Jason Welshan
Astute race fans around the east Tennessee region have no doubt noticed that one particular driver has been missing from the Dirt Late Model scene throughout the summer of 2016. The familiar No. 29 machine piloted by Maryville’s Jason Welshan has been absent from the area tracks in which he has become so accustomed to racing on. Instead, the frequent winner has taken on several new roles in his life which called for a bit of prioritizing.
“We kind of had to step back a little bit and regroup,” Welshan explained in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “I’ve had some sponsors who have had some health issues that needed to be taken care of and we needed to regroup after a night at Smoky Mountain where we kind of destroyed two cars there early in the season. We’re fixing to do a little bit more racing here toward the end of this season and then I’ll get back at it like we have been in the past at the start of 2017.”
And that plan to do more racing will include a new hot rod for the veteran driver.
“We’ve been building a new race car too, and it’s probably one of the best race cars I’ve put together in the last six or seven years and it’s almost done,” Welshan declared. “I’m planning to take it to the Alabama State Championship(at East Alabama Motor Speedway) and running the Southern All Stars with it.”
But more than just racing has taken center stage in Welshan’s life.
“We just had to step back a little bit,” the 37-year-old racer reiterated. “I had some family stuff going on. I got married on May 15th and we’ve been looking at houses and trying to put family first, which is something I haven’t done in the last five or six years. I’m just trying to do the right thing for them. Emily(Welshan’s daughter) has been playing volleyball for William Blount(High School) and we’ve been doing that. I guess you could say we’re trying to get priorities straight.”
Welshan’s No. 29 machine
Welshan hasn’t been completely away from racing during his hiatus from the driver’s seat. During the summer he has served as a crew member and mentor to brothers Pierce and Mack McCarter as those two young drivers seek to rise through the ranks of dirt racing.
“I do the same thing on their program as I do on my own,” Welshan insisted. “I don’t treat it no differently. I’ve been fortunate enough to go to work for the McCarters and they’re really nice people. I just like racing, whether I’m driving or whether I’m helping somebody. I want to win regardless of whether I’m the crew chief or sitting in the seat. I like winning and those boys have real good talent. Mack, he’s usually on the throttle everywhere we go so I’m usually telling him to slow down. Pierce, he’s more smooth and consistent. They’re two totally different race car drivers, which neither of their styles is wrong in my eyes, it’s just different.”
The driver who once won more than 30 features in a single season and who has routinely collected double-digit numbers of trophies over the past decade has used his time out of the car to refocus.
Welshan has been no stranger to east Tennessee victory lanes.
“I’ve got the best of both worlds getting to work with them,” Welshan added of his relationship with the McCarter brothers. “It’s been different, I’ve liked it. I needed to take a break and really focus on what I want to do and where I want to go in the next five years. Taking the last two or three months off has really helped me clear my mind and I think we can get back to where we were in the past.”
Welshan doesn’t believe the weeks away from full-time driving has diminished his skills behind the wheel.
“It’s like riding a bicycle,” he said. “I don’t think you forget it. I’ve been fortunate enough to drive a little for Danny and Susie Yoder this summer and won my only race this year with them. As far as missing my marks or something like that, I’m not too concerned. I’ve done this for a long time so I should be able to pick right up where I left off.”
And as part of his time with family this summer, Welshan got to enjoy watching his daughter Emily compete in her first race in the Classics division at 411 Motor Speedway.
“We let her practice it up there one night and she kind of got up on the wall and almost turned it upside down, but it didn’t scare her and she wanted to race. So the next weekend we took her up there and let her race. She started seventh and finished fourth and kept the car clean and made some really good laps. I was real proud of her. We’re definitely building her one of those 602 street cars that 411 has come up with. She’s going to get some seat time in 2017.”
