Getting To Know Casey Call

IMG_0732Casey Call out of Pembroke, NH raced the New England Legend Summer Nationals last weekend.  The races were held at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, Star Speedway, and Oxford Plains Speedway.  Call cannot race at Beech Ridge because of age restriction as he is only 12 years old. He will be turning 13 in August.  He has gotten a pretty good amount of seat time at Star Speedway. He just went to Oxford Plains Speedway.  He did pretty well at Oxford and is hoping to get a top 5 when he returns. As part of the 4 race series, the legends raced with the Tri-Track Open Modified Series at Star on Saturday night and the PASS North Super Late Models at Oxford on Sunday. 

Call raced bandoleros last season. For moving up to Legends has been a big step for Call. The Bandoleros shift automatically. “ The Legend just feels like a cloud compared to a bandolero. So much fun to drive.  I just really love the Legends car over the Bandolero.” Casey Call Said

Casey’s father Chad works on the car.  Chad feels the reason why Legends are growing is because of cost. He has friends that race Modifieds and Super Late Models.  “ You can do it on a fairly reasonable budget. Any full racing is expensive to begin with. It doesn’t matter what you do.  I would say the legends cars are probably really affordable compared to a full type car or modified.  I think that’s why they’ve gain such popularity.” Chad Call Said

IMG_2263A lot of the drivers you see racing today started out racing in Legends cars. With the driver development Chad Call thinks anything is a possibility but that it would take a lot of hard work on everybody’s behalf to get to that point.  “ It’s definitely not an easy root. There’s a lot of extremely talented young kids and teenagers coming up through the ranks not just down in North Carolina but up here in the Northeast. There’s a lot of talent up this way all over the place. I think that’s every kid’s dream to go do that. I think it’s achievable but I think things have to fall a certain way for that to happen.” Chad Call Said

Casey has learned a lot from his father in which to keep his cool on the track and not to come out throwing stuff everywhere and having retaliation. Casey has also learned from his dad of control of the car.  Casey remembers being home sick from school one day. He and his father came out working on the car and Chad taught Casey had to get going with the clutch. It took Casey a long time to figure out but having his dad help him was great.

Chad feels the parents put the pressure on the kids to succeed and move up the ladder in racing. Chad has a different outlook on it where he wants to see Casey succeed in whatever he wants to do even if Casey wants to move up the racing ladder someday for example to go into one of the three NASCAR National Series. Chad would want Casey to do it only if Casey wanted to.  Chad does not apply any pressure to Casey.  After legends, Casey would like to move up into a Super Late Model or the New England Truck Series. Casey looks up to Wyatt Alexander because Alexander came from a legends car and moved up to a Super Late Model.

Casey has run at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with the Bandolero on the mini oval and road course. He has run the Legends on the mini oval but not yet on the road course. He had a lot of fun running in the Bandolero. He really did not know what to expect.  He also got to race in the road course in the rain and he felt that was a lot of fun. “ Everyone was slipping and sliding but it was so much fun.” Casey Call Said

In the Legends, Casey has had fun racing with Shaun Buffington, Taylor Martin, Noah Korner, Jack Walker and everyone else. His first race in the Legends is not the finish he wanted but it was still fun as he enjoys racing the Legends.  Casey would like to run the NELCAR Legends in the future.

Casey has learned a lot from Legends Veteran Shaun Buffington. When Casey was practicing his Legends in his first time. He kept driving it in too deep. He ended up following Buffington in one practice session. He learned some things and would pick up a few tenths in that session.  He ended up getting faster and faster each time.” Call Said
Story And Photos By: Matthew Wiernasz/Yankeeracer.com