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Herm & Schrader
Nick Hoffman: Racing Is In My Roots
00:59:35
Originally airing June 28, 2023, this Kenny Conversation with Nick Hoffman is the perfect listen for fans of the dirt super late model world!
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A
Hello everyone and welcome to Kenny Conversation sponsored by jegs, the leader in high performance aftermarket car parts. So remember to go to JEGS. I like singing it.com for all your car and truck parts. Well, we're trying to cover all the bases in dirt racing. We did Jonathan Davenport and Super Late Models. We've done Brad Sweet in the world of Outlaw wing sprint cars. And finally, the best that's ever been in the world of dirt ump Modifieds, Nick Hoffman, Nick how you doing, buddy?
- [02:34]
C
I'm pretty good. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.
- [02:37]
A
Well, you're the last piece to the puzzle, and I wanted to do it the way that they do it in racing. You know, we. Seems like the wing sprint cars are number one. I jumped ahead and put Davenport in there, but I'm so The guy won
- [02:51]
C
$2 million last year. I mean, come on.
- [02:54]
A
That's what I was thinking. Anybody wins $2 million, that's unheard of. So, Nick, you've watched Kenny conversation. We go forward and backwards a little bit. I'm not a journalist. We just love talking racing. So let me start out like this. You're Nick Kaufman. You're from St. Louis, but you're right across the river in Illinois. So where are you from?
- [03:21]
C
Yeah, Belleville, Illinois would be my hometown, but yeah. So basically where I lived, it was just a double wide trailer, and I could almost see the arch from where I live. So I claimed St. Louis, you know, just because I was so close. I was almost basically East St. Louis. My dad's shop was in East St. Louis, which was only like a half a mile down the road. So I'll claim St. Louis.
- [03:39]
A
Yeah. And I like that because when we look at your race car, you got the number two and you got the arch in there. Is that six, 18 or three?
- [03:48]
C
The Illinois side of St. Louis area code. So I like, a lot of people give me crap for that because they say it's 3, 1 4, but I'm on the 618 side.
- [03:56]
A
That's. Hey, man, you, you stay your lane. You do your own deal. So, 31 years old and you're living in Mooresville, North Carolina now, is that right?
- [04:04]
C
Yeah. Yeah. And kind of the same deal as you just came down here trying to be an asphalt racer and ended up being a dirt racer.
- [04:11]
A
Hey, you just really touched on something now, just like the rest. I done my due diligence. I don't want to be an idiot. I feel like I know you as good as anybody, but I still wanted to check up with you. You just said you had an asphalt dream. And I, I, I went to Mike Mittler's Mitler Brothers machine shop over here in Wentzville, Missouri, and. And we all know the Mike Mittler. We lost Mike, but he was legendary. And I walked into his building and I looked up and, and I just, I guess I lost track. I was so focused on my NASCAR career. There you were. Tell me about the start of your asphalt career.
- [04:54]
C
Yeah, so I grew up, you know, watching dad Race around St. Louis Racing Modifieds and stuff. And then when we moved to North Carolina, I was only 10 years old, and there wasn't a whole lot of dirt racing at all down here, so I raced a lot of asphalt. Grew up doing, like, the bandol. The legend cars, Allison lazy cars, all the stuff that, you know, a normal kid would do to try and make it to NASCAR at that time, you know, racing against Matt Martin and Brandon McReynolds and, you know, Corey Lajoy and a lot of them guys at that time. So grew up doing that and then kind of moved over to the dirt side probably when I was 13, 14 range, but at the same time was still racing my asphalt a lot. So, yeah, the whole deal with Mike Miller, dad worked for him when we lived in St. Louis, built a lot of the motors that, you know, Carl Edwards drove, Jamie McMurray, a lot of them guys. And so he worked for him. And it was always a joke, you know, I'm eight years old at this time, and joke. Joked around saying, whenever you turn 18, we're gonna put you in this truck. Well, Mike was a man of his word. And Whenever I turned 18, I got to rank three starts in the truck series with them, and it was just really cool experience for me. And, you know, at the time, that's what I was trying to do, is trying to make it to NASCAR and was able to, you know, achieve that of, you know, run a couple truck races and run pretty well. So I enjoyed doing that. Then whenever he got diagnosed with cancer, he wanted me to come back and do Eldora, so that was his big deal. Wanted to put me in a truck for Eldora, so I was able to do that. And I got Mike Mittler his last top 10 finish, and that was pretty cool.
- [06:21]
A
Very nice. Yeah. You know, you're. I listen intently to the guests because I want to respond. It's a conversation, and you sound almost like Jonathan Davenport, where Banderos, legends, cars, whatever it is, the desire, the dream, you know, because you're smart enough to know that asphalt NASCAR is where you're gonna make it, and we're gonna dive deeper into that in a little bit. Your work ethic is something that I really want to zone in on. I saw you really for the first time.
- [06:59]
C
I mean, I.
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A
We raced each other in 2012, but it was Eldora where I realized you and your family, it's kind of something Rusty would say. You work your guts out. It just means to the maximum peak, melt your own lead down, bend the tubing Weld your own cars together. When I look at your dad Daryl and your uncle Dean, it seems like that is, is inbred. It's like it comes with being a Hoffman. Like you do everything the hard way. Am I off on this?
- [07:33]
C
No, for sure. I mean, I, I've heard stories of my dad when, you know, when he was trying to race and, you know, doing with no money and basically building cars in the basement of my grandma and grandpa's house. And grandpa sponsored some race cars, but he never raced himself. And I mean, he basically let them guys have at it, like build the cars in, in the shop down in the basement. And he wouldn't even really check on them or anything. Dad said like they'd be down there welding stuff up and they didn't know how to weld really. They just learned the hard way. So I grew up with that kind of mentality. Like we didn't have a whole lot of money, so I just got to do whatever it takes to, to make it work. And dad was an engine builder and I, I hated the engine side of like, I don't know, he got me into like tearing motors down and all that stuff. And I never really got fascinated by that. I was more fascinated by the trial and error, like building stuff and seeing if it works and if it sucks and it's your fault. So I got kind of fascinated with that and he kind of let me run on the chassis side and doing the setup stuff. So we sucked for a long time. I mean, I, I, he did the right thing with me though. I felt like is like stuck me out in Illinois, which is the hotbed for modified racing, you know that just as well as anybody, and stuck me out there and I got lapped and everything else, you know, and, but you're only going to be as good as the guys you race against. And so he, you know, made me chase the toughest guys in the country and it worked out for me. So yeah, I just never got into the engine side and just, I had to hustle to, you know, try and go racing. We couldn't really afford to do it the way we were doing it. But luckily him and building motors and then eventually I started building chassis and it made it where it was really cost effective for us and was able to actually go and try and make some money.
- [09:06]
A
So I want to lay a little bit of a platform here because at the end of my list, I want to dive deep into you upsetting the modified world and creating this fast race car and complete domination. But I Want to be patient until we get there? Maybe Uncle Dean or Daryl. Tell me a story where your dad's racing or Dean's racing eight cylinders in a motor and something happens early that night and somehow your dad or your uncle and I don't know if you know this story, but they told me the story. They got rid of two cylinders and raced on six cylinders that night and won the A Main. Do you remember this story or not?
- [09:50]
C
I don't know that story, but that doesn't surprise me at all because it's like if there's a will, there's a way with my old man. Like I'm telling you, there's been a lot of situations where 90% of the people racing would have loaded up, but he made it work some way or the other, you know, like I. I remember the first time I won the Merrill Downing Memorial, which is a 4000 win modified race at Lawrenceburg. They run a dash and I think I run second. The dash, whatever, second or third. And the front seal of the motor blew out of the crank, so it's pouring oil everywhere. And we got a 44 lap feature coming up. And so he's like, he just mixes up some epoxy, gets in there with a. With a screwdriver and pries that front seal back in there with a screwdriver and then epoxy that deal up and then put an extra 2, 2 quarts oil. And it was like, I don't know if it's going to make it or not, but just see. And I was able to win the race. And I think when he drained the oil, I think it had a quart left in it. So it made it, but it was hurt, you know, at the end. But it was like, you know, we just got to try and, you know, make. Make do with what we got to try and win the race. And it worked out.
- [10:55]
A
Yeah, I hear these stories from the great Dick Trickle or my family, but I think your family wins. I think you guys are kind of tied with the great Dick Trickle. You know, your family falls under the. The new one that I've got out there that I started firing up over the last month is Gotta Wanna. Dick was from the north, had that northern verbiage, you know. No. Yeah. And, and, but Gotta Wanna, that means you're not giving up and you gotta want it. And I will never forget. Eight cylinders we blowed up. Let's find the two cylinders that are destroyed. Let's get rid of them. And somehow the rod and piston kept going up and down, but the, the valves quit working.
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C
But I just.
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A
I just wanted to lay that out there.
- [11:43]
C
Yeah, it's pretty wild. I mean. Yeah, it's no surprise to me because, I mean, that's just the way he's always raced. And I mean it. They've had multiple times where guys come over and be like, you can't do that. There's no way that's going to work. And it's like it made it, you know, there's just. There's so many situations that's happened that just different things that he'll find a way to make it work.
- [12:01]
A
Yeah. So we're going to get to elite, but I wanna. I'd like to go about things a little different way. You know, kind of like a movie where you go to the end and you start then.
- [12:11]
C
Yeah.
- [12:14]
A
So right now you're living your dream. You are in the highest form of dirt Late Models, which is the world of outlaws, the world of outlaw dirt super late models. You just got done running 13th in one of the biggest races of the year.
- [12:29]
C
The dream.
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A
And now you're a world outlaw late model racer. You won, shockingly already, North Carolina's State Line Speedway. Your style, slippery as an ice rink. Tell me what that you know. I know, Nick. Tell me what that meant to you when you were dropped, you got in the hauler and you're driving by yourself. When you thought about it, how big was that win for you?
- [13:02]
C
Yeah, man, like sitting here before it ever happened, I kind of like thought about like, what do I even do? Like, you know, how will I react or anything. And I don't even remember what I did, you know, so it's just like it all happened so quick. And the way the race played out is pretty cool for me and Gordy to line up on the front row together. Um, you know, one of my best friends, we grew up racing together and for me to win my first outlaw race that night and was really cool. So basically passed him for the lead was the only pass I made all night. So that was kind of neat. But yeah. So after just reflecting back on it, it's like it just a huge sigh of relief, you know, of like now you think, you know, I can get this done, I can do it every night, I feel like. And so we've been super close since 2 at Farmer City and Tri City. So right now just everything's kind of firing on all these cylinders and just confidence is high and I just, at this point now I know I can get it done. And pretty, pretty fortunate with the ride I'm in.
- [14:04]
A
So we all know that I haven't created a firestorm, but I broached the subject of, you know, how do people make it in dirt racing? So we've all. We've always known. You know, when us Wallace started, we had to have John Childs, who owns Child's Tire, that was the guy that helped us. We had to have free motors. And we got those from Don Kern, Kern racing engines. We had to have free shocks. You know, we got them from pro George Gillespie. You went down the line us Wallace's big ball and stole. So with that type of mentality, tell me about the car owner. Okay, so I know Nick Hoffman just does go bam. He's sitting there in a million dollar truck and trailer. Everybody needs somebody.
- [14:53]
C
Yep.
- [14:54]
A
Tell me about your car owner and how you got to the world of outlaw late models.
- [14:59]
C
Yeah, so basically that ride became open because Devin Moran was driving for him last year. And Devin got the call to go drive what Hudson o' Neill drove last year, which was for the Lazy days RV ride for Roger Sellers. So Ty Touring becomes a free agent at this point of, you know, his, his ride is open, so he's kind of going down the list. Called a couple guys and so basically I was at my good friend Ricky Stenhouse's wedding and that was the first time that Ty called me. And at first Steve Arpin called me. And Arpin had kind of been pushing to try and get me a ride and a couple different deals. And so Steve Arpin called me and was like, you know, would you be interested in talking to Ty this and that?
- [15:42]
A
The owner of Longhorn?
- [15:44]
C
Yeah. Yes.
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A
Yeah, the owner of Longhorn.
- [15:47]
C
So he's been pushing for that. And then so Ty calls me up that night and we, we talked for a little while and then basically it all happened pretty quick because then, you know, this is. I think they got married in November. So January, February, we're racing outlaws. So it all spiraled really quick. And the biggest thing, everything's always been held at his shop. And for him, he kind of, you know, I feel like wanted it to stay there. But then now looking back at it, I think he's happy it's down at my place. Just because everything's going smooth, he doesn't have to babysit us. I basically take care of all, you know, all this stuff like it's my own. So it worked out really well and it just spiraled really quick. But yeah, he's got a great operation. He just works a regular, you Know, water treatment plant. He's no, you know, millionaire or anything. He's got a government job doing that. And then he's got his parts business with Tytoric performance parts and they deal longhorn chassis. So, you know, Kenny Wallace, if he wanted to go late mile racing, he'd call Titoric and order a longhorn from ty. So he does a lot of different things. He's got his hands in a lot of, you know, different areas to try and make money and go racing. And it's just what he enjoys doing. And it's kind of, you know, it's a family deal just like my deal was. So it kind of fit me really well.
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A
you start making a McDonald's burger and never stop. The big arch the most. McDonald's McDonald's burger yet for a limited time. I think what interests me most as a racer and I know has, if any racers ever thought about you going super late model racing is here you are in the mods. But I noticed, you know, we all have peripheral vision and that came from my days in the NASCAR garage area.
- [18:03]
C
Right.
- [18:03]
A
You got this car right here. You're on a creeper. You know, you're underneath your car, but you're looking over here at this guy's trailing arms. You always had good peripheral vision with your dirt. Super late model guys I've saw, I've watched you hold casual conversations with Kevin Rumley. You've always been up to speed on the late models.
- [18:26]
C
Yeah, I think a lot of that helps my modified side. You know, I've raced enough late model races before this deal. I've gotten a relationship and I feel like I got some respect for a lot of drivers through my modified career. And then this, the handful of starts that I've made in late model racing before. But so I. I just talked to all them guys and at the end of the day, learning about what they're doing, the late model side, all trickles down to what we're doing on the modified. So you Know you can't learn enough on anything. So I just take as much of that know, advice and, and knowledge and everything and try and trickle it into my business or whatever. So it all helps at the end of the day. But yeah, this the biggest thing is I try to stay in my lane. I don't really like parking beside people. I have, you know, a handful of guys that I talk to. And then I just feel like there's so many racers that screw their self up because they talk to everybody. I call it the setup survey. They go from one trailer to the next trailer and they take one thing from this guy and take one thing from him and try and put it together, and then they end up going even slower. So I try. The biggest thing is try and stay in my own lane and just worry about my own program versus worry about everybody else.
- [19:35]
A
I'm a little bit into philosophy and psychology. I can't help. It's just the way I am. I would say 99.8% of the racers want to buy a car. They want you to tell them everything to do short of driving it and it. And if your. Your information does not help them, then they get mad at you. Like, if you just tell me what to do, I could win.
- [20:04]
C
What.
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A
What's going on there in racing?
- [20:07]
C
Yeah, I think everybody thinks there's a big secret out there, you know, especially, you know, I see it every day in the modified side. People like, you know, think that you're holding back on this or that or, you know, whatever. But you know what I won the last three years and modified racing on is all pretty much standard stuff, you know, I mean, you've seen under my car and there's nothing.
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A
Your car's been at my shop on jack stands.
- [20:29]
C
Yeah.
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A
Yeah.
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C
So I mean, it's like me off
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A
that there ain't nothing there.
- [20:33]
C
Yeah, exactly. So it's like I see it every day. Everybody thinks you're holding out on them and you got something special, this or that. And it's like what I preach to anybody is like just balance. Like your race car has to be balanced. You have to be able to maneuver and you can't be too tight, too loose, whatever. So I just, I see it all the time that everybody thinks that there's something out there that I could just go out and buy that's going to make my race car faster, and it just doesn't work that way.
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A
So we're not the modified yet. We're in late model land.
- [21:01]
C
Yeah.
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A
Because I want to give you your credit you know, you're where you want to be now in life, but you got it going on. Because I preach and we talk about this, okay? You know, you're not going to go to 60 years old running a dirt light model right now, and you got elite chassis. You're. You're money maker. And we'll talk about that in a minute. But as you run the dirt super late models, it seems like everybody gets on rolls. You know, JD's like, you know, Davenport, we're not running real good right now. I'm like, really? I thought you were. Yeah, but you're not. So can you shed light on what that is about? Especially 100% in dirt racing? You're. You win, win, win, then you're way down here and you can't do nothing. What's that about?
- [21:52]
C
Yeah, I think, you know, everybody's going to blame it on confidence and stuff, and which a lot of that is confidence. But I think the biggest thing is the late model trends change so fast. You know, whether it's everybody. The last two years, like, we got to have a Longhorn car, and then, you know, Longhorn I still feel like is the best, I would say. But Rocket has made a surge, obviously, and are winning a lot of races and are really good. So then you got guys that are jumping off the Longhorn bandwagon to jump on the Rocket bandwagon. And so I think it goes in surges of like, you know, maybe they found something. So then you got a guy like jd, they got very smart people working for them, and so they start testing and trying different stuff, and they might get off and then have to, like, go back and regroup and start back over. And I think that's kind of what they did at the Dream, because JD was parked right beside me, and we would talk pretty much every time he got off the racetrack. And the first two days, he was like, we are terrible. Like, I don't know why. And so I think the last day, they kind of went back to their old notebook, like, all right, you know, this is what we did. This is what's won us races here in the past. And he was able to get it done for 129 grand. So a fan looking back at it, like, they didn't realize that he was struggling as bad as he was, because he still won his heat races, still running, you know, the top three or four. But he's like, I don't know what it is. Like, I feel terrible. So it's a lot of things that race fans might not see, but yeah. I mean, as a driver, you know, you kind of look at it like J.D. you know, he's typically winning all the prelim nights and everything, and he just felt like he wasn't very good. So.
- [23:22]
A
Billy Moyer, the great Billy Moyer, he once said to me, he stops here at the house because he lives south of me in Batesville, Arkansas. And you've been here. But Billy Moore said to me when I was talking chassis with him, he said. He said what you just said. He says, you know, when we try things, we're gonna go backwards because we're in unknown territory. And if you do six things, you're hoping to find two.
- [23:51]
C
Yep.
- [23:52]
A
What is. And I listened to you early. You said how you. Trial and error when you were building elite. Is that the right philosophy?
- [24:01]
C
Yeah. I mean, there's no better time to try something as. As it is. Like, during a race, a race scenario, you can go test all you want, and, man, you'll feel like a hero. And then you get out there in a race, and you suck, you know, So I. I test very minimal, and I test during races a lot, and it might set you back. And, like, when you're running a tour like the outlaws, you can't really test a whole lot. You kind of got to know it, you know, run what you know all the time. But there is some situations where we're not running outlaws, and that's your time to try something. So the biggest thing, when I drove for Scott Bloomquist last year, I got to test with him one time. People kind of had told me how he tests, but how he tested, I think was probably the smartest way of testing I've ever been around. Scott, basically, I got in the car, and we'd make an adjustment. I'd pull out on the racetrack, run down in turn one and two, wide open through three and four, and then I'd run through one and two fast again, and then shut her down down the back. So I make a lap and a half, and if you ain't got it figured out what that car feels like in a lap and a half, you're probably not going to figure it out. So he's like, lap and a half and that's all you got, and then pull back in, they'll make another adjustment, go back out. So that way you're not lapping motors out, you're not killing tires, Your tires don't get too hot or anything like that. But that was, to me, that was a wild way to test. But I feel like it was, you know, you learn the most and you were able to get the most runs in and try the most things at. In one period of time for a test session.
- [25:27]
A
Let's talk about that just for a minute. Scott Bloomquist. Now, my disclaimer is, he's weird, he's different, blah, blah, blah. But, you know, I've said this before, Einstein, all the greatest are different. Rumbling is, is Bloomquist, does he fall in that category? Is a brilliant, weird man.
- [25:51]
C
Yeah, he definitely. The way he thinks about anything in life is way different than anybody I've ever been around. I think a lot of people have seen that through his podcast and everything he's done. But at the end of the day, he's like, he's a super nice guy and he's, you know, people kind of look at him as, like, hard to approach and that type of stuff, but he's very nice guy to talk to anybody. He's, he's great with my kids and stuff. Like, he's just a really good guy. He did a lot for me. So that was, you know, to travel up and down the road with him for basically six months was something that probably very few have ever done, but to drive his race car, it was, you know, you know, a big accomplishment for me to even have that honor to do it. But yeah, I mean, just very smart guy. Thinks about things way different than we do. And I think that's what made him so successful for a long time is like, when you're thinking about the little things, there's so far in depth that he would go into the smallest things, whether it's how springs travel and the hysteresis and springs to. We were pulling rear ends out almost every other week to check the straightness of rear ends and mess with that. I mean, there was just so many little minor details that he just crossed that nobody else, I don't even think thinks about you.
- [27:07]
A
You went to school.
- [27:09]
C
Yeah.
- [27:09]
A
And sometimes it's not even about tricks or traits about the way you work. Pulling rear ends out, that would be something somebody at a local racetrack might do once a year, maybe never take their rear end out. So his work ethic is pretty hardcore.
- [27:24]
C
Yeah. And, you know, there's no shortage of work, but, like, it's always late at night. I think everybody kind of knows that how Scott, you know, works is like, we'll get, you know, home from a race or whatever, and it doesn't mean nothing for him to work till 4 or 5 in the morning. So. So, you know, and he just Sits there and sits on his Crown Royal and, and just works, you know. So, yeah, it's pretty impressive. He's just very smart with tires. Grooving tires, siping tires. He had ways to sipe tires and groove tires per racetrack. And I mean, he has a wall at his shop that is just full of, you know, tires that he won races on so he could. And he's got them labeled like, this was a Batesville tire. This was a Tri City tire. He can pull it down and look at how it wore and be like, okay, this is how I'm going to groove my stuff for when I go back to Batesville or wherever. So just kind of crazy. He had ways that, like, he would teach me, like how I need to hold the grinder for different places we were going. Like, just crazy stuff, you know, Like,
- [28:23]
A
I'm afraid I might have messed up a lot of my tires. I feel it was funny though. I, I have ergonomics the way I use my grinder.
- [28:33]
C
Yeah. So he would round edges at some places he goes and he makes sure the edges are sharp. Other, it's just pretty wild. He's just so in depth on everything.
- [28:41]
A
I might have to call you after this and talk to you about the way I grind my tires at some of my racetracks. Well, look, Nick, we dove as far as we could in the dirt late model world. Look at you. I mean, you've done it. You got it going on. You took the leap of faith. I like it. That we documented that you told the owner, hey, give me all your stuff so I can control it. So you're, you're doing it and that's all there is to it. You're at the very start of your late model career and you're already winning. You're up there in the points. You're racing these guys. So that's just that. So let's go back a little bit. Now, your dad builds motors. Your dad works for NASCAR Tech and he, he builds those motors for your dirt modified. So right now I want to clean the slate and I want to go to you as a, a dirt modified guy.
- [29:43]
C
You're.
- [29:43]
A
You're a dirt modified guy right now in this interview. Although we know you're, you're a light model guy, so your dad builds your motors, but elite, Elite chassis. How the hell did that start?
- [29:57]
C
Yeah. So going back to saying I was trial and error doing this and that and tried a couple different chassis, there was a guy down here that worked for Ganassi during the day and he would build Some modifieds at night. Back in the 90s, Dirt Works was massive. Dirt Works chassis, they build 300 cars a year. Massive company here in Missouri. Yep. So Monty Grice was the guy's name. He was the head fabricator at Dirt Works and then moved south to work in nascar, just like all of us did. He wanted to work in NASCAR and try and make a living there. So he did. He was a, you know, building frames at Ganassi during the day, and then he come home. He would probably only build two to three modifieds a year. Just kind of a pride and joy. Just wanted to do it at his shop, at his house. And so Moni was building all my stuff, but his jig, the way it was set up, like, not any of his cars were the same, you know, like, everything was different. And he would let me come in, and I'd move some brackets around, do this and that. We'd go out there and race. And ended up winning the 2012 Gator Nationals in one of his cars against me. Yeah, it was my best year. Yeah, I passed Austin Dillon that night to win, so that was really cool. So that is what leaped my whole modified career right there that night. And then at the end of 2012, he got diagnosed with cancer in the middle range right there, 2012, and wasn't gonna be able to build cars again. And so I bought a lot of his equipment and decided I was gonna start my own deal and bought a lot of his equipment. And then I went to the Allison brothers, which were the same Allison's from nascar. It was Donnie Allison's boys. There's three of them. And so they. They have a shop that they used to build legend cars and stuff, and they had never even really been to a dirt race, so they knew nothing about what we were building. So they decided they wanted to take this deal on and build the first couple frames. So, you know, I basically had all my chassis brackets drawn and cut out in sheet metal and took them to Dale Earnhardt Incorporated and was like, here, can you make this out of steel? You know? And that's kind of how we got started and built that first car. 17 days from the tubing rack to the racetrack at Eldora for the fall nationals at Eldora. 137 cars there. I qualified quick time. Overall, I won the heat, and I won the fall nationals. So that was, like, huge for my chassis company. But my career, my family had went to the fall Nationals for 20 years, and my dad was never able to win it, and I was able to win it in 2012. And that was what leaped my whole chassis company, you know, that first week I'm an 18 year old kid and that first week I got phone calls and I, you know, I'm starting to get people wanting to buy cars. Will Krupp was my very first phone call and it was actually Willie Krub owns Willie's Carburetors. They were the first people to call me. We want to order a car. So I'm an 18 year old kid, he sends me a deposit for 20 grand and that's like more money I've ever seen. More.
- [32:50]
A
You ever see, you're like, you're looking at the. I've been there, look at it. Grown up money.
- [32:55]
C
Yeah. Like, what am I gonna do with it? We ended up building him his first car and took it to PRI and displayed two cars at pri. And that was now me and Will like best friends. So it worked out really well. But yeah, from there it was like I had to grow up really quick and learn how to run a business and then race and try and juggle everything at once. And yeah, I was getting, you know, a lot of deposits on cars and you know, then I gotta promise these guys I'm gonna have this car done and try and get it done and everything. So I grew up really quick and I think at first everybody kind of thought it was going to be a fad and I was going to do it for one or two years and be out real quick. And now I've been around for 11 years and made a staple.
- [33:39]
D
When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more. Grainger gets it and knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays. That's why Grainger offers millions of products in fast, dependable delivery so you can keep your facility stocked, safe and running smoothly. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.
- [34:08]
B
If you owe $10,000 or more in credit card debt, medical bills or personal loans, help is here. More and more Americans turn to credit cards to get by. National debt relief is helping qualified clients reduce what they owe. For many continuing to struggle, making minimum monthly payments could take years to pay off. National debt relief has already helped over 550,000Americans reduce their debt by negotiating directly with their creditors. When you call, you'll be amazed at how much you can save and how quickly you can become debt free. If you want off the debt treadmill. Visit national debt relief.com today you don't need to declare bankruptcy and you may qualify for significant debt relief. To find out what savings you may qualify for, simply visit National Debt relief dot com. That's National Debt relief dot com.
- [35:00]
A
I'm very impressed that you do all this in your father and your mom's two car garage. I tell people, I said before you talk crap about Nick Hoffman, you need to go see how he does all this. You, you have shocked America. I mean literally. I know that sounds big time. When people see where you do all this, it's a shocking blow to a lot of people's ego because they feel like the reason somebody's got something is because they got more. You don't have anything. I got this little bitty garage and how the hell you do it.
- [35:39]
C
Yeah, they, they all, you know, through the years have all had the mentality that I have NASCAR money that, that gets a lot. Which you see that all the time on your side too. But like, yeah, we just do it out of a small, small two car garage. That's where all my chassis work's done. Ricky Stenhouse houses all my late model stuff which is just a small shop at his ranch here now. Yeah, so that's where all my late model stuff is at. But all my mod stuff's still at my parents. And within the next six months I'm actually going to have a shop built to house everything. So I finally, I feel like I've made it where everything could go into one shop, my dad's engine, engine shop, everything all in one building, my chassis shop and then all my late model stuff. So I'm really looking forward to that. That's going to be huge as far as helping my chassis business, you know, become more manageable for me to try and oversee everything and then have my guys there working on my late model side too. So I feel like it's just gonna help me out a bunch and then I'll be able to be home with my kids too.
- [36:37]
A
Did you say your dad's motor shop is gonna come in your building?
- [36:41]
C
Yeah, so I'm gonna do everything all in one building. So that'd be a one stop shop for everything.
- [36:46]
A
Yeah. So maybe your dad would take that old car he's been working on for 10 years and push it in.
- [36:51]
C
Yeah, he's pumped up to get his garage back so he can actually work on his hot rod.
- [36:55]
A
So do you think with your new building. So in other words, you're building this beautiful new building do you think you're still gonna use that mentality where you're condensed? Are you. Are. Are you finally going to spread your wings and use your whole shop?
- [37:12]
C
Yeah, I just. I feel like I'm so organized now because I have to be. I have no choice that I'm. I have it all drawn up on paper. I mean, like, it's all sitting right here, like the floor plan, you know, and, like, love it. Yeah. Everything's completely drawn up, but, like, how everything should be, where everything should be placed and all that stuff. Just because I am. I am so condensed right now that I don't want to use up a bunch of floor space for nothing, you know, so I'll still do it that way. But the biggest thing for me is, like, right now I have cars over in storage at Ricky's, like, modifiers. Just in the barn house. Yeah. At his shop. Because I ain't got room for him at my shop. If I had a shop big enough that I could have all these cars laid out, I have enough parts that I could work on this one or that one. But right now I can only work on one car because, you know, that's the only thing I got shop space for. But then I might be missing a set of brake pedals or something, so then I can't finish the whole cockpit. And it just gets real frustrating real quick.
- [38:09]
A
I have people that, you know, there's this phenomenon that if he's poor, I like him more and more and, you know, open trailers and. And I'm like, calm down. You know, Where I'm getting to is you work with so little that I've watched you come back from Volusia in February and the car that you dominated with would stay in your hauler for months because you have nowhere to put it.
- [38:39]
C
Yep.
- [38:40]
A
That's the type of stuff you do.
- [38:43]
C
Yeah, I've done that a lot. There's a lot of times where my car never got unloaded for, you know, weeks or months at a time, depending on whatever the next big race was gonna be, just because I didn't have space and I was busy on customer cars or whatever, you know, so. And I'm not ever using that as an excuse. It's just the way. The way it was. Yeah, there was a lot of times where I got home from Florida and I didn't really plan on racing. You know, we in Florida, say, in the middle of February. I didn't plan on racing again until probably April, really. So that thing would just sit in the trailer, and that was just Another storage trailer for me. So, yeah, I mean, done it a bunch. I've showed up at racetracks with my stuff still, still dirty. I just, you know, you hate to say it that way, but it's like, you know, it sucks. I, any of my customers, they do that. I'll be like, well, listen, you're running back because you don't clean. So for me, it's like, I've done that before. So it is what it is.
- [39:31]
A
You, you, you know what you got to do, you get it done. And I like bringing these things up because there is this thing that if people got a little holler and it's, it's the people that don't matter. I tell people, I say, look, put your, put your stuff on open trailer and somebody steal your quick change gears. You know, we got this thing now called, you know, modern world and you can buy a Hallmark closed trailer and use it all year long. Let your wife parker, you know, car in your garage for the winter. But I wanted to bring that up for so many reasons because I've always admired you using your enclosed trailer as a storage space. And yeah, you know, Charlie, my YouTube manager, he doesn't like me cussing. But you make chicken salad out of chicken. Yeah, you're very good at it. And I just wanted to draw that to everybody's attention. So I want to, I want to call an audible here and then I want to talk about the controversy. First of all, your family, your sister Ashley. Ashley, I think when I drink coffee every once in a while my mouth tightens up. But your sister Ashley and your brother in law, Jeremy, they own Millbridge. We've got to acknowledge that your family does it all. Your dad builds motors, you build race cars. Just a little bit about acknowledging this incredible phenomenon owned by your sister and brother in law.
- [41:08]
C
For me, it's really cool to just, I see every side of motorsports, you know, from them track prep wise all the way through running the show and getting people in and out and everything else. So they do a great job. I think they've had Millbridge now for almost 10 years. And when we got it, when we first got it, it was terrible. I mean it was run down, just look like we would call it. But I mean that's basically what it was. So now it's became a, a massive thing across the country. It's, it's known nationwide now. So just really cool what it's turned into. But they work really hard. They live on the property, they've expanded it, they're fighting with the county now because they expanded it and this and that. It's just become a big old ordeal. But I mean now that's where all the NASCAR guys hang out on Wednesday night or Tuesday night or whatever. Their kids race on Tuesday or they might race on Wednesday. Kyle Busch is racing on Wednesday, his kids racing on Tuesday. So there's so many of those guys that come out and they can go there and not be bothered. You know, all the fans or people walk around, they don't bother them, you know, so it's just really cool that what it's turned into. I've made millions of laps there racing whether it's an outlaw card or micros or. And I've even made laps in my modified there.
- [42:26]
A
So you think that's why you were able to get in an open wheel midget at the Dome? And, and you know, I mean you, you because of Millbridge a little bit.
- [42:35]
C
Like I, I got to know them guys that I was, I'm racing for. They're from Kansas. I've got to know them more through Facebook than anything. But they see me running a lot of open wheel stuff through the outlaw carts and, and micros and stuff like that. So that leaped me into midget racing and I, I really enjoy running the midget. I feel like for me that's probably the toughest racing I do. I know like late model racing is super tough as far as the competitive level and everything, but the midget side's so second nature to me that it, it's way different. So it's tough for me and I really enjoyed doing it. So I've gotten to run the midget race at Millbridge twice and run good there. So I think a lot of that is just experience of racing on the racetrack. And that place has just turned into a really cool place to go on Tuesday or Wednesday night. Take your kids and it's really neat.
- [43:26]
A
Well, you're the ultimate racing families.
- [43:30]
D
When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more. Grainger gets it and knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays. That's why Granger offers millions of products in fast, dependable delivery so you can keep your facility stocked, safe and running smoothly. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.
- [44:00]
B
If you owe $10,000 or more in credit card debt, medical bills or personal loans, help is here. More and more Americans turn to credit Cards to get by. National debt relief is helping qualified clients reduce what they owe. For many continuing to struggle, making minimum monthly payments could take years to pay off. National debt relief has already helped over 550,000Americans reduce their debt by negotiating directly with their creditors. When you call, you'll be amazed at how much you can save and how quickly you can become debt free. If you want off the debt treadmill, visit nationaldebtrelief.com today you don't need to declare bankruptcy, and you may qualify for significant debt relief. To find out what savings you may qualify for, simply Visit National Debt Relief.com that's National Debt Relief.com.
- [44:51]
A
okay, we're going to dive into this one. And it's near and dear to my heart. You created a firestorm. You just destroyed the world with your domination. We're going all modified now, which I said 15 minutes ago.
- [45:13]
C
You.
- [45:14]
A
You build your own race cars. You were headed for a fourth championship. We need to talk about your automobile accident going through Louisville later. Nick, why do you think so many people were mad at you for winning so much?
- [45:34]
C
I don't know. I mean, obviously everybody, first thing they go to is, you're cheating this and that. But to me, like, my car's been tacked or checked so many times that, you know, that's out of the equation. But, yeah, I don't know, I just. I had everything rolling. Confidence is super high. I felt like I could never lose, and I think I showed. That was it. Two years ago at Summer Nationals, I won 16 straight, you know, and ended up winning 19 of the 20 or whatever it was. So, yeah, I just. I don't know, I just got to the point where I felt like I could win every single night and there was no way that could beat me. And I just got super confident. And, you know, some people think that's cocky or whatever, but it's just being confident in yourself more than anything and your program and everything you've built. So it was really fun for the last couple years to win, but it got to the point where, like, if I didn't win, I was pissed. Like, I just want to load up and get the hell out of there, you know? So, yeah, you know, it got to the point where, like, I was expected to win, and if I didn't, I just. I took it on myself pretty hard. So I. I hate losing more than I love winning. Yeah.
- [46:39]
A
So there was a time, I think I don't know where we were, but we were racing a lot last year, a year before, and you looked at me and I was like, give me the left rear shock off your car. And you went in the trailer, you pulled it off the wall and you gave it to me. And I put it on my car and about spun out. I said, take this damn thing back. At that time, I realized that you're driving technique. And every time you got in my car, you would run 2/10 quicker than me. You're, you know, we play the piano in there. We got the gas, we got the brake, we got the wheel. We got like there's a string connected to all of it, right? We got the steering wheel down to the gas pedal, down to the brake. I think you've got a great talent, and I think people don't want to give you an attaboy, but I know better because I'm a racer. I recognize your driving talent. I got in a conversation with you one time and you said, kenny, look, I built this car for me to suit my driving style, and now I sell it. Tell me about everything I just said right there.
- [47:55]
C
Yeah, so same deal. If we're talking about late model side, you know, Rocket built that car around Josh Richards and Brandon shepherd, how they race. And Brandon's done good now, but I feel like it's a whole transition to go to Longhorn for him. So in that same sense, on the modified side, I built this car around me. And I drive grew up like you run an asphalt and stuff. So I drive very straight. When I let off the gas, I, you know, run my foot on a lot of brake. And then there's a lot of times where, say in the center of the corner, I'll run my feet both on the gas and the brake at the same time, you know, depending on if I need to make the corner, like turn or whatever. So, yeah, there's a lot to that. Modifieds, you can do way more with how your car reacts with what you do with your feet. So I've learned that and I kind of really focus on that. And I think where the late model side's different, it's a lot more aggressive racing. You're on the gas a lot harder, and I think that's the only place that I struggle or the modified side. There's so many times people think that I got traction control this or that because I'm, you know, I come by in the track slick and I. It sounds like my car's idling, like I barely even run quarter throttle. Yeah, I'm barely on the gas. But the biggest thing is I just carry as Much speed as I can. So many people make the mistake of thinking they need traction any more drive off. Need more drive off. This is what I hear the most out of anybody. I need more traction or drive off. And it's not what they did on entry to the center of the corner. You know, they don't, they don't know that they might have screwed up back there and that's what killed their drive off. So I, I focus so much on just what I call roll speed is try and roll speed through the center of the corner faster than anybody. Then you don't need the traction down the straightaway, you know, like you've already five mile an hour back faster back here. So that just makes you five mile an hour faster down the straightaway.
- [49:39]
A
Yeah, I. This would be the picture of our car going in the corner. In the corner. Right. It's always where, it's always where they take the picture. Right. And, but, and then this would be middle. Okay. And then, and then it gets ugly. This would be coming off now.
- [50:01]
C
So, you know, like three years ago, four years ago, everybody's trying to seal everything up, trying to get the noses down this and that. And then I started running with my left front back up and just trying to make grip. And that became a whole storm of like, you know, now everybody's carrying the left front again. And it was like, I've caught so much heat.
- [50:21]
A
You're willing up. I'm like, and I won. What do you want me to do?
- [50:24]
C
Yeah, it's fast again. Like everybody's always just searching for traction, looking for grip, you know. So you just put, put the grip to the rear tires, you know, they'll figure out a way to get it around the corner, I guess. But it's so much of a balance thing of like what you do with your feet. Like, I know that if I floor this thing down the straightaway, I'm going to wheelie way worse than if I just run half throttle down the straightaway and just make my speed up back through the corner, you know. So there's a lot of times where like if I'm not having to hustle too hard, I'll run down the straightaway half throttle and make sure my nose kind of stays down versus if somebody gets beside me. I just gas on that thing, it wheelies up even more, but I go faster, you know, so it just kind of depends.
- [51:04]
A
So I wanted to bring this up because I know this, but I can't assume people are listening. Know this. You built that race car for Yourself.
- [51:16]
C
I've.
- [51:16]
A
I've already told people that every time you got in my car, you ran 210 quicker than me. And when I let off, I dropped the car. It just.
- [51:26]
C
I'm old. Yeah. I tell people you run a stiffer left for shock than probably anybody that I got right now.
- [51:31]
A
Yeah. So you're good at the way you drive your race car. You got your confidence. You're doing good. I'm a customer of yours. I love your race car. It's very easy for an old man to work on. I'm winning against great race car drivers. You were so rare. You came along and you changed the modified racing. Would it be fair to say that they were mean to you? So now you're gonna mess with them? And you put in the little mail slot in the. In the C pillar you took. They abused you. They were ignorant to you. They were mean to you. Is it at this time you just said, screw them? I'm gonna jack with them?
- [52:17]
C
It got that way for a long time. Like, pretty much Florida. Every year I would have something on my car is like, they're gonna tell me I can't run this, but I'm gonna do it just. Just to screw with them more than anything. You know, it might not be performance enhancing at all, but it's just like this or that. I know I can't get away with this, but they're gonna see it and they're gonna tell you to take it off. I tell everybody, like, the, the tech guys, they're gonna find something no matter
- [52:40]
A
what'll rough you up. They want. They want the whole pit area to see. Look, they're rough. And Nick Hoffman up.
- [52:46]
C
Yeah. So. So no matter who it is, like, at some point they're gonna make you change something. So I always. There's just been so many things I've done throughout the past. So, like, I ran my exhaust through the decking one year at Volusia, and I was more or less just a screw with everybody. By the end of the week, they made me take it off. And the sail panel deal this past year was. Yes. I mean, I. I looked at it as a deal to try and get air to the spoiler and then air that's going out. The left side is basically blocked by your body. So I look at a lot of areas of, you know, how to make air better and downforce and everything. So for one, it was for that too. It was just to be totally different and to see how many guys would copy me. And I think we're seeing that Now a lot of guys starting to open their sale panels up. We call them mail slots because that's where I deposit all my checks.
- [53:34]
A
I love it. I love it. So you were roughed up brutally. People were vicious. I'm a guy. I'm a tough guy. But I kind of felt bad for you because I know. I know why you're winning. And I just explained all that.
- [53:52]
C
You.
- [53:52]
A
And I just explained all that. Your confidence is. I. You built your race car. You drive. Right. And you were just on a roll. I think that's. That's what I really wanted to get across. And, you know, we're not going to write a novel here.
- [54:08]
C
Yeah. I mean, like, any of those tech guys, I've told them for years, like, if you don't like something, literally just tell me, I will change it. And I think everybody. All the tech guys appreciate me for that because I. I never go in there pissed off, like, you know, yelling at them, like, you know, I don't want to do this. I don't want to do that. Like, literally, if they tell me, like, hey, you can't do this, or, hey, we want you to change this. I do it every single time. And I think that that helps me. At the end of the day, like, them guys aren't gonna be near as hard on me if, like, you know, they're still going to check what they need to check. If it's illegal, they'll throw me out. I got thrown out for not having a right front break two years ago, you know, at Portsmouth. So just stupid things. But if I follow that rulebook, and I know it, I know that modified rulebook, like, the back of my hand, like, pretty much every single measurement where stuff needs to be. And I just, you know, obviously, like anybody, you find the gray areas and you push the limits.
- [54:58]
A
I want to put an exclamation part on that. It's very sad that people want to find something wrong with your car because you're winning so much. I think it's sad that in society, we have to dumb people down because they're good. You know, it's like saying, oh, the Pittsburgh Steelers should have never won three or four Super Bowls. Let's make sure we take, you know, the. It recognize greatness. Schrader. Kenny Schrader taught me. I said, man, I'm on a roll. He goes, don't worry, buddy. It won't last. You know, so that's that.
- [55:36]
C
I enjoy watching any kind of dominance. Jimmy Johnson, when he won his seven championships, this and that, like, dominance I. I really enjoy it because I know what it takes to get to that level, and so I appreciate all of that.
- [55:47]
A
Right. All right, well, Nick, we've. We've already gone longer than Jonathan Davenport. He was 47 minutes. You're 51. So let's wrap it up here with what I do with everybody opinions. So once again, I'm not. I'm not disrespecting you. I've already give you your due on late models, but we're going to go modifieds. Okay. I want your opinion on the state of the ump Dirt car. Modifieds, the totality.
- [56:22]
C
Yeah, I feel like ump modified right now is. Is great. I think a lot of people are happy that I'm not out there racing with them. So I feel like the car counts are up. Summer nationals, all that stuff. The car counts are way up. And for me, my business is really strong. Everybody's buying cars, and I'm super busy on the business side, so I have no issue with the way the modifieds are right now. The rule package, everything is. Is really good.
- [56:49]
A
Okay, so the rules. You like the rules? What about the cost of the car?
- [56:58]
C
Yeah, you ain't gonna buy a $20,000 roller anymore. You know, it's just the way it goes. Everything in life has gone up, but the cost of dirt modifieds is. Is steep, for sure. I mean, that's just what it costs. I mean, when you're upwards of, you know, know, 40 plus thousand for a roller nowadays, it sucks. But, you know, it's just. You can find cheaper cars out there, but there's a lot of things to it. It's just the motors. I'm going to say the motors aren't terrible because I'm racing late models right now. I know what a late model motor costs, but yeah, just. It sucks in general. What it costs to go race, and then we're only racing for 1500. I think that's the biggest thing is we got to start paying more and pull on a little bit of that money away from tv. The. Whether it's flow, dirt, vision, this and that. Like, some of that money needs to come back to the drivers.
- [57:48]
A
Yeah, that. All three. You're the third and final driver to say the exact same thing. Jonathan Davenport, Brad sweet, yourself,
- [57:59]
C
everybody. I didn't see any of that. But I mean, all of us, we've talked about it in the past, and, like, we just all see it, how much money they're making and the drivers aren't seeing it.
- [58:09]
A
Yeah, and. And. And you are the show so you're
- [58:13]
C
the clown in the circus.
- [58:15]
A
Yeah. Right. Well, my friend, listen, you know, you've overcome that, you overcame that, that horrible accident going through Louisville. Any, any effects? I mean, last year you were on your way to your fourth UMP national championship. You had a horrible accident with your truck and trailer going through Louisville. How is everybody doing?
- [58:40]
C
Yeah, I get that question a lot. I mean, I, I'm good. The only side effects really I have is short term memory loss. I felt like I struggled a little bit with that before we call it crs, but yeah, I just. Now they say that could take a year to two years to really come back. Just I had a skull fracture right in my temple area and they said that's where your short term memory is stored. And that was where my brain bruising was and everything. So just getting through that is more than anything. But as far as effects of driving, everything I do daily. No, no issues there. So my dad, he's good. He's definitely sore. He struggles to get up and down sometimes, so it probably took a harder toll on him than anybody. And then Mason's good. I mean, he, he, he had a lot of bruising and stuff on his head and. But he's, he's good to go. So he's still with me working every day in the shop. They're trying to get everything ready right now. We're getting ready to go to Kansas today, so they're trying to get all that finished up. But as far as effects, we're all good. I appreciate everybody. Man. Racing family was incredible during that time. So many people did so much for me. I still learn about things even today, like people that did stuff or did this and that and it was pretty cool to see everything that was done for us and I can't appreciate that enough and moving forward, just, you know, right now I don't have a modified rig or anything still. I'm still dealing with all insurance and everything else. As far as that was eight months ago. I still ain't got everything figured out there, so. Kind of sucks, but it's just part of it. So.
- [60:21]
A
It was a catastrophic event. I, I feel like you're still Nick.
- [60:26]
C
Yeah.
- [60:27]
A
But are you different now because of. Not so much of the wreck itself, but just the catastrophic nature of it? Are you, are you different?
- [60:35]
C
Yeah, for sure. I just, it definitely changed my outlook on life and you know, I got two kids and stuff and I want to be there for them and changed my outlook on a lot of things, for sure. Like that night, I tell people I was asleep in the passenger seat when. When we crashed. And so I don't remember any of it. Like, I woke up in a hospital in ICU four, three or four days later or whatever. And I don't recall anything that happened in that. That whole time. I tell people, like, if I died that night, I would have never knew the difference. Like, would have never knew, you know, I just would have never woke up. So it was pretty crazy, you know, just to sit back and think about that and. And everything that could have happened. So there's just. We got very lucky, for sure. And just to even walk away from it, all of us. At some point, dad broke his back and then me with skull fracture, and then Mason was just bruised up. So I think a lot of people don't understand what happened. I need to kind of touch on this is like, basically nothing happened as far as, like, Mason didn't fall asleep. Nothing stupid as far as that goes. We had a truck that was on the shoulder, and it was. It was a tractor trailer. It wasn't hole on a trailer, so it was just bobtailing. And so you got the little two red lights on, tail lights, and he was in limp mode, only running 10 mile an hour. And he come out into our lane to go out around like a exit ramp or something. Like I said, I was asleep, so I don't know. But he come out into our lane and we ended up hitting him. And so that was what caused the crash. And so it was just nothing that, you know, we did wrong or anything. And just part of driving late at night, I guess. You know, it's just something that all of us racers do, and we're probably lucky it doesn't happen more often. And we got lucky that night.
- [62:23]
A
Right? We've had some tough things that happen in the sport. You know, we lost Davey Allison in a helicopter wreck. We lost Alan Quickie in a plane wreck. We lost Rob Moroso in a car wreck. You know, Nick, God works in mysterious ways. You know, you were on your way to the fourth UMP Modified championship, but months later, your corner calls you up, and now you're living your dream.
- [62:47]
C
So, yeah, everything happens for a reason. Yeah.
- [62:51]
A
Positive mental attitude. We got to look forward and. And. Well, listen, my friend, you're young. You're only 31 years old. Congratulations to all your success. I appreciate you helping me live my dirt modified dream. You know that I started in late models. I asked you if I could buy a car. I don't rough you up because I understand competition. I do my own deal, as you know. And I'm happy to know that I run the stiffest left rear shock. I win.
- [63:27]
C
Yeah. And I. I mean, it's just been cool working with you. And like, I've told people, like, having you in the pit area whether you run my car or not, it's just helps the morale. The whole pit area.
- [63:36]
A
Yeah. Well, thank you, buddy. Okay, listen, everybody. We are in podcast form. Go to itunes, Spotify, and as I tell everybody, listen to Nick Hoffman on your way to work. Turn it back on when you go back home. Until then, please like and subscribe. And Nick, thank you so much for doing this.
- [63:59]
C
Yeah, I appreciate you.
- [64:01]
A
What's up next? You going out to Kansas World?
- [64:04]
C
Yeah, they got everything loaded up over there, so we're gonna jump in the truck. Probably an hour or two and 18 hour drive to Kansas and then we race seven races in nine days.
- [64:12]
A
This next stretch, as they say, eat your Wheaties. All right, until then, everybody, the Kenny conversation keeps on digging. The Herbinator might take a break. I've done my job. We. We've done it all with Davenport, Brad, sweet Nick. And we got NASCAR coming back. That took a week off. And until then, goodbye everybody. Check out dirty mo media on twitter, facebook, tick tock and instagram.