Mitchell's Briscoe taking racing career to next level

March 14th, 2009
BY JEFF BARTLETT

MITCHELL -- Mitchell's Chase Briscoe does what a lot of kids do at the start of summer. He'll oil up his baseball glove to loosen stiff leather, and he'll clean out his cleats and check his bat for dents and cracks.

Briscoe, however, will also be busy adjusting brakes, greasing up suspension fittings, inflating tires and checking his steering.

Briscoe is very much like your average young baseball player, but he's a very above-average young Sprint car driver, and he's ready to bring his career to a new level at the raw age of 14.

Briscoe, the son of renowned Mitchell driver Kevin Briscoe and grandson of legendary crew chief and car builder Richard Briscoe, served notice that he was on his way last season as a 13-year old when he became the youngest driver in history to win a feature in a 410 Sprint car. He captured the final race at Paragon Speedway, roaring up from the 15th spot on the starting grid to win, thus eclipsing Jeff Gordon as the youngest winner ever (Gordon got a win at age 14). Briscoe wound up as Rookie of the Year at Paragon after finishing second in the point standings, and he was also named First-Year Driver of the Year by the HARF (Hoosier Auto Racing Fans) organization. Briscoe also had a ninth-place finish at Bloomington Speedway in the last race of the season after starting 20th.

"We're proud of him, but we're also stressing that he has to keep working hard to improve," Kevin Briscoe said. "What I liked about him getting his feature win was that he came from 15th, so he had to do it the hard way. But everybody else is going to work hard to beat you, so you have to keep striving to get better.

"We're looking forward to the season. I just started on the car last week, so I'm behind, but we're just taking it like it was last year. That's how it has to be because times are tough. Tommy Busch does a great job rebuilding and freshening our motors, so we're pretty much ready and we'll take him out to Brownstown Saturday so he can get some laps.

"We're not pretty or anything. There's no paint job, no nothing. It's still banged up from last year, but when times are tight you have to do what you can do."

The Briscoes would certainly welcome a major sponsor for the No.5B car. They have Terre Haute First Financial Bank, Bedford Ford-Lincoln-Mercury and Quick Lube, Hoosier Racing Tire, Simpson Safety Equipment, Lajoie Seating and Briscoe Homes on board. And David Smith has put together a website, www.chasebriscoe.com, that will come out sometime in April, but some bigger bucks would allow them to improve the operation.

"We appreciate everybody we have, but it is still a small-budget deal in a big-budget sport," Kevin said. "We're hoping if things go well enough for Chase that somebody will want to get involved."

The Briscoes plan to shift Chase around to more tracks in order to gain more experience in 2009.

"I'm ready," Chase Briscoe declared. "I'm ready to see what we can do with the cars at some other tracks and in other series. We just want to progress and try to improve. We're going to try to run for the points at Bloomington, but also just to get experience.

"My goals are to try to get a win at Bloomington, and I'd like to try for Rookie of the Year in the MSCS."

Kevin Briscoe isn't trying to rush his son too fast, but he feels he's ready to test his skills and the only way to learn is to move around.

"It's not about the competition because Paragon is plenty tough to win at, and there are always at last five or six guys who can beat you anywhere you go," he said. "It's just about getting him seat time at other tracks so he can gain experience and see what it takes to run at difference places.

"He's really looking forward to running at Haubstadt (Tri-State Speedway). He's been down there tons of times with me, but he wasn't old enough to run there last year. We're even going to see if the World of Outlaws will let him run their show down there. I don't expect him to make the show, but it would be good for him just to see what it's like out there with those guys."

While Kevin looks on with a great deal of pride as his son progresses, Chase shoots the admiration right back at dad, who is a four-time track champion at Bloomington Speedway. In fact, Chase tries to emulate Kevin's driving style.

"It's probably pretty much the same as his," he said. "I'm pretty proud of him for all he's accomplished in the sport."

That style could be described as smart-fast.

"Chase is very smooth, and that's how I always tried to run most of my career," Kevin said. "We have to run that way because we're not a big-budget team, so we have to take care of our equipment. Chase has a chance to be pretty good if he stays smooth and keeps getting better."

And he has to keep getting good grades and behaving. Kevin and his wife, Jamie, will practice tough love if needed.

"Jamie actually handles it better than I do at the track," Kevin said. "It can be scary, but it's what he loves to do, and I know I have to leave that in God's hands.

"What we do demand of him is that he makes his grades at school, and that he never gets involved with drugs or anything. I don't think he will, but it's become such a big problem around here and you never know with peer pressure and all. I may sound like a horrible dad, but I'm going to do my own drug testing, and if anything would ever show up he'd be out of the car.

"He might be mad, but he'll know I love him and that I'll help him through anything, and if he works through it he'll be back in the car."

Chase certainly seems to be a level-headed teenager, and he even keeps it in perspective when his name comes up in the same sentence as Jeff Gordon.

"It was pretty special to me to realize what I'd done, but I know I have to keep working," he said. "I don't think about it a whole lot. I just go out every time like it's just another race to try and win."