Latest / Kenny Wallace Media / Get To Know Up & Coming Racer Adam Stricker | Kenny Conversation

Transcript

Get To Know Up & Coming Racer Adam Stricker | Kenny Conversation · Kenny Wallace Media

0:00
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Kenny.
0:03
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 because it's Christmas right
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around the corner. They have everything you need to
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fix your hot rod up and they're telling me that they have Jeep
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All right, we are starting a new segment and it's called Driver
0:30
Spotlight and Jags, it's from Ohio and you're looking at a
0:35
dear friend of mine, a great race car driver, Adam Stricker
0:40
from Batavia. OH, is that right, Adam?
0:43
That's right. Yeah, Batavia.
0:46
OH, where is that? We're just, we're like 45
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minutes east of Cincy. 45 I've raced it like Brush Creek, lots
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of rocks and boulders down in there way back.
1:02
Yeah. Well, listen, this is a new
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show, everyone, and Adam Stricker is the very first
1:10
driver. It's called Driver Spotlight,
1:13
this segment all winter long. What we are going to do is we're
1:17
going to shine the spotlight on drivers that win a lot, but a
1:21
lot of people don't know about them and you're looking at a
1:24
winner right now. This, this guy wins a lot.
1:28
Adam #68 I guess the first time I laid eyes on you six years
1:35
ago, you kicked my butt at Terra Haute.
1:40
Where did you start racing? So obviously, just like most
1:44
people started in go karts, my mom and dad, they bought me my
1:48
first Kart and we went racing karts and my dad had raised the
1:52
modified stuff before that. And obviously, you know, I, I
1:56
went with them and then the karting stuff had went on and my
2:01
mom had got a little bit sick. So we kind of had to put the
2:04
karting stuff on on, you know, behind us and that was more
2:07
important. So we done that had I had good
2:11
success in karting as a kid and then my dad got back in the
2:14
modified stuff for my grandfather and he ran, ran that
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for a while, won some races. And then around 2013, he had to
2:25
have some knee surgery. And so I've been testing it off
2:29
and on, like at the end of the races that they let me go out
2:32
after the feature and make, you know, 1015 laps and load her up
2:36
and going home. So like I said, back in 2013, he
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had to have some knee surgery and he asked my grandfather if,
2:43
if you know, if we could just go ahead and do it and put a knife
2:46
together and see what happens. And so we've done that and I was
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like the 5th or 6th race. I was actually that Brush Creek
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place you were talking about. I, I won my first race there.
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So ever since 2013 I ran, ran the modified stuff and then up
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until right there at 23 and I switched to the late models.
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It's safe to say that you're a winner.
3:07
You're very good. You win everything.
3:11
Nick Hoffman is a dear friend of ours.
3:13
When you were running the Modified, you bought your cars
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from Elite, which is Nick. Nick said something to me one
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time that that struck me and made me look.
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He said I really like Adam because it's just him and his
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grandfather. Tell me what your grandfather
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means to you. Nick says it's just you and him.
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You know, five years ago. Is that still the case?
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Yeah, it is. Grandpa is still very, very
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heavily involved with my racing operation.
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Obviously everything stays at his shop, so I'm fortunate to be
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able to do that, to be able to work side by side with him day
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in and, you know, day out. You know, he's right there with
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me any chance he can get, and I'm forever grateful for that.
3:56
My grandpa really, really stuck his neck out for me, obviously,
4:00
when we started buying cars from Nick and Nick as well.
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I mean, he really, really took me under his wing and probably
4:07
is the biggest reason why I'm at where I'm at.
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You know, he, he really pushed me to the next level.
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And, and just like he said, you know, my grandpa was key to, to
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our success. And you know, he's, he's
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definitely someone that I probably couldn't do this
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without. So I'm very thankful for that.
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I think a lot of people look at like a Ricky Thornton when he
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first started and I always kind of joke about it.
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Ricky Thornton had a a big fan following because he was poor
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and he would barely get to the race tracks and he would win.
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We love, we love it when people are poor and they can hardly
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make it and then they win. I I think when people watch you
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show up with your your grandpa, how, how old is he?
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I just turned 80. Yeah, and, and Nick told me that
4:57
so. Works every day.
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Yeah, man, that's pretty incredible.
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You know, everybody wants to know, you know, where you get
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your money. I could do what Adam's doing if
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I had money. So you're saying that your
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grandpa is the catalyst? Yeah.
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So obviously this late mile deal isn't ours.
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I we race, we race for somebody, but we still put a lot of our,
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you know, hard earned money into it.
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But yeah, nonetheless. I mean, my grandpa was 80 years
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old and he works every day from the time, yeah, from the time
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I've stepped foot in a race car, he has worked every single day.
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He works for himself. So he does.
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He's a mechanic, he works on customer cars.
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But I mean, at, at, you know, 80 years old, I've seen him and
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I've got pictures to prove it. I've seen him with cabs off
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pickup trucks, putting motors and pickup trucks just to, you
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know, that's what he wants to do.
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And at the end of the day, he's doing it for one reason,
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obviously for Bills, but racing is something to him that is, you
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know, he he'll never give it up. And Adam, when when I follow you
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on Snapchat, you're a very hard worker.
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You work every day out in the elements.
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What do you do for a living? So I'm a natural gas contractor.
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I do natural gas work. Obviously, you know, this time
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of year right now, like today, you know, it's cold, but you
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know, no matter the weather, we're we're out in it working.
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And so it's definitely not easy work.
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But you know, I worked for our family business there for a
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while and just kind of wanted to do something different.
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You know, no hard feelings. My, my, my family business there
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is still very heavily involved with my racing.
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So I like I said, I just want to do something a little bit
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different there and just went out and, you know, seeing what
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the real world was like and picked a, picked a new hobby or
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a new, you know, field to work in.
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I see that you're married to Bailey, you have a three month
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daughter, you got a job, but I guess your dream is, is to race.
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I, I see this all the time. Are you, are you able to
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understand that you work for a living and you race for fun.
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What is your goal right now in life?
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Yeah. So I mean, ultimately, you know,
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we all have a dream when we're when we're younger.
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So obviously my dream young, you know, a while back was to race
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full time out. You know, that's something I
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always want to do. I always, everyone always asks
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me like you think you're going to do NASCAR and you I'd love to
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do NASCAR, but we got a lot of work to do before then and me
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and my wife have talked about it.
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I mean, the option for us is there to race full time.
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If the if the right opportunity was presented, obviously would
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have to be my whole family would have to be involved as far as my
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wife and my daughter, just to be able to have them there is going
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to be, you know, is going to be very important.
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But yeah, ultimately the goal is to be able to, you know, race
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full time to do it for a living. Obviously, you know, I'm close
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friends of JD and that's someone I really look up to.
8:03
Is is Jonathan? Yeah, so Adam Stricker from
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Batavia, OH, has been winning everything.
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You're the first driver on the driver's spotlight.
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You want somebody to hire you. You want you want to make a
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living running dirt Super Late models.
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And here he is, everybody. He wins everything.
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Just look at it, his social media page.
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He really does a good job promoting himself.
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Although, and you and I have talked a little bit, I find you
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a little shy, which is fine. But I tell you, when you're shy,
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you better win it all. And, and you know when when you
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don't run real good, you still got to promote your product.
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One thing that I noticed is Florence is your is your
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backyard and you know everything around there.
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You won a 3000 win late Model show there and I couldn't see
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the race car. There must have been 30 people
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in Victory Lane with you. You've, you've got a lot of love
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around you. Tell me about that Victory Lane
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picture. I mean, you can not just does it
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cover the car up, but it goes about 5 feet past each end of
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the car. Tell me about all these people
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that love you so much and go to Victory Lane with you.
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Yeah, absolutely. I've been very, very fortunate
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to have a very big family that that backs my racing not only,
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you know, financially, but, you know, emotionally as well.
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I mean, they're everyone that comes to the racetrack, just
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like my father-in-law, you know, he's a big, big supporter of our
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racing and helps me out any way possible.
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You know, my uncle, he there like just like I said, the
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family business, there's just so many people involved as far as
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family, there's more family there than in that picture than
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what you see friends. And you know, I even have
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employees that come come to the racetrack and that work for me
10:00
every day and are there on the weekends racing with me or, you
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know, whatever. Just like, you know, all the
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people that we have that go with us to the racetrack every week.
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They're they're people that have full time jobs.
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They they do it for fun. I don't pay them.
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I pay their way in and I'll pay their food bill or whatever.
10:16
But you know, as far as that goes, there's so many people
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behind the scenes. My car owner right now, Jim
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Beaman tells me this all the time.
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There's so many people involved with our team that you see a lot
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of these people go racing. They don't have that.
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I mean, I have, I can count on at least, you know, 15 people to
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come to the racetrack rather it's with me or, you know, you
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know, drive separate or whatever just to be there to support.
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So yeah, absolutely that that picture shows that I have a lot
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of people behind me and I'm very, very fortunate for that.
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So you start out and go karts, you went to the UMP Modified,
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You know, we know the best have started out in UMP.
10:57
You know, whether it's Jimmy Owens, the Newport Nightmare,
11:00
Nick Hoffman, Clint Boyer went right from the Modifieds.
11:04
They found him in the Modifieds. What is it about the Modifieds
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that vault everybody's career? I think part of me really feels
11:14
like that the modified stuff is in my opinion is way harder to
11:18
do then then the late model stuff.
11:20
I feel like you're on half the rubber obviously so and then the
11:24
arrow is a lot less than what the late model stuff is.
11:26
So I feel like an open wheel background really boost someone
11:30
to the next level of our sport. I feel like that they learn a
11:35
lot in that modified stuff in it and it goes both ways.
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I mean, the modified stuff can hurt you and they can help you.
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So I feel like with me switching over to the late model, there's
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some bad habits that I had to get rid of from the modified and
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some stuff that would relay over.
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But at the end of the day, I really think that the open wheel
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background really can get someone going to the next level
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as far as you know, just like I said, your own half the rubber,
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so you got to keep your tires underneath.
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You of all people know, you know that you know what it's like.
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So I really think that just like I said, it just makes it, it
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makes it easier for someone to transition just a little bit, if
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that makes sense. I think white stuff is is harder
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to begin with. So you and I talked about this,
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oh, a year ago. And as you know, I do a lot of
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social media. The sponsors love it.
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It's why I do it. Social media was made for me and
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it has helped my career. You look at Nick Hoffman right
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now, you know he's on, you know, with with with the World of
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Outlaws. He's got a show.
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You realize that when you want to get sponsors, you got to
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promote the product. Are you willing to, you know, go
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dirt super lot like moderation help promote your sponsor?
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Are you willing to go down that path?
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Yeah, absolutely. I feel like, I feel like right
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now, obviously, you know, I don't, I don't do a show or
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nothing like that, but I try really, really hard to promote
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my sponsors in the best way I know how.
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You know, just like, just like all, you know, if you look at my
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racing suits, which is this is just, you know, me talking, You
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look at my racing suits, every racing suit that I've ever had
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except for two has come out of my pockets and I promote their
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business as far as I can rather it's out of my pocket or not.
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Because at the end of the day, they, they helped me the best
13:32
way they can, but I try my hardest and that's something
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that I do really take serious as far as, you know, promoting
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their business. I'm not saying I'm the greatest,
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obviously, you know, I'm, I have a full time job and.
13:46
You have confidence, you have confidence.
13:49
Yeah. And I, I really think that's
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something I can do with the right opportunity.
13:54
So what I'm doing here, as you see my eyes, I watched Nick
13:58
Hoffman. I, you know, I lived in North
13:59
Carolina for 27 years and I watched Nick building modifieds
14:04
to this day. He'll drop his tools, He'll,
14:08
he'll wash his hands. And then him and Hannah
14:11
Newhouse, there they are. So, so there's Nick right there.
14:17
You see what I'm saying? This is, this is the era we're
14:22
in. I watched Nick do that.
14:24
He's building race cars. He's, he's getting his cars
14:27
ready. And all of a sudden I'm building
14:29
my race car, his shop, and I watch him go wash his hands and
14:32
goes right to that studio. These Dirt Super Late Models,
14:36
the motors are 5060 grand. You know, we're looking at, you
14:40
know, $1,000,000 haulers. We're living on the road.
14:44
What would you tell everybody that you've learned making that
14:49
move from the modifieds to the Dirt Super Late Models, but yet
14:54
you're still looking for somebody to pick you up because
14:57
you want to do it for a living? What did you learn financially,
15:03
you know, so you did the modifieds on your own.
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How how big of a jump is that financially to to go run, you
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know, a a full year of, you know, World of Outlaw Super late
15:14
model racing. How big of a deal is that?
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It's huge. I mean, most definitely, I mean
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you, you just look at the cost aspect of it.
15:21
At the end of the day, you know your your tires are just a
15:24
little bit more and your fuels a little bit more, but your
15:26
initial cost is humongous. I mean, as far as the cars go,
15:29
they're definitely more. The motors are definitely more
15:32
and then what you need to race out of to be competitive with
15:35
these guys that are beating up and down the road and these S
15:37
and s s. And for a regional guy like me,
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you know, the initial cost, like you said it or you asked is, is
15:44
humongous. So at the end of the day, it's
15:49
it's a huge deal and it's definitely way harder.
15:53
I know what the modified stuff was like.
15:54
I mean, me and my grandpa done it, you know, we beat up and
15:58
down the road together and he and his hauler, it was just a,
16:01
just a box truck with a, with a little sleeping cord on it, no
16:04
shower and a box trailer. You know, I mean, it just, it's
16:08
hard to, it's much harder to compete in this late mile stuff.
16:11
I'm very fortunate for my car owner, Jim Beamon that he is, he
16:15
is pushing me to that level. And if you ask him, he'll tell
16:20
you that he wants to get me to this next level.
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I don't know. I've been fortunate enough to,
16:24
you know, to help him out. And he's helped me out
16:26
financially both ways to to just keep trying to race with these
16:30
guys and, and prove that I can do it.
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Just like, you know, I keep saying the the perfect
16:36
opportunity has to come around and that that may not come
16:39
around. But at the end of the day, you
16:41
know you don't want to give up on your dream.
16:43
All right everybody, this is what the Driver Spotlight is all
16:47
about. Let let this new driver talk
16:50
He's a winner. He's won everything there is to
16:52
win. He's already wanted go karts
16:55
modified super late models Kenny Kenny conversation.
17:00
We have this driver spotlight There he is Adam Stricker
17:04
Batavia OH married got a three month child.
17:07
He wants to make it to the big time hit his goal in life.
17:11
We hear this a lot. You know a lot of these drivers.
17:15
My goal is to be a dirt super late model racers.
17:18
So whether you're Mark Richards or Lance Landers, whether you're
17:23
Jeff Hoker or Petroff, help this kid out.
17:28
He, he, he's put, he's put his, his reputation on the line.
17:33
And you know, Adam, I will never forget somebody criticizing Nick
17:40
Hoffman on X and and, and Nick's response was I will prove you
17:46
wrong. Just give me a chance in a dirt
17:49
super late model and I will prove you wrong.
17:53
And boy, he did. I mean, he has shut everybody
17:57
up. Yep.
17:58
And Nick, Nick's Nick, someone has really boost me to the next
18:02
level. I mean, just about everything I
18:05
do race and wise obviously goes through Nick.
18:08
You know, I always, we talk almost every day on the phone or
18:11
rather it's text or Snapchat or whatever.
18:13
I mean we talk like I said, every day.
18:14
So he knows exactly what I got going on and you know, he has
18:20
helped me out tremendously, like I said, with boosting me the
18:23
next level. His race cars have helped me get
18:26
my name out there. If it wasn't for him, it, you
18:28
know, 90% of this wouldn't be possible.
18:32
But like I said, I mean, I've turned to him for advice and
18:35
I've turned to him for, you know, race and set up.
18:37
So it's, it's someone that is, you know, it's like a brother to
18:40
me. So, you know, I'm very thankful
18:42
for him. So you you love Jonathan
18:46
Davenport. You and him are good friends.
18:47
Kyle Hammer says the same. Kyle Hammer says it J DS coming
18:51
up to his house to go hunting. It seems to me like Jonathan
18:55
Davenport travels all around the Midwest using people's property
18:59
up. So when when you're around
19:01
Jonathan, do you do you kind of get some lessons?
19:05
I mean, he's the best. Yeah, I mean, a lot of times
19:08
when I see him, you know, I try not to, I try not to talk about
19:12
racing a whole lot just because, you know, it's something that he
19:15
is doing every day. So.
19:17
But you know, for instance, we were at the, I was at the DTWC
19:21
there I ran Craig Christians Modified and was fortunate
19:24
enough to to win that that race there for the modified portion
19:26
of that weekend and. Big win, Big win.
19:29
And so after the race is over, you know, cop hammer run 2nd.
19:35
And so I turned the fastest lap of the race on lap 25 coming to
19:40
the checker was as fast as lap of the race.
19:42
And so afterwards, you know, Jonathan would come down, I was
19:45
in tech and he's like, hey, did you look at race monitor?
19:49
Did you see, see the fastest lap of the race?
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I was like, no. And he said I was on lap 25.
19:54
So he pulled out a $0.25 a quarter out of his pocket and
19:57
said, here you go, here's your fast time award $0.25 for lap
20:00
25. So he's, he's one of the kind.
20:03
And like I said, definitely a good guy all around good guy
20:06
and. Someone that you know, most
20:08
definitely young racers like myself was is going to look up
20:11
to. I mean, he's, I mean, if you, if
20:14
you really dig into it and look at his background as far as in
20:17
his story, I mean, it's, you know, he, he worked, he worked
20:20
the everyday life, he worked the hard man life and then here he
20:23
is. Yeah, let's talk, let's end like
20:27
this. Let's end with that big win at
20:29
Eldora. So you got the whole world
20:31
watching you and you start mid pack and you know, all Knicks
20:37
cars, all elite cars in the top 4.
20:41
You know, David Sturmi, he's got his lethals he takes out there
20:44
and all of a sudden all four elites go blow them by him.
20:49
And it looks like Kyle Hammer is going to win it.
20:52
And here you come. Take me in your mind, you know,
20:58
you know what happened. You know, how did you find so
21:01
much speed? Yeah, so Nick, Nick told me best
21:07
and I didn't really think about this until after the race is
21:09
over. We were staying on stage and and
21:12
the words out of his mouth was super late model racing has
21:16
taught you a lot. So with that being said, you
21:19
know, Eldora is one of the most era dependent places that most
21:24
of us race car drivers will go to besides Volusia or something
21:28
like that, you know, superspeedway.
21:31
So, you know, we get this, we get this caution with three to
21:34
go. And I'm making my way up through
21:36
there. I started 15th, you know, and
21:39
arrow there, like I said, it's so huge.
21:41
So you're bobbing and weaving, you know, this guy's on the top.
21:44
So you got to get to the bottom. You know what I mean?
21:46
You can't go where they're at. So, you know, like I said, we
21:49
got a costume with three to go. Kyle drives it into one.
21:53
And I thought he was for sure committed to to slide me and he
21:56
never he never committed enough. And I just never let my momentum
21:59
back out and, and I just stood in it and we was either going to
22:04
records or checkers that that go around because the last time I
22:07
had raced there in a modified, we had won from 9th.
22:10
And so I was well on my way to to win another big race there.
22:14
So like I said, we was checkers or records that go around.
22:18
All right, everybody, we'll end like that.
22:20
We end on a big win at at Eldora.
22:24
Jonathan Davenport, Nick Hoffman, we can't brag on you
22:28
anymore. And you're so young that we we
22:32
cannot do a one hour show. When I when I interviewed the
22:36
young ones, 20 minutes is about Max because you know, the older
22:40
you get, the longer the shows get.
22:43
So you you got to keep on racing.
22:46
Come back on Kenny conversation and what we'll do an hour show.
22:51
But Adam, congratulations. Thank you.
22:54
I want to, I want to thank you for this and, and nonetheless,
22:57
you know, while I got the opportunity to do it here in
22:59
front of you know, you get a lot of you get a lot of viewers and
23:02
a lot of fans and all that kind of stuff.
23:03
So I need to thank people that have really, really stuck their
23:07
neck out for me, like my coroner, Jim Beaman, Matt and
23:10
Amy Basham with stainless crap. They've they've really boosted
23:13
me, you know, financially to help me out and my family
23:17
business, Stricher auto parts, just everybody that's really,
23:21
really had my back and want to me to go to the next level.
23:25
And again, you know, you for for letting me do this and, and for
23:28
having me on. So I greatly appreciate.
23:30
It you're welcome buddy and by the way, I'm dirty as all get
23:35
out. I just left the shop.
23:36
I'm grinding and grooving tires right now, so we all the same.
23:41
All right there he is everybody. Adam Stricker, Batavia, OH #68
23:46
he wants to go big time. Listen up, Late model owners.
23:52
There he is. Give him a call.
23:53
Do we have a phone number? How can we reach you?
23:55
Yeah, best way, you know, obviously best way possible is,
23:59
you know, probably, probably Facebook or some social media.
24:02
I'm obviously always on my phone and you can ask my wife.
24:04
So I'm always on my phone. My e-mail or phone number is
24:09
fine too. So like I said I I have no
24:11
problem talking and most people that know me can tell you that.
24:15
And he's got a good Facebook. All right, everybody listen,
24:18
Kenny conversation just keeps on rolling.
24:21
We got Joey Logano coming up next.
24:24
Joey, as you know, he is super controversial.
24:27
He's only a three time NASCAR Cup champion, quickly becoming
24:31
one of the greatest drivers of all time.
24:34
As soon as you bad mouthing, he just wins another championship.
24:38
All right, until the next Kenny conversation.
24:41
We'll talk to you later.