By Drew Warner
Its Sunday night, 11:33 pm March 22nd. Going on just over 2 weeks I believe of no racing at all. Pretty crazy to think that not only have I not been to a race in 2 weeks but there isn’t even a race in the near future. Moments like these are when you sit back and realize what’s around you and what you take for granted.
I really took racing for granted and didn’t even realize it. 24 years on this earth and I’ve been at a dirt track since I was 2 days old. It’s all I’ve ever known or even thought about. It has brought me unbelievable highs and the absolute worst lows. The greats always say, it’s a humbling sport and to always stay mellow and that’s the best advice they can give you. I love this sport though. This sport has made me more memories in 24 years than most people will have in an entire lifetime. I’ve got to meet more people and gained more friends than I could ever keep count of. Now I’m not much of a writer, so you’ll have to bare with me, those of you who know me on a personal level know I love to talk so know, that this might get out of hand at any point. Let’s see what happens here.
I was born in Kansas in 1995. Some people don’t know this, but my Moms side of the family actually owned a racetrack since 1963 and just recently sold it this year. I always laugh and say I had no choice but to go into racing as I was hit from both angles with it. One side is promoters who yell at drivers and crews and one side is a crew chief who loves to yell at promoters. The perfect storm you could say.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a flagman at first; I thought that was the coolest job. I didn’t really care to even race like most kids did, I just wanted to flag or announce. Looking back, I probably should’ve kept that dream, I feel like it would’ve been a lot less stress and emotions. But quickly as I got older, I started to pay attention more and realized that all the girls wanted the drivers not the flagmen or announcers. So, I decided I’d try being a driver instead because it seemed pretty easy.
I’m going to fast forward to when I was about 11 or 12 and we lived in Indiana at this time. I finally got connected with the right people and had a chance to start racing on my own. My dad bought me my first quarter midget and off I went. He wasn’t able to go to many races with me because of him being on the road for work. Sadly, because of that I don’t really have much to write about my driving career because it was short lived. No money and no talent dried that dream up really fast. When we finally sold it all, I think I was 16 and that was when I realized if I wanted to be involved with racing I would have to find another way. I spent a lot of time at the shop with dad and going to as many weekend races as I could during the school year. I always had a blast going with him, but I never really wanted to be a crew chief because of watching him struggle with it. Weather he was first or last, he never was satisfied and always wanted more. Now that I’m older I know he does this because of how competitive he is and how high he holds the bar for himself. However, from the outside looking in it’s not a good look. They point the finger towards you when you lose and give the credit to the driver when you win. I never would have imagined wanting that role. However, for some sick reason, I decided I did. You could say it’s in my blood or you could say its cause of my lack of brains, but I wanted it. I fell in love with the idea that my dad could change a shock and it would pick up 1/10th of time. You could change a tire and it would be the difference of spinning out or pushing like a dump truck. You change one tiny little pill in the fuel system and it’s the difference of quicktime and motor not even running. The small things you would do at the shop would be huge gains at the track. It’s a pretty surreal feeling and I fell in love with it.
Fast forward now to 2015 and that’s when I got my first paycheck for working on a sprint car. Roth Motorsports hired me and brought me out to California. It was a perfect position for me come summertime because they had some struggles on the road and decided to bring us all to California. Everyone either quit or got fired, but not me because I was just the tire guy. So, with nobody to take care of the cars it quickly helped me step up to do it. First time having to do everything and not have my dad watching over me to make sure I didn’t mess up. It was insane pressure at the time, but I loved it. Kind of goes back to that lack of brain thing I mentioned earlier. We did have a lot of success through California though. We won almost every major race you can think of in California with Kyle Hirst driving. It quickly got me addicted.
2016 came around and I had some change of scenery. Roth Motorsports decided they wanted to go back on the tour, and I wasn’t ready to yet. I had learned so much and had so much success in California that I wasn’t ready to go back on the road yet. It was a lot easier for me to learn the small things when I had the time only racing on the weekends at about 8 different tracks. A lot different than running 20+ times a month like the outlaws and Speed weeks are back east. I was fortunate enough to get a job with Stan Greenberg, working with Mitchell Faccinto. Another great fit for me because Mitchell was my fiancé, Marissa’s brother and his dad Monte was heavily involved. It was kind of a good starting role where Monte pretty much let me, and Mitchell do it all and make the calls, but he would always be there to not let us get off track. For instance, if we were about to make the wrong call or do the wrong thing, he was there to correct us before it was too late. For sure one of those things that was able to make me look better than I was because he wouldn’t let me mess up. We had a pretty good run from about 2016 until the start of 2018.
Todd Ventura with Roth Motorsports always told me to always be humble and remember that you’re only as good as your last race. For example, if you won Friday, don’t race Saturday because how you do then will control the mood for the week. This advice has been glued to my brain ever since. I don’t care what anyone says, it’s the truth. I can prove it with this next job. Placerville was a track that Faccinto and I always struggled at. Always a back marker and field filler at best. Well I think it was March 31st, 2018 at Placerville for an SCCT show we had a very rare night. Qualified decent and started up front of heat, made the dash, drew the front row, won the dash, and not sure how but we won the A. He ran right through the middle and ghost slid himself every lap and couldn’t get passed. Well as the saying goes only as good as your last race, I got the call Monday Morning from Abreu to take over his team.
I couldn’t even fit into this story the memories and experience I gained with that team in such a short time. I got hired to help build around as they wanted a young guy that could take over their program for the next few years. We always called it the 5-year plan as I had some pretty big shoes to fill and some high expectations coming in. This was my first role as a Crew Chief on a team that traveled all over the US. I had so much to learn that you don’t even think of when you take on that role. I’m pretty sure before I took that job, I never even booked a hotel room or mapped out a route to the track that was truck friendly. This role is so much more than people think. You got to make sure you order enough parts to have trailer be stocked and ready for the worst all while keeping spending at a minimum to keep the owner happy. I would travel to so many tracks that I had been to before but not on a crew or even new tracks that I hadn’t seen before. As I said before, unbelievable highs and unspeakable lows. Got my first outlaw win with Rico in 2018 at Pevely, qualified for my first Knoxville Nationals, got my 2nd Outlaw win at Chico for the Gold Cup, and a few other misc. wins and a lot of learning. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t always fun. There were times I was so depressed, I wanted to run away. You get so lost when you’re on the road, that when you get down it feels like there is no coming out. Night after night of qualifying bad, getting in wrecks and tearing cars apart, part failures and equipment not running right. These were the times I tried to remember to stay humble and mellow through it all. I’ll never forget, getting a text after winning the 2018 Gold Cup from Rico saying “My dad said you got what it takes, you’re our guy.” Those were the moments of unbelievable Highs.
The racing world is tough though. We usually don’t have contracts or guarantees. People change and we drift apart. I’d say that’s the worst part of our sport rather you’re a driver or a Crew member you just never know. 1 year after winning the Gold Cup in 2018 I was let go. 365 days before I was the guy, now it was time for the next guy. It’s hard at the age of 24 but I try not to hold grudges and hard feelings. The racing world is a small one. Not many car owners left so I always try and be respectful of everyone and their decisions. I learned from it and moved on. I’ll always be grateful of David Abreu taking that chance on me and letting me grow. Another perfect situation happened, right as I was let go from Rico’s team, DJ Netto’s Crew Chief took another job outside of racing. Dj’s shop was 1.1 mile from my house in Hanford. It was a no brainer for me. I’m excited to see where it takes me this year as we will be running all over California, 360 and 410s.
That’s it for now. You got my entire life story up to date. As I finish writing this, I realize how lucky I am for all the experience I’ve gained in such a short time. I have a sport that I can bond with my family that most people never will get to. I have an unbelievably supporting mom who let her 18 year old son move to California to chase a dream. I have a dad who shares the same passion as I do. I get talk to my dad after every single race rather it be for good or bad reasons. We recap everything that happened and usually he lets me know if I made mistakes or not. He still holds that same bar over my head as even when I win I still am told what I did wrong. I got grandparents in Kansas and Pennsylvania that keep up with all my racing and watch as much as they can. Cousins, sister and best friends that cheer me on. 2020 has been a roller coaster so far but I’m ready for the ride. It’s going to be a good year for me, as I continue to follow in my father’s footsteps and start to make my own. I get to marry my best friend in December and have somewhat of a normal life outside of the racetrack. I’ve learned from the racing world though and I’m going to make her sign a contract, this breakup would be a little more expensive for me.