Brad Hall
Brad Hall has had his time as one of the top racers in the east Tennessee region. However, the resident of the Halls community in North Knoxville has been away from the driving side of the sport for the better part of three years as he worked as the race director at his father Gary’s Tazewell Speedway. Now, the 36-year-old is in the process of returning to the driver’s seat, and he believes he knows the key to success.
“Racing is so much about confidence,” Hall insisted during an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “Your group of people who go to the track with you have to have confidence in the driver, the car, and the stuff for it to go out and be good. That’s just the way it is. That’s just sports.”
To find that confidence, Hall is sorting through various combinations looking for the right feel to put him back at the front of the pack. The driver currently has two cars to work with- a Rocket Chassis he recently purchased from fellow east Tennessee racer Mark Douglas and a MasterSbilt he acquired from a person in Virginia who had decided to get out of the sport.
“I’m actually swapping motors out from the Rocket car to this older MasterSbilt right now and that’s what I hope to have at Smoky Mountain on Friday night,” Hall explained. “We’re going to race it this weekend to try something different and try to get over the hump. We’ve haven’t quite found the feel I’m looking for yet. A lot of times you’re just looking for a combination- this motor in that car, these shocks in that car- to give you what you’re looking for.”
After having only driven a very limited number of times over the past three racing seasons, Hall is working to acclimate himself to the changes in technology that have taken place in that time and to shake off any driver rust that might have built up while he was watching races from high above Tazewell Speedway.
The MasterSbilt car Hall hopes to drive this weekend at smoky Mountain.
“Three or four years ago we weren’t doing what we’re doing now,” he admitted. “I’ve been to several race tracks this year and I’ve seen several different types of conditions. I’ve gotten some pictures in my head of different situations and it’s been good. Can I say that I’ve knocked the rust off? Well, we’ve been on the front row twice and we haven’t led a lap yet. My wife and other people around me tell me that I’ve not raced in a while and that I shouldn’t be so hard on myself, but to me, I’m not satisfied.”
And once again, Hall’s comments returned to the importance of confidence in racing.
“One thing about racing that I believe, and I’ve experienced it by spending time around some of the best racers in the business, is that you’ve got to have confidence,” he reasserted. “If you don’t feel like you’re going to go run good, you’re not going to go run good. If you feel like you’re going to go have a bad day, you’ll have a bad day. It’s not any different than your everyday life, like someone playing golf. If you’re convinced that this set of golf clubs is the reason you don’t play well, you’re probably not ever going to play well until you get another set of clubs, whether that was actually the reason you weren’t playing well or not.”
But there are some key elements Hall does have in place that will ultimately allow him to return to Victory Lane for the first time since ‘The Hangover’ at 411 Motor Speedway on January 1, 2012.
“I couldn’t do this without the help I get from Phantom Race Engines, Pilot/Flying J and my wife’s Tazewell Chiropractic Center,” he said. “And I’ve got some really good helpers who come to the track with me and sometimes they’re able to come over and help me at my house in the evenings. But most of the time it’s me, my wife, and my dog out here working on the car.”
The Rocket that Hall bought from Mark Douglas
