Independent NASCAR Drivers - Nickels And Dimes

Others are even more creative. Last year Shepherd started just two races. In one of them, NASCAR officials noticed that he was making pit stops after only a handful of laps, and changing four tires each time. It turns out that top-line teams were paying him to scuff their tires for them, and he had successfully scuffed several sets before the sanctioning body put the kibosh on his little side business. The act of sacrificing laps to scuff tires for other teams may be a little hard to swallow for a long-time racer like Shepherd, but he says it was what he had to do just to scrape up enough money for his own tires at the time. It also had long-term benefits, he says. Even during races this season, teams have sent tires to his crew that came off their cars after short runs. Still, it's often enough just to get by.

For the independents, taking the green flag is a checkered flag of sorts. The biggest challenge is just making the race. They have no illusions of winning, so the goal is simply to have fun, stay out of trouble, and get the highest finish possible. Last place money in Nextel Cup races is often in the range of $50,000. It's not enough to build a race team of your own, but if you already have your equipment in place, it's enough to pay the expenses-enough to buy a new set of tires, fuel up the hauler, maybe pay the mortgage, and try again next week.

Of course, that's only if everything goes well and the only parts they have to replace are the ones that are worn out from long-term use. For the top-flight teams, a wreck is an annoyance; for the independents it spells disaster. When Hillenburg was rear-ended by an impatient Tony Stewart and wrecked at Darlington, it meant money earmarked for better engines and equipment had to be spent on repairs. The story is even worse for Carl Long. He totaled his car in an accident at North Carolina Speedway and raced the next week for a different owner, but he didn't get back on the track until May's all-star event at Charlotte.

Hillenburg has faced similar challenges. "After Darlington we raced one more time with our second car, but after that we had to sit out a couple of weeks to regroup," Hillenburg explains. "You can get going on $50,000 a week and keep it going, but you are always going to be scraping by and running in the back of the pack. That's not what we are in it for. We are not expecting miracles, but we do expect to improve. By the end of the year, I expect this team will be a lot more competitive than it is now, but you've got to start somewhere, and right now, unfortunately, we are starting at the bottom."

So you can expect the independents to keep showing up as long as they see a chance to make a race. You will have to pardon them if they look a little tired; they've been in the shop most of the night turning wrenches themselves since they cannot afford a full crew. And their cars may look a little more worn than the cars at the front of the line, but they are here to run and compete, and they ask for no special favors. They are just racers doing what they are born to do.

"It's tough," Hillenburg adds, "but it's fun. And I think most people appreciate what we are trying to do. I've been racing for years, but I've never before had as many people stop me and compliment us on trying as we have this year. And the true racers appreciate what we are doing. We've had guys from other teams come by after working all day at another shop to help us out. They've been working all day and they make plenty of money, but they still volunteer their time to lend a hand because they appreciate what we are trying to accomplish. I've been pretty frustrated before, but when that happens, it just makes you say, 'Wow!' It makes you keep going.

"I compare what we are doing to a Rocky movie," he continues. "Right now we are just getting the crap beat out of us, and we might even get knocked on the mat. But we're not the kind to give up, and no matter what happens, we'll just get back up and come back for more until we succeed."