Even With So Many Victory Lane Interviews, Do You Know The Real Greg Hodnett?

Column By: CARLY HENDRICKSON / RPW – SPRING GROVE, PA – It’s March 11th for the Williams Grove opener. Coming up to lap 24, he’s running third. There’s the white flag. Last chance to make a move. Down the backstretch, the black and yellow 27 car makes the move and takes home a second place finish!

Not only did I have the pleasure of meeting the driver of the car, sprint car ace Greg Hodnett, but I had the opportunity to interview him.

Ironically, I felt like I was getting interviewed. The first question was one that Greg asked me, and it was one that many others ask when they meet me.

“Are you related to Wade Hendrickson?”

I just chuckled as I usually do and say yes, I am one of his nieces.

Greg grew up in Memphis, TN and like many of the drivers, was involved in racing at an early age. While watching his dad and grandfather race stock cars & hobby cars, he wanted to race. However, Greg liked Sprint Cars, and his dad had told him he must first fully understand how it works and how it’s put together before he could race.

The car that he started driving was formerly driven by talented Mike Ward, who won 83 out of 86 races before moving to the 23s of Stan Schoff. In 1986, when he was just 16-years-old, Greg started driving a sportsman modified non-wing carbureted 360 sprint car.

“When I was younger I crashed a lot”, Greg told me.

Clearly this didn’t stop him, as his second race in this very car produced a win at Riverside Speedway in West Memphis, Arkansas.

Not only did Greg not ‘crash’ winning his second race, he also finished 32 races of the World of Outlaws season in 1993 with no crashes. That entire WoO season was a good experience for Hodnett as he ran 76 races, finishing almost all of them. Most of them being top-10 and top-15 finishes.

As a young 23-year-old without all the riches, Hodnett wanted to gain knowledge and experience from that season, and he did. He finished seventh overall in points and even earned the World of Outlaws “Rookie of the Year” title.

As Greg continued to tell me about his past and how he started racing and the different places, I told him I wanted to know more about what mattered to him. A lot of his information in his past experience and how he came about to be the fast, successful driver he is can be found on his website. So rather than repeat learned information, I changed the subject.

What I meant by what was important to him was knowing what events made an impact on his life. Perhaps many of you don’t know that growing up, Hodnett’s favorite driver was Steve Kinser. When I asked him why he had told me “Well, he’s the king.” It’s the little things like this that interested me to focus more on what Greg wanted to accomplish.

His main goal for his future is to just be able to race as hard, fast, and as long as he possibly can.

A question I ask every driver is to think back on your racing past and decide what was your favorite season and tell me why.

“That has to be in 2003 with the Apple Motorsports car because it was definitely the most fun and successful year for myself,” he said. “We had a high percentage of wins, got second for the 20th annual Kings Royal “A” feature, swept the Outlaw Weekend, and won many big races.”

Shooting to the present, many of you know Greg was in Florida in February and I was curious as to what the advantage to his racing season this would be.

“Using the track is not the advantage,” he said. “The advantage is any seat time is good, plus it really helps get everyone back in race shape and focus on what we have planned for the upcoming season.”

This made me smile, as I can remember my lieutenant saying all the cadets had to get into police shape. It was nice to know drivers felt the same sense of urgency and importance of their sport. I also got to see a more caring side to Greg as one of the last questions I had asked him was what makes being a part of the Heffner race team so great?

“Everybody on the team really wants to win and is more than willing to put in the extra time and effort to make it possible,” he responded. “The drive to be successful is not only instilled in myself, but every person on the crew and team as well.”

He had told me that sometimes when you’re driving for a team, it’s not always that way, but he feels fortunate that every member of the Heffner Race Team is devoted to the sport and the possibilities that can come with it.

Lastly, I had seen a video blog by Mandee Pauch and enjoyed her question to drivers about who they thought resembled them when they were younger. Greg could only think of one but not so much of the resemblance had to do with the way they race or look.

“I think if I had to choose, I would say little Freddie Rahmer,” he said. “Not because our driving styles are the same. As I said, I had crashed a lot when I was younger and he definitely doesn’t. However, we both have an engineering degree, we both have fathers who raced, and were both able to jump into a good situation in racing because of our dads. Those are the only similarities I can think of between the two of us that many others do not have.”

I couldn’t agree more with his choice of driver.

Though our interview time was short, and our meeting time at Williams Grove even shorter, I was impressed with getting to know more about Mr. Hodnett. I will definitely be following his success throughout the 2018 season as well as the seasons to come.

Note: I would like to thank Mike Knappenberger for taking a photo of me with Greg’s car and for introducing me to the great driver as well. I would also like to thank RPW for allowing me to start interviewing different drivers all the while being Ms. Racing Xtravaganza.

Last, but far from least, I would like to thank Greg Hodnett for taking the time out of his busy day to do the interview. Hope to see you in victory lane this season.