Stewart Friesen: Battling Back After A Life-Altering Wreck

Summary

Herm & Schrader Podcast: Stewart Friesen: Battling Back After A Life-Altering Wreck

Date: October 30, 2025
Host: Kenny Wallace (A), Ken Schrader (Schrader not present in transcript)
Guest: Stewart Friesen

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Episode Overview

This episode features celebrated dirt racer Stewart Friesen, who joins Kenny Wallace to recount his life and career on dirt, pivotal racing victories, and his harrowing wreck at Autodrome Drummond in July 2025. Friesen shares an inside look at recovery, family, working with his wife Jessica, and balancing his dual worlds of dirt and NASCAR Truck racing. True to form, the show is a relaxed, candid, and sometimes hilarious conversation, peppered with racer-to-racer insights and affectionate Midwestern banter.

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Major Discussion Points & Key Insights

Stewart’s Background, Roots & Racing Culture

[02:27–08:52]

• Friesen hails from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada, a region “at the end of the Niagara River… beautiful farm country, a lot of vineyards, a lot of wineries now,” surrounded by 20+ racetracks ([03:52]).
• Moved to upstate New York (“the real upstate”), now rooted in Spragers, NY—right in “dirt modified country” and the heart of Big Block racing.
• Reflections on the rabid, passionate race fanbase in upstate NY and Ontario, bolstered by long winters and racing-starved crowds come spring.
• Super Dirt Week at Oswego, NY: Town and state both go all-in, banners line the city, huge community engagement, “fan turnout was really, really big…bigger than it’s been in probably the last four or five years” ([04:59]).
  • Quote: “The whole facility kind of fit the mold and, you know, holds the whole super dirt week vibe very, very well.” ([08:52])

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The Autodrome Drummond Wreck & Recovery

[10:42–20:13]

• Recounting the wreck:
  After a solid night, running well and mid-pack with aggressive setup, Friesen slid up on the cushion, right rear tire slipped off and he crashed hard into the wall.
  • Quote:
    “Last thing I remember is looking out the right side and seeing that big… butt end of the wall and going, ‘oh man, this is gonna be big.’ … I’ve thought about it a million times. If I could go back and just lift… I was a little too aggressive and got myself in a bad spot and banged up pretty good.” ([13:04])
• Injuries:
  Multiple fractures—pelvis fractured on both sides (“not quite an open book [fracture], but bad”), fractured tibia in three spots, some nerve damage.
  Quote:
  “They put a plate on the right side of my pelvis… and they put a rod in, down through my knee… to my tibia.” ([14:39])
• Medical odyssey:
  Friesen recounts the ordeal of being injured in Quebec—ambulance to a local hospital (with assistance from a French-speaking racing friend), then transfer north to Trois-Rivières for emergency stabilization, then eventually an airlift back to Albany, NY.
  “I don’t know what’s going on.” (on the language barrier, [17:31])
• Recovery:
  Intensive rehab: PT three days a week, multiple scans for nerve damage. “Trying to regain my… what little muscle I had before, trying to get back into race and shape.” ([15:58])
• Wife Jessica’s support:
  “Jess has been my superhero through all this, obviously.” ([18:16])

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Family History: Growing Up at the Ransomville Speedway

[22:35–26:20]

• Friesen’s grandfather gave up the family dry cleaning business to buy Merrittville Speedway; later acquired Ransomville just over the border in NY.
• The family owned/operated Ransomville; Stewart spent summer days doing every job from weed-whacking to painting fences.
  Quote:
  “About the time I could hold a weed whacker, my grandfather had one strapped to me… we mowed the weeds… cleaned the houses and painted the fences… replaced guardrail… every day in the summer.” ([24:56])

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Racing Ethics, Track Mentality & Down-to-Earth Work

[26:20–29:25]

• Stewart highlights the importance of doing every job—no job too big or small. Racing—and especially racing prep—is a full family effort.
• On prepping tracks and rough racing surfaces:
  “Track prep guys have a lot of pride in their art, and it’s an art form… If a driver comes up and starts bitching about the track? Well, that’s on the driver, not on the track because everybody had to race on that.” ([26:52])

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Career Stats & Gratitude

[29:25–32:38]

• Over 900 dirt races, 433 dirt wins, scores of championships (2020 Mr. Dirt, 2014 NASCAR NY State Champion, multiple Race of Champions, and Fonda Speedway titles)—“one of the greatest dirt racers of all time.”
• On how he kept going:
  “So many people behind me. The last, I guess it’s been 20 years now, you know, being able to make a living doing this.” ([31:44])
• Emotional recollection of how friends and supporters stepped up so he could rebuild engines and stay on track.

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Partnership with Jessica Friesen: Love, Racing, and Family

[36:40–41:39]

• Stewart met Jessica at the track as teens; recognized instantly that she could “wheel” even at 14 years old.
• Their relationship developed gradually, often crisscrossing tracks and states amid divided racing ambitions.
  • Quote:
    “We started crossing paths more often… and we started dating. She had her own goals… sprint cars… She traveled the country for a couple years… We were kind of off and on… then in 2011… the tracks started to align.” ([40:06])
• Jessica remains an elite racer in the family and now helps manage the Friesen operations from booking to payroll.

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Dirt vs. NASCAR: Making a Living in Racing

[41:50–50:07]

• Stewart and Kenny unpack the realities of prize money, sponsorship, and sustainability in dirt and NASCAR Truck racing.
  • Friesen:
    “On the dirt side… if you can get your name out there, a car owner is going to pick you up… give you 25% or 40% and a place to stay… I think there’s more avenues to make a living doing it on the dirt side.” ([42:24])
  • Kenny:
    “When I went to nascar… I mean, I was right when we were getting ready to go wheels up, NASCAR was going to the moon… You win all the time, so yeah, Stuart Friesen can make a living running dirt because you’ll win all the time.” ([45:46])
• Top three in any dirt division can make a living; after that, it drops off—a theme echoed by Brad Sweet, with Friesen in agreement.
  • Quote (Friesen): “Top five pays the bills… If you want to do this and make a living… you got to be in the shop working on your stuff.” ([48:43])

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New Faces in Northeast Dirt Racing

[51:23–52:49]

• Friesen names young talents—Alex Yankowski, Tanner Von Doren, Logan Watt (age 16/17)—as racers poised to inherit the Northeast dirt legacy.
  • Quote:
    “As we’re getting into our 40s… who’s coming behind us? There’s a lot of guys… going to start pushing and take our share of the pie here pretty soon.” ([52:49])

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Life Now: Two Worlds, Two Teams

[53:01–64:22]

• Jessica is still “wheeling” (recently finished P10 in Super Dirt Small Block out of 98 cars; time trialed P5).
• Kenny and Stewart swap notes on the logistics of running a NASCAR Truck operation (Halmar Friesen Racing) out of Statesville, NC, while keeping the dirt team running in upstate NY.
  • Jessica handles team logistics (hotel, payroll) for the truck team.
  • Stewart credits crew chief Tommy Conroy for keeping the dirt cars ready when he’s on NASCAR duty.
• Technical talk: Adapting to changes—torsion bars replaced by coilovers, multiple rulebooks (Big Block, Small Block, Short Track Series), meticulous tire work and scaling.
  • Quote:
    “Yeah, scales are still our best friend.” ([63:56])

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Looking Ahead: Return to Racing

[64:47–65:46]

• Stewart is eager to jump back into racing ASAP—hopes for World Finals in three weeks, but likely aiming for Speedweeks in February.
  • Quote:
    “Honestly, right now I want to be in this car at world finals in three weeks. I ran that by my wife and that’s probably not going to happen… I think February… Daytona for the truck, Volusia for the Big Block.” ([64:47])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On community and fan support during recovery:
  “The outpouring of support was unbelievable… it just means the world to know that so many people are thinking about us and hoping we get better.” ([66:29])

• On the unique challenge of dirt racing life:
  “No job too big, no job too small. It’s just the jobs that need to get done, whatever it is.” ([25:32])

• On learning humility from early days at the track:
  “If a driver comes to [Schrader] after a race and the first thing he does is start bitching about the track, well, then… that’s on the driver, not the track.” ([26:52])

• On women in racing:
  “Jessica time trialed fifth out of 98 cars. She can wheel… she can lay down a lap and run with the best of them.” ([54:09])

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Key Timestamps

• Dirt racing beginnings: [02:27–08:52]
• Autodrome Drummond wreck & hospital saga: [10:42–20:13]
• Early life, owning a racetrack: [22:35–26:20]
• Track prep discussion: [26:52–28:07]
• Detailed career stats: [29:25–32:38]
• Meeting & marrying Jessica: [36:40–41:39]
• Dirt vs. NASCAR finances: [41:50–50:07]
• Young guns in modifieds: [51:23–52:49]
• Jessica’s racing and team management: [53:01–60:49]
• Technical shop talk: [61:58–64:22]
• Return plans and heartfelt thanks: [64:47–67:06]

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Final Thoughts

This episode stands out as both a tribute to Stewart Friesen’s enduring spirit as a racer and a window into the realities of grassroots, family-oriented racing at the highest level. The balance of humor, humility, technical detail, and vulnerability make it an indispensable listen for any racing fan—and a testament to the close-knit, gritty, and passionate nature of the dirt racing community.

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For more:

• Watch the episode on Dirty Mo Media YouTube
• Listen on major podcast platforms (search: Herm & Schrader)

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

That's. That was quite an introduction, Kenny. Thanks for having me on. I'm. I'm doing okay.

[A]

Well and I know we got a lot to talk about and that's what we do at Kenny Conversation. That's a good looking modified right behind you. Tell me all about that. What brand do you run and where are you at right now?

[B]

Yeah, so we're. We're in our dirt shop up here in Spragers, N.Y. about 45 minutes west of Albany. So this is. This is upstate, the real upstate for you know, anybody that wonders. There's a couple different, you know, parts of New York. But we're upstate. We're in dirt, dirt modified country. Northeast, big block dirt modified country. That's what's behind me. This is the 84 car that Alex drove. Alex Yankowski drove for us at super dirt week last week, and he's going to run this weekend at Eastern states as well while I recover and try to get better here. So he did a good job last week. Third place finish and the biggest race of the year isn't too bad to start.

[A]

The deal with him was that Oswego.

[B]

That was at Oswego, Yeah. So they bring in the dirt. It takes them like four days to put it down. They got a really good handle on it. They moved the racing, the features from daytime to nighttime last year, so it's a little bit chillier. But the nighttime track conditions have been. Have been way better. So.

[A]

So listen up, everybody. We got a lot to talk about. We're going to talk to Stuart about his brutal wreck at Autodrome Drummond, but we're also going to go to the truck series, what him and his wife got going on. But let's just celebrate you a little bit right now. I love where you're from. Now tell me if this is right. Were you born and raised in Niagara on the lake Canada?

[B]

Yes, I was. Yeah. Niagara on the lake is like.

[A]

I love it.

[B]

The. The real little corner, you know, at the end of the Niagara River. After it comes over, the water comes over Niagara Falls, goes out through the Niagara river, and we're up there at the corner. Beautiful farm country, a lot of vineyards, a lot of wineries now in Niagara. So it's. It was a neat place to grow up. And yeah, I've been in New York here for over 10 years now, but I'm only about four hours away from Niagara. So, you know, we're definitely between Niagara and here where I'm at, you know, there's about 20 racetracks in between. So it's a good racing territory.

[A]

I find that the race fans up there are some of the best in the world, not just America. I feel like they're rabid, meaning that they can't get enough. You know, I've raced at Oswego in Asa back in 86. I was there myself and Schrader at, you know, super dirt car week, what, two years ago, run a stock car. But it just seems like they really get into it up there. Is it because the weather is so rough? Why do you think the racing is so. So awesome?

[B]

Yeah, it's. It's funny you mentioned the weather because it feels like after, you know, four months of snow and cold, you know, the first races of the year in April are packed. You know, people are coming out, they're all excited. And then it falls off a little bit in the summertime, and then it seems like it ramps up again this time of the year when all the big races are coming. You know, there's a lot of support for Super Dirt Week. Obviously. That was huge. The car count was, I think, one of the biggest ever. And the fan turnout was really, really big as well. Bigger than it's been in, you know, probably. Probably in the last four or five years. So it's. It's good. There's just a lot of. A lot of choices for race fans, you know, during the summer times, in the summer months. But these, you know, end of the year and beginning of the year, big specials really, really draw the people out.

[A]

When I was there, it was obviously, it was raining a little bit two years ago, but I went in the city and there were banners all along the street like the city, like, you know, the government officials put them up. It. It. I mean, once it moved from Syracuse to Oswego, I mean, it seems like the state even really gets behind that race.

[B]

You're absolutely right. You know, moving it from the mile track, the fairgrounds in Syracuse north to Oswego. It's not very far. It's only about an hour ride north. But, you know, the town of Oswego is such a racing town. I think World Racing Group and Dirk Carr and all the officials did a really good job of transitioning that Super Dirt Week vibe from the mile to Oswego. And then, like you said, the town officials or city officials, the mayor comes out. We had a congressman that was one of the dignitaries before the start of the big block race, which was cool. So there's a lot of support behind it because it's such a big event. You draw that many cars and that many people. It's a big impact on the city of Oswego. For the week that we're there, uh, we try to leave it as. As. As we came in. You know, we. It. It's pretty wild week. And. And yeah, no, there's just a lot of support behind it. And. And, you know, I'm sure they got a lot of cleaning up to do after we leave, though, as well, before.

[A]

We get to your injury, just one more thing about. About Super Dirt Car Week. They told me that one of the reasons they chose that track is because there's so many grandstands there that they're really able to pile the people in their. What is your thoughts going from Syracuse to Oswego. And why that racetrack?

[B]

Yeah, that's interesting. So, as a racer going from the mile, Syracuse to Oswego, the first thing I'm thinking about is the racetrack. How is this going to be different? How do we prepare our cars different? Is it going to race like a Saturday night track, you know, regular half mile, or is it going to be race a little bit bigger? And it seems like it does race a little bit bigger. You know, it's a little bit bigger than a half mile. The corners are really, really long and sweeping. It's more round than any of the, you know, Saturday night tracks or the tracks along the super dirt car schedule. It's, it's unique in its own right. So I think that's, as a racer that's made it good, you know, or made the transition from the mile at Syracuse to Oswego kind of tolerable. I know it's been 10 years now, but I grew up as a little kid going to the fairgrounds and sitting in that big grandstand and watching, you know, these dirt modifieds go on a mile when, when we only watch one quarter miles and half miles all year long. So some of the bodywork and tricks that guys would do at Syracuse doesn't really play out on the short track. But it's still like that race of the year. It's our, you know, Knoxville Nationals, our, you know, world 100 where everybody brings their A game, a new car, fresh body, fresh tricks, arrow tricks that they have. And you know, it's, that's the thing that's transitioned really well from, from Syracuse to, to Oswego.

[A]

God, I love this conversation. We could just do a show about Oswego, okay.

[B]

And not to mention, they got tons of grandstands which fit all those people that, you know, Brian Carter and Jeff Haquin, those guys are really happy to see every year. So it's, it's, it's just the, the whole facility kind of fit the mold and, you know, holds the whole super dirt week vibe very, very well.

[A]

I'm 62 years old, Stuart, so I'm not really a dirt racer, but I wanted to learn how to run dirt. I started dirt racing at 44 years old. I, I won that Prelude to the dream. And Tony Stewart said to me, what's this all about? And I said, well, maybe I should have been a dirt racer. So, buddy, I've got it bad. I'm addicted to it. I started dirt racing at 44 and run the, I run the super late models, but, you know, I'm Older age. I found my art. Whatever you want to call them, mortifieds. I have a good time on dirt and I absolutely love it. And I sure didn't enjoy my time up there around your people. And Brett the jet had me in Albany years ago. We did our best. The motor went to pop it and fart and finally blew up on me. But just a shout out, shout out to all your people, buddy. That. That is racing country usa. And okay, everybody, this is it. We got a lot to talk about. We're gonna. We're gonna zone in on the auto drome Drummond wreck and then we're gonna celebrate your career and we're gonna get to NASCAR. So on July 28, my friend, I was in that car with you. You're peeking to the outside of somebody going down the straightaway, right rear dips off. And one of the greatest dirt racers of all time, you just take. Take us from there because we're not in that car with you. We're only watching. Tell me what you remember.

[B]

Yeah. So, you know, the whole night was going really well. We time trialed well. I think we won the heat race. It was. It was us and Shepard going back and forth. Maybe ran second. You know, it's kind of fuzzy, but we. We're running well. I forget where we drew for the redrew for the feature. You know, the top 12 redraw, you know, in super dirt. Gar races to set the starting spot. So we. We drew. I'm not sure. Tommy, you remember. I don't know. Anyway, it doesn't matter. It was back.

[A]

I like, I like. Tell Tommy to come here. Let me look at him. Tell him.

[B]

Tommy, come over here for a minute.

[A]

Yeah. This is what's great about any conversation. Yeah.

[B]

This is my crew chief, Tommy Conroy. He's been with us four or five, six years now. Is like family.

[A]

Hi, Tommy. What did he say?

[B]

You remember when you won at Cleveland, Tennessee?

[A]

Oh, my God, yes.

[B]

And that.

[A]

That is what got me addicted to. To super late models. I set Quick time and won over Ronnie Johnson. And it was right after that I said, these things are too much money. And I. I went to a little modified. But that was a big night for me. Thank you. What did he say? I want to know what he said.

[B]

He worked for Schrader. Yeah, Tommy. Yeah, he was with Schrader on that dirt team and was in the victory lane photo. Was on your team that night. So. So pretty. Pretty small world here.

[A]

That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, I just, you know, we did Devin Moran and his. His brother Wiley came in, and that's what we like about Kenny. Conversation is showing the real deal, so. Well, I. I know you're my man right here.

[B]

We're side by side. When I'm. When I'm here, we're. We're side by side as much as we can be in this shop. And when I'm not here, for whatever reason, it's. Everything's in good hands. So he's my man and will be my man going forward.

[A]

That's awesome. Okay, so thank you for that. And I like the realism, so. Okay, we redrew. We're going down the back straightaway at Auto Drome.

[B]

Yeah, we redrew middle, mid pack. You know, we weren't front row. I think we were third or fourth row. Had a pretty good start. Picked off a couple guys. We had. We had chose a harder tire compound on right front, right rear, and left rear. I think that most did. We kind of did the option deal. So we're set up for the long run. That being said, that right front's a little bit icy. You know, to get started on a run, we had had a yellow. I fired off on the restart and just got up there. They banked it up way more in one and two than. Than when I was there. Years passed, and I was like, man, this is. It was awesome. You know, you could get up there on top and rip. And so I went up, hit the cushion, and got a good run down the back and, you know, was watching the two guys in front of me battle and had a good run, and I just tried to, like, get over maybe just to give them a little bit of room because I'm like, yeah, let me. Let me just get up here. If this guy comes up on the bottom, you know, I don't want to get knocked right off the track. But when I. When I moved up, I think the right front slid a little bit more than I thought. Then the right rear dipped off, and then I was just hanging on. I was. I was wide open and trying to get it back up on the track, and it just. It just wouldn't. And last thing I remember is looking out the right side and seeing that big, you know, butt end of the wall and going, oh, man, this is going to be. This is going to be big. So that was kind of what happened. Just. Just a stupid deal. I. I've thought about it a million times. If I could go back and just lift and get in line and wait, you know, I was a little too aggressive and got Myself in a bad spot and banged up pretty good.

[A]

So you have. And obviously straighten me out, you have what is called an open book. Pelvic fracture.

[B]

It was, it wasn't quite an open book. It was, it was fractured on both sides. An open book is like the worst case scenario from what I've been told. And it wasn't quite that bad. It was, it was bad. They had to, you know, hold me all together with a sling type thing around my waist. But it wasn't quite an open book.

[A]

Thank you. Fractured right leg. What else? Is that it?

[B]

Yeah, I fractured my tibia in three spots. So we got back, you know, wrecked in Quebec. It was pretty crazy, you know, being out of country. We're able to get a ride back to New York and then. And then get on an airplane up in Potsdam. My friend Doc Mareska hooked us up and just choreographed or, you know, administered all that transition from ambulance to airplane to get back to Albany Med, which is a great hospital, only, you know, an hour from the shop here and got back there and got fixed up. They put a plate on the right side of my pelvis to hold that back together and they put it, put a rod in, down through my knee and anchored that to my tibia to get that back together. So surgeon did a great, great job with all the, all the carpentry part of it. And right now I'm just trying to regain. Regain muscle. There's. There's some nerve damage that I'm fighting that's kind of been a pain in the butt. But, you know, hopefully that won't be too much of a hindrance, you know, when I get back to racing here in a couple months.

[A]

Yeah. And positive mental attitude. You will. I've learned to say we will means better than I can. You will come back and you're going to work hard at it, and I know you will. How. How is your recovery doing? Tell everybody about what is your regiment right now? What. How you going about it?

[B]

I do physical therapy three days a week. Plus there's been a lot of doctor's appointments and stuff, so it seems like I've been on the go almost every day. Every morning, either an appointment here or there. There's been a lot of scans and MRIs, and they're really trying to figure out this nerve deal. So there's been a lot of that. But then the physical therapy's been going really good. I got cleared to be weight bearing again a couple weeks ago. I'm not quite there yet. It's pretty. It's pretty painful to try to take steps and walk. But like I said, I'm working out, trying to regain my. What little muscle I had before, you know, trying to get back to that and try to get back into race and shape here.

[A]

So I know you were roughed up, and I know your wife Jessica is a wonderful lady. When. When this goes down in. In Canada, a different country, and then you. You got to get across the line and get back into America or vice versa. When you're like this. Are they doing this all in an ambulance? I mean, are they. Are they pulling up to the. To the line right there? A plane. How did they go? Hey, we got somebody heard here. They schedule all that ahead of time.

[B]

Yeah, it was. It was a little bit interesting. So I went from the racetrack in Drummondville in an ambulance to a small hospital right in town. Tommy came with me. We had a good friend, Martin Roy, who's from Quebec and obviously speaks the language. So he. So that was key.

[A]

Oh, so they're French. Like real French.

[B]

Like, real French. Like, when the nurses are coming over and saying stuff. When I got to the hospital, I'm like, I don't know what's going on. So.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[B]

It was. It was definitely a blessing to have, you know, Tommy with me, my man. So I could, you know, yell and scream at him through the pain and have him help me and then have Martin there, too, right in the room, you know, translating, saying, you know, this is what they found, you know, because I went right in and started having MRIs and, you know, X rays and stuff. So they figured out what was wrong. You know, that first hospital figured out they couldn't help me there or fix me, so sent me by ambulance again, a few hours up the road up to Three Rivers, Quebec, which is further into Quebec and the opposite way of home. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

There was an asphalt track under the. By the river, under a bridge. But any trey river is where I race, but go ahead.

[B]

Yeah, they. So they do a street race there, and I guess that's right outside the hospital where I was at. So I guess I just. I just missed it by a couple of weeks or two either way. So they moved me up there, and a general surgeon went in. Real nice girl, younger doctor, and, you know, got like a. I think they call it like an X brace or something, just to straighten the leg back out. And then it was like a roll cage kind of around the outside of my leg. She got that on there and then came back in. This is the next morning. Jess had got there about noon that time. So it kind of. I came out of the first surgery and then Jess was there. And, you know, Jess has been my superhero through all this, obviously. So. Sorry. The air compressor kicked on right there a little bit, but yeah, love it.

[A]

Keep it going. We're in the race shop man.

[B]

Got it. So, yeah, that we were in Quebec. You know, I'm far away from home. When they, when we went to Three Rivers, it was like, man, that's the opposite way. At home. I need to go south, not north. But they needed to get me stabilized and fixed up, so they were able to do that there. And then Doc Mareska, who's a, who's a radiologist and big in the dirt modified world, you know, he got involved with Jess and they said, okay, you got to get, got to get you home. Hooked me up with an ambulance ride to get back to his hospital in Potsdam where they scanned and did all this stuff again. And then from there they took me by ambulance to, you know, the Runway and the plane sitting there and had me on the stretcher and shoved me up inside. And I, you know, made that hour or so flight to, to Albany to get scooted back out again. So that was probably the most nerve wracking deal. When they're trying to pick me up on this stretcher and put me in this plane and I, you know, you're, you're strapped down, you can't help. I was just kind of nervous they were going to drop me, but they, all the guys that did a good job, the volunteer firemen came out and helped out and loaded me up in the, into the plane. But yeah, that was, that was kind of it. You know, the 24 hours after the wreck were pretty crazy.

[A]

Yeah. Well, Stuart, listen, I want to thank you so much for telling everybody, you know, kind of the details what happened. You know, we've all been there. I've had horrible wreck it, you know, loud New Hampshire positional vertigo. I mean, I'm with you, my friend. I love you. You will recover. You're a hard worker and thank you for going through that again and we appreciate that. Hey, this is Dalenhardt Jr. And for the latest Herman Schrader gear, you need to go to shop.dirtymomedia.com We've got plenty of options for everybody and we're adding new stuff all the time, so go to shop.dirtymomedia.com Chumba Casino will be riding with the number 45 at Phoenix Raceway on November 2nd. Chumba Casino, proud partner of 2311. Racing is always fun and always free to play. Bored of waiting? Chumba Casino lets you play anytime, anywhere. No download necessary. Simply type chumbacasino.com in your browser device and you're ready to go. With new releases every week, you'll always have something new to play. Sign up to Chumba Casino and receive your free welcome offer. Play for fun and play for free [e-mail] free welcome bonus at sign up 2 million free gold coins and 2 free sweets coins. Follow Chumba Casino on social or log in every day for free daily coins. No purchase necessary. VGW Group void were prohibited by law. See TNC's 21 plus sponsored by Chumba Casino. You're not just working on assignments. You're building your future with Creative Cloud Pro. The real world creative skills you gain don't just help in class. They set you up for career success. Get access to over 20 pro level apps like Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere Pro. Powerful tools to turn school projects into a standout career ready portfolio.

[B]

And.

[A]

And right now, students save over 55% on Creative Cloud Pro. Visit Adobe.com students to learn more and start creating your future today. Okay, deep breath everybody. Let's smile. Let's. Let's go back early. I. I've done. Listen as I show everybody.

[B]

Three.

[A]

Three pages. Stuart, three pages here. I want to go back to your early childhood.

[B]

Oh man.

[A]

Always correct me. Please correct me. I do my best. Am I reading this right? Your family owned Ransomville Speedway in Western New York? What was that all about?

[B]

So my grandfather was a racer, you know, started in the late 50s, 60s. Yeah, in Ontario. On. On the Canadian side. His father had a dry cleaning business. So rather than, you know, going to the. He had raced a little bit. You know, I think the promoter must have been doing pretty good at Merrittville. He decided that he would not go the dry cleaning route, he would go the racing route. And they sold the dry cleaning business and they bought the speedway with a partner. Yeah, yeah. I don't know if it was the greatest idea, but you know, here we are. It is what it is. So they did that and you know, the early 70s, late 60s, Kurt Yule, my. My grandfather, Stanley's partner. So Stan and Kurt, they. They got Merrittville. They got that going. Man, this is going really good. Let's buy another track. So Ransomville is only maybe 20 minutes from where I grew up in Niagara on the lake. But it's over the border, so you got to cross back and forth over the Niagara river, you know, To Ransonville. So they. They went back and forth in the early days, and my dad and his two brothers obviously grew up at the track and doing all that stuff in their. Their teenage years. And they said back then they only had one grater and one water truck for the two tracks. So my grandfather would drive it over the border back and forth. Yeah, to get. To get stuff done. Yeah. So. So, you know, they ended up with Ransomville. They ended up selling Merrittville, Kept the track on the stateside, and. Yeah, that's where I grew up as a kid, working with my dad and my uncles, my grandfather, my cousins. It was a family deal. You know, we. About the time I could hold a weed whacker, My grandfather had one strapped to me, and he'd fire it up and say, just. Just go. And. And, you know, we. We mowed the weeds and mowed the grass and clean the houses and painted the fences and. Yeah. Replace guardrail and. And, you know, that's what we did, you know, every day in the summer when I was out of school. So that's. That was. That's where. How. How and where I grew up.

[A]

We're the same brother, Rusty Wallace. You know, we. We built leaf spring dirt cars, and we called it poor boy chassis. And, you know, we had a checkbook. And Rusty'd say to me, my nickname's Herman. He'd say, herman, clean the damn bathroom. You know, at first it was like, okay, I'm cleaning the bathroom. But then it was like, I. I had to learn that everything needs to be done. And so when, you know, here you are, one of the greatest dirt racers and race car drivers of all time. But, Stuart, it is true, you know, we do what we have to do, don't we?

[B]

Absolutely. I mean, growing up at the track and doing all that, there's no job too big, no job too small. It's just the jobs that need to get done, whatever it is, and, you know, that translate to working on these race cars and the way Tommy goes about his day, you know, just checking boxes and doing everything, there's not one thing where you step over it to do something else. You know, you got to do it in succession on the way. On the way of preparation. So, yeah, growing up at the track was. Was a lot of fun and taught me a lot of stuff about mechanics and, you know, working on packer trucks and my cousin and I, you know, jumping in packer trucks. I think one day when we were 10 or 11 years old and bobbing around the pits and, man, we we certainly got screamed at for that, but it was just part of the things we did at the track growing up. It was a lot of fun.

[A]

When you're out there racing right now and you're running for I don't know how much money you run for. $100,000, $10,000. When you're racing at any racetrack in the world and the track is not good, it's rough, do you find a little bit in your heart to go, well, you know, we grew up at racetracks and do you ever go to the promoter and I mean, because you know so much about dirt racing, dirt tracks, do you ever get involved in that and go, you know, I could help these guys?

[B]

Yeah, that's, that's a sticky conversation sometimes, as you know. You know, track prep guys have a lot of pride in their art, and it's an art form. It's farm. And you're, you're fighting the weather, you're fighting your surface, you're fighting your equipment. So try to be positive at all times. I think I learned watching you and Schrader, I mean, Schrader always says when a guy driver comes to him after a race and the first thing he does is start bitching about the track, well, then that's. That, that's on the driver, that's not on the track because everybody had to go out there and race on that. So bingo. That's, that's when we use the term not rough and crappy and all that track was, it was, you know, maybe just challenging, you know, because everybody had that same challenge. So it still pays whatever it pays to win. So when we come across challenging racetracks, we just, you know, do the best we can and set it up. Sometimes you got to get up on the wheel a little bit and it's, it is what it is. But, you know, that's, that's tough. You know, some tracks, you know, you look at and it's like, man, they could have, they could have came and watered this place last night or two nights ago and kind of got ready. And you can kind of see that side of it sometimes when there isn't a lot of heart behind the track prep and a lot of, you know, devotion because it's a, it's a full time job. So, yeah, it's, it's something I'm definitely passionate about, though.

[A]

Yeah, I'm just, You're taking me on so many avenues because I didn't know this about you. It's pretty incredible. You're. You're a real racer and I'm sitting there looking at that car behind you. You could have been in that car. And you know, I wash my car, I do all my tire prep, I work hard. I'm thinking, look at you. You could win a hundred grand at say, seven in the evening on a Sunday, and then on Monday, you're washing the dirt off that thing, aren't you?

[B]

That's absolutely right. You know, sometimes that's the best mornings to come to the shop is after it just, it just energizes you to, you know, to keep going. But yeah, no matter if you win or finished 10th or the things tore up, it's the same process to get it back to the best it can be the next time you go to the racetrack. When I grew up and started racing a little bit into the go karts and into the sportsman modified division, my dad did a good job instilling in me some stuff. And it was like, man, we might not have the best car here, the nicest car, the fastest car, the newest car, the most expensive car. But with what we have, if we can just make it the best we can, we're, we're, we're putting our best foot forward. So that's, that's what we try to do, you know, every day.

[A]

Okay, everybody, we do this to all the racers. We talk about their stats. I read them off. I'll look for Stuart to fill in. But I want to let everybody know this. I know just enough to get me in trouble. Barefoot Bob McCready, Brett the Jet Hearn, Matt Shepard. It goes on and on. Where you're looking at him right there or you're listening to him. If you're on Dirty Mo Media, Stuart Friesen. The guy you're looking at, the guy we're listening to, is one of the greatest of all time, and his name sticks above the rest. So here we go, and you help me. But I'm going to tell you what I know and tell me when I'm wrong. Stuart Friesen has raced in over 900 dirt races. This one boggles the mind. 433 dirt wins. I'm sure that floats champion titles. There's, there's too many to mentions. They roll off the page. But I'll go at it here and fill in 2020, Mr. Dirt Champion, 2014. I'm going to go back and forth here, everybody. It's not going to be in perfect numerical order. I'm just like, Stuart, I'm a damn dirt racer. Doing, having fun here. 2020, Mr. Dirt Champion, 2014, NASCAR New York State Champion. This one's big. 2010-2013-2014-2015 Race of Champions Dirt Modified Tour. This one's fun. 2012, 13, 14, 15, champion at Fonda Speedway. I got goosebumps just saying this one one Syracuse four times.

[B]

Holy moly, you're making me feel old now. You're really, you're putting this perspective, you know. Yeah, well, it feels, it feels like all that stuff, it was just like, you know, it was just digging, you know, I was, was a kid trying to have the most fun I could have and race and got lucky to get hooked up with some great car owners that kept me racing all over New York State here in southern Ontario. And yeah, those stats you're reading off.

[A]

Are you emotional right now? Are you emotional?

[B]

Yeah, I would say I am. You know, when I was in college and almost didn't go racing, it was like, okay, we're not gonna have money to put back into the car the next year and you're gonna go to college and do this. And I'm like, yeah, I get it. You know, that was what I needed to do at that time. So went and got my bachelor of science degree. But in the meantime there was just people that started like helping out. When it was like, ah, you're not going to come back and race the sportsman division, a guy stepped up. I got 10 grand, I can rebuild your motor for you for the next year. It's like, oh man, okay, cool, we can keep it going. And every year or. I just met so many great people along the way that were able to, were willing to put me in a car or help sponsor buy tires or whatever. And the result is, I guess is those stats you're mentioning. But man, just so many great people behind me. The last, I GUESS it's been 20 years now, you know, being able to make a living doing this. So it's been pretty neat.

[A]

So when I talk to Tony Stewart or any of the greats, my friend, I know you're humble, but you have what is rare. You have a God given talent to sit in those race cars and you know, rip the lip or slow roll the bottom or go through the middle and you know, figure out how to keep grip going. That is very hard in dirt racing to get caught in the middle of the track and keep that baby roll in the middle. We know that Chumba Casino will be riding with the number 45 at Phoenix Raceway on November 2nd. Chumba Casino, proud partner of 2311. Racing is always fun and always free to play. Bored of Waiting. Chumba Casual casino lets you play anytime, anywhere. No download necessary. Simply type chumbacasino.com in your browser device and you're ready to go. With new releases every week, you'll always have something new to play. Sign up to Chumba Casino and receive your free welcome offer. Play for fun and play for free [e-mail] free welcome bonus at sign. Sign up 2 million free gold coins and 2 free sweets coins. A little Chumba Casino on social or login every day for free daily coins. No purchase necessary. VGW Group void were prohibited by law. See TNC's 21 plus sponsored by Chumba Casino.

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[A]

Okay, we're not done yet. Just a little bit more here.

[B]

All right, I'll be quiet.

[A]

No, you're fine. No, no, no. Please don't be quiet. It's. We got just a little bit and there's more, but I don't know anymore. This one could be emotional. You're a dirt racer and you ran New York. You know, the state of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. So with that, you are the driver of the year. Meaning you're the best. You were the driver of the year 2010, 14, 15, 20 and 21. Holy moly. Driver of the year. I mean, let's end just like that.

[B]

Yeah, that's. That's a special award that, you know, just seeds you amongst all your peers or all my peers up here in the northeast. And that's. That's the Eastern Motor. Eastern Motorsports Press association has done that award for the last forever years. And it's named after Richie Evans who was obviously one of the all time greats. Greatest ever in a pavement modified rapid Roman.

[A]

Is that what we called him?

[B]

So it's. To get that award is really special and it's a voted on deal. So it's pretty cool the amount of times we've been able to do that.

[A]

I got goosebumps. I really do. I'm so happy for you. You know, I grew up. I mean We're a racing family, so I feel everything we're talking about right now. Okay, everybody, deep breath, deep breath. That was incredible. We're gonna move on to your wife. I find this fascinating. It. It happens, but it's rare. You married Jessica and she's a hardcore racer, so. Absolutely. When did you meet Jessica and just tell everybody? I mean, I could read it for you, but I want you to talk about your wife. I mean, she's a racer. Tell me about Jessica.

[B]

Yeah, so we. She. She grew up racing. She's three years younger than me, so she. She started early. So I think I was maybe 15 or 16. We had the Sportsman car. My dad towed me and my buddy all around. My buddy Mikey was a crew chief and, and we had a cool little race team. And we traveled the Super Dirt Sportsman series one year, my first year, my rookie year, back in 2000. So like 25 years ago, and we came to Uticarom and we're pitted there. I think we got there early. And then in rolls, you know, these two trailers, and they park right up, you know, front, just. That's our spot. Boom. Back door gets down, all these people fly out. Download this car. Yeah, and I'm going to. Oh, man, who are these guys? You know? So they had two cars, one for her and one for her dad. So we're watching, they're pitted like right in front of us because they just parked wherever the, wherever the hell they wanted. And she got out. And I'm like, first of all, you know, you're watching a little bit. And like I said, she's a couple years younger. So that was where we first met and crossed paths. And I'm like, man, this chick, she can wheel, you know, and she was young. She was, I think 14 or whatever at that time. And then you see her dad, Razor, who's my father in law now, which is interesting. And he's a ball of fire. He is a wild man. Race car driver, great mechanic, can fix anything in the shop. This was his shop before we kind of moved the modified stuff in and took over. But this was a transmission shop. He worked and rebuilt automatic transmission. So you know how hard that is. And he can put them together with his eyes closed. So I meet Jess, see this wild man, that's her father. Go. Oh, man. You know, gotta tread lightly here. Watch your race. We start crossing paths, and I think it was the next year, maybe two years later, you know, knew who she was, you know, and followed along. You know, this is, this is just at the, at the Breaking of Internet and like instant messenger and you know how kids communicate. So you can. I didn't have to call her up. I could send her an instant message, you know. And I know well, so more or less, right? So a couple years later, you know, finally we're at Rolling Wheels Raceway up here in New York. I think I was running a modified. I said it was a year or two later and just remember passing her in the pits and we're just walking. I was coming back from the parts trucker wherever and she was coming back from the track and we crossed paths and I was like, man, I gotta like, say something. So I just said hello. That was it. It was just a hello. And she said hello back. And I'm like, okay, yeah, she knows who I am. And it just started from there. Like that was in 2002 or 2003, and we started crossing paths more often. And in 2004, I got a ride to drive for Madsen Motorsports, which is a big dirt modified team here in the Albany area. Bret Hearn drove for them for years. They had had a falling out. I had done a pretty good in a couple modified races that. That I was able to do with with Maroney Motorsports, which is out of St. Catharines, where I'm from. Lisa and her dad, Mike Moroney. Great race team. And they were the first ones to like, take me traveling in the modifieds. That was like the end of 03 04. Get hooked up with Madsen's. Where are we going to race on Friday? We're going to run on Albany Saratoga on Friday nights. We're gonna do some Saturdays at Fulton and Sundays we're gonna run U to Karam. Well, that's where Jess races every Sunday. So you see where we're going all of a sudden.

[A]

Yeah, let's go race there.

[B]

Let's go race there. Yeah. And yeah, so we started. We started dating and, you know, she's a hardcore racer, so she had her own goals and things that she wanted to do, and she got into the sprint cars, got hooked up with, you know, racing for Tony Stewart and. And went. And she traveled the country for a couple years, running with the All Stars, running with the Outlaws, you know, doing the sprint car thing. And so we were kind of off and on, you know, during that period. You know, there was some things she wanted to do, there were some things I wanted to do, and we were young. So all of a sudden, you know, in 2011, I guess kind of the tracks started to align. You know, she's like I don't want to be on the road. I want to be home and race. You know, I was kind of just getting my together, more or less, like she says, from like 2005 when I graduated college to like 2011, you know, I was kind of. I was a wild man. I had a lot of great car owners behind me. I bounced around. So I drove for like four or five different guys I'd go to. One year I drove it in Grandview, Pennsylvania on Saturday nights and we'd run for Tom Cohen on Sundays. So I was all over the place. I had a little apartment up in Old Forge. And I was just. I thought this was it. You know, I got the world by the balls here. And then, you know, Jess and I just, you know, we just knew where we wanted to be, I think down the road in the future. And that 2011, 2012 time is when, you know, the tracks aligned and we started to, you know, get our together.

[A]

This. I'm going to go off course because I'm listening to you. Basically, you were a vagabond dirt racer living above garages.

[B]

That. You got it. Vagabond. That was me.

[A]

Yeah. Well, that's the way dirt racing is, and I get it. Let me ask you a question, and I mean, I'm going to ask you the question right now with you being a NASCAR truck racer, but you run as much dirt can you make a living? Where can you. Where can you make better money running that NASCAR truck or that mod. Now that's.

[B]

Now that's the question.

[A]

You win all the time, you know.

[B]

That'S tough. I feel like so many racers, everybody's situation is a little bit different, whether they have sponsorship, whether they drive. For a car owner, the NASCAR side of it is totally different in that it's so market driven and sponsor driven. You got to be a great racer to be a NASCAR as you know, and you got to have the funding and the sponsorship behind you. And, you know, while I was bouncing around racing, I'm like, man, that was my goal. I mean, I want to run nascar. If I. I just thought if I win every dirt race I run for a whole year, you know, at the end of the year, there's gonna be a phone call, Rick Hendrick's gonna call. Somebody's gonna say, hey man, why don't you come try this out? And never really, it never happened, you know, and I'm racing, racing, racing. I finally got hooked up with, with Buzz Chu, Ron St. Marie spot, his crew chief. And when I was up in Old Forge, you know, they ran their Busch north car out of a shop up there. And I needed a place to store my stuff. Like I said, I had a couple car owners and just needed a place to work on it. So Spot was like, come up and you can work on your stuff out of here. So I learned a lot in those three years about where you can kind of make your money and how it works. And, you know, these guys are in Busch North. They got, you know, full jam Busch cars. I've never even seen something like that before, you know, just to be in the same shop with those guys. And he's like, look at. If you can get a good deal together, you know, driving for these guys on dirt. He goes, you gotta pursue that. And you. Cause you make it. Make yourself a pretty good living. And I listened to Spot and that's what he said to do. And that's. I went and did, and I was. I kind of put this whole NASCAR thing on the shelf until I got hooked up with Chris Larson and Halmar. But I guess it all depends. You know, some rides in NASCAR you gotta bring. You gotta bring the funds and the sponsorship. And I think some guys probably race for nothing. You know, they're just racing to do it, to get their name out there, build their brand, whatever, get experience. On the dirt side of it, there seems like, you know, in the dirt modified world, in late models and sprint cars, if you can get out there and get your name out there and get rolling, you know, you got a good chance a car owner is going to pick you up and say, all right, kid, you know, I'll give you 25% or 40% or something and a place to stay. Or if you come help work on the car, we'll give you a couple hundred bucks a week. So there's. I think there's more avenues to make a living doing it on the dirt side. You know, I don't know if you disagree or agree. You see it all over the country. So I don't know what your thoughts are on. On all that, but that's kind of what I've seen on my end.

[A]

You know what? It's. This is not about me, but you've asked me this, so I'm going to answer you. I've done plenty videos that you cannot make a living running dirt. And that was my thought in my time. See, Stuart, I got very lucky. I started in asa, and when I went to nascar, it was. I mean, I was right. When we were getting ready to go wheels up, NASCAR was Going to the moon. Yeah, I mean, I, I got square D because a regional rep knocked on my door and said, kenny Wallace, we want to sponsor you. And it was a $6 million deal back then. Now, this is kind of a cliche and a joke. In my NASCAR days in the, you know, 90s, it was sex, drugs and rock and roll. I mean, you were, you were interviewing the sponsors, you know. You know, I mean, so your, your time is way different and way harder than mine. So when I look at you and you, you ask me my opinion, you got a God given talent. You're one of the greatest dirt racers of all time. So you win all the time. So, yeah, you could. Stuart Friesen can make a living running dirt because you'll win all the time.

[B]

And the purses are pretty good. You know, if you can get incredible racing for a car owner making, you know, I call IT union rate. 40%, right? Come and drive my car. Yeah, yeah. Norm Hansell gave me that one down in Pennsylvania. You know what the union rate was? And he says, like, I remember going to race for him one time, he says, if you think you're going to get union rate, you're crazy. I'm giving you 30%. And I was like, yeah, okay, I'll take whatever, but yeah, you can, you know, look at guys like David Gravel, you know, doing great. You know, Rico, all these guys, you know, running sprint cars and the modified stuff here in the northeast is good. You know, we just ran for 53,000 to win, you know, last weekend, Saturday at Super Dirt Week, 20,000 to win the small block. You know, Matty Williamson just won 20,000 the week before. He won another 20,000 up at Brockville last weekend. So here's a guy, Matt Williamson, that's made, you know, over 100 grand in a month in the Northeast running, running our style, modifieds. And it's, it's, it's good. You know, there's, it's, it's racing. Racing's strong. Everybody wants to, like, say, you know, I think value how racing is right now. Is it good? Is it bad? Right? You talk about it a lot. And for all intents and purposes, there's some shows we go to where it might pay five or ten grand to win. It's like, man, the promoter's not getting it on this one because the, the crowd turned out, didn't come out. But now with the streaming services, it doesn't mean only 500 people watch that race because there's probably 15,000 subscriptions online that watch that race. Too. So it's just a little bit different. But like I said, sometimes the promoter hits a home run and makes some money. Sometimes, you know, they lose a couple bucks. But we're lucky to have the guys that we race for up here in the northeast that are willing to put the money on the line that we can go. We can go. Chase.

[A]

We'll end this conversation like this. Two years ago, I made that video about, you cannot make a living running dirt. Times have changed. And like, I talked to Brad Sweet on Kenny conversation. He said, kenny, here's the way it is with World of Outlaws. Are high limit. The top three, you. You get Napa, and you get Casey Kane as your car owner. I can make a good living because Brad Sweet, he's winning. He's driving for Casey Kane. He's got Napa. We're in tall cotton now. But he said, the top three, we can make a living. So it'd be like Stuart Friesen, as you say, Maddie, Matt Shepard. You guys are making a living. The top three. Then Brad Sweet said, four, five, or six, you know, you get around the seventh driver. Now we're. Now we need a real job now. We got to find something else to do to make a living. What do you think about what Brad said about that?

[B]

I think he's right. You know, when I was a vagabond dirt racer, you know, 10, 15 years ago, when I went to a track, I knew I had to run top five. You know, I always said, top five pays the bills. That's what. That's what I tell Alex all the time. You know, Alex Yankowski, he's a young kid. He's 21 years old. And I'm like, if you can go. He's trying to do it on his own. He's got some good sponsorship and some good rides. And I'm like, but you got around. Like you said, if you want to make some decent money, top fives pay the bills. So that's. That's the key. If you can, you know, as I was learning, if I could get a third or get on the podium or squeak out a win or two here and there, that's. That's good. But you need to be. If you. If you want to do this and make a living, I mean, it's a tremendous amount of work. It's not just all, you know, race car drivers and pretty girls and, like you said, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. You got to be in the shop working on your stuff. A lot of these northeast modifieds, you know, like, the drivers are the crew chief. You gotta be able to call your own shots. And with a little bit of track time, you know, you get, as, you know, dirt racing, you know, the drivers on the sprint car side of it or late models, they gotta be able to get out of their car, know exactly what's in their car, and either tell somebody to do it or communicate with somebody that's also very good. Like, I have Tommy here. We can communicate really good to make a change quickly, and that's the experience level. And then that's where you're making money, too, when you get that experience level. So it's a hard thing to build up to, but if you're dedicated and really grind it out, it's doable.

[A]

Everybody knows Shaq, but off camera, he's just a regular guy.

[B]

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[A]

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Go to microperfumes.com podcast for up to 60% off. That's microperfumes.com podcast for up to 60% off. So we'll end this. I keep saying we're going to end this. I love this conversation. In ending, here is my answer. Can you make it a living running dirt? If you're Matt Shepard or you're Stuart Friesen, yes.

[B]

Who.

[A]

Who's the new hot rod? Who. Who else is out there that is caught your eye?

[B]

We have a few. Just. I'm talking Northeastern modified. Yeah, obviously there's great talent all over the country, but in. In our fishbowl up here, you got Alex Yankowski, 21 years old. I feel like he's been on the circuit five or six years already. Tanner Von Doren is another young kid out of Pennsylvania who's Who's running really, really good.

[A]

Man, these are some names. How the hell you say their last names? Yankee Van Dorn.

[B]

They're Pennsylvanian. So, yeah, it's a little different down there. Who else? We got Tommy, Logan Watt. There's a good one. Another Pennsylvania kid, grew up at Grandview. How old? See? Sixteen, seventeen. Yeah, sixteen, seventeen. Yeah, 16, 17. I followed him in hot laps at Port Royal earlier this year and I'm like, okay, I know it's Logan. He just moved up from the sportsman division. I'm like, I'll probably, I'll give him a little gap. I'll give him a little gap. You know, I might run up on him. He took off and he put car lengths on me and I went, holy. This kid just. And Port Royal is a big fast track, especially with the, with the big block and he can lay it down. And then he came back and ran second or third super dirt race that New Egypt earlier in the year with us. And, and yeah, good, good runner. But you look at that as like Shepard and myself and, and Williamson's a little bit younger, but as we're getting into our 40s and stuff, it's like, oh, man, who's, who's coming behind us? And there's, there's a lot of guys coming behind us that are going to start pushing and, you know, take our share of the pie here pretty soon.

[A]

Yeah, really good stuff. Okay, we're at 47 minutes and somehow I knew this would happen just because you and I are like minded. We got, we gotta move to nascar.

[B]

We don't have to always.

[A]

We can do whatever we want to do. But man, what an incredible dirt racing career you have going on right now. And I'm sure there's more. A lot of big wins and I know how excited you are to get back. Okay, so we, we talked about your wife, Jessica, and you met her, she's by your hip. We just recently saw Brittany Force say, hey, look, you know John Force, you know, the great NHRA drag racer who has been on Kenny Conversation. Every one of his daughters have quit to go have children. I assume the G forces that you pull in those drag cars, you know, you probably, you know, need to lay off for a little bit to have a kid. And Leah Pruitt, who just married Tony, they had their baby, she did the same thing. So what about Jessica? Is she done racing? Is she racing?

[B]

She's. She's racing. She just ran 10th last week at the small block race at Super Dirt. We got Oswego.

[A]

She qualified Damn, she's a badass.

[B]

She time trialed fifth out of 98 cars in the small block division. So she, she can wheel and she can lay down a lap and run with the best of them. So she's still racing a little bit, you know. You know, we got to the point where we got married and just like you said, it's like, it's just a natural thing of, you know, and some women don't want to have kids and that's totally fine. My sister's like that. She says no kids for me. That's good. We got dogs, you know. And Jess and I got together and it was something we had talked about and we're like, man, we want to start a family. It's just, you know, that's what we wanted to do. It's totally natural. So she, you know, got out of the seat for over a year. You know, she had her own sprint car stuff still going. Corpac Merchandising is her, you know, big sponsor that's been helping her out for years. And we kind of stopped and yeah, decided to, you know, get pregnant and try to have a baby and try to start a family.

[A]

Good stuff. Awesome. I know how much you love her and what a great marriage. It's exciting for me to watch because when I met my wife, she knew what I was doing. She never questioned me. My wife never said race car or this. She just, that's, that's, she know, you know, and I see that in you guys. Okay, cliche. So we come down the hill, we come nascar and we're, we're just going to jump a lot. Okay. Here we're going to move forward. 2019, the Eldora dirt Derby winner. You win Eldora in a NASCAR Craftsman truck or whatever they called it at that time.

[B]

Gander Outdoors truck series, I think it was at that point.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

I'm not sure. I knew it was hard to pronounce and hard to say.

[A]

Well, you know, for years it was the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Then they trained us to go. No, it's a Lowe's Motor Speedway. I'm like, make your mind up, you know. So, yeah, we do our best because sponsors are important. Okay, so 2019, the Eldora dirt Derby. You win that damn thing. Now you're, you're a four time NASCAR truck series winner. You, you've won Eldora, you've won Phoenix, you've won Texas, you won Michigan this year. You're a badass.

[B]

Those pretty, pretty unbelievable and pretty surreal, you know, doing this around the dirt, trying to Get a career going. And then you know, where I was say 10 years before, you know, all the NASCAR stuff started or the last 10 years happened, I would have said no way would we ever even get to make laps on tracks like that. I wouldn't go there and race and win races. So it's been really, really special.

[A]

So tell me, let's go back to that. We just told everybody you're a four time truck winner at some of the greatest racetracks in America. Phoenix, I love that place. Texas, you're hauling ass. Michigan, you're hauling more ass. But that 2019 you showed everybody, okay, I'm a dirt racer. You go there, did that, did that win? Now listen, we can go another three hours. But this, this version, when you won Eldora in that truck in nascar, did that parlay. Tell me about that win kind of afterwards.

[B]

That was, you know, the biggest win ever. You know, at that point we had won super dirt week four times or five times. Yeah, I guess five. Because we won that. We won the first one at Oswego and those were the biggest, the biggest races of the year. And we won that truck race at ELDORA in our third, 16th, our fourth time trying to go there and race. That was where we started, you know, when we started out. But to go there then and win that race and finally get to get up on that stage and hold up the big trophy and, and not only that, it was Eldora and it's just a super cool racetrack and one of the best in the country dirt track. But it's also has the NASCAR vibe too, because it's like, man, we finally won in nascar. We'd been in the trucks a couple years at that point, and it's like we're, you know, we did it. We won a NASCAR race. It's, it was unbelievable.

[A]

Yeah. So this, you glossed over it. Chris Larson, Hallmar. So you are Hallmar Freezing racing in the truck series right now. That dynamic has always made me go, what's that all about? You know, and you said Chris Larson. So it's Hallmar Freezing racing and everything. I read your wife Jessica is involved. She's like, is like, is she helping run the truck team right now? Tell me everything.

[B]

Yeah, she does a lot of the, a lot of the books. There's a lot of stuff that goes on in between Statesville, where the truck shop is and Halmar head office, which is, you know, howmar's a big construction company worldwide, all over the, all over the United States and their main offices in their main office. Is at Nanuette just outside New York City. That's, that's where Chris hangs out. You know, he has partners in Italy and all over. But yeah, the last three, three years, I guess, you know, Jess and I really took over a lot of the day to day stuff with the truck team. Tripp Bruce worked for us and Beth Baldwin kind of did that beforehand. And it got to the point it's like we gotta kind of get involved here and you know, with the day to day stuff more than just show up and drive. So we got involved a lot more with the day to day. And yeah, she's it. She's booking hotel rooms, rental cars, flights, you know, submitting invoices, doing payroll. She's a big part of behind the scenes of HFR on the NASCAR side.

[A]

I love this. Jessica qualifies fifth out of 90 cars at super dirt car week. You know, you know, you know Erica Enders, the six time champion NHRA pro stock. Erica Enders, she is a badass. Okay. We had her on Kenny conversation. She, she does all the booking. She, you know, and, and then she drives the car and wins the races and, and lets the team get the car ready. That, that is a great dynamic. It seems like the ladies are smarter than us. Let the men do the grunt work. And so coming to an end here, I'm very interested in the dynamics. So down in Statesville, North Carolina, you have the NASCAR truck series team Hallmark freezing. Your wife's kind of running that and. Right. And you're in your dirt shop right now. So was that Mikey? You're saying right there, your crew, your crew chief.

[B]

Oh, Tommy.

[A]

Yeah, Tommy. Excuse me, Tom. Sorry, Tommy. But does he, does he run all that? I mean, how do you balance these two deals?

[B]

He, he does. You know, when I'm down there or away or NASCAR racing, he. Tommy's here getting dirt cars together, you know, washing them Sunday morning, Monday morning, whatever, whatever it takes. And you know, we try to do Fonda Speedway. That's our home track. It's 15 minutes from the house. We try to do that every Saturday that we can just because we absolutely love it. I wouldn't rather be anywhere else on a Saturday than at Fonda. So when we run the truck races on Friday night, a lot of times I fly home and I get home about noon, one o' clock on Saturday and it's just enough time to come down here. He's got the car on the, you know, sitting on the scales. I'm kind of a weirdo and I like to do Things myself. And Tommy knows that. So I like to see the numbers and see where the car's at. And then we go load it in the trailer and we go race again. But without him, I couldn't do that. You know, it's a lot to prepare these cars for myself and Jessica, and we have a great team behind Tommy, Jake hastamore comes and does all our tire work. I don't know if you can see behind me, but. But check. Check this out.

[A]

Oh, my God. Yeah, that's over. That's over. I just got done doing my tires, and it was a little.

[B]

I watch you. You're a good tire man. I watch how you're siping and grooving and gr. And I'm like, yeah, all right.

[A]

We're racist, buddy.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, it's. It's all good. And that's what it takes to get this done, is more racers behind us.

[A]

You know, so your cars. Now I'm going to embarrass myself, but I don't care. So your cars on the rear, they. I mean, I know there's coil springs involved, but you. You scale your cars because there some. Is there some torsion bar to them, so you got to scale them.

[B]

So we. We used to run torsion bars on the rear coil front for forever in dirt modified racing. And five or six years ago, you know, Bicknell kind of came out with this deal of coilovers. A left side panhard bar, real short, you know, rear radius rods, which gives the car a lot of jacking in the rear. You know, that panhard bar stands up, and the left rear rod, you know, digs in. Kind of like your cars.

[A]

I wheelie up all the time. People hate it, but I go to victory lane. So I tell them to get over it. Get over it.

[B]

You're gripped up. You're gripped up. You got to have it. But that's. That's the way our cars have went here. So we do a lot more in the spring smasher now. And no, you don't really have to scale them every single time. But we run, and you get this from the IMCA to ump. So we run world racing group dirt car big block modified. That's one rule set. Then there's dirt car small block modifieds. That's another rule set. Then we have the short track super series where it's totally different. You can run LS motors and open small blocks and some real cool stuff on that series. So they're all different weights. The cars have them, different percentages. So you can't just go off, you know, your smash number all the time. You know, we kind of have to have smash numbers and baselines for all the cars and it seems like every week we can't just run the same car over and over. It's like we run it three times and oh, we got to take that motor out and put this one in or, you know, we're going from American racer tires to Hoosiers. So that's different. So, yeah, scales are still our best friend.

[A]

I love it. Yeah. And I hear sometimes the, the world of outlaw or Lucas Oil dirt late model racers, they, they still love the old grain scales. Some of those guys like those grain scales and getting underneath the car, you know.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. I think there's a set, Jess's dad has a set here in the back, the old grain scales that they used for years and years, you know, and it's, it's, it's, it's the way to do it. I mean, it's one way to do it. It's, it's not wrong by any means. You know, it gives you the same number either way.

[A]

Yeah. Well, there he is, everybody. God's gift, One of the great dirt racers of all time. So let's end like this. You know, I'm a racer and when, when things are negative, I don't bring up negative things, but you got a lot of fans. What, what is your, what is your. Let's end everything like this. When is your goal to come back? What are you looking at?

[B]

Honestly, right now I want to be. I, this is just me talking. I want to be in this car at world finals in three weeks.

[A]

Oh, Lord, that's.

[B]

I ran that by my wife and that's probably not going to happen. So I think February, I think, you know, when we get started, you know, down at Volusia with the big block and the truck at Daytona, I think, you know, hopefully we'll have, it looks like we'll have a, an off season test for the trucks. Last year we did Rockingham, which was really, really fun and invaluable to get that track time. They've kicked around the idea a little bit of maybe doing another, you know, January test at Charlotte if we can get a nice day. You know, it's going to be cold, but if we get some track time in the truck beforehand there and then we take one of these modifieds out and take it to Delaware and test at Georgetown or somewhere cool, you know, that's a little bit more Southern. That's 10 degrees warmer than Here. January or February, March, I think that's. That's a game plan. Try to test a little bit, but be ready to go by by speed weeks in February.

[A]

I'm praying for you, Stuart. May the good Lord heal those nerves up, feel all your extremities, and I. I know you got this. You w. You will come right back and win. Okay, everybody, if you want to listen to this, you can do that over there on Dirty Mo Media. We are in podcast form. Put those earbuds in. You can listen to Stuart all the way to the racetrack. If you want to see his pretty face and that race car, tune into the Kenny Wallace YouTube show. Stuart, this is it. You got anything else to say, my friend?

[B]

No, just, you know, really appreciate you having me on. Was definitely shocked to get, you know, the text the other day that you want.

[A]

I look up to you.

[B]

That was. That was super, super cool. You know, I look up to what you and Schrader do, and you guys are two badasses. So I appreciate it. Appreciate all the great race fans, all our friends, family members, I mean, people from other race teams. When I got hurt, you know, the outpouring of support was unbelievable. So just honestly, from my heart, I want to say thank you to everybody that either sent a text or a message or just said, hey, in the pits, you know, at dirt week last week or at Fonda. It just means the world to know that so many people are thinking about us and hoping we get better. So just want to say thank you to that.

[A]

That's awesome. Okay, everybody, until the next Kenny conversation, we'll see you next time. Goodbye, everybody. Check out Dirty Mo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. And now, superhuman Shaq.

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