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View From The PAS by Scott Daloisio |
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Mike English Interview (PERRIS, CA, MAY 1 1999) You know the old saying, “Behind every good man there is a good woman?” In the case of SCRA star Mike English, he has a definite advantage. Behind him, he has three good women. His wife Lori and their two daughters Heather and Samantha. You see, racing is a family sport for the 35 year–old Norwalk, California veteran. The three English females are very supportive and they are a major part of his racing program. They are also very proud of him and do you know what? He is just as proud of them! That sounds like a great place to start the interview. S.D.:
Your family is a big part of your life and you’re racing.
Can you tell us about them? ENGLISH: I have been married for 15 years to my wife Lori. She has been behind this deal ever since I started racing. I have two daughters. Heather, who gets to come in the pits this year. She turns 14, and a daughter Samantha. She is 7. S.D.:
Last night I was talking with race your wife on the Internet and she told me you
and Heather were out wrenching on the sprint car. ENGLISH: Yeah, she was over at the race shop last night helping us out. She likes it. She can’t wait to get down here in the pits. S.D.:
Some guys do this with a lot less involvement from their family.
Does it make it easier for you to have your family involved in your
racing program? ENGLISH: Oh yeah. They love going to the races and that makes it much easier for me to do it that way. S.D:
I asked your wife is there anything I should ask you and she said, “No, just
tell him to gas er’ up and go to the front.”
ENGLISH: Yeah, she is pretty hard on me. If I don’t do good she pretty much chews me out. She wants me up front and asks me, “What’s the problem, what’s the problem? Get after it” S.D.:
She also proudly boasted that you are the best driver out there. ENGLISH: She probably has a little biased opinion there. S.D.:
How did you get involved in racing? ENGLISH: I started racing motocross. I raced that for probably 6 or 7 years. Then I did some drag racing. My dad had taken me to some sprint car races. Somebody where I worked – a place called California Milk Producers – they were racing sprint cars. That just sort of got me in there. I started crewing on Terry Singleton’s car and I helped Jerry Meyer a little bit. Before I knew it I was driving. S.D.:
Who was the sprint car driver you worked with and what kind of drag
racing? ENGLISH: Rich Koonce. He only drove for maybe a couple of seasons. He crashed and got hurt a little bit. He didn’t drive after that. The drag racing was bracket stuff. S.D.:
How long have you been racing sprint cars? ENGLISH: This is my tenth season. I started in 1989. I think I ran one or two races in 1988. S.D.:
Did you ever drive any other open wheel cars on dirt before moving into sprint
cars? Three-quarter midgets,
midgets or Silver Crown cars? ENGLISH: No. Nothing. The sprint car was the first thing. S.D.:
Was it a seat of the pants learning process? ENGLISH: Oh yeah, definitely. It is a hard road if you have never done it. S.D.:
How long did it take you to feel comfortable in a sprint car? ENGLISH: It took me a long time. I have seen guys come out here and get with it after a couple of seasons. I wasn’t that fortunate. I probably did not even start running in he top ten until about four years (after he started). S.D.:
Were you running a full schedule from the start? ENGLISH: No. That was part of the problem. I didn’t have any money. My wife got a job to finance the racecar. She made all the money to put into it. We had a real low buck deal when we first got going. We only raced maybe 15 times a year, so that hampers your progress. S.D.:
Your wife was working to pay for the racecar?
What a deal! ENGLISH: Yeah, it is perfect, right? How can you beat that? She supports me. She makes money to put into the car. She is my biggest fan. She helps so much. It makes it easy to come out here every weekend. S.D.:
There is on one problem I see with that. Don’t
tick off the owner. ENGLISH: (laughing) No, no, no. Can’t do that. S.D.:
These days, who are you driving for? ENGLISH: Mark Priestley. I have been driving for him for three years. We get along pretty good and I think we have gotten this stuff sort of figured out. It was a hard time getting it figured out, but I think this year we have gotten things turned around a little bit and we are going pretty good. S.D:
What was Hard to figure out? ENGLISH: Getting the car to where I was comfortable. I like the car to suit me real good. I am 35 and I am not going to go out there and crash er’ into the fence every week. Some of these young guys have a lot of talent and nerves of steel I guess. I know what it feels like to run into that fence and I don’t like it. S.D.:
You are 35 years old and you have been racing open wheeled cars for 10 years.
Say you had started 7 or 8 years earlier.
Would that have helped you climb up the ladder in racing?
Like a Silver Crown ride? ENGLISH: Sure. I think experience is what makes it go out here. Talent is a big thing, but I think the laps around the racetrack is what really makes the guys fast. You look at all the laps the best drivers have underneath them. That is what makes you good. If I could have started when I was 20 or 18, you know you are just going to be farther up that ladder. S.D.:
What do you think is the hardest thing about learning how to drive a sprint car? ENGLISH: It is hard to say. I don’t know. It starts to become second nature sooner or later. You don’t think about a lot of stuff you are doing out there. Probably reading the tack is the hardest thing. Getting your car right for the racetrack. S.D.:
Is that a combination effort between you and your crew or do you tell them what
the racetrack is like and how you want the car set up? ENGLISH: It is definitely a combination. He watches the car and I tell him what I feel. He tells me what he sees. We put our heads together and we sort of figure it out. Our biggest problem the last two seasons was coming to the racetrack with the wrong set up. We were always working behind the 8-ball the whole night. S.D.:
Your owner’s racing experience before sprint cars. Wasn’t he known in T.Q. racing? ENGLISH: He has been a T.Q. Midget builder for many years. His dad also owned T.Q.’s and built engines. He (current car owner) has a lot of wins underneath his belt. He crewed for quite a few drivers in T.Q.’s and they won championships. He took care of the cars. He has a lot of experience. Not so much in sprint cars. This is his first sprint car experience, but he is pretty savvy. S.D.:
You guys are doing pretty well. ENGLISH: We are doing all right. We are a third year team and we are competing with the teams that have been together for a while. S.D.:
That being said, you have had a few heartbreaks this year.
You were leading the first race of the year at Manzanita with less than 2
laps to go and blew up. A few weeks
ago you had mechanical problems here at the PAS and missed the entire program. Last Saturday you were battling Rip (Williams) for the
lead at Tulare and ended up fourth. Without
those setbacks I think you would be in the top five in points. ENGLISH: Yeah, I am sure we would be in the top five in points. But, you know, everybody gets their bad luck. We missed two races (they were at the track, but did not make the mains). Didn’t even get to run the car at two races. That definitely moved us back in the points. We feel we should have been running for the top four or five positions in the points this year. We still might. The year is young. S.D.:
What was your goal coming for this season? ENGLISH: We just want to do better than we did last year. We ran sixth in points last year and we want to get in the top five. When the season started out, and as good as it is going right now, we still might make it. S.D.:
Who is the main competition out here? ENGLISH: My buddy Rip (Rip Williams). We are close friends. He is a 20-year veteran. He is going to be out there every week and you are going to have to race him and Richard Griffin. Kruseman (Cory), he is tough. Cline (Troy) is running really good this year and Kirby (Mike). None of those guys are slouches. If you beat those guys, you did something. S.D.:
You said Rip Williams has been doing this for 20 years.
He is a good friend of yours. Do
you get a lot of tips and help from him? ENGLISH: Yeah, he helped me out quite a bit here and there. Maybe not so much anymore. We are trying to do our own thing. He definitely wants to see me win some races. It would make him feel good if we won, but he raced as hard as he could at Tulare to make sure I didn’t beat him (English pulled alongside Williams and was battling him for the lead in the main event at Tulare before a tire problem dropped him to fourth while Williams won). S.D.:
Describe your driving style to us. ENGLISH: I try not to tear stuff up. We have been pretty lucky with that. I watch guys like Shuman (Ron). He is very, very smooth, has won a lot of championships, wins his fair share of races and does not run into a lot of stuff. He keeps it on four wheels. You need that. I really admire that. Guys like Rip and Leland (McSpadden) are hard on the gas. The same with Griffin. You want to have some of that mixed in there, too. You have to have it all at the right time. I think that is the big thing. S.D.:
To me, it seems like you go your best around the inside.
You are among the best on the inside.
Is that where you prefer to be? ENGLISH: I like to go wherever the car is comfortable. The first few races at Phoenix, it was fastest on the top and that is where we ran. We were pretty strong up there. We were really fast. It is wherever the car wants to go the best and wherever I can pass cars. I have a little bit of a reputation for running the bottom. I think it takes a little bit of finesse to run down there. You can’t get er’ in too hard. You have to be easy on the throttle and you have to work it good. I guess people sort of put that name on me (running the bottom). S.D.:
But that is not a bad name. ENGLISH: No, but you know, sometimes people ask, “why do you run down there?” “Are you scared to run on top?” That has nothing to do with it. I run the car where I think it will go the fastest. S.D.:
And hopefully take you to a win. ENGLISH: Yeah. The whole idea is to go forward. If you think you can go faster on the top, why would you be on the bottom? The same goes if you think you can be faster on the bottom. Why would you be on the top? S.D.:
It does not pay more for being a hero running on top and finishing
farther back in the field. ENGLISH: That is right. Nobody looks at, “Geez, you were great on top even though you finished 15th.” If I can finish second, fifth or whatever running on the bottom, and it might take me 25 laps to get there and a lot of patience and slowly, slowly work at those guys, that is what I will do. S.D.:
Hey, you said this is your tenth season driving sprint cars.
About six years ago you put a wing on your car and went up to Petaluma
and set fast time at a NARC race. How
much wing racing had you done? ENGLISH: I think I ran that “Slick 50” thing a couple of years. Then we went and ran that NARC Speedweek. That was like six races. That was about it. That (the fast time) was probably a little bit of luck. I was an early number (to qualify). I didn’t go up there and blaze off a big lap and whip up on Kaeding and those boys. We were probably just a little lucky. We ran good. I think the first night up there I ran sixth or seventh in the main. S.D.:
Any wing racing in your future? ENGLISH: This car doesn’t even have wing spuds on it. We are a little hurting for money. We had a really good sponsor for two seasons and we don’t have him anymore. We have some good people with us, but the money is just not quite there. We are sort of going from week to week. We have plenty of equipment. Plenty of motors and all of that kind of stuff, but we need somebody to buy us a tire every week. Without money, it is hard to go do anything besides what we are doing right here. S.D.:
(laughing) Can’t your wife go get another job? ENGLISH: Yeah, I don’t know. I am not going to put that on her. She probably would. She has had an awful lot of sacrifices to get me this far. S.D.:
I am very impressed that she is behind you like that. Not every driver’s wife is like that. ENGLISH: Nope. I go racing every weekend and I go work on the car at least two or three nights a week. She goes and picks up parts for me. She does whatever it takes. Last night she brought us (the crew) dinner. It is perfect. S.D.:
What do you think of SCRA? Is it
the best non-winged organization in the country? ENGLISH: I would say that by far it is the best non-winged sprint car group. It is good. It is a bunch of good people in here and everybody gets along really good. It makes it enjoyable to come out every weekend. S.D.:
Everybody gets along. How much does
that mean to you on the racetrack? ENGLISH: It means a great deal. You know everybody and you race with them every weekend. You know who you can trust. Most everybody out there is a good driver. You can go out there and not worry about someone slamming you into the fence or something like that. It means a lot and we have a good time. I don’t have any enemies out here. I get along with everybody. S.D.:
Are you headed back to the Midwest for Ron Shuman’s World Championship Tour? ENGLISH: Yeah, as of right now we are. My car owner, Mark, his father just passed away three weeks ago. He was going to take care of some tires back there for us. That is going to put a bit of a crimp on us. We are going to go, but I don’t know how well equipped we will be back there. S.D.:
On the tour you will be going to some new racks. Do you enjoy going to tracks you have never been to before? ENGLISH: It makes it neat. You get to find out who has really got I together. You get to go to a track nobody has ever seen before and guess what to do. If the team has got it together, they will go good. S.D.:
When you are off the racetrack, what do you do for a living? ENGLISH: I manage a shop that rebuilds transmissions, rear ends and clutches for big diesel trucks. S.D.:
Now it is your turn and we are going to turn you loose.
Sponsors and people you want to thank. ENGLISH: We have a lot of sponsors. The place I work for, California Clutch and Gear. He helps me out a great deal. He buys us a certain amount of tires every month. A couple guys came out of the stands. “Big John” and Scotty, they drive some mixers. I know them from work. They came down and handed us some money. That is a big, tremendous help. A guy I worked with at my old job, California Milk Producers, he came down and handed us some money. The ABC Sand & Rock, J.J.’s (Yeley) sponsors, when we blew that motor in Phoenix, he came down and handed us some money. That was a big help. Everybody gives us a little bit. Steven L. Carter, they have stuck with us for three seasons now. They all help. S.D.:
Last item. Anything you want the fans to know? ENGLISH: If you own a company and you would want to put you name on the side of a racecar, boy, we could sure use the help. On this cool night, English came into the action eight in the point standings. He qualified 11th fastest out of 41 cars. He was in a great heat race that saw him miss the transfer spot by one. In the semi, English was a sure transfer. However, shortly after the green flag, two cars tangled going down the back chute. English was nowhere near the incident, but one of the cars collected him as he was going by. That put him at the tail of the field for the restart. From there he put on one of the best shows of the night. The friendly veteran screamed past 7 cars. Unfortunately, he needed a yellow flag to get one more car (only 6 transferred to the main), but that yellow never materialized. He ended up watching the main from the infield, but fans that witnessed his run through the semi were very impressed. Included among them were the impressed and proud women in his life - Lori, Heather and Samantha. |
