EMERSON AXSOM

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SINCE STRAPPING into the seat of a Clauson Marshall Racing sprint car, seventeen-year-old Emerson Axsom has been nothing short of incredible, already securing a place in the USAC record books in just the first weekend of the 2022 racing season. What was originally planned to be a fill in moment on the team soon grew into a fulltime ride. It proved a wise decision on the part of Clauson Marshall Racing. Emerson Axsom is quickly giving proof that the rising stars of the world of non-wing sprint car racing will have the talent to follow in the footsteps of an already tough league of drivers.

With the short break between his successful Florida Speedweeks stint and the next upcoming race, Dirt Empire sat down with him for a round of #DEAsks where Dirt Empire brings fan submitted questions to your most requested drivers to get the answers you’ve been scouring the internet for. If you’d like to see your favorite driver answer your most nagging questions, like us on any social media platform and submit your question utilizing #DEAsks. Then all you have to do is stay tuned for the next issue to see if your question has been picked!

DIRT EMPIRE: Let’s start from the beginning. Last fall when you climbed in the seat for Clauson Marshall Racing [CMR], the opportunity was not long term, but for three races, so when the offer came for you to race fulltime with the team what were your emotions and thoughts?

EMERSON AXSOM: So, the very first time that they asked me to drive for them back in August for the Kokomo Smack Down, I was really excited, I’ve always

BY ASHLEY ZIMMERMAN

said that if I was given the opportunity to drive for someone like CMR or Keith Kunz, that I would be able to show my ability a lot more because I’ve never had the opportunity to drive for a top tier team and I’ve always wanted to at least try. I was really excited to get the opportunity to drive for such a great team. I never knew at the time it was only a three race deal, I just thought that we were going race, it never really dawned on me that it could be more than a three race deal. I also didn’t know that it was only supposed to be a three race deal. I just thought it was me and Tim [Clauson] kind of going racing for a little bit. When I got the opportunity to run full time this year, I was pumped even more than I was last year because I felt like I was given an even bigger opportunity to run a full schedule and really kind of figure out how to drive a non-wing sprint car.

DE: Do you think that not knowing it was a limited number of races or that a full time opportunity might be available took some of the pressure off of you?

EA: Yeah, I think that helped a lot really. I think it probably would have gone a little bit differently if I would’ve known that. I probably would’ve put a lot more pressure on myself. I’m really happy I didn’t know that.

DE: While you were in Florida earlier this February, you got the opportunity to break a couple of streaks by winning at Bubba Raceway Park, for example breaking a nearly 20 year streak of getting your first series win during a season opener and becoming the first driver to get two USAC career wins in 48 hours since 2008. What do you think made it so easy for you to find success so quickly with CMR?

EA: We went down with the midget to Florida a week earlier. It sounds silly but I think that really got me back acclimated to racing and got my eyes back ready. Just the stuff that, you don’t really get rusty on, but you forget about so running the midget there the week earlier, I think it helped me a lot. Bubba Raceway Park is already a super tricky track, so the more laps you can get on it the better you’re going to be.

DE: Given that you had a few chances to race with the team last fall before the off season break, were there things that you wanted to work on during the off season to improve on before you got back in the car this year?

EA: Not necessarily work on myself, I feel like as a young driver every time the off season happens, you naturally mature, so the next time you hit the track, even if you don’t race during the off season, you’re just automatically a lot better as a driver because you’re a lot more mature; you think more maturely and it sounds silly but that’s every time an off season happens. I only race, you know, twice during the off season – the Shootout and in the Chili Bowl, and somehow I seem to come back the next year ten times better than where I left off two races ago. I feel like during the off season, as a young driver, you mature a lot and that’s where a lot of that natural progression comes from.

DE: Prior to the Chili Bowl you competed at the Tulsa Shootout and had quite a bit of success throughout the week, do you think that success in the same building, same track, gave you some confidence that you might not have normally had going into the Chili Bowl to build on?

EA: I’m a confident driver, I feel like anyway, so I probably would’ve went in with the same attitude. But, you know, when other people are talking about me, I feel like it makes me step up my game a little bit, so after having a week of where I felt like if I opened my phone I’m getting tagged on Twitter, that just in general obviously does boost your confidence, but I feel like I’m automatically a bit more of a confident driver with all of the talk, so it did help, but I feel like I would’ve went in there with the same attitude.

DE: Let’s talk a bit more about the Chili Bowl, in an interview leading up to the Chili Bowl, you had said that anything aside from a podium finish on your Thursday night qualifying night would be disappointing. Looking back now on how that night and week went for you, would you still say you were disappointed with the finish?

EA: I’m not disappointed with the speed we had because I felt like we had a podium car. I’m disappointed with the way it played out because I made a mistake.

DE: Looking at the 2022 race schedule, is there anywhere or anything you’re particularly excited about?

EA: I want to try to win Sprint Week and Midget Week. The select amount of wing shows I’m going to get to race at I’m really excited about.

DE: Being a fulltime competitor on the USAC tour this year, what would you say is going to be the hardest part about being on the tour?

EA: So far, from what I’ve learned running the midgets, it’s just really putting a bad night behind you. Not letting a bad night carry over into the next three nights. If you’re on a weeklong tour or something like that, you have to learn that a bad night is a bad night and to move on it. It happens, so there’s no changing that.

DE: Is there any advice you’ve been given along your career this far that has been exceptionally helpful?

EA: I can’t really think of anything specific. My dad has helped me the most for sure, especially growing up racing quarter midgets and micro sprints. My dad, he’s never really ever been that guy that just absolutely freaks out on me or anything like that, but he’s hard on me, and obviously wants me to be better and wants me to be the best I can be. So, if I mess up, he is the first one to tell me that I made a mistake and I feel like that’s helped me a lot, just the brutal honestly that if I suck, he tells me why so I can go out there and fix it.

DE: Let’s talk about race day, do you have any pre-race rituals or superstitions?

EA: Not anymore, not really. I used to have a little bit, but nothing really anymore. Before they were like not eating chicken on race day, or if I had a bad night I would have to clean my helmet, just to wash all of that bad luck off, just stuff like that.

DE: What do you think has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome thus far?

EA: When I moved from micro sprints to midgets, as a young driver, that’s the first time you really start racing guys like Justin Grant, Kevin Thomas Jr, T-Mez, Brady Bacon, just all of the guys that I looked up to, that you weren’t racing against three years ago, eventually you have to luck into a good night and start thinking that you’re good enough to run with those guys even if you aren’t. I believe a lot of stuff in racing is in your head, so getting to have that first good run with USAC or even in the midget was for sure the biggest so far.

DE: While you’re still very young in your career, I’m sure you have a bucket list of races you want to compete in or win before your career is over, what are some of the top on your list?

EA: I mean obviously I’d like to win the Chili Bowl, the Knoxville Nationals, and right now the third one is probably the BC 39, its right up there with the two other most prestigious races in my opinion.

DE: What tracks on the current schedule do you think your driving style fits the most?

EA: Obviously, a lot of the Indiana tracks just because I’ve been to them a lot. I would also say a lot of the tracks we’ve already went to in the midget, if we go there with a sprint car, I’m probably going to be a lot better than expected just because I’ve had a lot of laps around there, like Bubba Raceway Park for example.

DE: You have been very vocal in interviews saying that your goal is to one day race with the World of Outlaw Sprint Car Series and being able to step up into a team like CMR has put you one step closer to that goal. If you had to map out your next steps toward the World of Outlaws, what do you think they would be?

EA: I hope, you know, that it’s with Clauson Marshall. Tim and I have kind of had a conversation about what my main goal is and what his goals are, and they kind of align. I think if I could stick with CMR and they take me to go wing racing, since you know their goal as far as I know is to have another wing program, our goals really match up. I don’t think I should be with any other team any time soon.