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MAKING RACING A FAMILY BUSINESS: Bachmans chase success while going it alone
MAKING RACING A FAMILY BUSINESS
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Bachmans chase success while going it alone
Story and photo Harold Raker for Inside Pennsylvania Motorsports
On the surface, this new partnership would seemingly face long odds in the quest for checkered flags, despite their considerable success in the past. Kyle Bachman, Selinsgrove Speedway’s all-time wins leader in Pro Stocks with 53, has a new limited late model car and hopes to return to his competitive ways. His son, Dalton, 13, has been a winner in every class of go-karts since he climbed inside a kid kart at age 4. He has left the restricted karts behind and moved into the adult classes this season. Rather than a lack of equipment, the challenge for the Snyder County duo will be their respective pit crews. More specifically, the lack of one. When Kyle tows his familiar yellow No. 99 stock car into Selinsgrove Speedway, or a few other Central Pennsylvania tracks, he will get to work with his pit crew of one — his son, Dalton. Their roles will reverse when the Bachmans pull into Selinsgrove Raceway Park, Seven Stars Speedway (Juniata County) or other karting tracks. Dalton will strap into his new open kart and Kyle will handle pit crew duties. “It’s just him and I, that’s all we have,” said Kyle, while not yet ruling out the possibility of others stepping in to help. He has been blessed with volunteer assistance from one of the best in the business, Gene Yoder, who crews for his son, Andrew. Kyle’s business, Bachman’s Auto Body, Selinsgrove, is one of Yoder’s sponsors.
THE FATHER-SON DUO OF DALTON BACHMAN, LEFT, WITH HIS NO. 99 GO-KART, AND HIS FATHER, KYLE, WITH HIS NO.99 LIMITED LATE MODEL, ARE SERVING AS EACH OTHER’S ONE-MAN PIT CREW THIS SEASON AS THEY CHASE CHECKERED FLAGS AT SELINSGROVE, SEVEN STARS AND OTHER AREA SPEEDWAYS.
“They will always give up time on their car to come over and help us and I really appreciate that,” Bachman said. He added, “Gene will come over and look at the car and in just like two minutes he will find something wrong that we did. “That’s very important, and you’ve gotta have that, somebody who is there to show you what to do,” he said, noting that the Yoders’ top priority is to put their own car in victory lane. “Last year we had a bunch of guys, but people come and go, and they all have their reasons. I appreciate every one of them who has helped me, and I will never complain,” he said, adding that he sometimes wonders why someone would want to bust their butt when most of them don’t get paid. Kyle also gets help from Miller Racing Engines, the only major business that appears on the hood of his car, but there also some smaller contributors. Yet he stops short when it comes to recruiting a pit crew. It’s never been the 49-year-old body shop owner’s forte. “Some people can sell tomatoes to a woman wearing a white dress, or as they say, a freezer to an Eskimo, but that’s not me,” he said. He and Dalton have a checklist covering virtually every detail and do as much preparation as they can so that they are ready to go when they hit the track. “I’m sure we’ll figure it out and play that as we go,” he said. Kyle acknowledged that having Dalton as his lone pit crew member puts a lot of responsibility on a 13-year-old, but he is confident in his son’s ability. Dalton said he is not nervous about the extra responsibility. “It’s like (my dad) says, we have to get into a rhythm, and I have to see what I have to do and get it done, and be there when he needs me,” Dalton said. Kyle added, “The big thing is understanding the car and what it’s doing and being able to communicate and that’s what I’m trying to get him to understand.” He added, “Andrew Yoder can come in and tell his dad what (the car) is doing and to watch those two guys work you don’t have to wonder why they win so many races ever year. “Gene is a genius with it and Andrew knows that car inside and out and that’s what I’m trying to get him to do as well,” Kyle said of Dalton. “Some day maybe I will be the
guy standing in the pits and sending him out there.” Racing limited late models or super lates are much different from Bachman’s old rides, the pro stocks. “These are very technical. They’re not the old leaf springs, not as forgiving,’’ he said. He said many of the competitors are veterans of super late models and “you have to be on your game with these guys.” Meanwhile, Kyle determined that it was time for the youngster to move out of the restricted kid karts. “I have all the confidence in the world that he will (succeed),” Kyle said. “He’s a veteran. He’s already been racing for nine years. Some of these adults have only raced one year. He’s turned more laps than probably most of them on the track,” Kyle said. Talking about working traffic and going faster than he usually did, Dalton said, “Through the years I experienced all that kind of stuff, and I was able to problem solve with it. If you pull up on somebody and try to pass, you have to figure it out and that’s kind of what I’ve done through the years. “It’s just with the opens, you have a little more power and if you make a mistake you can recover from it,’’ Dalton said. Both Bachmans realize that seat time is critical to become successful. Kyle said he follows a philosophy espoused by one of the all-time great dirt- track racers, former World of Outlaws sprint champion Doug Wolfgang, who said that if you are not in a race car every chance you get, you are not going to be a race driver. Dalton got his start in the sport when he attended his first race, at Selinsgrove, the day after he was born, said Kyle, noting that as a youngster he loved watching the sprint cars. Their time spent at the racetrack has obviously evolved since then and Kyle said, “Being in the winner’s circle and having your kid with you is a great experience.”
Does it get any better than that? “After (Dalton’s) his first win, it was more exciting for me than my wins,” Kyle said. Like many of his contemporaries, Dalton played a variety of stick-and-ball sports before his true passion took over. “I played baseball and football and I would shoot a basketball around,” the Selinsgrove eighth-grader said. “But racing was more up my alley. I have been around it more than all the other sports,” Dalton said. “I still like football. I like to watch it and sometimes I will throw a football around and play basketball but (playing organized sports) is a different deal. Racing is a fun thing to do, and a fun thing for me.” As the racing season got under way earlier this month, Dalton was undecided on his plans, but said he would likely race where the kart counts are the highest and, consequently, the competition is the best. That could be Selinsgrove Raceway Park, where he cut
— KYLE BACHMAN
his karting teeth and has won a lot of races. But last year, he ended up racing more events at Seven Stars because of rainouts at SRP. He said he is not starting the season concentrating on winning a championship, but added, “Maybe if it came along, I would like to win a championship.” “I’d like to get a couple of wins,” he added. Kyle said, “I’ll take him wherever he wants to go — Seven stars, Selinsgrove, either one is OK. He really shines at Selinsgrove, but Seven Stars is every bit as good too.’’ Both race Friday nights, with Kyle racing his stock car on Saturdays. Kyle doesn’t have too many goals for his own racing, but he wants to show that he can be competitive again after a few sub-par years. He was struggling with his old car and hopes he can transition well into the new ride. He saw a lot of positive signs when testing it this spring at Port Royal, with Yoder helping to guide the way. “I am just looking to get more consistent, but we’re all in there to win. If you’re not there to win, why bother to show up. “I would like to be more consistent so that I can gain more confidence in the car.’’ Kyle was the king of the pro stock during in the early 2000s but took four years away to race 358 sprint cars, a division in which he posted one feature win. He added more wins after returning to the other side, but with Selinsgrove dropping the pro stock class from the program after the 2018 season (when Kyle won the title) as a weekly class, it was time to move up to the limited late models. Kyle is not considering retirement just yet but said he would step away if he were no longer competitive, and become a crew chief for Dalton, perhaps in Kyle’s stock car. “As long as I can turn the wheel and I am having fun at it but, if not, and I’m just out there to turn laps, there is no point in going.’’ He said, “I learned a long time ago you don’t get too cocky, and you try your best and accept what comes and keep moving on.’’
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