Why We Race Dirt
Why We Race Dirt
Ryan Milburn, Racer, Contributor to WeRaceDirt.com
Why do we race dirt? As a racer myself, I am almost positive that everyone involved has asked that question before. It is a pastime not for the faint of heart. There are many ups and downs. A lot of hard work goes into getting a car (and driver sometimes) to the track. You can work all week to get ready for the weekend, only to have your rear end locking up while packing in, or your power switch decides to fail while you are running for a top three run and have to hold the back of the switch together with one hand to try and salvage some sort of finish. Why do we do it? Why do we deal with the busted knuckles, and rebuild our car during a Saturday morning after a tough friday? Why do we haul our cars hours away, sometimes days away, for a chance at checkered flag glory? We all have our experiences, good and bad, but I want to share some of why I think that it is worth every bent wheel and broken tie-rod.
Some racers are born into the local racing pedigree, and some come into it later in life. I was 18 when I decided to embark on my dirt track journey, but my interest began a lot earlier. My family used to go to the local drag strip and my dad would run whatever kind of car he had at the time, a 1970 Chevelle, a 1963 shoe box Nova, a fox body Mustang 5.0, he even once ran the Ford truck we had hauled the car with, after the car broke. I enjoyed growing up in that environment; the noise and the smells are still nostalgic to me. As I got older drag racing didn’t seem like the direction I wanted to go in racing.
When I was old enough to have some disposable income, I started looking for a race car. Road racing Miatas were a little too expensive, so I decided to look into oval racing. I looked at a couple pro-four asphalt cars and the class just didn’t seem to be going in a good direction, not to mention the speculation, at the time, of the local track. People kept building houses closer and closer to the racetrack, and then had the gall to complain about the noise. The next nearest thack was in another state completely and wouldn’t be very feasible for the young man I was.
Up to this point, I had very little experience in the dirt track racing community. So I took a trip to one of the local tracks (there were 3 within about an hour), and there I saw some of the most incredible racing! I was in awe the moment we went in. When we got there the main events were just starting, and while my dad was paying for our tickets, my friend and I were drawn in by the noise to the fence on the exit of turn 4. Out on the large 1/4 mile dirt track was a local class called “Thunder Trucks”. The Thunder Trucks were just two-wheel drive trucks with motors similar to what would be in a street stock, and full metal bodies. They were a small class, but incredibly competitive.
As soon as we put our faces to the fence (it was a barrier fence not the primary catch fence), three trucks tried to take up the same real estate out of turn 4. Inevitably, one truck got pushed into the wall. Now fortunately for the driver of the outside truck, it wasn’t a flat wall, it was a k-barrier, and the truck rode up the wall like it was driving on the fence. Sparks flew out from the truck, as I watched the underside of the truck race past me.
I don’t remember if that was the last lap, if they continued racing, or if any of them had to be towed off. But what I do remember is thinking that the next time I go to a race, I want to go as a driver.
Why do we race dirt? To be the subject of incredible excitement? There are many reasons. Sometimes it probably just sounds like a really cool thing to do!
