Racing has been a family affair virtually since its beginning. Fathers, sons, brothers, wives, daughters, uncles, aunts and grandparents are almost always listed as contributors to any driver’s success. At the same time, there can be challenges involved in racing with close family members working together under high pressure in close quarters.
Because of their familiarity with each other, racing relatives may be more apt to bark at one another when times get tough. But those successes enjoyed by a team comprised largely of family members are often sweeter than those experienced by team members who are only tied together by similar shirts or the fact that they happened to ride to the track in the same hauler.
Mike Hedgecock is a longtime engine builder and the patriarch of a racing family that includes his son Chad who serves as the crew chief for driving grandson Cory’s No. 23 Dirt Late Model. The team has experienced tremendous success in east Tennessee and throughout the southeast, including the 2016 NeSmith Dirt Late Model Series championship.
Mike, Chad and Cory Hedgecock in victory lane together
“It can be tough,” the senior Hedgecock explained in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “There’s a lot of days where things don’t go real smooth and that can be good and bad both. But honestly, you certainly get close and stay close. All in all, I think it’s a benefit.”
The Hedgecocks are a particularly close racing family. Not only do they race together on the weekends but they work together in their Eagle Racing Engines shop on a daily basis.
“We work together everyday,” Hedgecock pointed out. “We all live in Loudon(TN) and the race shop is down in Sweetwater so we leave work and then go to the race shop. The next morning we’re right back together again, seven days a week.”
Is there a difference in the interaction between the Hedgecocks on Monday through Friday as opposed to when they get to the race track on the weekend?
Cory Hedgecock
“I don’t know that there’s a big difference,” Mr. Hedgecock declared. “I certainly make more decisions at the shop than I do here because Chad and Cory do a lot of the racing deal. Chad’s real good on chassis and suspension and Cory’s an excellent driver. We all have a good background in building engines. We all work together and have teamwork. We use each other’s opinions.”
Working among people who are so close can potentially add to the friction within the team but it can also make the celebrations even sweeter.
“I think it goes both ways,” Hedgecock said of the highs and lows of racing with family. “Sometimes it probably causes some friction because we are so close and when you have an opinion it’s heartfelt. You’re really trying to say exactly how you feel. As far as if it were a customer, you have to give an opinion carefully.
“When we have a good weekend, we all enjoy it and feel good,” he added. “But yeah, if one of us has a problem or we have a bad weekend racing, it affects all of us. It’s all good and I wouldn’t change it.”
The racing Buckinghams share many of the same sentiments as the Hedgecocks.
Shanon Buckingham serves as the driver for the Double Down Motorsports team while his father, Tom, offers assistance as the team’s crew chief. Shanon has experienced success as a driver while Tom has won numerous races as a crew member for both his son and former Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series regular John Blankenship among others.
Shanon Buckingham is relishing the time he now gets to spend with his father on racing weekends.
“I remember being here a couple of weeks ago,” Buckingham recalled. “We’re in line and everybody’s stressed because you want to do good and I saw him watch the track and run back to give me information. I just had one of those moments where you just stop and smile and appreciate that because you know it’s not going to last forever. Any time you spend doing something that’s fun is always good.”
Tom(left) and Shanon Buckingham
But even though Buckingham enjoys the moments at the race track and in the shop with his dad as well as with wife Amanda, there can be some trying times as well.
“On the flip side, you’re going to be harder on the people you’re close to when things aren’t going good,” Buckingham admitted. “They’re quick to pinpoint things I’m doing wrong and I’m quick to snap back and be grouchy. My wife and my dad say I’m more hateful to them than anybody, but they’re the two closest people to me so it’s easy to growl at those people. But it’s all good. If you’re away racing and your family isn’t with you, you feel like you’re leaving a place that you shouldn’t. If you’ve got your family there, it’s one less thing to worry about and you know they have your best interests at heart.”
And like the Hedgecocks, Buckingham points out that racing with relatives close by makes the sweet sweeter and the bitter even more so.
“The highs are higher and the lows are lower,” the winner of the 2017 Cabin Fever race at Boyd’s Speedway insisted. “When I was younger, me and my dad didn’t spend a whole lot of time together because he was on the road so the older I got, the more we spent time together. You learn to appreciate it and you’re competitive.”
Buckingham again recalled the time in which he sat behind the wheel of his car and watched his father walk toward him with information about the track conditions.
“When he was walking down the hill the other day, I knew what he was going to say and I knew it wasn’t going to help me on the track because sometimes the way he sees things and then the way he translates them, you just have to know him,” Buckingham said with a laugh. “I tell him all the time that if people don’t know you, they can’t have a conversation with you. But I just sat there and smiled because I’m just thankful that he’s healthy and happy and can go do this stuff. I’m trying as I get older to just appreciate those times.
Shanon Buckingham’s No. 50
“He’s no doubt my biggest fan,” Buckingham continued regarding his dad. “It used to be that he would harp on the negative stuff, but now the older he gets, he looks for the positive. He’s trying a little reverse psychology on me, I think.”
Shane McDowell became the owner of his own race team during this past off-season after he purchased what used to be known as Team Dillon Racing. He now finds himself in the position serving as a team owner while also maintaining cars for his brother Dale McDowell. He also works closely each day with wife Sara, who handles much of SMR’s administrative duties.
Unlike the other racing relatives who work both at the track and in the shop together, Shane McDowell does not have that same luxury.
“Sara takes care of all the paperwork but it’s definitely never ending,” McDowell explained in a previous interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “You never get through, you just get to a stopping point and you load up and go race. It’s pretty grueling. It seems like if there was one other person in the shop things would go three times as fast. Some days, I don’t really have much help in my shop with me still being in North Carolina and Dale being in Chattanooga. He’s never at the shop so that makes it a little tough. Everything in the shop, if I’m not doing it, it’s not getting done.”
Shane & Sara McDowell(left) flank Dale McDowell in victory lane
The McDowells have seen tremendous success as a team. The Dirt Late Model Dream and numerous national touring series wins can be listed as just a few of their achievements together. But with that comes the fact that both driver and crew chief have extensive knowledge of what works on the race car. That can have both positive and negative effects for the team.
“Sometimes I think we spend a lot of time chasing a feel,” McDowell explained. “But Dale’s very open-minded as far as asking if his lines are right and his angles are right. Dale knows enough about the cars that sometimes I feel like when we go test that it’s hard to get a true result on the test.”
SMR picked up its first win in an unsanctioned Super Late Model event at Smoky Mountain Speedway on April 1, 2017.
