United Nissan ASA Speed Truck Team - Building A Winning Team

Every racer has good days and bad days. The trick, of course, is to have more good ones than bad ones. Consistent winners just seem to have more good days than the rest of us mortals. But just what is different about the winners? What exactly are they doing differently from the rest of the field?

The fact of the matter is that there will always be more non-winners than winners. Simple mathematics determines this fact, as 20 to 40 drivers compete on the track and one becomes the winner. Although it looks easy, winning is difficult because winners are working very hard to make it happen.

In 2006, The United Nissan team cracked the code to gain entry to the winner's circle in the ASA Speed Truck Challenge. This team campaigned two trucks: one driven by Darren Young with seven wins, and another driven by Lee Hatch with three wins. The numbers have a bit more significance when you consider that those numbers came 11 races into a 12-race season. After that 11th race, Young was the series point leader and Hatch was in Second Place. Young has already won the season championship once and finished as runner-up twice. Driving talent is not an issue.

It is easy to merely say that the teams with the most money win more often. While there may be some truth in that statement, we have all seen people spend piles of money and not win. Those teams seem to come and go with regularity. If all it took was money, then anybody could win, and that is just not the case.

Today the level of competition in racing is rising quickly, and winning is not easy in any of the series. Every series across the country is populated by racers who want to win and are willing to dedicate the time and resources to winning. It does not matter if you are racing at the grassroots level or the highest levels.

Racers are a different breed from just five years ago. They are smarter and better prepared, have more technology available to them, and they most likely have a greater level of experience. Quality information is just a click away. They can access more information in one evening than can be gained in 10 years of racing. There is still no substitute for experience, but information is available at a greater level than it has ever been. The racing vendors want you to do well with the products they manufacture and sell, so they are not bashful with information to help you succeed.

The competition is so close in the ASA Speed Truck Challenge that over 90 percent of the field has a legitimate shot at winning any given race. From an equipment perspective, the ASA has done a great job keeping the field as even as possible. There are no technological advantages from one team to the next. The trucks are that close. The rules preclude the ability to just buy a win through aggressive part replacement. The differences boil down to preparation and the team working together to make sure the driver has the right truck to get the job done. Chassis tuning is at a premium in this series. Very seldom does a winner arrive in Victory Circle alone. In auto racing today, winning is more often than not a team event.

The United Nissan team is owned by Lee Keach and Don Forman, of Las Vegas. They have a story that is very similar to that of Richard Childress, insofar as they loved to race and were drivers but had more talent and ability to run a race team, and other business obligations prevented them from being full-time racers. So they assembled a team of people who get the job done from a mechanical perspective. With that support system in place, Young and Hatch are doing the job behind the wheel.

From a technical perspective, Forman and Keach have put together a first-rate organization to support the Speed Trucks they race. The truck chief position is held by Greg Knight, who has an extensive background in machining and fabrication and a great deal of experience in engine building. His race car experience ranges from Late Models, to Sand Drags, to Tour Cars, and now Speed Trucks. Knight has the job of doing all the post- and pre-race maintenance. He is the hero behind the scenes, the mechanical glue that holds the trucks together. He is assisted in the shop by Kendall Anderson. The jack-of-all-trades and crew man is Scott Reddell, who has been racing almost as long as he has been walking. His experience spans Karts, Motocross, working on NASCAR Craftsman Trucks, and Mickey Thompson Off-Road cars. Reddell was the 2001 Mechanix Wear Speed Truck Challenge Spotter of the Year. In his "spare" time Scott is a semi-pro golfer.