Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Kenny Conversation | Meet The Great Dirt Racer Known as "Squirrel" Brian Shirley!

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Kenny Conversation | Meet The Great Dirt Racer Known as "Squirrel" Brian Shirley! · Kenny Wallace Media

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We have to figure out how to get the working man that makes an
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honest living, that wants to use his little bit of extra money to
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get back into something that is his hobby.
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We have to figure out how to get that guy invested in our sports,
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you know, in the sport again. Because at the end of the day, I
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feel like the way our sport is going, we're losing that man.
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It's the Kenny Wallace conversation brought to you by
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Jags. Hello everyone and welcome back
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to any conversation brought to you by Jags, the leader in high
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performance aftermarket car parts.
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Remember to go to jags.com for anything you need to fix your
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hot rod up and right now they have Jeep parts and truck parts
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in stock. You are looking at one of the
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hottest dirt super late model drivers in the country right
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now. A long time friend of mine.
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It's about time we had him on Kenny conversation.
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They call him Squirrel. Brian.
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Shirley. Brian, how are you doing?
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Pretty good. Thanks for thanks for having us
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on your show. Well, it's easy, I wished I
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could have had you on earlier. But listen, let's have a little
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fun before we talk racing. I'm a big fan of yours and I
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follow your every move. Let's let's talk about your Mama
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first. You were asking for prayers.
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I believe your Mama has some tumors removed from her kidney.
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Can you give us an update on your mom?
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Yeah, luckily that was, you know, obviously a pretty scary
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procedure, they say. So it was definitely nerve
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wracking yesterday that she went through that procedure.
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But yeah, she's, you know, everything went well.
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The doctors were really happy. The tumors were, were in just a
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bad spot, they said. So that was the biggest issue
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with the procedure being so nerve wracking was that it
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wasn't like they could just get in there and get the, you know,
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the tumors and the cancer and stuff out without being a easy
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procedure. So by the grace of God, you
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know, everything went smooth and hopefully by the end of the day
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today, she'll be able to recover and get out of there and get
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back home. Well, praise the Lord, I almost
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called you last night and said, hey, do you want to wait a
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little bit? But I guess there's nothing you
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can really do. So at least we're thinking about
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your mom. And you know, I love you, Brian.
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I know how you know, without our moms or dads, we don't even make
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it to racing. So, you know, we'll be praying
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for that's for sure. All right, let's have a little
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fun. They call me the Herminator.
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Herman. Where, where?
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Where in the world did your great nickname?
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I mean, it's famous as all get out.
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Where did Squirrel come from? Yeah, Squirrel came from, you
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know, truthfully, Shannon Babb. The Mohican missile.
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That's right. Yeah.
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So, you know, Babb has, you know, over the years, we've
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been, you know, friends for a long time and used to spend a
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lot more time together in our younger years when, you know,
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you didn't have children and all the stuff, you know, we did a
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lot of things. Well, his friends, I mean, you
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got Jaybird and, you know, seems like everybody.
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He just has a nickname for everybody.
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And we were out riding motorcycles one day at a park
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not far from his house. And that wasn't that good of a
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motorcycle rider. And I hear I'm jumping the jumps
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from, you know, just because, you know, I grew up racing
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motorcycles. So that would get very easy for
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me. And I'm flying through there and
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jumping over them. And we come in after we're
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riding and he's like he said, you realize you fly through
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there like that squirrel. You know that on Bullwinkle, you
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know that squirrel and then he's like ever since then he just
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said you just fly to there like a squirrel and it's stuck since
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then. And this is how Kenny
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conversation works. I I have my notes.
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I, I studied up on you. Of course I know a lot about
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you. I don't even think I need notes.
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Motorcycles. Tell tell me, you know, Clint
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Boyer was a good motocross racer.
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Tell me about this Motocross racing now.
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When, where, and what? Well, we didn't actually race
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motocross. We race flat track.
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So that was be like actually at a lot of the race tracks we race
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at, you know, Springfield Mile, Granite City, Volusia, you know.
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Oh my gosh. Yeah.
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So from about 12 to about maybe 1819 years old, that's what I
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did every day, you know, through, through the summers.
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And then I got to a point where turn professional and turn pro
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and everything. And one, I want to say 8
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national championships on the way that I thought that that's
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what I was going to be. Was a professional motorcycle
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racer and then got hurt at Springfield.
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Guy wrecked in front of me and I hit him and it actually broke a
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bone in your wrist that you're not supposed to be able to
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break. So I had to go in and have
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surgery to have my wrist re, you know, fixed and put a bone back
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in place. And that left my wrist at a
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pretty solid like where it was solid for about two years.
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And then obviously giving it, you know, giving it gas, it
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happened to be in my throttle hand that when you got to use
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your arm to give it gas, it just it made things a lot tougher
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than just using your wrist. And it's no different than dirt
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racing with cars. You know, we use our foot for
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throttle control. Well, when I couldn't use just
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my wrist for throttle control, you know, I struggled really bad
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with it and just happened to, you know, take a year there to,
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you know, see where life was taking me.
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And happened to be dating a young lady that her father was
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had raced cars and he was wanting to get back into it now
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that his kids were older. And he gave it up for his kids.
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And he had a modified and we went over and watched him race,
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you know, for a while. And that's when I seen Shannon
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Babb and Billy Moyer and Scott Bloomquist.
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I never even knew these guys. You know, I'm like, holy cow,
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these guys are awesome. And it happened to be my buddy
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Billy Gibbons. That was his modified and I kept
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giving him a hard time because he was no good.
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Let me in that car, you know, like I was like.
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You're just, you know, you're no good one time.
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He's like, all right, you know, you little fucker, you think
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you're good, we're going to put you in it.
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And so the first race we went to, we almost won.
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And he's like, well, maybe you're a little better than than
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me. So for the next year or so, he
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let me race it off and on. We raced at Making Speedway,
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Godfrey, IL, Granite City, places like that to just get our
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feet wet. We didn't have a lot of money to
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afford to. We had a really, he had a really
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nice car. Just the maintenance, you know,
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seemed to always hit us. So about a year later, I said,
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man, if you know, I come from a professional sport, you know,
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where, you know, you had to be great to be at the level we were
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at, you know, you just couldn't. They just didn't let anybody get
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there. So that was something that I was
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looking for. I was looking for that
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competitive edge in my life that I, you know, lost.
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And so when I seen, you know, Bloomquist and Mortar in them
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and Freddie Smith, I'm like, you know, like maybe I can be, you
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know, maybe I can do this. So I went out and bought me like
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a 1012 year old late model and sold the car.
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Was driving the car, literally drove a rap.
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I sold it and went and bought a a late model and the rest is
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history from there. You know conversation is, you
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know competition will kill you there.
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Father John who married Kim and myself, he said, Kenny, what are
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you going to do? I said I'm going to be a race
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car driver. And he said, oh, be careful
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young man, competition will kill you.
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And, and I hear and tell me if I'm wrong.
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I hear a little hurt in your voice that you broke that wrist.
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I mean it, it sounds to me like there was a a time when you
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wrecked the bike. You know, somebody wrecked in
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front of you that you didn't know what you were going to do.
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Were you devastated in your mind when you thought all there was
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was motor or flat tracking? Yeah, I mean, it was just, it
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was different. You know, you, I mean, I grew up
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my whole life thinking this is what I was destined to be.
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You know, I mean, we had a racetrack in our backyard.
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I remember when I was a kid, I'd imagine racing with Scotty
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Parker, Ricky Graham, you know, as I was practicing, you know,
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you're dreaming that you're racing with these guys and you
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finally get there, You know, you finally get.
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I just signed with Kozar Harley-Davidson to get on a, you
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know what a top privateer team. Damn.
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And you know, was just, like I said, one all the pinnacles of
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your things that you needed to win in the sport.
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Just one, you know, a 600 national championship and you're
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supposed to be the next greatest, you know, latest, you
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know, phenom in your sport. And then in a blinking of eyes
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took him from you. And you know, it was hard for my
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dad more than me, you know, he actually resented car racing for
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a long time. I felt, I can feel it in him.
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You know, he he was proud that I was a race car driver and
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success that we had. But at the end of the day, we,
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you know, that was our bond that we grew up going to race to race
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together as me and him. We travelled all over the
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country. You know, if we race 4550 races
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a year, I mean, we won 35 of hands down.
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Like, I mean, we was just when I got once it just took off.
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At first I wasn't that good. And then I don't know if
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something clicked and I just started practicing and I took
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the joy of riding a motorcycle from, you know, I had my dad put
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me on a, you know, a little motorcycle, four Wheeler I think
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when I was 3-4 years old. So riding a motorcycle or a four
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Wheeler or anything like that just felt natural.
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And then I was lucky enough the company he worked for there was
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a family that was the Williams family that his dad was actually
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race motorcycles. So it all kind of just fell into
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place as they watched me. Why my dad went to work and you
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know, that's when they're like, hey, we'll take Brian racing.
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So my dad went out and bought this motorcycle and heck, I
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started racing it first couple years just, you know, did this
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or that. And then all of a sudden it just
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all clicked and was really good and had a lot of success.
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And then one day it's just all gone.
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And, you know, you just not sure where life's going to go.
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So I've been fortunate to be, you know, excel in two different
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sports that are completely different than one another.
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So, you know, when I get older and I think back of my life
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would be pretty special. Man, I'm going to tell you what
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I don't know about all of you race fans, but this blows my
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mind. I felt like I knew you come to
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find out, I only know a little bit about.
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I had no idea. This amazes me.
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Listen, I want to comment on what I've just heard you.
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You pulled off the ultimate, ultimate miracle.
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Not very many times do people in life get a chance at two
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different professions. So buddy, congratulations.
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I mean, you know, I I feel that you're talking from the heart.
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This is what your dad wanted to do it.
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And and God knows one of the biggest childhood issues there
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are is, you know, we all want to make our fathers happy somehow
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later in life when there's something that bothers us, we're
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like, well, it always starts with your dad and I can I can
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hear in your voice. So wow, squirrel, that was that
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was good stuff. And I hope everybody else
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enjoyed that and had no idea that's where this was going to
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go. So listen from me to you.
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Congratulations. Because like I said, people
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don't get a chance at two different professions.
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OK, let's start with the easy stuff here.
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We talked about squirrel. You snuck the motorcycle in on
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me. And so I do my studying.
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You're you're from Chatham, IL, but you live in Springfield.
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We, I like to do this with everybody, whether it was Nick
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Hoffman or Bobby Pierce or anybody, you know, Jonathan
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Davenport. Tell me this whole dynamic.
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You're, you're born and raised in Chatham, but you live in
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Springfield. What, what happened there?
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How did you get to Springfield? Actually, it's opposite.
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We, I was born and raised in Springfield.
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OK, Yeah. So you know, when we were just
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younger, we're and we're only about 3 miles, you know, we, we
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live in a little country setting here about 3 miles out of you
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know which Springfield's a big city.
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I think it's 5th largest city in Illinois, So the capital, Yeah,
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and it's capital and we're lucky.
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You know, like I said, we're about 3 miles which way?
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We're literally 3 miles outside of Chatham, 3 miles outside of
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Springfield, but have a Chatham address so.
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Got you. You.
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Can go either way, but I was born and raised in Springfield.
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You know, I lived there up to about 12 years old, and then in
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about 12 years old we moved out to this property that we live on
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now. And me and my dad share 10
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acres. He's on the front part of the
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property. And then I'm actually living on
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the back part where the racetrack was because that's
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what my dad was as a demolition contractor.
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So did a lot with equipment and water main stuff like that.
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So we had always had a lot of equipment.
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And when we were racing, he one day, you know, this was
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cornfield when I lived up there with him and he went down there
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and told the farmer that we weren't going to farm the field
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anymore. And not going to rent you my
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property anymore. And he went out there and
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bulldozed us and shaped us the track.
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And that's where I, you know, practice, you know, day in, day
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out. And then eventually he said
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here, I'd like you to have the last half of the property here
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and, you know, stay here with us.
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And so I built me, you know, where me and my wife and my kids
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live. Now we share it with my father.
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What a great, what a great story.
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I I have a 60 by 100 race shop and I split it in half with my
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wife. When I was building it I had
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these dreams. This 60 by 100 going to be all
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mine and my wife is like no no. Now I figured half that.
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Thing Yeah. So, you know, we lived in North
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Carolina for 27 years and each one of my children, as they came
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back, I said, you know, half of it is a beautiful home, like a
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ski chalet. And I think it's awesome that
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your father did that. I I try to do, we all try to do
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something for our children. And right now my son-in-law,
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Brody, builds fusion carts, outlaw carts.
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He's in my shop. I enjoy sharing my shop with
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him. They're living in the house
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until they figure out where they want to live.
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They've been back a little bit a year.
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So I just wanted to share my story with you because I think
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it's awesome that our parents love our, love us and keeps us
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together, keeps us together. And that's a good thing.
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Just a little bit of fun. Real quick.
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You said dad. Dad gave up the cornfield.
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I mean, the state of Illinois. I mean, it's corn and soybean.
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It's you're laughing. I'm laughing.
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But I mean that is the that is the industry.
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So was your father renting that property for somebody to grow
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corn on? Tell me about that corn.
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Yeah, I mean the people that we had bought this property from,
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you know, obviously they just had the how the where we live
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now or where I lived as a child, it was on the front part of the
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property. So, yeah, they just, you know,
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at the time, you know, now it's crazy because there's about 10
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houses behind me now that had bought out the cornfield behind
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me. But yeah, at the time all this
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was corn. And then they brought it into
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the back butt of our property and just fielded it out because
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the people that owned it before we bought it, you know, they
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just him and his wife. So they didn't have no reason to
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have that much property. I laugh a little bit sometimes.
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You know, I have wore Interstate 55 out.
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You know, I live down here to Saint Louis and you'll see like
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a little quarter acre of something and you're like
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somebody's putting corn in there.
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I mean, if there's land, they're going to be corn there.
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OK. You have a disease that I have.
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We both share and I can see the perplexed look on your face.
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We both share. We are both it's a horrible
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disease, but boy, it's it's a nice one when it's all right.
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We both are clean freaks. You are you're deemed the
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cleanest dirt racer in the dirt super late model series.
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The shoes come off before you go in the S&S or or whatever hauler
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you got the and I know this every once in a while I'll see a
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picture you post of your shop. I admire that about you.
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I really like that. My dad, every day he'd come in,
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he'd put his hand across the top of the refrigerator if there was
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dust on it. You like that one, don't you?
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The white glove test. So where did this start?
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Who? Whose fault was this?
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Mom or dad's? Why do Why do we have this
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disease? I don't really know, to be
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honest. I really don't because I mean,
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my dad is definitely, you know, he keeps things organized pretty
18:40
good. But I, I really don't even know
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really, to be honest, I'd hate to say I, I, I mean, I've always
18:47
been a clean freak organized. There was a lady that I grew up
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that she always kept the house really, really clean.
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And I'm telling you, I said clean like it was spotless.
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Like so this is where it came from.
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You're I think I stayed with this lady and everybody would go
19:09
to bed. I'm telling you, everybody like
19:11
kids, husband, but not her. Like she didn't go to bed until
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the house was 100% vacuumed. All the laundry was folded,
19:20
everything was perfect. I mean, no dirty dishes and I, I
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don't know, I think it just had to like click in me or
19:27
something. But I swear some of that come
19:30
from her of just how she just kept everything perfect.
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You know, it's like, man, you know, to this day I probably
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drive my wife nuts because I love it.
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You know, she doesn't, you know, she keeps things very nice.
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You know, like we, we don't have anything really truthfully
19:48
dirty. But between me getting all my
19:50
kids, keeping the rooms clean, I know I drive them nuts.
19:54
So it, some of it comes from her and then some of the racing
19:58
aspect comes from, you know, early in my years with, you
20:01
know, being with Mark Richards and them a lot, you know, I
20:03
thought they're rocket one. And early on in my career when I
20:09
was getting into the sport, you know, we went out there and
20:13
raced a lot out East. So I stayed with marking them at
20:16
their shop and you learn a lot of success and ways from them
20:21
how they operate, you know, so on top of having already a
20:25
little bit of OCD and, and then going to mark and watching how
20:30
they operate, it just really, you know, it just really put the
20:33
bug in me to if I was going to do it, I was going to do it to
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the best of my ability and do it 100% right.
20:39
Well squirrel, I want to compliment you on that.
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Our family is the same way and I got to be honest, I know this is
20:46
a little controversial. I've gone up in a lot of haulers
20:50
and they smell like ass and those men get up in there and
20:53
they shower together and everybody knows I make fun of
20:55
some of them guys. I'm like clean, clean your stuff
20:58
up. But when I but when I go up into
21:01
your hauler, it it smells like a home, you know, So and listen,
21:06
you know I love it. So I like that about you.
21:10
I wanted to brag on you about that.
21:13
Any conversation is about celebrating, you know you so OK,
21:19
I'm laughing to myself right now because Shannon Babb Mohican
21:24
missile Shannon nicknamed you Squirrel and you married a
21:28
Shannon. That's right.
21:32
So this is fun, but you know it's very emotional for for you
21:38
too. You are a you're a tough guy.
21:40
I hear that you're a little tough to be around because
21:43
you're a winner and that's the way it ought to be.
21:45
And then same thing with Mark Richards.
21:48
But listen, my brother was tough to be around, but you were going
21:51
to go to Victory Lane. So you're a tough guy, but yet
21:54
you're very emotional. Tell me a little bit about you
21:59
and your wife. I understand she's going through
22:02
some tough times. You talk about it in Victory
22:04
Lane. Tell me this dynamic that's
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going on with you and your wife right now.
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Yeah, she's got, you know, an illness.
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It's called Church Cross. And she was diagnosed probably,
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I want to say 7-8 years ago, right before I got with Bob
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Cohen Racing. I was actually going to quit,
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quit racing, to be honest, you know, just because we didn't
22:26
know where our lives were headed at that time.
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And, you know, she had been really sick.
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So Long story short, it's just, it's kind of like it's an
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uncurable disease. Only one in every 3 million
22:39
women get it. So they know very little about
22:42
it. So it's a disease that we, you
22:46
know, struggle with, with our family as far as you know, And
22:50
it's it's really all on her. You know, she puts on a happy
22:55
face when things aren't great. And you know, she fights the
22:59
fight more than more really than anybody as far as you know, I
23:04
probably don't even do my part as good as I should, you know.
23:08
So really anytime I can win or do things you know, and achieve
23:14
greatness, I dedicated to her because she's really the great
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one. Yeah, that's just, that's just
23:20
so heartfelt. I I love you.
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I love your family. Don't even know him.
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OK, So thank you. I just wanted to take a chance
23:29
and bring that up because that is a big part of your victory
23:31
lanes now. So let's let's switch to fair
23:36
Berry. You, you were very emotional.
23:41
You know, you were holding back everything from crying.
23:45
It it shocked me that, you know, you've won so much this year,
23:48
but you're saying fair Berry, the big win was the first time
23:52
your whole family was there this year.
23:54
Is that right? Yeah, like, it's crazy.
23:56
My family, you know, obviously, you know, my wife has her
24:00
career, which she's a NICU nurse.
24:03
So very proud of her on that part.
24:05
She's followed her dreams on what she wanted to do.
24:09
As you know, obviously I, you know, my career with racing, but
24:14
it always seemed that like my family just never even my son
24:18
doesn't never really get into racing and my kids do their
24:21
thing. And I'd say my kids have only
24:24
probably been to five to 10 races.
24:26
You know, in 20 years of me racing, you know, my family's
24:31
probably been maybe at 15 at the most.
24:33
And I've always I've been able to win a race like my son come
24:38
to the very first race I won, which that was awesome.
24:41
You know, that I won that night. My oldest daughter, same thing.
24:43
She had been to a race by herself, 1, You know, but truly,
24:47
to have my whole family, you know, my wife, my kids, all
24:52
three of my kids and my wife there at one time, that's never
24:56
happened. And you know, really, I don't
24:58
even know if they've ever even been to the races as a family.
25:01
You know, there's always, always 1 missing.
25:03
I feel like, you know, one was somewhere doing something and
25:06
two of them came or one came. And I've always been fortunate.
25:10
The times they did come, we always won for some reason.
25:15
So maybe they should come more often.
25:17
Yeah, and that was an epic race, epic win.
25:21
This wasn't, you know, this wasn't no little summer national
25:24
race. You know, you beat the best.
25:28
That was that was a great win. So, yeah, and and and there was
25:32
a lot of a lot of highlights of your emotional Victory Lane.
25:35
And so your your three kids are Brinley, Drew and Breyer, so
25:41
none of them will want to race. That's going to save you a lot
25:43
of money. Yeah.
25:46
Yeah, I've, you know, and I hate to say that I've never pushed
25:49
racing on any of them. It's, it's not like it's a
25:51
family thing, you know, as far as it doesn't bleed deep into
25:54
our family, you know, I just kind of got lucky that I got
25:59
into racing. So I've never really pushed it
26:01
on my son. Truthfully, I'm pretty proud of
26:04
him as far as where his life is going.
26:07
He's young, but he's, you know, he come to me the other day or
26:11
my wife and said that he was going to try and go to be a
26:14
student council president, you know, just things like that.
26:17
That is a different lane in my life.
26:20
But at the end of the day, I'm so proud that I feel like he's
26:23
more of a man than me because at the end of the day, I wasn't, I
26:27
was kind of scared or thought that was, you know, not cool to
26:32
be that person. And I feel like him, he's going
26:34
to grow up and be a better person than me and accept all
26:38
ways of, you know, aspects of life.
26:40
So I'm really proud of him on that and was just really happy
26:44
that we got the experience that as a family, they definitely, it
26:48
was crazy because it was their birthday celebration.
26:51
I have two kids that day that we're celebrating their birthday
26:53
on the same day. And one of her friends, you
26:57
know, we just said, Hey, you guys should come to Fairbury,
26:59
you know, And man, I pulled into Victory Lane.
27:04
I was startled because I was like you.
27:05
Forgot about your family being here, I just.
27:08
I was like, I seen my wife and then I see my kids and I was
27:11
like, holy cow, you know, it just the emotions were unreal.
27:16
So I'll never forget that moment, you know, for the rest
27:20
of my life. Yeah, I'm starting to feel like
27:22
you and I are old souls, meaning that we've been together before.
27:26
We're, we're clean freaks. My 3 girls, they love me and
27:31
they know all the money I've made has come from that race
27:34
car, but they don't want nothing to do with rice.
27:36
And then the Brooke, she might as well never go to a race.
27:39
She's she's beautiful. She's awesome.
27:42
Brandy, the middle one. But Brittany, probably she,
27:46
she's friends with all the, you know, open wheel people, You
27:49
know, the, the, the Blaney's, the boats.
27:51
But but Brittany, she's my partner.
27:54
She likes to drink wine, and I say, my baby, they're 34, 37.
27:59
Yeah. OK.
28:01
Let's get to the meat and potatoes now.
28:03
I want to thank you. We made both you and I made it
28:07
through the emotional part. We we didn't cry, which which is
28:11
good. All right, let's, let's let's
28:13
get hardcore now. You are.
28:17
You are so fast this year. I mean it to me.
28:23
The races you're winning are, you know, big ones, big ones.
28:28
They're not summer national races.
28:30
Why are you running so good right now?
28:34
What can you put your finger on Well?
28:37
Like we was talking about before the show started, you know, this
28:42
year got off to a tough start. You know, new crew guys, very
28:46
young crew guys. Heck, one's only 18, one's only
28:50
20. So I took a, I took a, how would
28:57
you say I took a chance on them? Because at the end of the day,
29:01
you know, finding help is tough. Finding help that wants to work
29:06
as hard as you have to work to be great is even tougher.
29:12
So you know, when we were speed weeks and we just putting
29:15
together some decent runs, you know, it's still just a tough
29:19
thing to do when you're trying to find speed and you're trying
29:22
to find help and you're going through you know, normally
29:25
you're going through one or the other.
29:27
Normally you're going through help problems, but your car has
29:30
speed or you're going through car problems, but your helps
29:35
good. Well, for me, I was going
29:37
through both. You know, I went through new
29:40
crew guys right off the RIP has struggling just to find some
29:45
speed to put us in where we needed to be.
29:48
So once, you know, at the end of the day, truthfully is like when
29:51
we was running that outlaw deal, I did think about, you know, I
29:56
thought about calling it off and, you know, going back to,
30:01
you know, racing around home, racing summer nationals, places
30:04
that you're used to, you know, you feel good.
30:07
But I don't know, something in me just told me that I needed to
30:10
prove everybody wrong and I needed to stick it out.
30:13
You know, sometimes in life you just can't take the easy way
30:15
out. And for me, I just told myself I
30:19
was going to stick it out no matter what.
30:21
And come June, you know, Bob Cohen decided it was time for us
30:26
to take a different direction and chassis brands.
30:30
And once we did, you know, we took a different direction in
30:34
that and the guys were getting better.
30:36
And truthfully, we've been working.
30:38
I mean, we have been working, you know, relentless every week
30:41
for the last two months, every week, you know, whether we're
30:43
testing once a week or the guys are in the shop extra hours or
30:48
you know, anything that we've just been putting in a lot of
30:52
time. And you know, luckily it's you
30:54
don't always get the reward for all the time and hard work that
30:58
you put in. But this year, you know, we've
31:00
been blessed in the second part of the season for all the hard
31:03
work we put in. We've got the reward too.
31:06
So it sounds to me. Like you got some really young
31:08
help which that you got to have 1820 year old help.
31:12
They started learning you make a a chassis change.
31:18
Bob believes in you and and that leads me to this.
31:22
This is a very controversial subject and I'm the one that
31:25
touches on it in the dirt racing world.
31:28
What what has happened to our sport?
31:31
You know, everybody watches it on flow or dirt vision.
31:34
Oh, I love dirt late model racing.
31:36
But there, you know, one of them kids that they spend one week on
31:41
the road and they're done. Why are the kids, what happened
31:46
to our sport? Why does nobody care for dirt
31:50
racing like we did back in the day?
31:52
What's going on with these kids? Truthfully, it's just.
31:55
Society, it's the way the world works today.
31:58
You know, people have realized that they can do a lot of easier
32:00
things and you know, then the work hard and get the reward for
32:06
working hard At the end of the day, everybody wants the easy
32:11
success in life. They want things to come easy
32:14
and truthfully that's one of the biggest things I feel like it's
32:18
tough in our sport is it's just it's a gruelling sport.
32:21
It's demanding. It's I mean, heck, who wants to
32:24
work all week to then take your whole weekend up to go race to
32:27
go back and work on Monday? You know, it's, I don't even
32:30
know why we do it, to be honest. Like something's got to be wrong
32:33
with us. So truthfully, that's what I had
32:38
to find. I had to find a couple guys that
32:40
are willing to want to do it 24/7 because if you don't have
32:45
people around you that want to eat, sleep and breathe it,
32:48
you're just going to struggle to find success.
32:52
You know, truthfully, you know, Anthony and Cam is like walking
32:55
in today. We know we're getting ready to
32:58
go into, you know, rebuild mode. It's almost, we got 2, you know,
33:02
races left, got dirt Track World championship this weekend and
33:05
then we go to the world finals. But we've been spending the last
33:09
week going through the shop, you know, getting all the old stuff
33:14
out to get all the new stuff in. They walk in the day, they're
33:16
wiping the walls down. Like, you know how many years
33:18
it's been since I've had some guys wanting to to wipe the
33:21
walls? Down and in.
33:23
That touches my heart because that's that's where you get
33:27
ahead with me. Is that that when you're wanting
33:30
to go the extra mile, that when I show up and you're doing
33:33
things that you really don't want to do, but you're doing it
33:36
because you know it's going to be better at the end of the day
33:38
for the overall team. And that's what my guys now,
33:41
they're not the smartest yet and they don't know everything yet,
33:44
but they're willing to work hard enough to find out what it's
33:49
like to be on the other side. And then at the end of the day,
33:52
that's sometimes better than having people that know what
33:55
they're doing is you're better to have guys that don't always
33:58
know exactly what they're doing, but is willing to put in the
34:01
time to learn how to do it right.
34:03
I. I find that, you know, there's a
34:09
handful of dirt super late model racers that that have that
34:13
gusto. You know, down the road there,
34:15
you got Brandon Shepherd's family, and they're like a
34:17
tribe. Yeah, it's, it's, it's a racist.
34:20
Family. It's like, holy moly, that guy's
34:22
never. Going to run out of good health,
34:23
you know, the dad, the uncle, the grandpa, the children.
34:26
I mean, when he comes to the race track, it's like, and it's
34:29
great. It's great.
34:31
So my point of view is you're up against a family like that or
34:35
he's always going to have help. Then you go over here, Nick
34:37
Hoffman, he's struggling just to keep one person.
34:41
Me, I won't even allow help anymore.
34:43
I'm so disappointed in help. I'm like, stay away, Stay away.
34:48
Yeah, I, you know, I'll try to unload my car and somebody will
34:51
be very nice. So come running to me.
34:53
Herman, I want to help you. I'm like, no, no, because I'll
34:56
have to just tell you what to do.
34:58
So, you know, great conversation for all you young kids out
35:02
there. If you don't want it, like the
35:05
owner wants it or, or the driver wants it, then just stay away
35:08
because you're a pain in the ass and you disappoint me.
35:13
Good talk and hope that's truly what it is.
35:15
Like at the end of the day, that's what I tell people all
35:17
the time. I'm, I'm not going to sit here
35:19
and argue and listen, my guys, they, they know I love them, but
35:21
they also get that. I, I'll tell you where they take
35:23
it. The best is when they get that
35:25
ass chewing for doing it wrong. That is what's wrong with kids
35:28
today. Their feelings get hurt because
35:31
you give them an ass chewing and then they're like, oh, cry me a
35:36
river and I'm a go do something. Yeah.
35:38
And so, you know, at the end of the day, my guys can take an ass
35:42
chewing and know that when we're done working that I'll do
35:45
anything for him. You love them.
35:47
That's right, I love them. Very much.
35:49
And so truthfully, that's that, you know, that's where I'm at
35:52
with the help. I tell them from get go, I'm not
35:55
going to sit here and ask you to do anything that I wouldn't do
35:58
or haven't done. But I'm not going to sit here
36:00
and baby you because at the end of the day, I just do it myself.
36:03
And that's true. I feel about it.
36:04
Just do it myself until someone comes along.
36:07
And truthfully, Speaking of the family with the shepherds,
36:10
that's how they were raised. Like their dad didn't beat
36:13
around the Bush any of them shepherds.
36:14
You either was told how it was straight and you liked it or you
36:19
got your ass kicked and you did it anyway.
36:21
And that was just what it come down to.
36:22
They didn't beat around with this bull crap.
36:24
A baby me here, baby me there. And true, that's one of the
36:28
reason why Brandon's turn out as good as he has.
36:29
He listen, he didn't have it easy either, but he knew he had
36:33
the right people behind him to kick him in the ass when he
36:35
needed it. Man, same with.
36:36
My brother, my no, but everybody says to me, how do you and your
36:41
brother Rusty get along so well? I'm like, oh, that's real easy.
36:45
I said, I always let my brother stand an inch taller than me.
36:48
He's a bad ass. And if you work with Rusty
36:50
Wallace, do what the hell he tells you to do because you're
36:53
going to go to Victor Lane and and you know, listen, Rusty hurt
36:58
my feelings in my whole damn life.
37:00
I I think that's, I think that's why I like Trump, because he's a
37:06
bad ass. And I'm like, you know, yeah,
37:09
only political statement I'll ever make.
37:12
I shouldn't even done that, but that's all right because I'm
37:14
voting. For him next month.
37:16
So he ain't got it's not even Yeah.
37:18
OK, we're coming to the end here.
37:22
Bob Cullen there. You know, I remember you and I,
37:28
you was on a plane. I was on a plane.
37:30
I remember we, you and I, you and I are friends and that's
37:34
that. We don't talk all the time, but
37:35
we have each other's back. We you know I drove your car
37:40
the. Prelude to the.
37:41
Dream. We did good, you know?
37:44
So Eddie Petroff is the man that tied you and I together.
37:48
We've been friends ever since. And I remember you saying I'm
37:51
going up to see Bob calling. I remember when you were headed
37:54
up there. Maybe it was snowing.
37:56
Whatever man, if we don't have somebody that believes in us, it
38:02
just does not happen. How in the world did you find a
38:05
Bob calling? Listen, the funny part is, at
38:11
the end of the day, I didn't find him.
38:13
You know, truthfully, it got lucky.
38:16
You know, like I said, I was at a point in my life where I was
38:18
done racing. You know, my wife just had been
38:21
diagnosed with that illness and I needed to make sure I did what
38:25
was best for my family. And truthfully, it was Jason
38:29
Fager that you know, Bob had been racing himself Bob race
38:34
prior to, you know, run some late models up at LaSalle 141
38:40
Plymouth, stuff like that in Wisconsin where he's from.
38:44
He's from Chilton and Bob had been doing some work with Fager.
38:48
Figure worked on his car this and that and Bob a bass Fager to
38:56
come run his car at Cedar Lake for the USA Nationals.
39:00
And figure a time was having a very successful year and and he
39:05
decided that he was felt like he needed to run his team because
39:09
of how well he was running that year.
39:10
He had a lot of speed and thought his best odds to win the
39:13
race was in his car. So Figure had mentioned that.
39:19
He said, Hey, I know somebody that might want to race, you
39:22
know, that might race that car that's not racing right now.
39:25
And Baker mentioned my name and Bob was looking for a driver
39:30
because his driver, which was Dan Sleeper at that time.
39:33
Oh, Sleeper I. Had no idea.
39:35
Yeah, I had a. Actually got a blood clot so he
39:38
wasn't allowed to race that weekend.
39:41
And so fager. Had us get in touch.
39:44
And truthfully, I said no the first time because I was just
39:50
pretty low. You know, I didn't want to leave
39:52
my wife, my kids and stuff. And you know, at the end of the
39:56
day, it's tough to go run someone else's car.
39:58
You know, that you're not comfortable in the seat.
40:01
You don't know where the car is. And I just didn't feel like it
40:04
was going to be worth my time to take a week out of my life at
40:07
that time to go up there, waste a week when I needed to be at
40:10
home trying to make some money that was doing what was best for
40:14
my family. So I actually said no.
40:17
And then Bob had called back a couple times and man, he, he
40:23
promised me it'd be. You know, he said, I promise
40:26
you, he said I'll make it worth your while.
40:29
And I don't know something, something in me just told me
40:33
that I needed to take that chance.
40:36
And I drove up there and we we didn't even have the most
40:39
successful weekend. I mean, we had a OK weekend.
40:42
And I remember we raced a couple of the events and had some
40:45
success, but the last race we didn't have.
40:47
And then the key to our last conversation when I left is he's
40:51
like, what do you think that we need to be successful?
40:55
And, you know, I'd called him and told him my opinion on what
40:59
we should do. And then about a week later, you
41:02
know, he said, Hey, I got a a plan and I want to, you know,
41:07
start a dirt late model national team.
41:09
And, you know, he said he wanted me to be his driver.
41:11
And he said he give me every opportunity of everything I
41:14
wanted in that plan. And year to year, we just kept
41:18
getting bigger and bigger And, you know, we had a goal on
41:21
everything. And today he's got, you know, a
41:24
full-fledged, you know, national dirt late model team that he
41:27
owns. That's in my mind.
41:29
That's been pretty successful, yeah.
41:31
Well, congratulations on that. That is like a a diamond, you
41:36
know, in the rough. In the rough.
41:38
And now you're polished up a little bit.
41:41
I like it. I think you're kicking ass.
41:43
You're travelling all over the United States.
41:45
You're winning really big races. I want to just for a little bit,
41:52
I want to give a shout out to, you know, the United Midwest
41:56
promotion UMP, the summer Nationals.
41:58
You know, Brian, I want to explain it this way.
42:01
When I went to the Cup Series in NASCAR and it didn't go good, I
42:05
was always able to go back down to the Xfinity Series.
42:08
The Xfinity Series saved my life.
42:11
So it, it, it seems like with our Illinois boys, you know, you
42:17
Brian Shirley, you know the Mohican missile, you know Bab
42:22
Fager, you know what I'm saying? Even Bobby Pierce at times when
42:26
things get rough against the best, it's like, look, we need
42:30
to work on our chassis set up. Let's go back home.
42:34
You know, they're paying 5000 win during the summer Nationals
42:37
and on the weekends it's 10 grand.
42:40
Just speak. I think you're going to speak
42:42
highly of the summer Nationals. Isn't isn't it always there when
42:46
you need it? Yeah.
42:47
I mean, for us, we're. Lucky we live right here in the
42:49
heart of it. You know we race.
42:52
You know what do you race 24 nights and 28 days?
42:55
Heck, I can stay home almost half of them.
42:58
You know, I get to stay home at night in between races to races.
43:01
So at the end of the day, when you can go race night in and
43:05
night out, there's no, and Bob's told me this a million times,
43:09
there's no better way to get better at racing than racing.
43:12
So there's no, you know, the toughest part about racing is
43:15
you race on the weekend. And then if you got to wait a
43:18
whole nother week to remember what you need to do from the
43:22
week before, Well, with the UNP summer National deal, you're
43:26
racing night after night. So if you have a bad night,
43:29
well, guess what? I can remember that.
43:30
Hey, that was wrong. So let's not do what I did last
43:33
night. Let's try something better
43:35
tonight. And normally most of the time,
43:37
by the time you're done with that deal, you definitely have
43:39
figured out where you need to be with your chassis and
43:42
understanding, you know, the right adjustments, because
43:44
that's the biggest thing. It's just understanding what
43:46
adjustments that are right from night to night, track to track.
43:50
Yeah, I, I. Really like what?
43:51
Brian Carter? Sam Driger bitch and complain
43:55
all you want, but listen, they've been there longer than
43:58
anybody and and they may not be paying 2050 grand to win, but
44:02
they going to be there every single year.
44:05
They're going to they're going to make your checkbook, you
44:07
know, keep going. And that's dirt racing.
44:11
That's hardcore. OK, very good.
44:14
So I just feel like everything you have said makes me want to
44:21
ask this question. And, and, and, and I would say
44:26
that, you know, Nick Hoffman, Gordy Gundaker, they're probably
44:29
tired of me saying it. I worry so much because I care
44:34
about dirt racers. I don't want them to be
44:37
vagabonds. I see every once in a while you
44:40
pop up on social media with a a restaurant or a car lot, or I
44:45
mean, it seems to me like you're a mover and a shaker when when
44:48
this dirt racing comes to an end.
44:50
And and we all know you can't race forever.
44:54
You know, you see, you know the real deal, Don O'Neill, he's not
44:58
racing anymore. You know, you see some of the
45:01
greats this year that are done. What are you going to do?
45:05
And I know it's a long time from now, but I just.
45:08
I'm only asking this question because I see you talk about
45:12
other things every once in a while.
45:14
Talk to me about that. Yeah.
45:16
I. Feel like I have definitely
45:18
entrepreneur in me, you know, been fortunate to you know, my
45:22
dad was like I said, he owned his own business.
45:24
My uncle owns his own business, my aunt owns their own business.
45:28
So I've always been that person that's a go getter.
45:30
So at the end of the day, when I did meet Bob, that's the first
45:35
thing that he always worried about.
45:37
Bob was like, listen, we got to make sure that life after racing
45:41
is good for Brian Shirley. So, you know, at the end of the
45:44
day, we ended up buying a bar together because that's what
45:47
he's has some of his investments in is the gaming machines in a
45:51
bar. And there was a bar here in town
45:53
that was one of my dad's favorite spots.
45:56
And kind of like that, you know, something that just happened
46:01
that was destined that we was able to get in that invested
46:05
with Bob and we were partners for probably four years and then
46:10
after the 4th year I bought them out and took that over.
46:14
So I have an investment in, you know, the bar business.
46:18
Yeah, it's a money. Making business, it's good,
46:20
Yeah. So we have.
46:21
That and then truthfully, we've been.
46:24
Actually. Moving towards the real estate
46:26
side, the last couple years we've been buying rental
46:28
properties. Oh yeah, that's really with
46:31
racing, as technical as it's been.
46:33
I was one of the big conversations me and Bob just
46:36
had is at first I was in the car lot business, but that time
46:42
versus what I could put into the race team.
46:44
And that's the biggest thing is this.
46:46
I've sealed the deal with Bob for the next 5 years.
46:49
So we plan on racing for at least another five years.
46:53
And so I don't want to devote, you know, not enough time to the
46:57
race team to be successful. So at the end of the day, I have
47:01
to find things that doesn't need my time.
47:04
And with my father being my dad is retired, you know, semi, he
47:09
does a little work here and there, but he, me and him
47:12
together, we've been invested in, you know, the bar now and
47:15
we've been buying some rental properties.
47:16
And that's really the goal was just to keep doing some things
47:19
that would keep him a little busy on top of him keeping an
47:22
eye on, you know, he keeps an eye on everything for me when
47:25
I'm gone. He keeps an eye on my house, my,
47:27
you know, my family. He mows the yard, you know,
47:30
everything's kept nice because of him.
47:32
So we got everything in vested together as far as, you know,
47:38
things that make us a little money in the return game.
47:41
And that's the biggest thing. Like you said, when racing is
47:43
done, you know, it's no different than you know, you
47:46
look and watch JD, he's you know, obviously they're building
47:48
that ranch and stuff like that. I mean, that's the goal.
47:51
You need to build some type of deal that is an investment to
47:56
have a return for you because obviously at the end of the day,
48:00
the money's going to be OK right now.
48:02
But you know, like a pro athlete, when you're done,
48:05
you're done. There's no more money.
48:07
Yeah. And.
48:07
And I. Just to end on this note, we've
48:10
seen so many cautionary tales where these hero of ours, these
48:16
great dirt racers, when it's done, they we have to raise
48:20
money for them. They're vagabonds.
48:23
And I feel like that we finally got a a stranglehold on this
48:27
deal. We're like, these kids are
48:29
winning. And like a Bobby Pierce or Nick
48:32
Kaufman, we're like, hey, what are you going to do after
48:35
racing? You got to start right now.
48:36
So that makes me so happy. Squirrel.
48:39
Congratulations on that. That's something I preach.
48:43
Real estates where I make all my money.
48:46
Yeah. I mean, that's been big.
48:48
Lately, you know, like I said, we've been dabbling in that.
48:51
And like you said, I agree. I feel like there was a tough
48:54
time there probably 10 years ago.
48:56
It was tough. You know, like you said, we
48:57
were, we watched it. Yeah.
48:59
So I got to agree that everything towards the future,
49:03
all you hear is about, you know, successful people.
49:05
Like, you know, JD, like I said, he's working towards his future.
49:09
Nick's got a nice, you know, obviously the mod deal, Bobby
49:12
will have to make sure, you know, like I said, there's no
49:14
better way than obviously Bobby coming off of $2,000,000 seasons
49:19
to be using that money to invest in his future.
49:22
So I think everybody's doing a great job at making sure that
49:26
there is life after racing and that they're not worried about,
49:29
well, you know, where they're going to find a dollar after
49:31
they're done racing. Yeah, fantastic.
49:33
All right, we get, we're going to end like this, my friend.
49:36
I, I usually ask all the great dirt racers and boy, you know
49:41
better than anybody. Where are we right now?
49:45
Good and bad? We, we listen.
49:47
I love dirt races as much as you do.
49:49
Where are we at right now with specifically the dirt, super
49:54
late models, the entire industry?
49:58
Where are we at with it? I mean, I feel like on the
50:03
aspect of the TV side and everything like that, it's huge.
50:07
I mean, it can't be no bigger. I mean, it's it's as good as it
50:10
could be. I feel like on the side of local
50:13
racing, keeping your local racer, keeping your Friday night
50:16
like racer invested just like myself.
50:19
When I was wanting to be in racing, I was able to take a
50:25
little bit of nothing and make something out of it.
50:28
I think that's the hardest part we're in right now.
50:31
It costs so much to have a little bit of nothing in today's
50:33
world 100, you know, a hundred $120,000 race car to be invested
50:38
in it that we have to figure out how to get the working man that
50:43
makes an honest living that wants to use his little bit of
50:46
extra money to get back into something that is his hobby.
50:50
We have to figure out how to get that guy invested in our sports,
50:54
you know, in the sport again. Because at the end of the day, I
50:57
feel like the way our sport is going, we're losing that man.
51:01
And when we don't have, you know, when I started at Farmer
51:04
City, places like that, there was 404550 cars of the late
51:08
model at night. Now there may be 18 or 20.
51:11
So obviously the world is telling you that the local
51:15
racer, the working man can't afford to do what we do.
51:20
So at the end of the day, on that part of dirt racing, I feel
51:23
like we have to do a better job of taking a guy that just wants
51:27
to be involved in our sport and can take a race car and make an
51:32
investment for him to have a hobby and be competitive.
51:35
You have to be competitive if you, if it's not saying that guy
51:37
has to go win the world 100 or you know, when at a world of
51:43
auto race, but at the end of the day, he wants to feel great.
51:45
I remember the first time I ever made a UDTRA race and I thought,
51:49
holy cow, that was a big deal. You know, car that barely had
51:54
$10,000. I'm telling you, this car barely
51:56
was worth $10,000. And at the end time, the race
51:59
cars were probably worth, you know, 4030 to $40,000.
52:04
And I was able to take a little bit of nothing and be able to
52:07
compete with them guys and that. And that's what that's what you
52:10
got to give back to the working man.
52:11
You got to give the guy that wants to go to a local race and
52:15
win the race. You got to give that back to
52:17
him. And that's where I feel like in
52:18
our sport, we're struggling. Yeah.
52:20
And. I just want to make a comment on
52:22
that. The prolate models, the bodies
52:25
are awfully big. You know, we're crate motors or
52:28
whatever they got in them. It's just the dynamics are not
52:30
right. You I look at my my friend Rusty
52:33
Griffal, he makes chicken salad out of chicken shit and does the
52:37
very best at driving. You know it.
52:40
It's it's I agree with you. It's guys like him that.
52:43
We don't need leaving our sport like the truth.
52:45
I I love Rusty Griffal. I think the guy, he's a gangster
52:49
man. Yeah, I mean he.
52:51
He's a junkyard dog for the reason.
52:54
Day 1 you. Don't you know, he grinds it
52:57
out, He does it because he loves it.
52:59
Don't We can't lose sight of those people because those are
53:02
the people that we need in our sport.
53:03
We don't need also, do we need, you know, Brandon Shepherd,
53:07
Bobby Pierce? Yeah, you do.
53:09
But listen, you don't have a race if you don't have freaking
53:12
24 cars. Yeah, right.
53:14
And, and, and I'm, I'm not bashing the pro late models for
53:17
any, any reason, but I'm just saying you can go to rocket, you
53:21
can go to Longhorn and buy a car and you know, and you still got
53:25
all this money in this car. I just, I mean, I know the
53:29
answer. It's got to be some type of dump
53:31
it. It's got to be called a local
53:32
late model And, and, and yeah, go ahead.
53:36
No, I agree. I don't have that answer either
53:38
as far as but it's it's tough because, you know, I feel like
53:42
our sport is transitioned to almost, you know, obviously I
53:45
hate to use the word rich man because it's it's, you know, you
53:49
can't judge somebody because they were smart enough to may be
53:52
successful, but it has almost been, it's to the point where
53:57
it's becomes a rich man's sport, you know, and we, we got to stop
54:00
that. We got to get where we can get
54:02
everybody back in our sport. Yeah.
54:04
And I'm going to end. By saying this, we need local
54:07
late model rules where they can make some subtle changes and go
54:10
race with you, you know, World of Outlaws, Lucas Oil, whatever
54:14
it is. Well, listen, there he is,
54:15
everybody. Brian Shirley, what a hell of a
54:20
year. Hey, is this your best year ever
54:22
or did you have you had a, you know, nationally?
54:25
Nationally. Yeah, I mean, I don't.
54:27
Think you could ever ask? Listen, I've been racing for 20
54:30
years and I haven't followed this, you know, a national
54:33
series in a while. But we've done things, you know,
54:35
this year we've, you know, went three in a row on the Outlaws.
54:37
So that was pretty huge. I think big, you know, 4 for
54:41
seven right now on the last seven races.
54:43
And so we've done a lot of things that we've never been
54:46
able to do. So I don't want to sit here and
54:48
act like it's not the best we've ever done because I do believe
54:52
it's probably the best we have done, even though it's only been
54:55
in 1/2 of a year. But right now we are doing
54:58
pretty good. So I'm happy about it and
55:01
hopefully there's more to come. All right, everybody.
55:04
Remember, we are in podcast form.
55:06
We are on Spotify and iTunes. You can listen to Squirrel on
55:09
your way to work and then go to work and get back in your
55:13
vehicle, go home and listen to him.
55:15
And until the next Kenny conversation.
55:18
Squirrel, thank you so much. Thank you man, I appreciate.
55:21
You having me on? Oh, you're, you're the man.
55:24
All right, goodbye everybody.