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Barbersville, FL – Brandon and Jacob McLain of McLain Motorsports set sail to Volusia Speedway Park last Wednesday to play pretend World of Outlaw crew for Hall of Famer Danny Smith for the remaining Gator Nationals sprint car races. If they were to continue their recent Carolina success, they needed to find a way to stay ahead of the curve. What better way than by learning from one of the all-t...ime greats.
Showing up on Thursday afternoon, it wasn’t hard to spot Danny’s famous winged sprinter. It was the only one still dirty from the night before. After Danny chewed us out for several minutes for showing up late and missing all the daily maintenance activities, the two brothers quickly grabbed the Windex and towels and proceeded to wipe down the white number 4.
The next ninety-six hours would be ones to remember for a lifetime. The mornings were spent hanging out with Kasey Kahne Racing and Dave Blaney Racing at the hotel breakfast buffet, and the afternoons were spent asking Danny, “What do you need me to do next?” His usual answers were “Go get us something to eat” and “You missed a spot.”
The best times came during the practice sessions and qualifying. This provided a chance for crew members to show their worth in head to head action. Drivers would pull in and it always seemed to turn into a competition amongst the crews. Who could make the most positive changes for their driver and who could polish their cars the brightest before the next go-round. As soon as drivers rolled in after qualifying, no one would pay attention to the rest of the field. Everyone would breakout their tablets or smart phones and stare down qualifying times on the Race Monitor app.
With Smith being down on horsepower at a high-horsepower facility, we found ourselves toward the end of the heat races most nights. Friday night though found Brandon and Jacob jumping up and down with hands in the air when Danny raced into fifth securing an A-Main start. Most would have thought he won the Knoxville Nationals the way two-thirds of his crew were acting. Danny shared in the excitement though after exiting his car giving everyone a high-five screaming “We made money tonight, boys!”
Overall, this past weekend was awesome. We learned a lot of little things that will make a big difference in our racing program. We’d like to thank Danny and crew chief “Super Dave” for the warm hospitality. They treated us like long-time crew members from the second we got there. It was also great hanging out with Ed Starr of MagTech Ignitions, Danny's best friend. It was pretty relaxing sitting inside his warm rental car outside turn 1 while everyone else was dodging dirt clods in the cold.
We got to meet a bunch of new RaceSaver drivers from all over the country. They couldn’t be more excited about the new series popping up all over the country. It also never gets old chatting with Terry Gray and it’s always a great night when King Kinser is in contention. Volusia Speedway Park is one of the best half miles in the country and you ain’t lived till you see lap one of the feature from inside turn three.
Since we now know what we are doing as crew members, next year we plan charging Danny at least twice as much as he paid us this year for our services.
What’s twice as much as free?
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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