13 minute read
Tyler Erb
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FEATURE
LATE MODEL
Photo: Michael Boggs
WHETHER YOU LEARNED of Tyler “Terbo” Erb in August of 2020, or you’ve followed his blazing trail to victory lane from the very beginning, a few things are certain; you’ve decided whether you like him or not and you’ll always remember the name. There’s more to Erb than a few headlines accompanied by penalties. Dirt Empire Magazine was lucky enough to snag Erb for a “Terbo” charged Q&A gathering all of the details shadowed by the incident at Cedar Lake Speedway last year with Bob Pierce that launched a hundred headlines. Don’t worry, we cover that and anything else you could possibly ponder, and Erb is nothing less than candid.
DIRT EMPIRE (DE): Let’s start with the very basics and get everyone on the same page. For those, whom many only know you from the headlines of 2020, summarize who Tyler Erb is as a driver for them?
TYLER ERB (TE): Tyler as a driver is very aggressive, ruthless, and normally not going to be an old man’s type of driver. He’s not going to be someone that a legend from way back when will like, if they’re about the “respect” as they would say, I think that’s some of their angles. But - if you like hard nose, just a real person, someone that’s not fake. You know, if the microphone is in front of me, or if I’m talking to my family, or somebody on the street, I’m the same person all of the time. I’m just honest and I don’t sugar coat things; that’s not the way I was raised. Sometimes that’s a
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little bit too rough for people or too brute, but it’s just the truth. It’s hard for me to talk to or be around people that aren’t the same way as me; I’m kind of an older generation in a younger man’s body.
DE: A major headline in 2020 involved repercussions from the race at Cedar Lake. How has the suspension by the World of Outlaws changed the trajectory and planning for your 2021 race season?
TE: We never go to Volusia, so we didn’t miss much there. We’ve missed some races; obviously, there’s a $40,000-towin that we can’t go to so that kind of sucks. But, you know, we race 80-100 times a year no matter what, there’s always a race somewhere. It just opened us up to be able to go to some different race tracks.
DE: It’s kind of ironic, the World of Outlaws was founded on the theory that all of these dirt track drivers were traveling around the United States picking and choosing what races they ran based on the purse, and now after a suspension, that’s ultimately what you’re doing, running a real outlaw schedule.
TE: Yeah, I mean, we’re going to run Lucas Oil Late Model no matter what. I’ve always felt like I’ve kind of ran wherever I wanted to run. You know, I’ll pop up and race in South Carolina or Mississippi or somewhere that I really enjoy, that makes sense, because we’ll have to go there for a Lucas Oil race at some point.
A jubilant victory lane in Tampa early 2021.
It’s nothing new, but yet, it is. It’s really just what it is, we’re going to continue to race. My car owners and everybody are all on board and want to race.
DE: If you had to look back over your 2020 race season as a whole, what would be some of the positives and what would be some of the negatives that you’re building on?
TE: Our positives would be that we won four races, I think that’s the fourth year in a row we’ve won Lucas Oil races, that’s pretty cool. A lot of people can’t say they’ve done that. And you know, we’re already off to a good start again. We worked on our car; we had issues with some of the components, but we spent a lot of time working on it to make it better. Now that I feel like everything is at a hundred percent, we’re going to do better. Now that all of the pieces are there, we just have to make the right decisions more than anything. Negatives, I just wish we would not have had COVID, for sure, I think everyone in the world is with me on that one. Other than that, you know, not really. Obviously, some things could have gone another way, but I will never change anything that I’ve done in the past. It makes you who you are, so I have to live with it.
have an extremely busy schedule to manage.
TE: Yeah, absolutely. The main thing is the financial side, the work is not hard if you like it and enjoy it. You have to be committed, you know, we don’t do a lot of other activities like a lot of people do. We don’t get to go boating on the weekends. I’m in the shop every day, my girlfriend, she works on the t-shirts and tries to keep the apparel side going. Then my guys work literally 24/7; we might screw off here and there but you have to let people have a little bit of time to themselves, cause Sundays, we’re
DE: Considering the amount of time you have to dedicate to sponsors, prepping the car, and travel, you
traveling home, Friday and Saturday are race days, Thursdays can be race days, and the other days you’ve just got to be working and cleaning, getting things ready to go.
DE: What are some of your favorite and least favorite things about the racing lifestyle? How has being gone from home as often as you are affected or played into your mental toughness in competition?
TE: I enjoy going out to eat and all the different places. Getting to meet people and see different parts of the world, those are my favorite things. The thing I don’t like is that my dog stays at home, that’s really the only thing I don’t like. But, otherwise, I really enjoy going out to eat and meeting different people. You end up having buddies you can meet up with in Florida, people in Missouri, people in Pennsylvania. There are a lot of people I would never get to meet if I didn’t get to race and do the things I do. As far as the mental side, if you are a hundred percent focused on racing, I feel like you’ll never lose that edge. If you’ve got other things going on like businesses or kids, that’s where you might have a lapse, but luckily I’m not in that position right now. The staying focused part isn’t a problem for me, more than anything I get bored. I want to go race more than we can, there’s only so many races that you can physically do, you know they don’t race Mondays and Tuesdays a lot of the time or I would definitely make an effort to run them, too.
Photo: Mike Musslin
DE: How have the repercussions of the August 2020 racing “incident”, we’ll dub it, changed or affected your outlook on your competitive edge in racing?
TE: It hasn’t at all. I feel like I’m going to drive the same no matter what or who’s around. It’s just a part of racing. I feel like if you’re not competitive, you’re not going to be very good, so I’m super, super competitive. You just have to live with the penalties of that. But, as far as how I race and carry myself and things like that, I don’t feel like I’m going to change anything.
DE: Do you feel the “incident” last August has caused people to get a misrepresented idea of who Tyler Erb is?
TE: This is the thing; people that hate you will always hate you, no matter what you do. There’s a small percent of them that will still come up and say hi, but the people that hate you will always hate you. The people that like you will always like you. All it did was make those who are vocal about [hating me] feel like they got to pick their side and tell everyone. I feel like everyone pretty much knew who I was before that. I would act the same way in Walmart; it’s just the way I’ve always been.
DE: Looking deeper into the 2021 season, are there any races that you are particularly looking forward to,
Photo: Carey Akin
A young Terbo made a name for himself around Houston in his stock car.
that you’re feeling confident going into?
TE: I think Knoxville, we didn’t get to race Knoxville last year, and I feel like it’s one of my best tracks. I really like Knoxville. I just didn’t get to go last year. I feel like if I can win a Crown Jewel, that would definitely be the one I’m very confident going into. All the Illinois tracks are my favorites; we didn’t get to go to Fairbury [Illinois] last year either. Any track that’s racy and has a little bit of a cushion, that’s always my speed.
DE: What is your #1 goal for the 2021 race season? What will it mean to you if it’s achieved?
TE: I want to win 20 races and the Lucas Oil points championship. I mean they don’t have to be Lucas Oil races, but I feel like if you win 20 races, you have to be on your A game. Right now, very early in the year, we’re kind of on track. I’ve won four out of 16, so I’m one for four in races. I’m trying to continue that trend. If you win races, you win points and things like that. I feel like our consistency is pretty good, and it’s better to win and be consistent than to run eighth every night and be consistent. So, if you can sprinkle more wins in anything, you’ll succeed.
DE: You’ve raced hobby stocks, modifieds, and late models; what is it about late models that have made you stick with driving them?
TE: I think they are just the most challenging. It’s hard to be consistent every single night. It’s really good feeling when you do, do well every night. But it’s a low, low feeling when you suck. You know, there’s no one that really dominates night in and night out. Brandon Sheppard’s a perfect example of this. He’s been so good for the last four years and [through March] he hasn’t won a race yet. That’s just crazy to think, but it’s the truth of late models. It’s so hard to be consistent and be good, I think that’s what makes me want to go do it every weekend because it’s not a for sure win, but I don’t feel like I don’t have a chance. It’s just so up and down that you get obsessed with trying to be steadily fast and competitive. It’s really, really hard to do that.
DE: What makes you unique as a driver and different in your driving style?
TE: I think a lot of it is I drove stock cars. That’s what I grew up racing, some people drove just late models, and some of them started in modifieds. Driving a stock car, you really have to manhandle them, because they don’t just go around a racetrack, they’re not really made to go in a circle. I think it’s taught me a lot on how to be aggressive; when it’s muddy to get up on the wheel, it also hurts me when it’s slick. That’s something that I really had to learn to try to master, to be easy on the gas pedal, on the steering wheel more than the gas pedal. That’s probably something that’s different. You
Photo: Michael Boggs
know, I didn’t jump in a late model when I was 15. I raced two years in a stock car before I even got in one. It’s created good and bad habits.
DE: What is your favorite part of the United States you like to run in? What about those racetracks meshes with your driving style?
TE: I like Mississippi, I like the way the race tracks are. They are just very technical, there are a lot of transitions in the racetracks and I really enjoy those. You never know it could be a cushion one night, or it can be really slick, or rubber. It’s kind of like, if you don’t have the best car, you can just drive harder to win. Obviously, Florida, Brunswick, East Bay, I really like those places. Then Illinois, as well, all of the Summer Nationals tracks - those are places where when I drive harder, it just pans out.
DE: Are there any races from your past that you feel might have gotten away or left you with some unfinished business?
TE: Fairbury is one I’ve always qualified good at, and just never been able to really finish the race there, crazy stuff just happened. I definitely want to go to Fairbury and get a win. There are a lot of Lucas Oil tracks that we’ve been to - this is now my third year going to them - so I feel like I’ve got good notes and kind of figured out how to drive some of them racetracks the way they need to
be driven. I don’t have any in particular really, just all the places that I’ve sucked at in the past.
DE: What are some of your favorite career highlights and why?
TE: Obviously, every place I’ve won. East Bay is really special; I just enjoy going down there. It’s a big deal, a lot of people have won there, and this year we won and there were 80 cars there. We won two times and that was really cool. Winning Arizona was cool; you know I just like all of the places. I’ve won a race in Australia. I feel like I don’t ever get to race at a home track, so everywhere I win it’s pretty cool to just come into a place that I don’t race at and be able to win. The coolest thing I’ve done without winning is I ran third at the World 100 in 2018. That was a big deal, it was me, and an 18 year old kid as a crew guy, going to the biggest race of the year and run third and kind of contend for a win. That’s super special to me that I was able to do that without any technology help, it was just us on our own. That was probably the coolest moment that I didn’t win a race that I really remember.
DE: While you’re still very early on in your racing career, have you ever thought about what you might want to do when you’re no longer driving a race car?
TE: I want to race and make a little bit of money and kind of set myself up and build a house, a shop, and just really get to a point in my life where I can do whatever I want to do. If I want to go
Photo: Michael Moats race, I can race. You know, invest money into something that’s going to make me a little bit of money but is hands off. But, for the foreseeable future, I feel like I get better every year and I’m still learning. I feel like we’re on the upward trajectory, and as long as that continues, I don’t see any reason to try and do anything else.
