Vic Hill
Vic Hill has many roles that he performs in racing. He is one of the most noted Dirt Late Model engine builders in the country. He offers advice and services for chassis set-ups. He builds engines for off-road truck racers. And as of a year or so ago, he began serving as somewhat of a mentor for young Canadian driver Ricky Weiss.
But until this past weekend, racing fans around the east Tennessee area had likely noticed that driver Vic Hill has not raced very often so far in 2017. But according to the Mosheim, Tenn. racer, that is about to change.
“It’s definitely a time to reload,” Hill said in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “I’ve got a lot of stuff in my personal life going on and that took top priority. With that being said, I just took my time and told Ricky and Shawn(Gage, crew chief) to race and I’d put this one together and it would take me a little longer.”
Over the next couple of weekends the 53-year-old driver will be hitting the track frequently as he plans to take on the top racers in the country in the continuation of the postponed Spring Nationals race at Smoky Mountain Speedway on Thursday and in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event at Tazewell Speedway on Friday.
Beyond those races, Hill’s schedule is basically at the mercy of his other duties. He often has to travel to the western part of the United States in support of the off-road truck racers who use his power plants.
“We just look at it as it comes because I’m traveling more and more now with the off-road trucks,” Hill explained of his own racing schedule. “I was out there last week as a matter of fact. I think during the middle of the Southern Nationals this year I have to be in California. If I’m not out there, I’ll run the whole thing again. My schedule for the last three or four years, I’ve been running about 25 races or so. I’ll still do that this year.”
Vic Hill raced this new car last weekend
Hill typically circles two race dates on his calendar each year. However, those particular events have caused some degree of concern for the 2006 pole sitter for the World 100.
“I’m planning on going to Eldora to run both of those races but I don’t know about welding a big sheet of metal on a chassis I just paid $7,000 for and then bring it back here and have to cut and do whatever,” Hill insisted. “We’ll see how that goes with the rules up there at Eldora but I like going up there for the Dream and the World 100. And at the end of the year, if it’s warm I’ll go to some of these late season races.”
Fans get the opportunity to see Hill when he’s doing his thing on the track. But what sort of duties does the engine builder have on a regular basis from Monday through Friday in his shop?
“As far as the cylinder head development, the intake manifold development, and we’re testing now with O2 sensors in all eight cylinders on the race track and at the shop so I’m doing all of that,” Hill pointed out of his responsibilities as the head of Vic Hill Race Engines. “I guess I’m the leader of the deal is the easiest way to say it. I’ve got a good group there that work well together all the time. I just kind of manage that and make decisions as far as what direction we’re going to go with what engine program.”
While the demands on his time are great, Hill still finds a way to get things done.
“It’s tough to do as much as I try to do with the engine shop and all the other stuff,” he said as he stood near his new Longhorn Chassis. “But like I said, I’ve got a good group of guys around me that help me succeed in doing a lot of that stuff. This car here, it was fun for me. It took me a month or so to put it together but I’d go over at night and work four or five hours. When it got closer Ricky helped me on a couple of things.”
Hill racing with Michael Page this past weekend
The five-time track champion at Volunteer Speedway may have a lot on his plate, but he still has a competitive fire that burns whenever he straps into a race car. At the same time, however, Hill wants what is best for dirt racing and he has concerns about some of the things that have happened in regard to new rules and regulations over the past couple of years.
“I love it. That’s the reason I do this. I love this sport. Some of the direction it’s taking right now, I don’t know that it’s the right direction for this sport and the amount of funding that makes this sport go around. I think a lot of the aspirations to move up in this sport are getting tougher and tougher because financially there’s some technical information that costs a lot of money to compete at the top level. I think that at the top level if they want to get a Ricky Weiss or someone like that to move up there they need to simplify that a little, and they could with these cars. Before it gets really out of hand they could fix some of it.”
