Winston-Salem, NC(March 30, 2012) — With a silent week off from the grind of the UARA-STARS Series tour for Bassett Racing and drivers Ronnie Bassett, Jr. and Dillon Bassett, we thought we’d take the time to introduce you to the people behind the scenes making everything possible for the two young wheel men.
After spending last season with Ronnie, Jr. wheeling for another prominent team and having Dillon race weekly at one short track, Bassett Racing spent the winter getting everything ready to have both drivers back under one roof. Having just one driver racing out of the Bassett Racing stables was easy, but now putting them both under one roof and competing in the toughest Late Model Stock Car touring series in the country had the team working hard to get things ready.
In racing, everyone wants to know what chassis you’re going to run, what engines you’ve got ready to be bolted in and who’s doing your shocks, but in Late Model Stock Car racing as much as all those things matter greatly, people still come first. With that in mind, team owners, Ronnie, Sr. and Lisa Bassett began putting the pieces together for this season before last season was even complete.
With Dillon, the younger of the brothers dominated last season at Ace Speedway in the Limited Late Model division and while this season he has a full-time crew chief, last season it was Ronnie, Sr., Ronnie, Jr. on his off weeks and crew member, Kris Bradley mainly taking care of the car. On the other hand, Ronnie, Jr was racing out of the Fat Head Racing(FHR) stables for former driver, Jamie Yelton and had a top level crew chief in former driver, Chris Lawson making the calls for his team.
With Ronnie, Jr. leaving FHR at the conclusion of the Dwight Huffman Memorial at Hickory Motor Speedway in October, that left Lawson without an assurance of a job as only the other slot at FHR had been filled with a driver for 2012. Lawson and Ronnie, Jr. had meshed so well during the 2011 season and it made perfect sense for them to stick together for the upcoming season. With Lawson in place to crew chief, Ronnie, Jr. it was now time to find someone to help lead Dillon during the upcoming season.
Ronnie, Jr. and Dillon have been known to be opposites behind the wheel, with Ronnie, Jr. being a more calculating driver, who waits until the exact right moment to make his move and Dillon has been much more aggressive and more willing to take a risk. However, last season the two drivers grew more similar even though they weren’t racing together like they had in the past in Bandolero’s and Legends cars. Ronnie, Jr. seemed to get more aggressive behind the wheel the more he raced up front with the leaders and Dillon seemed to find a comfort level and became a more calculating driver.
With Dillon being just 14-years old, the process of finding him the right crew chief came down to finding someone that he could easily relate to, someone who was also young and someone who could help guide him into becoming a more successful racer. Enter Kenyon Davidson, who had been crew chief for his cousin, Garrett Campbell and had led the young driver from an aggressive racer to a winning wheel man. Davidson will have the opportunity to help mold and shape the way that Dillon Bassett races this season as the two have already sparked great chemistry through just the first race of the season.
With the crew chief’s in place for this season, they began looking toward putting a car chief and spotter in place for both young drivers. For Ronnie, Jr., it’s basically the same team with Lawson as the crew chief and Seth Smith, his car chief at FHR coming over to continue the success they had last season. Ronnie, Jr. had a couple different spotters last season, but this season Richard Smith will help guide him around the track.
Dillon is also very familiar with his car chief, Kris Bradley, who has been an on and off member of the Bassett Racing team since the Bandolero days. On the spotters stand he’ll have the guidance of former racer and brother to his crew chief, Grant Davidson to help keep him out of trouble. One crew member that both teams share is the Tire Specialist, with David “Mo Joe” Laws, who has been with several successful UARA-STARS Series teams over the past five years.
Another key member of the Bassett Racing team is one you won’t see at the track from week to week, but he was very instrumental in helping to put the whole operation together. Todd Berrier, crew chief for Bobby Labonte in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for JTG Daughtery Racing, helped Bassett Racing toward the end of last season and throughout the winter to assemble all the pieces and parts it needed to be successful this season. According to team co-owner, Ronnie Bassett, Sr., they wouldn’t have been able to be ready for this season without Berrier’s help.
“Todd(Berrier) has been a great help to Bassett Racing,” said Ronnie, Sr. “Without his help we would still be trying to put this whole thing together and probably would have had to spend way more to get all the parts and pieces for the shop than we did. His role in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series gives him a lot of connections that short track racers just don’t have.”
With Berriers help, Bassett Racing has become a first-class Late Model Stock Car operation with all the tools necessary under one roof. With all the tools to work on cars in place, Bassett Racing still needed to get new cars ready for the young drivers as well as getting all the pieces and parts in place for both teams. Bassett Racing has been a loyal customer of Marlowe Racing Chassis(MRC) for several years and with MRC merging with Performancenter Racing Warehouse last summer, the team decided to stick with chassis builder, Greg Marlowe.
“Greg Marlowe is a racer, he knows what racers are looking for and what we need to be successful,” continued Ronnie, Sr. “He’s been a huge help to us since day one and since the merger, Roger(Johnson) has been great to work with as well. It’s good to have people like that in your corner when you need advice or setup help or anything at the track.”
The team also decided to go with the Ford crate engine program for this season after seeing how successful the engines were the last two seasons on the UARA-STARS Series tour. Bassett Racing also has the help of G-Force South Transmissions, WP Racing Shocks, Hank Thomas Performance, BullDog Rear Ends, KLM Performance Headers and Exhaust Systems, Rex Younger Galleries, Roof Shampoo and Bassett Gutters & More.
“We’ve had a lot of help for this season,” added Ronnie, Sr. “Racing truly is a team effort and we’ve got a great team and great group of supporters. We couldn’t do this without everyone’s help and we’re blessed to have two great drivers, who help make us all look good at the end of the day.”
During the ‘silent week’ with no races scheduled, Bassett Racing’s Winston-Salem, NC shop has still been busy as the teams have have been working on their cars not only to get them ready for upcoming test sessions, but also next weeks race at Dillon Motor Speedway in Dillon, SC. Now, you not only know the drivers, but you also know the team and the people who have helped build Bassett Racing into the top notch team that it is.
Want to keep up with Bassett Racing? For more information on Bassett Racing be sure to check out their website http://www.BassettRacers.com/, which is under construction or you can become a Fan of their FaceBook page “Bassett Racing” or you can follow the team on their Twitter @BassettRacers or http://www.twitter.com/BassettRacers. You can also subscribe to the Bassett Racing YouTube Page by visiting http://www.youtube.com/BassettRacers.
You can also keep up with the team’s drivers by visiting their individual websites, Facebook pages, twitter accounts and YouTube feeds.
For more information on Ronnie Bassett, Jr. visit his website, which is being revamped for the 2012 season at http://www.ronniebassettjr.com as well as through his Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/RonnieBassettJr or keep updated on twitter @Bulldog_04 or http://www.twitter.com/Bulldog_04. You can also check out Videos of Ronnie, Jr. on his YouTube Page at http://www.youtube.com/RonnieBassettJr, be sure to subscribe to see the latest videos as they’re added.
For more information on Dillon Bassett be sure to check out his website at http://www.dillonbassett.com, which is being revamped for the 2012 season or you can follow him on his official Facebook Fan Page at http://www.facebook.com/DillonBassett44 or keep updated on twitter @Dillon_Bassett or http://www.twitter.com/Dillon_Bassett. You can also check out Videos of Dillon on his YouTube Page at http://www.youtube.com/DillonBassett44, be sure to subscribe to see the latest videos as they’re added.
