CRAIG WHITMOYER JUST KEEPS BEATING THE ODDS

BY RANDY KANE

AS THE FINAL LAPS of the 2021 racing season clicked off at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania, veteran Craig Whitmoyer was already looking ahead to 2022.

The 46-year-old chauffeur had just completed his second full season steering a solidly-backed 358 Modified machine, finishing tenth in the overall season-long points race, following a good two-dozen or so campaigns wheeling his own sportsman rides and a handful of partial efforts aboard a 358 modified, which ended earlier than expected for a variety of reasons.

“In 2021, I had good equipment, but we struggled to begin the season,” said Whitmoyer. “From June on, we ran well. At the start it was hard to get going because of the handicapping system at Grandview. Some weeks I’d miss the invert and start maybe 23rd in the feature. We’d come from 23rd to maybe fifth and have a good run, but it wasn’t easy because the bigger boys always started in front of us. Passing them wasn’t that easy, most nights.”

“Everyone there now runs Bicknell cars and I switched to a HigFab chassis in late August to end the season, running it to finish out the year as a sportsman car. I liked how it handled and Jerry Higbee Jr. has really stepped up and helped us get a good-running piece. I ran twice at BAPS, once at Bridgeport and twice at Five Mile Point in the end of the season big-paying events. We bought a new HigFab chassis car for 2022, which we’ll run in 2022 as our primary 358 modified car. Jerry’s been giving us all the knowledge we need to be better than the rest. He builds a good car,” Whitmoyer said.

In 2022, the plan is to return to fulltime 358 modified competition every Saturday night at Grandview and to include as much other 358 modified racing as the team budget will allow on Friday nights at Big Diamond Speedway in Forestville, Pennsylvania, plus add in a little traveling maybe to Bridgeport Speedway or other tracks, as time permits, thanks to backing from race team owner Tony Struss.

“For a good 20 years, I raced weekly in a sportsman car with my own money,” said Whitmoyer, who’ll enter his 29th consecutive season behind the wheel in 2022. “There aren’t a lot of people who can say that. I’ve heard what a lot of people had to say and I really didn’t listen to all that. They really don’t know what goes on. I raced often with a lot of other people’s junk. With a 358 modified team, you can’t do that.”

The resident of Hamburg, Pennsylvania raced hard throughout his career, getting the desired results through lots of honest hard work. Basically, Whitmoyer was always the one person paying the bills and doing it year-after-year in the Sportsman division. Running all those years in one division kind of made it a little easier, however Whitmoyer hoped for and wanted more.

“There were several years I thought I could move up to a 358 modified, but I couldn’t support the full season racing on my own finances,” commented Whitmoyer. “I tried and failed a few times but finally I have Tony Struss helping me. You need the right type of help to do things right. Running a sportsman car, you learn a lot that you can take on into 358 modified racing, but you can’t race with a lot of used stuff if you intend to be successful. Running weekly in a 358 costs you three times as much to be successful. When things break in the 358 division , those bigger teams replace parts with the good stuff, not used flea market stuff. The bigger teams are looking for results and using new stuff as replacement parts improves your odds. If, for example, you run a 20-race season, you’ll have maybe five real good nights. Simply put, racing with lots of used parts cuts down on those nights. You figure a 20-race schedule at Grandview you’ll have Craig Von Dohren grab maybe five wins. You also have Duane Howard and Jeff Strunk and each of those can win five as well. That only gives you five nights left to win as often as you can.”

“In 2022 the plan is to return with a 2022 brand-new HigFab chassis as the 358 Modified car I’ll race with on Saturday nights at Grandview and use it there again. We also have a 2020 Bicknell chassis and that 2021 HigFab chassis I brought out a handful of times at the end of 2021. In those cars the engines are Leindecker Race Engines in Center Valley, Pennsylvania. I want to put the brakes on the 358 modified racing and not overdo things. I tried that before and ran myself out of money in a hurry,” said Whitmoyer.

To get the true feeling of why Whitmoyer is feeling so comfortable and happy with his surroundings these days, you have to rewind the tape and go back to the beginning to get the true meaning of what it is that he is saying. It’s been a long, hard climb up the mountain to get to where Whitmoyer is standing, today.

“When I was 17 I was working on a meat grinding machine, just taking things apart to clean it and I got my right hand stuck in it,” offered Whitmoyer. “Now, I am left-handed and have a prosthetic right arm. I was always able to adapt to situations and challenges and, honestly, it never really bothered me. I just immediately learned how to do everything using my left hand. I never looked back or felt sorry for myself or thought how much harder things might be for me. It’s the only way I know how to do things. There was no way I could do things any other way. I just learned how to do things.”

“In 1994 we just went ahead with plans to build a roadrunner car to race with at Big Diamond and went full speed ahead. I raced a full season and did pretty good but none of us knew anything about a roadrunner car. We knew a lot about sportsman and 358 modified cars, so, in 1995, we built a sportsman car and went racing. My car has never been different from any other car. I’ve never raced with a steering wheel knob or anything else like that. I believed that there wasn’t anything I couldn’t do that anyone else was doing so our cars were built the same. I even went out and got myself a CDL license and, for years, made deliveries driving a tractor and trailer.”

“I worked about 10-years as a machinist and, for me, it was normal to drive the race car using one arm. I never did it any other way so there was nothing to compare it to. Today, everybody just calls me “Hook” and that’s fine with me. Every once-in-a-great-while I get some real sour grapes reaction from other drivers because a guy with one arm beats them. They get upset, but I just keep moving forward and do what I need to do to keep moving forward,” said Whitmoyer.

In his impressive career, Whitmoyer has been crowned as sportsman division champion at the spacious Big Diamond three-eighth-mile dirt track in 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2010. In 2010, in addition, Whitmoyer topped the Thunder on The Hill mini-series points crown at Grandview. Whitmoyer also is tops as the all-time career Sportsman feature winner at Big Diamond.

Whitmoyer has, on several occasions, built cars for other drivers who have competed against him. “I’ve built cars for others and maintained cars throughout the season for others, too, and everything I did for all those years put me where I am today,” said Whitmoyer. “I’d give 100% preparing cars for other guys and it left little time to prepare my own rides. The 2022 season is my 29th season in racing and I am anxious to finally race every weekend with the 358 Modified guys, which is where I’ve always felt I belonged. I’ve got three great kids and family supporting me. It’s great having your family behind you. I’ve worked my tail off to get where I am now and things are finally paying off for me.”

“We just go out there every weekend and go racing,” said Whitmoyer. “I love driving and my family will tell you about spots in the yard where when I was out mowing I burned off the grass from just going over it again and again. I just love driving and we take what we can get out of each race and move on. We give it our best every night out there. I’ve finally got a great supporting cast behind me and I’m out to get the most I can out of it each weekend.”