Short Track Stars – Jake Timm

short track

STARS

Winona, Minnesota

Photo: Buck Monson

JAKE TIMM - LIVING THE THUNDER

by Bert Lehman

I WAS KIND OF BORN and bred into it.” That’s a fair assessment for any third-generation racer. His grandpa, Bob Timm Sr., and his dad, Bob Timm, raced before him. “It’s been a huge part of our family; all three generations have grown up racing and being around it,” Jake Timm said.

Just before he became a teenager, his parents purchased a tri-oval speedway in Fountain City, Wisconsin, in 2008. They converted the track to a regular oval and have been operating it as Mississippi Thunder Speedway ever since.

“I spent a lot of days over there,” Jake Timm recalled. “I had dirt bikes and fourwheelers and I always went over there and ran around in the pits and the woods over there. I grew up mowing the grass for a summer job. It was kind of a home away from home. I spent a lot of time over there over the years. It was always my job to water Thursday nights, so they got moisture into the track,” Timm said. Chances are Timm’s racing career would have eventually found its way to cars, but a broken bone as a youngster helped cement that path. “When I was about four years old, my grandpa got me a little dirt bike. As soon as I could comprehend it, I was into it,” Timm said. “I raced dirt bikes for probably three years. I actually crashed my dirt bike and broke my thumb and dad decided it was time to get me on four wheels and we did kart racing,”

Timm, 23, got behind the wheel of a B-Mod when he was 13 years old and won races right away. After only one year racing a B-mod, Timm got behind the wheel of a modified. “That was probably the biggest step in my career. When I made the switch to an A-mod, it took a while for me to get the hang of it. I think it took me six or seven years to get my first win. Once the first one comes, it seems like the next ones come a lot easier.”

Timm spent some time traveling with the USMTS Tour and, after establishing himself as a top mod racer, he achieved another goal of his in 2019 when he added a dirt late model to his racing stable. “I never really believed it was going to happen or that it would be a possibility, just because it’s such a high rank and

Photo: Buck Monson

such a big investment,” Timm said.

The influx of high-paying late model shows in the area helped convince Timm to get a late model. “I know my dad always kind of wanted to get me in one. It just kind of worked out,” Timm said. “There was a car for sale at (Jimmy) Mars’ shop and during the 2019 season, we went and got it. I ended up winning the first race out in it, so that was pretty cool.”

The late model race Timm won was a Dirt Kings Late Model Tour race at his family’s Mississippi Thunder Speedway. “That was an awesome night,” Timm said. “I didn’t expect to win that race. My goal was to just make it (to the feature) going into it, so it was pretty amazing. It was just pure excitement and disbelief and joy. Dad and the whole family, and pit crew and everybody all kind of felt the same, in disbelief and super-happy.”

Despite making it look easy by winning his first night in a late model, that wasn’t Timm’s impression. “I got lucky and I drew the pole, so I got to start out front on a track that I know. That’s probably the only place in the country I can go

Photo: Buck Monson

and have more experience than some of the top guys in late models. It just kind of worked out for us that night. It’s definitely not easy. It’s the hardest level of competition I would say.”

Timm may say there was some luck involved in his first late model victory, but he backed it up with two more feature wins early in the 2020 season. “One thing about the late models, it seems like from track to track you have to know what adjustments to make and how to drive them. It has a bigger effect on how you do in a late model. In a modified, you can go from track to track and not change a whole lot; just kind of drive it how you would at a lot of different speedways. With a late model, you have to be on top of everything. You miss the set-up by just a little bit and you’re going to be off the pace.”

Even with the success in the late model, Timm isn’t ready to give up racing a modified. “From a driving standpoint, it can throw you off a little bit,” Timm said about doing double duty. “The way the cars drive differently, it can throw you off for a few laps before you get back in the rhythm. The biggest thing is staying on top of everything throughout the night with two cars. I have to thank my pit guys and everybody for making that possible. They bust their butts when we have two cars and there’s really no down time in our pit stall. I have to thank them for making that possible.”

Whether it’s racing a modified or a late model or both, Timm said his biggest supporter is his dad, Bob Timm. “We race out of his shop. He’s out here (at the shop). He can’t sit on the couch and watch TV, so when he gets bored, he’s out here working on this thing every night. I don’t think he’s missed a race this year. Over my whole career, he probably hasn’t missed more than a handful of races. He’s a pretty amazing guy. I wouldn’t be doing this without him, that’s for sure.”

Photo: Scott Swenson

GROWING UP RACING

“I grew up mowing the grass for a summer job. It was kind of a home away from home… It was always my job to water Thursday nights so they got moisture into the track.” – On his family’s Mississippi Thunder Speedway. For more info on the speedway, visit their website: www.mississippithunder.com