owner or a track owner.

00:36:51.597 --> 00:36:55.128
It's just Especially when the weather.

00:36:55.128 --> 00:36:57.556
That's the thing that I think you know.

00:36:57.556 --> 00:37:09.735
It's out of your hands and if you cancel too soon or you wait, no matter what you do, somebody's mad and bashing you on social media and it's like come on, people, put yourself in those shoes.

00:37:09.735 --> 00:37:17.833
You know, if you do and if you don't, you're gonna, you're gonna get crucified, and I've always said that.

00:37:17.833 --> 00:37:24.653
Somebody said to me well, in fact, when they said something about it russ, it's russell's m40 speedway, they, they.

00:37:24.653 --> 00:37:26.338
This person thought it was me.

00:37:26.338 --> 00:37:30.733
I'm like, oh hell, no, I will never own a racetr.

00:37:30.733 --> 00:37:38.916
I said it was bad enough being part owner of a race car Never, because, no matter what you do, you know people are going to be mad.

00:37:38.916 --> 00:37:43.784
They don't like your rules and they don't like the calls you make and all those things.

00:37:43.885 --> 00:37:51.971
So, yeah, no way, I used to take it so personal and I used to let it beat me up, and I'll share the story publicly.

00:37:51.971 --> 00:37:59.701
Um 2021 I I think it was 2021 we had a double header weekend at galesburg speedway.

00:37:59.701 --> 00:38:00.824
It's when I lived in chicago.

00:38:00.824 --> 00:38:01.907
It was the air show.

00:38:01.907 --> 00:38:06.918
I just had enough for racing and I felt my team could run the race.

00:38:06.918 --> 00:38:07.726
That was there.

00:38:07.726 --> 00:38:29.110
Um there, there was some disagreements between the management team and me, or hard feelings that I think, that were put in place by certain people that weren't really there, so I just elected to stay away from the racetrack and I kid you, not the first night, really nothing.

00:38:29.110 --> 00:38:31.556
I don't remember.

00:38:31.556 --> 00:38:34.490
Actually, I think I don't know for the first night or second night.

00:38:35.152 --> 00:38:40.416
My phone started blowing up Not at the racetrack, I'm just trying to watch the Blue Angels fly by.

00:38:40.416 --> 00:38:46.289
I've never had a pit in my stomach of so much anger at me.

00:38:46.289 --> 00:38:47.753
I'm not even at a racetrack.

00:38:47.753 --> 00:38:53.166
There was a incident where I think it might have been a Sunday night Two cars got into it.

00:38:53.166 --> 00:38:58.487
I got a phone call from a staff member what he's done in the infield taking pictures, and so is Bubba.

00:38:58.487 --> 00:39:03.657
We got a disagreement up here in the pits and I'm like are you kidding me?

00:39:03.657 --> 00:39:15.135
And so we got through it and we had to make some decisions afterwards and some drivers didn't agree with those decisions.

00:39:15.135 --> 00:39:19.135
We're friends today still, but it's just how racing works out.

00:39:19.844 --> 00:39:25.509
I'm getting Woody's getting just tarnished on social media and I made it a point.

00:39:25.509 --> 00:39:27.735
It's just not worth it for me.

00:39:28.056 --> 00:39:33.036
Yeah, I made an agreement to sell the series and it was that close.

00:39:33.036 --> 00:39:59.603
The series was sold, a verbal agreement was put in place and then, I believe that year you and I were driving to pri and we got that phone call and that's what changed everything of at least trying to keep me into the game a little bit longer, um, and we've stayed in contact with those people that were gonna purchase the series and I don't ever say never, um, I, I will be back a 13th season.

00:39:59.603 --> 00:40:01.228
I want to dispose of those rumors.

00:40:01.228 --> 00:40:07.367
But you know that's that that's not the main reason why we weren't at galesburg for those years.

00:40:07.367 --> 00:40:11.199
But honestly, it just was not a good experience for us.

00:40:11.760 --> 00:40:18.186
For my, I had nothing to really do with the racetrack, I had to do with drivers and it had nothing to do with what happened in our series.

00:40:18.186 --> 00:40:20.271
It carried over from another racetrack.

00:40:20.271 --> 00:40:26.791
Yeah, and to this day I think those guys do get along and they do race together and they're very competitive.

00:40:26.791 --> 00:40:36.617
But you know it just that's why we haven't been to galesburg and I I do owe somebody a phone call here because this just got put together in the last 24 hours.

00:40:36.918 --> 00:40:37.059
OK.

00:40:38.465 --> 00:40:42.036
And so it's not not everybody on my team knew about it yet.

00:40:42.036 --> 00:40:49.378
But, like I said, I feel comfortable with what Tammy and Jeff have done there.

00:40:49.378 --> 00:40:51.210
You know Top Row Racing Media.

00:40:51.210 --> 00:40:52.094
I want to thank Lewis.

00:40:52.094 --> 00:40:54.152
He gives our group a lot of coverage.

00:40:54.152 --> 00:40:57.570
He's going to be there.

00:40:57.570 --> 00:41:10.034
I think this is going to be a fun family event and you know, some people would think you're crazy at certain tracks mentioning that but Galesburg is a family track.

00:41:10.284 --> 00:41:11.487
It's always been a family track.

00:41:11.969 --> 00:41:15.275
Like any track, they're going to have disagreements in their family.

00:41:15.275 --> 00:41:16.617