Darin Odle and Brian Ross are racing's odd couple. Odle is prototypical Felix Unger, a meticulous craftsman who demands everything be perfect. Ross is a lot like Oscar Madison. He doesn't sweat the details that won't, by his reckoning, make him faster.
"We probably wouldn't even talk to one another except for racing," says Ross. "Darin's wound tighter than a three-day clock."
Odle counters that he can't let his laid-back driver even put on his uniform until just before he gets into the car "or Brian will be under it in a fresh, $1,500 suit, getting grease all over it."
How do these guys ever get along? Quite successfully, actually. It is their differences that make the pair strong, and that makes Odle Motorsports a threat to win the USAR (United Speed Alliance Racing) Hooters ProCup title this year.
In 2002-his first year with Odle-Ross was Rookie of the Year and champion in the Hooters Northern Division. Last year, the team finished Second in the division, in spite of crashing their best car and having to run part of the year in a backup.
"He brings a lot of talent to the series," says Tim Souther, USAR marketing director. "It is a team that does a lot with very little. It isn't heavy on funds compared to a lot of other teams but they work hard at what they do."
USAR runs two Hooters ProCup Divisions. Drivers from the North and South run a dozen races in their respective divisions, with the best of each group going head-to-head in a post-season shootout series at five different tracks.
In recent years the ProCup Series has attracted both money and talent. It is recognized as a strong feeder series that tests the mettle of young drivers who want to race in NASCAR's national series. The nationally televised races also attract sponsors who want to become involved in stock car racing but lack the deep pockets for the big names of NASCAR. Odle says it is a perfect fit for owners and drivers like him and Ross.
"Brian Ross is very talented," says Bobby Gill, the most successful driver ever in USAR. "He races you clean and hard. I don't worry about him when we run close."
Gill ran against Ross in the five-race championship shootout last year. "He's a lot like me," says Gill. "The team doesn't have a lot of money, but they make up for it by working harder than folks who can just go out and buy what they need. I think their success is the difference between just showing up to drive or being involved with the race car and how it is built and prepared."
Ross is intimately involved in the car because he makes his living behind the wheel. "I live pretty modestly," says the 42-year-old driver, who this year is hoping to move his family from a mobile home into a house he's building himself in his hometown of Plymouth, Indiana. He and his wife and children go to the races in a camper. "We take our time and make a trip out of it," he says. "We leave early and spend an extra day or so coming home. It keeps the cost down and we get to see a lot of country."
Odle is a former driver who, in the '90s, got involved as a promoter, running Benton County Speedway in Chase, Indiana. "Brian would come in and just take my money," says Odle. "He'd start on the pole, lead every lap, and collect his check. It got so bad that I sat down and talked to him about how he was ruining the show. So he offered to begin each race from the back. He still took all my money, but he had to work harder to do it. That's when I realized how talented he is."