Michael Page
Anyone who has taken in very many Dirt Late Model races in the southeastern region of the country has no doubt seen Michael Page not only compete but also contend for wins on the tracks around his Douglasville, GA home. At the same time, the 38-year-old racer has been involved in helping other drivers fine tune their cars as well. In particular, the driver who has won two Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series features in his home state at the Dixie Speedway, has assisted Tyler Millwood in the preparation and maintenance of his machine on race weekends.
Page says his role in helping other teams is not part of some carefully laid out scheme but rather it has been more coincidental.
“I’m just trying to make things work,” Page explained in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “I didn’t plan on it, it just sort of happened. I wouldn’t say I’m a crew chief, we just kind of help one another. Then I just race when I can.”
Page learned how to work on race cars in a somewhat old fashioned manner.
“My dad always raced but he raced Hobby cars so he didn’t know nothing about these(Late Models) and neither did I,” he remembered. “I went for years and never even jacked a car up, I didn’t know no better. My dad always pushed me to want to win so I just had to learn and nobody really helped me. I just had to figure it out on my own. A lot of the stuff I do is different and backwards but it seems to work so we’ll just keep doing it until it don’t work no more.”
Page drove his Stinger Race Cars chassis to a $5,000 victory in last Friday’s Southern All Star Dirt Racing Series main event at the Boyd’s Speedway in Ringgold, GA. In the pit area before and during the race there was a cluster of cars parked in close proximity of each other including those of Page, Millwood, and Stinger Race Cars builder Chase King. At any given time, Page could be seen working on any of the three as crew members and drivers from the other teams could also be seen doing the same.
“It’s pretty much that way every week,” Page pointed out of the arrangement. “We just bounce ideas around and I take care of my own stuff first then help other people if I can.”
No matter how it happens, one thing is for certain- Michael Page is always competitive when he enters a race. That is due both because he is a talented driver and technician but also because he is thoughtful in choosing when and where he will race.
Michael Page in his Stinger Race Car
“I try to be competitive and I try not to go to places that I know I’m not going to be good at,” he said. “I just try to be smart. If I go somewhere, I want to have a good chance to win it or I don’t want to go there. I race to win but we all do so I don’t like running second or third. We just try hard and work hard.”
And along with being smart about his racing, Page is also content with his place in the Dirt Late Model world. He doesn’t need to race on a national tour to find fulfillment.
“This is the most I ever want to do,” he declared. “I don’t want to do no more. I just want to have a good time and I’ve done all I ever wanted to do. I never thought I could do what I’ve done but now I’ve done it. I just want to have fun and race when I want to race and go where I want to go.”
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