MOTORSPORT: He ain't from around here

It could have been any Friday night for the past half century. A religion from California to New York, dirt track racing is as much a part of Friday nights as church is to Sunday mornings.

The followers arrive in jeans, white T-shirts and pick-up trucks to worship real racing, as they say. None of that nancy-boy European racing here.

Of all the forms of motorsport, sprint car racing may be as basic as dirt and as gladiatorial as Ben Hur, but there's nothing remotely simple about putting your right foot down and turning left in a short-wheelbase car weighing 635kg and powered by a 410 cubic-inch V8 grunting out more than 670kW.

It defies logic and probably a few laws of physics. A good car and a better driver will turn a lap of a quarter-mile dirt track in about 10 seconds. That's (insert obscenity) fast!

World of Outlaws this year will sanction 92 nights of racing over a nine-month schedule that began in February in Florida before travelling west along the sunbelt to Nevada and California.

The series peaks in early August for four days of intense wheel-to-wheel racing at the Knoxville Nationals in Iowa and finishes at the World of Outlaws World Finals in Charlotte, North Carolina in November. It's a punishing grind for drivers, crew and equipment.

A rising star on the US World of Outlaws series you may recognise. Over the loud speaker with the acoustic clarity of an oil drum, he's introduced as the Mad Man from St Marys Australia driving car #29.

Australian Kerry Madsen is exactly where he wants to be. Several years ago he relocated from Sydney's western suburbs and is the only non-American driver challenging for the WoO national championship.

Supporting Madsen is Keneric Racing, a sprint car team owned by West Australia-based Keneric Group with new sponsor American Racing Custom Wheels.

Aside from the brand-spankers Volvo semi and spotless rig, Madsen looks like a driver. At about 70kg, medium build and physically fit, you might guess touring cars or possibly open-wheelers.

There's something too cerebral about his intensity for dirt track. Madsen is a new generation of professional drivers now running the WoO who balance bravery and brains in their driving style.

"My whole focus is here – the United States – and running sprint cars,” he said of his commitment that's intensified during the past few seasons.

"I was racing year round; nine months in the US and three months in Australia. But, last year I spent most of the year in the States.”

Such is the security of having supportive team owners, sponsorship dollars and the goal of winning the national championship. He's now bouncing between fifth and sixth in the championship points after two main event wins early in the season.

The series now moves to the Midwest where Madsen is more comfortable with the dirt.

"I like the bigger faster tracks – Eldora and Knoxville (both half-mile),” he says in contrast to the short circuits common to the fairgrounds in central California. So it is fair to expect Madsen to move up in the points and charge hard at Knoxville, his home track.

It's taken a while to get where he's at, generations in fact. Madsen first worked the spanners crewing for his father, Joe, before taking the wheel in the early 1990s as a regular at Sydney Speedway in Parramatta and at Premier Speedway in Warrnambool.

Now 42 years old, Madsen is in his prime and realistically has at least a decade before reaching his used-by date as a driver. Sprint car drivers, though, seem to improve with age. Steve Kinser at 59 (turns 60 in June) and Sammy Swindell at 58 are as quick as they've ever been.

Madsen is here for the long run. He pounded down stakes and bought a house in Knoxville, Iowa where he's left the keys to an old Ford pick-up.

The sponsorship deal with American Racing was announced in January and has given Madsen the financial push to challenge for the championship.

American Racing is quiet on the dollar amount, but Madsen is the company's only full-year deal as a primary sponsor. Their deals with Tony Pedregon (two-time NHRA Top Fuel Funny Car champion) and Sebastien Bourdais (four-time IndyCar champion) are select event deals.

So far American Racing rates Madsen very highly. Says Dan Ricehouse who looks after American Racing sponsorship deals: "Kerry represents American Racing very well. There's not a person in our organisation who doesn't like Kerry Madsen.”

"The thing that's cool about Kerry is that we don't have to remind him that we're here to win the championship,” says Ricehouse. "He didn't get the Mad Man nickname by being reserved. So far we'd give him an A+!”

The man's effectively been demoted to one job. "I was always a hands-on guy and that's not the best way to win a lot of races,” he mentioned as one adjustment he's had to make this year.

American Racing made it clear that Madsen was to concentrate on driving. Crew chief Tyler Swank and two mechanics worry about the car and make set-up changes, and that too has been a learning experience.

"Tyler and I are beginning to speak the same language. We're building mutual respect.” That too will improve as the season progresses.

Swank, at 37 years old, has been on the spanners for 23 years. He watches Madsen's every move on the track; "I watch his hands mainly to see if they're calm or not. That gives me an idea of the set-up.”

Most of the tracks on the west coast are new to Madsen, and on this Friday night the track is constantly changing. He and Tyler are chasing the set-up after practice and then again after qualifying with damper changes, wheel stagger changes and gearing changes that keep the crew circling.

Madsen is struggling. He's not on the pace. He and Swank make a few last-minute tweaks to the set-up in anticipation of a groove that's moving from the big cushion to the low line.

Madsen checks the track whenever he can and one last time before the main. It is drying quickly on a warm night and getting slick.

The track isn't Madsen's only worry on the night. He has bigger problems with the V8 that's not signing like it should and down on power. Madsen pits and Swank figures correctly, checking the magneto which doesn't want to play tonight. Madsen reacts as expected; his calmness is overcome by frustration and deeper frustration.

There's nothing more to do than load the transporter, grab a meal, get some sleep and hit the highway toward Saturday night's event.

These V8s, based on the Chevy small-block, are amazing considering the basic design dates back to 1955. Their lifespan is about eight races – less than a total of 200km at race pace.

They're highly tuned, producing peak power from 7000 to 9000rpm – from a pushrod design with mechanical fuel-injection and burning ethanol at a voracious rate of 2.5 litres per lap.

The engine as well as fuel and rubber are the main costs. Now add in hotels, meals and diesel for the transporter and a team will easily spend $6000 per event.

Push that to 92 events and a half-million dollar budget will just cover expenses for the year. That's not counting the cost of inevitable crashes nor salaries. Running a competitive WoO sprint car is a $1million operation.

Madsen's quickening pace has not gone unnoticed. Kinser has kept his eye on the Aussie.

"When he first arrived, he had a tendency to over drive his equipment,” says The King. "Kerry's looking very good this year now that he's got good equipment. I've been very proud of him.”

It is a big compliment from a fellow racer who's been watching Madsen and racing against him since the early 1990s.

Pics: PJ Petersen

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