Zach Sise flanked by car owner Doc Petty and supporters
Few drivers in east Tennessee are as hot right now as Knoxville’s Zach Sise. The Sportsman division pilot has collected three consecutive wins in that class at the Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap as well as wins at 411 Motor Speedway in Seymour, Crossville Raceway and Tazewell Speedway during the current season.
Sise finds himself leading the Sportsman points at Volunteer with a total of five victories, which leads all drivers in that class. He ranks second in the standings at 411 with four wins, which again, leads that class.
His triumph on Saturday night in Bulls Gap was particularly impressive after having to start third due to a rule employed at Volunteer and 411 that forces any driver who has won two consecutive features to line up no better than third on the feature starting grid, even if that driver qualified better. Sise had actually posted the fastest lap in time-trials.
So what has provided the key to success for the 18-year-old driver in the Doc Petty-owned No. 43 car?
“We’ve been trying things to get better and better and what we’ve got figured out now is working pretty good,” Sise explained in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “We’re just keeping everything maintained and it’s all staying together for us.”
Just like he did in 2017, Sise is ending the season on a high note.
“Last year would have been hard to beat because we won ten last year,” the winner of 12 feature races in 2018 recalls. “And I felt like there at the end of the year when we showed up at the track we were the one’s to beat. I figured we would start out that way this season, but we started out kind of slow this year. I don’t think I got my first win until the end of May, but after that, things really took off and we’ve had a good year.”
Racing for Sise is very much a family affair. His brother Trevor is also an accomplished driver while father Calvin works tirelessly on the cars driven by his sons.
“My brother is my biggest supporter,” Sise insisted.” He’s always there to help me and I couldn’t do it without him. He’s taught me everything I know. He’s given me so much advice through the years on things like how to improve your driving and everything. If you’ve got a question he’ll always answer it to help me out. And my dad is so supportive and he’s always there for us. He just wants to help us succeed.”
The No. 43 of Zach Sise
Sise began driving full-bodied race cars at the age of 15 and has learned a great deal in that relatively short period of time. This has been demonstrated by his ability to adapt his driving style depending on the track at which he is racing.
“At Volunteer I like the top more but at 411 I try to bottom feed because I normally get around the bottom better there,” he explained. “At the Gap, I guess when it gets slick I’ve got good throttle control so I’m not blowing the tires off and I’m keeping it straight.”
For the remainder of 2018, Sise and his crew intend to continue racing in the Sportsman class primarily at 411 and Volunteer. But things could change next year.
“That’s the plan as of now. Hopefully next year we can branch out a little more. We’re going to try to run crates next year and learn some more and try to compete with them.”
