Crate Racing Has Been Just What Tommy Collins Was Looking For

Column By: DYLAN FRIEBEL / RPW – LANSING, NY – If you follow Northeast Crate racing, you know names like Rocky Warner, Todd Root, Tyler Trump, Connor Cleveland and Ronnie Davis III. However, one name some may not be familiar with is Tommy Collins of J&J Racing. I got the chance to sit down and talk with Tommy.

Tommy Collins started out as a Big Block & Small Block racer. However he has found success in the crate division.

“I met James (Traphagen) back in 90’s,” Collins said. “He’s always been in racing and is super competitive. Then I met Jacqueline (Payne) about seven years ago when she came into James life. They’re great car owners and when my Modified deal fell through three years ago, James wanted to be a car owner so he asked me to drive a crate car for him.”

That’s how the team was born.

“They put a lot of hours in at the shop,” he said. “James is here more then me and wants to win just as much as me. So does Jacqueline, his girlfriend. She’s more competitive than both of us. She’s always running around getting stuff for us, on social media and I’m pretty sure she wants to win more than us.”

She really does love the sport of auto racing.

After the rainout Sunday at Utica-Rome, she was ready to haul to Glen Ridge just to race,” he said. “We did that once last year when we went to Bridgeport after Rolling Wheels cancelled. I like racing the crate more. Sure you don’t have as much power as the Big Block or even a Small Block. However, it’s fun and the competition is just as good.”

Running both American Racers and Hoosier tires comes with its challenges.

“I run Americans (Racers) more, so of course I’m going to like them more,” Collins said. “I think they are a more forgiving tire. You get more side bite off them, with them being a softer tire. However I am starting to like Hoosier’s now since we won on them at Rolling Wheels last week. When i talked with guys who run Hoosier they say they struggle with American’s, so I guess it’s a vice versa situation. Most Hoosier races i run are DIRTcar events, so I can’t turn as many RPM’s, Some of the rules are different, however I’m slowly but surely getting the hang of it.”

Switching teams comes with its struggles, but two years in, Tommy’s finding on track success with J&J Racing.

“Sure we are better in our sophomore season,” he said. “We ran a Teo Pro Car last year that I completely trashed at Oswego. However James had bought a Bicknell at the start of summer last year and nagged me all year to run it. Once the Teo was trashed, we had no choice but to run the Bicknell and it was a blessing in disguise.”

The results have greatly improved with the Bicknell machine.

“We had three wins last year between Outlaw and Thunder Mountain,” he said. “This year we have one at Five Mile Point, three at Outlaw, one at Thunder and one at Rolling Wheels. The biggest difference for me has been going from running 14-15 races a year to 65 last year and maybe even more this year. Running a crate is more affordable than running a Modified, so I am happy with the situation I am in.”

With winning comes the publicity and Tommy knows this.

“I know a lot of people outside of the Southern Tier or Central NY don’t know us very well,” he said. “However, winning and getting the press for it isn’t a a bad thing. We like to run consistently…run top 5, top 10, but winning is always good. Everyone’s happy when you win. When we went down to Bridgeport, people knew who I was. The Teo we bought was from down there, but guys were like ‘Are you the guy tearing it up in New York?’ It’s cool to hear that.”

While looking forward, Tommy and his team hope to build on the success of the first half of the season and bring it to the second half.

“We’ve had a good year so far,” Collins said. “A championship at either of our weekly tracks would be a big boost. However we want to make Super DIRT Week this year. We wrecked in the Consi last year and we want to make it this year. We are also going to go to Charlotte this year, so we want to build on what we’ve done so far in 2017. However, our main focus right now is a championship at one of our weekly tracks. It would just be icing on the cake if we did.”