|
Montgomery County Maryland is not exactly a hotbed of racing.
In fact,
motorsports of any type are illegal in the pashe upper level income County and
have been for over thirty years. This includes go-karts, motorcross, even
lawnmower races. In many suburbs unregistered vehicles of any kind (i.e. race
cars) are illegal, even if they sit in the garage! Mike learned this the hard way,
bringing home his grandma's Ford LTD for the demolition derby, only to have it
towed from his driveway because it was an unregistered vehicle.....fifteen
minutes after bringing it home.
Mike did not see his first race until the age of 12. His father brought him to
see the stock car races at Beltsville Speedway in a neighboring county.
Beltsville Speedway was a tough 1/2 mile paved oval which saw the likes of
Reds Kagle, Sonny Hutchins, Jimmy Meyers, Jack Bland, Darrell Waltrip (when he was a racer and not just doing PR work for NASCAR) Rusty Wallace, Bobby
Allison and even Richard Petty on occasion. As soon as the green flag dropped
that first night, the hook was set and Mike knew he was going to be racing
somewhere, somehow....even if Montgomery County did frown on the sport.
Unfortunately, Beltsville Speedway closed down two years after that first race
Mike saw and that was the end of any circle track plans Mike had when he got
his license. But right up the road in Frederick County was 75-80 Dragway.
Mike got his license and his first street car was a big-block, 4-speed Cobra
Torino that did double duty between the drag races and getting him back and
forth to the speed shop where he worked. After replacing the clutch at a pace
of.. quite literally... every two weeks, Mike decided the Torino wasn't up to
doing double duty, and he convinced his dad to help finance building a race
only drag car. That car turned out to be a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner which he
and his dad would campaign up and down the Eastern seaboard and as far West as Michigan for the next 7 years.
Because Mike was having so much fun with the car any thoughts of circle track racing just like his heroes at Beltsville
Speedway soon faded as the success with the Roadrunner grew.
"Bracket
racing" is a form of drag racing and is probably one of the only types of
motorsport where a driver can actually turn a profit without the benefit of
sponsors or generous car owners. First place in a bracket race is often $5,000,
sometimes as high as $50,000. The total investment in a good, winning
bracket car can be as little as $12,000 and upkeep is minimal (i.e. few if any
wrecks). The fun in drag racing lasted until, in August of 1991, his father
passed away from cancer. After the loss, Mike's interest in drag racing slowly
dulled into boredom, and even the promise of making money at something
Mike once enjoyed was not enough to keep him in the sport.
Almost as a fluke, Mike and a friend of many years got together and went to
watch some go-kart racing action on the same property as the home drag
racing track Mike and his friend had raced at for so long.
Mike Mortimer is the friend and current Crew Chief who was just about as good a drag racer as they come.
They both got "the bug" again and decided to have some fun racing karts.
At first the karting was simply a diversion. But as both gained experience, they realized just how awesome racing with corners (and not just a straight line as in drag racing) can be.
Success
came quickly for both, though it soon became apparent that Creaghan was the one with the balls (lots of aggressive driving with the attendent wrecks.....and later the wins) and Mortimer was the one with the
brains (pretty much setting up both karts and learning the ropes of how to make them work).
A year and a half in kart racing was more than enough for both to feel they
could race something bigger, better and faster.
One of Creaghan's Snap-On tool customers is a fellow by the name of Mike
Sayers, Sr. After Sayer's heard about Creaghan's karting experiences, Sayers
introduced him to the world of sprint cars. Mike Sayers, Jr. races with the VSS
(Virginia Sprints Series). The two Sayers have been close to Sprint Car Racing
for quite awhile, with Sayers, Jr. coming up through the micro sprints and
racing against such notables as the late Kevin Gobrecht. After a lot of
discussion about what Sprints are about, the finances, schedules, and location
of tracks, Sayers pretty much convinced Creaghan that the long forgotten
dream of circle track racing was within his reach.
November, 1998. Lincoln Speedway's annual sprint car flea market.
Mike Creaghan and Mike Mortimer decided to check out what this whole deal
was about. There were plenty of sprint cars for sale, and before Mortimer knew
what was going on, Creaghan was pushing a 1996 Gambler roller to the trailer (Remember, Creaghan had only seen one sprint car race in his life and had never raced on dirt.
Mortimer was, well, "shell shocked" to say the least).
It turned out the pair got lucky and ended up with one of Greg Leiby's "cast offs"....a car that Greg had used but probably was not comfortable with for
one reason or another. Leiby at the time was considered one of the best 358 Limited Sprint drivers in the area.
After purchasing the chassis,
Mortimer and
Creaghan pinned Leiby down in his trailer and were treated to some good set up information that they still use today.
Although the chassis was destroyed in the 4th race Creaghan raced it, many of the components are still intact and in use as of this writing.
Another connection which has helped the pair immensly is that with Dan and Billy Dietrich.
Dan and Billy have been very supportive and have helped the Creaghan Racing team throughout.
Driving tips, setups, parts, loaners, and even a beer or two have been offered! Dan's experience and achievements as a two time champion at Lincoln, as well as an extremely aggressive driving style are certainly something to respect.
Billy's enthusiasm, knowledge of chassis setups and drive to succeed are an inspiration as well.
Maybe one day the team will be in a position to help some other new team get started just as Leiby and the Dietrichs have helped us......one hopes so.
Shiny side up, baby!
|
