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THAT MEDDLING KID

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FEATURE

LATE MODEL

Photo: Paul Arch

BOBBY PIERCE

THAT MEDDLING KID: DIRTcar Champ Just Keeps Winning

By Ashley Zimmerman

THE CONSISTENT COMPETITIVE growth and resumé of wins that belongs to Illinois’ Bobby Pierce would have any race face unknowingly assuming this already storied career belonged to a season veteran in the world of late model racing all the while belonging to the young twenty four year old driver. The 2021 race season could arguably be called one of the most successful seasons to date for Pierce. If it is a predictor of what is to come, all eyes will be on Pierce for years to come as he continues to sign his name to the pages that fill the dirt track racing history books.

Having been crowned the DIRTcar Late Model National Champion, after claiming the DIRTcar summer national championship in nothing less than spectacular Pierce fashion, it was by hot request Dirt Empire Magazine snagged some of the little downtime offered prior to the racing action at Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s Duel in the Desert. Shortly after this chat, Pierce went out and scored the $100,000 win in Vegas and we were glad we had a chance to dig inside the mind of the talented rising star of DIRTcar.

Dirt Empire: As we are nearing the very last races of the 2021 race season, would you summarize this season as successful? Considering the extensive list of wins you’ve amassed, do you feel that you’ve left any unfinished business on the table?

Bobby Pierce: Yeah, I feel like it’s been a very successful year. Last year, with COVID and everything, I feel like I didn’t really get to race all that much, and this year with being almost up to 100 races, and having twenty wins, is really important. It was something that I felt like I needed to get back to doing it, it’s been a couple of years since I’ve won a championship. Winning my first World of Outlaws race this year, along with winning the one right after that, they were both really big races to win, so that was really cool. We’ve been pretty

Photo: Jeff Bylsma

Bobby Pierce doubled his payday to $100,000 by winning the Double Down Triple Crown for attending all three XR races Bristol, Texas & Las Vegas.

Photos: Terry Page

consistent, and up front a lot of the times that we’ve raced. I feel like we’ve gotten better this year too, compared to previous years, with just learning the car more. I feel like we really had a good year with not just the wins, but just all around improving ourselves.

Photo: Jeff Bylsma

DE: With thirteen wins during the DIRTcar Summer Nationals, this season ranks as your most wins during the Summer Nationals. What do you feel were contributing factors to have such consistent success?

BP: Definitely the experience of growing up in Illinois and racing a lot of these tracks. But, we also went to some places that I’ve never been to before and ran really well. We went to Beaver Dam in Wisconsin. That was one of them we had never been to and we won, beating Brandon Sheppard and other competition. I think the more you race, as long as you can do it, and not get wore out, the more you race the better you get. It’s just like anything you do, if you do it a lot, the repetition is going to be there, it just feels like home. If you don’t do it very often, you’ll get rusty. When I was running the Summer Nationals, by the time it was over, if I took a few days off and got back behind the wheel, it was like man, this feels like forever. Just racing every day, that goes a long way. Also learning, learning everything there is that you need to know, like what you need to do to the race car through the night, all of that just goes a long way when you’re racing the competition. A huge thanks to people like my dad, obviously I run his car, Advanced Shocks, and Vic Hill Engines; I went to them this year and it seems like it’s made my program a lot better. The engines run really smooth but they also had a lot of power, too, so I had a lot of success with it. Just racing as much as you do during the Summer Nationals, that’s really key.

DE: What do you think contributes to your overall ability to stay so consistently competitive? Do you feel you do anything different than most teams?

BP: I mean, yeah I guess so. Some teams, you know, the driver races for a team, and you don’t really know how much time they are in the shop, whereas, I’m in the shop a lot. I do have my dad

Photo: Paul Arch and at least one or two crew guys all the time. But, I’m always out there, too, with them, I’m kind of detailed about certain things that I know about the race car, and I like it done my way with those certain things. I haven’t quite yet mastered messing with shocks all that much, but someday when I do, I’ll probably get kind of detailed with that, too. But, I think that helps, obviously you know what you like, you’ve been doing it for so long and you want it done a certain way, instead of just having some people do whatever, there it is, you hop in it and drive it, and for whatever reason it isn’t really quite how you like it.

DE: Throughout your late model career, you’ve visited victory lane on

many occasions and on some very large stages, what would you say remains on your list to cross off?

BP: There are a few big races that I really want to win, some that I’ve came pretty close to knocking off my list, and something just happens, whether I’ve finished second or I was leading and something happened. The Prairie Dirt Classic, I’ve been close to winning that many times, this year I was second to Kyle Larson. I was catching him towards the end of the race, and he moved back up to the top of the track, and that was it. Cedar Lake Speedway, the USA Nationals, that’s another one that I’ve been really close to winning, or at least we always seem to run pretty close to the front on the final night. Another one I want to win that I didn’t go to this year is Knoxville. All the really big Crown Jewels that I have yet to win, of course I’ve won quite a few of them already, but those other ones I’d really like to get.

DE: Is there a race or achievement that stays number one on your bucket list at all times?

BP: “The Dream. I’ve won the World 100, so I want to get The Dream, too. It has an awesome payout.

DE: Is there a moment in time during your racing career that you would do

Photo: Jacy Norgaard

differently if given the chance?

BP: You know, people ask me if I would do NASCAR. It would take a big big big check to do that, and the money would have to keep coming, there’s so much money involved to do that. But with dirt, I think they’re heading in the right direction, the fan base with dirt late model racing and sprint cars seems to be growing with all of the pay per view stuff we have going on. I’m pretty satisfied with where I’m at, as long as I can continue to make a living doing it. I say every year, as long as I keep getting better, I’m perfectly content being where I’m at trying to win as many races as I can.

Photo: Ryan Roberts

Photo: Mike Musslin

DE: Would it be safe to say you prefer racing on dirt over asphalt then?

BP: Oh yeah, for sure. That’s what I grew up racing and what I grew up watching. I was always a fan before I started. As a little kid, I loved watching it. I never really got into watching asphalt as much or really being even being around it. To me dirt was where it was at, I think when you have a great dirt race track, that’s the best racing there is.

DE: There was a period of time where you were given the opportunity to race in the NASCAR Truck Series; is there anything you feel you learned that made you better as a late model driver?

BP: For sure. Being in a truck is the fastest I’ve ever went in a race car. My

Photo: Jacy Norgaard

“As a little kid, I never really got into watching asphalt as much or really being even being around it. To me, dirt was where it was at.” ~ Bobby Pierce

first race in the truck on asphalt was at Martinsville, then Phoenix, and it was a pretty noticeable difference just the speed I was carrying. Asphalt really isn’t my cup of tea, I didn’t have much experience with being pretty new, and it was pretty shocking in the moment, but when you go fast like that, and then get into something that you’re comfortable racing, even though it’s not as fast even though your reflexes might have to be even quicker on a dirt track possible, it makes you better when you get back into something that feels like home, your own office. Anytime you can expand your versatility and drive different things, when you get back driving something you’re used to driving, typically I think it makes you better. When I raced my last truck race on asphalt, it was at Kansas, and I was really fast at the end of the race, I was a lap down I believe, it’s been so long ago, but I was the second fastest truck at the end of the race. I had to race at Fairbury in the late model the next day, I won the race, it was I think $10,000 to win, and to me everything felt just so much slower, like things around me were move slower, and it was easier to drive the car, it kind of helped me.

DE: We’ve touched on this some discussing NASCAR, but is your long term goal to stay in late model racing? Is this where you would like to remain?

BP: Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing the sport grow more. I think everyone in America knows what NASCAR is, but how many people know what late model racing is? It’s a lot lower number. I think it’d be cool to see that, but either way, I’m pretty glad with where I’m at. You know, we’re racing for a lot of money, just about every other weekend, sometimes every weekend depending on how far you want to travel. As long as the sponsors stay in the sport, and the fans stay, it’s a good deal.

DE: What driver or drivers do you feel have impacted your driving style the most?

BP: Well, when I was younger, I started racing when I was eight years old, just before I started, my earliest memories

Photo: Jacy Norgaard

on going to the track were more so modifieds. My dad built chassis for modifieds and late models then. Back in the day, heck, we had just about every single modified out there it seemed like. So, there were a lot of guys that I really watched, guys like Danny Schwartz, Jeff Leka, Chad Kinder, I forget some of the guys, but a lot of them were local modified wheel men, and they had different driving styles. Danny Schwartz, he was physically pretty crazy, kind of whatever to win, checkers or wreckers kind of thing. Jeff Leka, he actually sponsors me now, with Leka Tree Services, he was kind of smoother on the bottom most of the time. Watching those guys and cheering for them, they were my idols as a little kid. Then as I started to race and my dad was getting more into building late models, Jason Feger had his car; he was one of the first ones at the time. I didn’t really know how big of a name he was then, but he had a lot of success with it, that’s when he started to get more well known, his nickname was the High Side Hustler back then, he was

Confetti? Check. Checkered flag? Check. Huge Smile? Check. Pierce certainly enjoyed racing his late model at Iowa’s Boone Speedway.

always up the fence, and now that’s kind of what I’m doing.

DE: In September, at Eldora, there was an incident with a crew member whose actions caused your disqualification from the Thursday portion of the World 100, but since there were two World 100s this year, the immediate next night was the start of another World 100. How did you mentally cope with this incident to be able to focus on such a high stakes race starting all over the next night?

BP: That was tough for sure. The only thing that really helped me out was that I knew I had another shot at it, another World 100 to go. So, the next day was a fresh start, and luckily it was, or I would have been done for the whole weekend. It was just a bad deal. Probably the worst thing out of it all was that I didn’t even get to race at all, I didn’t get to start the heat race, and even have a shot at making the race. I don’t know if I would have, I think I had a bad invert in the heat race, so that was the other thing. I was like well, at least I’m not front of the heat. But, you know, I had to fire a crew guy, too, and beyond just the penalty, I lost good help. Unfortunately, he made some bad decisions, that’s life though, that’s all it takes is one bad decision.

DE: Going into the off season, what momentum do you look to build on for next year? What do you look to improve upon?

BP: Right now we’re building a new car. Once I get done racing here in Las Vegas, I’ll probably have my mind set on that. We still have the Dome to race, that’s in December, and we’ll be getting ready for New Mexico after that in January. We’ll have to see, I’m not sure if I’ll go to Florida or not, I might race a couple. Just try to keep improving. Definitely one thing I want to do in the off season, and I say off season, but we don’t get much of one, I’d like to learn more of some of the things I don’t have a great understanding on, try to improve my knowledge. Maybe go testing, but we race so much, that’s kind of when we test things. For next year, hopefully I can knock off some of these Crown Jewels that I’m interested in, or try to knock off as many wins as possible and stay consistent. That’s the key, you know, [being consistent] if I finished second every race, I would be down with finishing second every single

Photo: Jacy Norgaard

race, because that means you’re fast and you’re running up front. When you have those bad nights, that’s what you don’t want, you don’t want to be getting lapped or running in last place. I don’t like to finish anywhere but first, I’m kind of a sore loser, but as long as you’re running up front, that’s what you want, the wins will come.

DE: On paper the 2021 race season looks incredible for you, but what lesson would you say this race season has taught you?

BP: Keep the right guys around you, finding good help is hard. Think positive during adversity.

DE: Looking at your career as a whole, is this what you imagined it was going to be?

BP: No, not at all. Sometimes I think of everything that racing has brought into my life and done for me, things that I’ve gotten to experience; it’s been pretty crazy when I think back to all the stuff I’ve been able to do. I’ve met some incredible people as fans, sponsors, and friends. I know I’ve got plenty of stories.

DE: Of all the wins, what has been the most sentimental for you?

BP: It has got to be the World 100 for how important it was for me, but to my family also. There’s such a rich history with the event. But, my dad, that’s one even the wanted to win so badly. Everyone does if you’re a late model driver. That was definitely my biggest win and most prestigious. Once you win the World 100, you always have that title.

DE: Fitting for our last question of the interview, let’s talk about the end for a moment. If and when you decide to retire from racing, what would you like to be known for the most? What do you hope people say about Bobby Pierce as a driver?

BP: I was a hard, intense racer, and hopefully one of the best.

Pierce in his famous Scooby Doo paint scheme that probably earned him as many fans in their fifties as fans under age 10.

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