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A Weekend with Kasey…
Hemby Bridge, NC – Two weeks ago, I got a call from Kasey Kahne Racing asking if Jacob and I could help the following weekend in Ohio as crew members of Kasey’s sprinter. Of course my answer was “oh hell yeah!” The only stipulation was, we couldn’t tell anyone until we pulled into Attica for the opening of the Ohio Speedweek.
That was the longest ten days of our lives, not being able to tell absolutely everyone in sight of this once in a lifetime opportunity.
Eyes turned toward Texas as Tropical Storm Bill made his presence known and meteorologist scrabbling to predict its chosen path of destruction with all scenarios showing a direct hit on Northeast Ohio. My fears of cancelations were almost cemented when Justin’s number popped up on my phone three hours before departure. Scared to answer because I didn’t want this dream to end, I let it go to voice mail. After a long prayer, I listened in…
“Findlay’s test has been canceled, so we’re going to Friendship. Be here tomorrow at noon.” Another restless night of waiting resulted in three strong shots of cherry flavored zzzQuil… Right before bed though, KKR’s social media feed announced that weekend’s planned activities. Jake and I were finally free to brag to the world!
We rolled into KKR just in time to fire the engine and load up the rig. The hauler was unreal in the fact that everything had its place, a weekend warrior’s dream… We grabbed a freaky fast sub from Jimmy Johns and hit the road to Elkin, NC for four hours of testing.
Once at the track, Kasey and Justin made us sign a twelve page, 6 font size contract demanding we are to never share any of the secrets found that night. Only kidding of course, or am I? The test went better than expected with Justin constantly reminding everyone how sexy the rearend looked going around the highside! After breaking down tires and signing a few autographs for fans brave enough to sneak past security, we headed North to my crew chief’s hometown of Marietta, OH for a good night’s sleep.
Our three hour trip from Marietta to Attica became a question and answer session explaining our duties at the track for the team. Even though it was the simplest tasks in the world (Jake – team torquer and fuel man; Brandon – head car wiper and the tire pressure guy), the Allstars run a tight ship so everything was extremely fast paced. I’m finally able to mark Attica off my list of Ohio tracks I’ve never been to (I think that might be the last one). It was a really neat, clean fairground track that provided awesome racing and I hope to race there one day soon. FYI, it can get dusty in the turn four stands. Bring goggles.
As for the race itself, you can read about it on Hosehead.com. From my perceptive, I was extremely impressed with how quick Kasey picked up on everything. From the drop of the green, he looked like a guy that races winged sprints three times a week.
Even though we were pretty fast on the track, we weren’t near fast enough getting to the car wash in Lima, OH. Upon arrival, we counted close to fifteen rigs fighting over six stalls. This ain’t gonna work… Everyone broke out their smart phones and we were able to find a secret location on the other side of town. So secret, we were the only ones there. Suckers…
The next day would find us calling Eldora home and we had a neighbor a few rigs down going by the nickname, The King. There are always goosebumps in the air when the number 11 visits Rossburg. Again…as for the race itself, you can read about it on Hosehead.com. I’m trying to keep this article as short as possible, but that’s proving to be impossible.
We would start on the front row of the feature, but found ourselves ninth when the checkers flew. Apparently, we tightened the 49 RazorBack Professional Tools machine a tad too much. It was still a top ten finish in a field full of great competition.
Even through the racing was over for the weekend, and the lights had gone dark over the speedway, the best was still yet to come. A few hours down the road in Chillicothe, Justin decided he had had enough for the weekend. It was time to hand over the controls to the McLain brothers. Jake drew the longest straw declaring him victor of the driver’s seat relegating me to head navigator. Kasey on the top bunk and Justin on the bottom, Jake would set that Freightliner in the wind and off we were tackling the Virginia foothills of the Appalachian. Every ten minutes or so, we would find ourselves asking the other, “How freaking cool is this?” Seven hours later, Justin would wake up just in time to roll it through the big glass doors in Mooresville, NC.
And just like that, our weekend was over… It was time for a nap.
After a few days to let things sink it, I was finally able to write down our experiences. Of course, everyone wanted to know what Kasey was like and yes, he did ride with us. I really don’t think a superstar Nascar driver could have treated his fans any better than Kasey. He signed everything wanting to be signed, smiled for every picture, and answered every question as best he could. He treated Jacob and I like lifelong friends from the second we first shook hands. At the end of each night when he hopped in the rig, you could tell how genuinely excited he was to be at a dirt track racing sprint cars. He couldn’t have fathomed his off weekend doing anything else.
As for Justin Adams, thank you so much for thinking of us when it came time to plan this trip. We will always be truly grateful for the opportunity. It was a trip we’ll remember for a lifetime.
Shout out to Todd Devnich, Kasey’s Cup car chief… Thanks for all the laughs at the track!
A special thanks to Tropical Storm Bill… He must be a sprint car fan.
Sorry for the long article… I’ll try to keep the next one short and sweet. Lata…
Brandon McLain
United Sprint Car Series Driver
2014 Season
National Rookie of the Year!
National Points - 8th
Southern Points - 3rd
Asphalt Points - 3rd
18 Races, 3 Top 5's, 14 Top 10's
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