Focus. To gain an advantage at any level of racing, you need to be focused on the ultimate goal. Whether turning laps against the best drivers in your weekly division or getting the car ready for action, it’s all about focus. Mike Nelson has been racing for 5 years and has spent his last 4 years steering the #85 Discount Car and Truck Rentals Mini Stock at Kawartha Speedway. Although he has yet to find his way to victory lane in a main event, the 20 year old from Peterborough, Ontario says the sport has created a hunger that keeps him coming back for more.
“There is always the chance that it could be my night – my turn to win the big race,” said Nelson. “If I take a week off, I might miss that chance. If we don’t run well enough through the qualifying heat or semi feature, I’ll never make it. This game needs your complete attention – lap after lap, week after week and race after race. Going fast is part of it, but you’re also running side-by-side with someone who needs to be just as focused as you are or the whole thing could be over in the blink of an eye.”
Nelson says he loves the fact that driving a racecar isn’t something that ‘just anyone can do’. His biggest thrill is to race hard and fast with people he trusts and enjoys racing around. Running up front with guys who will race you hard – but still give you the respect they’d want in return makes it all worthwhile for the driver of the R & J Machine/Daryl Taylor Painting/NAPA Auto Parts, Bridgenorth/ Ennismore Towing/Custom Signs and Graphics Dodge.
“It’s a give and take sport. You can be winning one week and watching your car being towed-off the track the next,” said Nelson. “You can’t let the ‘highs’ get you too high or the ‘lows’ get you too low. Things can change in a hurry – and sometimes it’s your own fault. I keep thinking back to the first night of the 2009 season at Kawartha. I was running second in the feature and the car ran out of gas. I can laugh about it now, but I kicked myself pretty hard about that for a few weeks.”
At the racetrack and in the garage, the Nelson Motorsports operation is a fairly small-scale team. The car is maintained by the driver and his father, Ralph. Occasionally, good friends Jason Wallbridge, Adam Murphy and Mark Fawcett lend a hand. Nelson, a welder and fabricator at R & J Machine says his long term plans are to move into an ACT Tour late model, but he knows that level of racing takes much deeper pockets than racing a mini stock on a weekly basis.
“Because so much of what this sport is about is driven by dollars, doing the late model deal might be something we’ll look at 2 or 3 years down the road,” admitted Nelson. “This year, we’ll run the same car we did last year – just with some different paint and graphics. Luckily, we didn’t hit anything too hard last year so we’ve had plenty of time to get things ready. I’m really looking forward to the start of the season.”
Kawartha Speedway’s 2010 10th Anniversary schedule is available now at www.kawarthaspeedway.com. The first regular night of action, which will also feature the OSCAAR Outlaw Super Late Models is Friday, June 4th.
Photo attachment: Jim Clarke – Clarke Motorsports Communications: A consolation round win and 3 top 5 finishes helped Mike Nelson earn a 5th place finish in Kawartha Speedway’s 2009 Discount Car & Truck Rental Mini Stock standings.
Prepared by: Jim Clarke – Clarke Motorsports Communications
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