What We Give Up For The Sport We Love

Column By: DYLAN FRIEBEL / RPW – COLONIE, NY – This year in racing, I’ve been blessed with many friendships and working relationships.

In early August, I took a trip from my hometown of Albany, NY to the Ithaca / Cortland, NY area to spend a weekend with J&J Racing, a team owned by James Traphgen and Jacqueline Payne and driven by Tommy Collins.

I had never sat in a shop before. I took the opportunity to do that for 2 days and just watched. Someone mentioned while I was there, “James might as well have a cot here, he practically sleeps here.” That saying got me thinking about how much we give up for this sport that we all love so much, so I set out on a quest to find out.

I got a chance to talk to a second-generation driver, Kyle Hoard, from Westfield, MA. He drives a Pro Stock.

“My dad, Frank Hoard Jr., got into racing in 1983 so I really had no choice but to be apart of the sport,” he said. “I gave up a lot as kid to be at the track such as baseball games, birthday parties. Racing is all I’ve ever known. It’s what family time was to me as a kid. I currently live in Massachusetts, 2-1/2 hours from my shop in New York. I don’t spend as much time with my girlfriend, Nikki [Ouellette], who also races. A lot of work time is also given up, but family is the most important thing to me and I wouldn’t want it any other way. My experiences have shaped who I am today.”

Dwight Nichols is a pretty relevative unknown among the Sportsman ranks as he runs a Limited Sportsman, but he’s part of family operation as well.

“My cousin, Ricky Steele, was a Dirt Modified racer a while back, and because of him, it’s always been in the family,” he said. “I may sacrifice a lot for this, but all the friends I’ve made over the last four years at the race track make it all worth it. I spend a lot of time with my dad, wife, kids and grandkids at the track. They all come out and see me which means way more than any win ever could for me.”

Former Miss Motorsports, and now wife to Super DIRTcar Series driver Keith Flach, Chelsea Flach, is one of the friendships I’ve made this year.

“My Dad runs Thunder on the Hill Racing so it was in my life since I can remember,” she said. “As a kid, I may have missed some social events, but my mom made it a point for us to also live as kids during the summers growing up. I did musical theater growing up so that kept us super busy. I cherish all the friendships I’ve made at the track over the years. My first friends & memories were all at the track.”

She continued by saying how important it was, even for her future.

“This is a very interesting sport,” she said. “If not for racing, I wouldn’t have had a chance to meet and marry Keith. It has its good days and bad also, maybe more bad than good. Everyone on the track is a competitor at heart, and sure there may be some disagreements, but at the end of the day, in the pits, we are all a big family who support each other. There’s no other sport out there that pulls together the way the racers and fans do. Every time we do it still amazes me to this day. When you’re in this business, you find yourself having dinner with friends during the week, not the weekends. Each family or couple has to adjust to make it work as they see fit. Keith and I don’t plan very far ahead in the summer so we can’t be disappointed but it also makes our last minute planning more exciting.”

Not just the drivers and their families give up for this sport. I had a chance to get know Race Pro Weekly Photographer, Lucas Ballard, this year as well.

“My mom got me into racing,” he said. “When I was young, it was NASCAR in my family. I didn’t go to a dirt track because they thought I was too young. I didn’t feel as kid I gave anything up because I was going to a place none of my friends did. One day, in third grade, on ‘Show and Tell’ Day, I wore my Keith Flach shirt and a kid hopped up and yelled, ‘Is that Keith Flach’ and I replied with ‘Yes.’ Ever since then, he’s been my best friend. I feel so honored now I get to take pictures for RPW. As a kid, I loved racing and photography. Now that I’m growing up, I can put the two together.”

While there aren’t many girls in racing, there are a few, and one of them has been part of racing for generations, Alissa Cody…part of the Lutes Family.

“I was born into racing,” she said. “However, I didn’t want anything to do with it until 2006 when my dad came home from a swap meet with a sprint car. That’s when I wanted to be like my dad and uncle, who also races. I could have played sports in high school. Instead, I gave them up and picked racing. I love the fact that some kids look up to me and that I get the spend time with my family at the track. I won’t attend big family events. I don’t spend time with my friends, and I even ‘tried’ to skip my high school graduation to go racing, but they weren’t going to let that happen.”

I spent a lot of time at the high banks of Lebanon Valley this year. Even with Olden Dwyer competing there weekly, I met his girlfriend, Brooke Colpack, at Orange County in April at the Hard Clay Open. We’ve been friends since and you’ll never guess how she got into the sport.

“My family grew up in racing, so I’ve always been around it,” she said. “My uncle worked on Andy Bachetti’s cars and he’s the one who really got us into it. My mom also went to school with Andy. We used to take trips every weekend to just go to the races and I’ve been hooked ever since. I gave up so much as kid for this sport. From sleepovers, school dances, soccer, softball and just spending time with my friends. They would ask to hangout and my answer every time was ‘Well I’m gonna be at a race on Saturday.’ When I started high school, everything changed. Mikey [Albreada] and I would wash panels, peel plastic off, clean the toter or just sit there and watch. Fast forward seven years. I’m now a sophomore in college and still give up just as much as I did as a kid. I love it for so many reasons. The tears. The joy. The laughter. The friendships, and now, I love being able to capture everything on my camera. You always cherish the good moments because you never know when you’re gonna be standing in victory lane again.”

While spending a lot of time in the pits, you get to talk to the spouses or significant others when the driver is busy. One I’ve gotten to talk to a lot is Samantha Heffner, wife of Modified racer JR Heffner.

“My Dad has brought me to the valley since I was five years old,” she said. “A lot of time, I forget why I love racing because it’s so intense. However, this year, a sportsman driver wrecked bad on the first lap of a feature. I watched five different crews from four different divisions try and help this driver get back out to get points. That is why I love this sport. I’m blessed that my family loves racing. My husband, our kids, my Dad and my in-laws. We may miss a couple trips to the beach, but we take them in the off-season.”

Another significant other I’ve got to talk to a lot is the girlfriend of LJ Lombardo, and Brooke’s panel-washing partner, Mikey Albreada.

“When I was three years old, my family’s business was the main sponsor on Andy Bachetti’s car,” she said. “It just grew from there. When I was a kid, I was always at the track on the weekends, especially during the summer when everyone was doing stuff. I gave up school time to go to Syracuse for Super DIRT Week, and I still do to this day, even if it’s at Oswego.”

We all give up something for the sport we love. For me, I give up working on the weekends. I’ve given up homework time, parties and other stuff while in college once I found dirt racing. During high school, I gave up my Friday nights at the track to be a manager on the Varsity Football Team, and it killed me. Now, people ask me to hangout on weekends, but it was always, ‘Sorry, I’m gonna be at the track.’ I lose sleep, but all the friendships I’ve made have make up for it. All of the father / son time I’ve had with my dad is something we bond over.

It’s all worth it in the end. Whether you’re a fan, driver, or even a media member, at the track on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday and even sometimes mid-week, you probably give everything you have to the sport, and I salute you.