Seeing Jac Haudenschild stroll into a restaurant last Sunday on his way to a radio remote, eight days removed from winning Sprint Car racing’s biggest paying race, one didn’t so much get the sense that he was the “Wild Child” as much as he was the “family man” that early evening. But the smile and thrill of victory was still evident on the extremely popular and highly talented Sprint Car racer.
Winning the MOPAR MILLION at Eldora Speedway was big. Real big. But Haudenschild is used to doing things in a big way. He won the very first HISTORICAL BIG ONE at Earl Baltes’ playground and had racked up three KINGS ROYALE wins, among a multitude of other high profile victories.
But one finds Haudenschild the same as he always has been, unflappable, cool, always on an even keel, despite his moniker.
“That was a great race for us to win,” offered Haudenschild on winning the MOPAR MILLION. “We we’ve been kind of struggling all year, been up and down all year and haven’t won a race all year. That was our first one so we picked the right one to win.”
Having raced at Eldora for most of his 28 year career, Haudenschild was asked if he had any reservations about qualifying well at Eldora in a non-winged car.
“I knew it would be tough to get qualified because the track was really, really slick and hard to get a hold of,” recalled Haudenschild. “We got a half decent number for the first set of qualifying so we had a decent race track. I think we qualified fifth fastest so we were pretty happy with the qualifying time.”
“We watched Dean Jacobs time really good and then (Rob) Chaney and then Tyler Walker went out and put on an awesome qualifying lap.”
Having left the Guy Forbrook ride earlier, Haudenschild has now found a home aboard Larry Woodward’s #4. Woodward is a past car owner in the CRA, SCRA and USAC. Equipment consists of Maxim Chassis, Charlie Fisher Racing Engines and Hoosier Racing Tires. Mike Thurman is serving as crew chief with Rodney Tiner, Jr., on board as a crewmember. Sponsorship comes from RaceToHawaii.Com.
“My car owner is Larry Woodward, he’s from out in California and he just came into it,” explained Haudenschild. “He used to race years ago and then came back into it and wanted to go racing so he called me up and wanted to go racing so we just put it together. It took us about two and a half months.”
“My car owner’s business is in Hawaii, he owns a tire, brake and muffler business and he’s just trying to get a deal going over there for them (State of Hawaii) to sponsor him.”
“He’s got me what it takes to go racing and he bought us Charlie Fisher motors. We started out with two motors and we have three motors now. He bought us two racecars and enough stuff to go racing and that’s all we needed.”
Having been at Sprint Car racing since 1975, Haudenschild was asked if during his formative years did he ever wonder if he would end of racing for a living when he first started running with his brother, Ed, and buddies Kenny Jacobs and Brad Doty.
“Well, we never really thought of making a living doing it,” commented Haudenschild. “We just started out doing it for the fun of it and we just started racing all around Ohio and then we started to traveling to Florida or wherever we had to go to go racing. We got better rides and better rides, but back then we never really thought about making a career out of it.”
“My brother started a couple years before I did so I had to watch him for a couple years and that was tough to do. But he started before me and then we met Kenny up at Wayne County and then Brad was always our buddy and he got in a racecar and we finally all ended up racing together.”
As for racing today, Haudenschild still loves it, although he isn’t too crazy about some changes, most importantly the recently instituted weight rule.
“I don’t like it at all,” stated Haudenschild. “My car that I have now is like a car that I ran ten years ago, like a big old tank and you can feel it on the track. The weight rule has slowed them down and made them feel lazy. The weight rule is not quite as bad without a wing. We put on 80 to 100 pounds that we have to bolt on. The cars were safe before they added the weight rule. They were pretty safe.”
He has also always been comfortable in both winged and non-winged cars, and enjoys taking the lid off, but has no complaints with the wings.
“When I was younger it never mattered to me, with or without the wing,” said Haudenschild, 44. “But now, it’d be tough to run a 100 races a year without the wing because you dump them things, they dump hard and they sting! They’re fun to race. They both have their own unique way.”
“This year I ran non-wing six times. I probably ran 60 winged races. We still got a lot of racing in this year.”
One thing significant to the Haudenschild family, and to racing too, is the fact that the night before Jac Haudenschild go to watch his oldest son, Justin, turn his first competitive laps in a Sprint Car at Lakeville Speedway, finishing 11th in his very first feature race on September 27.
Having only previously turned a couple dozen laps during a practice day at Wayne County Speedway, Justin Haudenschild, on his 17th birthday, became the third generation of the Haudenschild family to strap into a Sprint Car, following in the footsteps of his father, Jac, uncle, Ed, and grandfather John Haudenschild, one of central Ohio’s toughest racers in the 1960’s.
“My kid Justin just turned 17 and he wanted to give this a try so I took him down to where I started out racing and he raced this past weekend down at Lakeville Speedway,” related Haudenschild, who is married to Patti. “He looked pretty good! It was a lot of fun.”
Jac and Patti have two other children, Sheldon and Raquel.
Sheldon Haudenschild is a moto-cross racer and is so talented that he won the very first time he entered competition. Recently he was injured during a moto-cross meet at the Ashland County Fairgrounds but has rebounded.
“He’s doing all right,” confirmed Haudenschild. “He sprained his ankle a little bit and it was a scare there, but he’s doing good and ready to go racing again.”
“He’s pretty fast. We race indoor mot-cross all winter at Marion and Summit County and he’s got quite a few wins under his belt now and he runs hard. I’m just busy with my three kids all the time. Raquel is into horses and I had to buy a horse trailer the other day so it’s just one thing after another.”
As soon as the season is done, it will be time to devote full energies to the family and begin to think about 2004.
“I’m going to race right up ‘til the end of the year,” said Haudenschild. “We’ll probably go out and run that big non-wing race at Perris and that’ll be it for me then I’ll have my son racing at the indoor deals this winter.”
And then once 2004 rolls along, it’ll be back on the road for more wins and perhaps some more history-making wins.
©2003-2008 Doc Lehman/Dirt America
Tags: CRA, Earl Baltes, Eldora Speedway, Guy Forbrook, Historical Big One, Jac, Jac Haudenschild, John Haudenschild, Kings Royal, Mopar Million, SCRA, USAC, Wild Child, World of Outlaws
