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Pulling double-duty; Troy Springborn takes on the WISSOTA and Fastrak late models

Shawano, Wis. — Racing in any late model division on a weekly basis is enough to keep any driver’s hands full, but for the last two seasons Troy Springborn has been jumping from one late model (WISSOTA) to another (Fastrak) with great success.

Troy Springborn has been racing WISSOTA-sanctioned late models for close to 20 years now, but started racing the crate models on his hometown track just two years ago. “A buddy of mine (Fastrak Great Lakes Regional Director Jeff Curtin) started Fastrak in this area and I did it initially just to help him out,” Troy remarked. “He was looking for a couple of guys to put crate engines in because we had a limited division in Shawano in year’s past. He wanted to show drivers that a crate engine could be just as competitive and still be cost-effective. Once I got started in it, we got to run some tracks down South and it was kinda fun, racing against guys in different regions. We decided to stay with it again this last year.” Springborn has entered several Fastrak national events since it’s beginning and has done well. “We finished third at the “Nationals” in 2006 and seventh in 2007. There were over 60 cars at most of these events, so it wasn’t a bad finish for us.”

Crate model programs, such as Fastrak, have sprung up across the nation. They’ve had both positive and negative reaction since it’s inception, but Springborn is a strong believer in the crate model program. “I still think there are some non-sayers out there just for the fact that every time you have rules with a program such as this, it opens it up for people to come up with ways of getting around the rules or looking at the “grey” areas. Right now I think the biggest downfall of it is not having enough technical people to inspect these motors without taking them apart every night. Nobody wants to go home at night with their engine in a bucket,” Springborn said. “The up side to this is that it keeps the cost down significantly on the motors, the compression is lower, which makes it a lot easier on the equipment and parts on the motor. Racing is expensive regardless whether it’s a late model or crate, so if we can do something to alleviate the costs on the motors I think it would help everyone involved,” Troy added. “If a guy wants to start racing late models and keep it relatively inexpensive, he can put an engine in for $5,000 compared to spending $30,000. It gives a guy a great opportunity to start out in the late model division and grow with it.”

With over 70 career feature wins and nine track championships, Springborn expects success every season he wheels out on the track and 2007 was no different for him. He finished third in points at his hometown track of Shawano, second at Seymour (Wis.) Speedway and seventh at Langlade County Speedway in Antigo, Wis. He finished in the top-20 points nationally for WISSOTA and had 11 feature wins. “It was a good year for us. The one thing I was disappointed in was at Seymour we didn’t get any feature wins there. We went from one year having six wins to this year with none. We struggled a little bit there this year; they changed the track configuration and the surface this season. We had a bunch of second place finishes, but we didn’t have a win."



At Shawano (WIS.) Speedway, Troy Springborn has experienced a
lot of success at his hometown track. – Photo courtesy of 81
Motorsports

“We started out pretty strong at Langlade County and we really wanted to win a track championship there this year. We’ve won titles at Shawano and Seymour in the past, but we never have had one at Antigo,” Springborn mentioned. “We were going real well to start with there, I think we were second in points and then we had motor problems one night and crashed another weekend there so that kind of set us back. We also missed another night because of a Fastrak race we attended. We still felt that seventh in points was still pretty good for basically missing three nights. It wasn’t too bad for us there, but it was a little disappointing as well because we’ve been in position to win the championship there before, so hopefully in the next couple of years before I get ready to retire, we can do that."

Forty-one years old and talking of retirement? “I’ve been racing since I was 16, so I’ve been doing this for 25 years already. When you think about it, as you get older, I race weekly against guys like Pete Parker and Terry Anvelink who have been around it seems like forever, I wonder sometimes how they keep doing it,” Troy laughed. “Truthfully we’re not that much far behind them if we keep going. When you look at in years and put it in perspective, it gets to be a lot longer than what a guy thinks. Doing it every weekend throughout the summer you start to think, are you an idiot for doing this? Everyone else is out doing different activities and you’re racing.”

Springborn mentioned what keeps him coming back. “Its funny, because at the end of the year you’re looking forward to it coming to an end. I enjoy the fall specials because it’s only one night of racing, not the three nights like you’re use to running all summer long. But one week after the season is over with, I’m crawling the walls. Once that competitive spirit gets in your blood, its there to stay,” Troy added.

As the 2008 season approaches, Springborn will run his WISSOTA late model for points again and also run his Fastrak crate model half of the time, like last year. “We want to qualify the car for “Nationals” again. Truthfully, I’d like to get down South a little bit and race. We had an open-motor program that kind of went south on us, we had some problems with it early and with the aluminum motors being so expensive it’s just been sitting in the shop. Depending on financial backing, I’d like to do more open-competition racing, whether it’s WDRL or UMP.”

Troy would like to thank his sponsors that include Forest County Potowatomi Racing, Scott Construction Inc., The Eye Care Place, K&N Air Filters, Gracy’s Auto Body, KAP Taxi, SHY Racing Suspension, A.E. B. Racing Engines, and Crack Filling Service. Troy and his fiancée, Jill, are also heavily involved in ATRA (Airedale Terrier Rescue Adoption), a non-profit organization dedicated to new beginnings for displaced Terriers.

Springborn’s race team consists of Tom Moesch, Pete Laska, Gary Springborn, Josh Moesch, Andy Springborn, Dennis Clark and PR and team advisor Bill Plucker.


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