BLOG

Since the beginning of cars, the thrill of auto racing has been a part of our culture. Auto racing was initially inspired by moonshine runners during Prohibition. Bootleggers would modify their cars to hit top speeds, evading police while carrying illegal alcohol cross country.

Organized stock car racing started in Pennsylvania in 1939. In 1947, the National Association of Stock Car Racing (NASCAR) was formed. By the mid-50s, short tracks started popping up around Wisconsin, attracting racing greats like Dick Trickle and Richard Hed to third and half-mile tracks like Golden Sands and Marshfield Speedways.

 

The sport continues to grow and is great entertainment for all ages.

 

 

On this episode, we are joined by Darren Jackson from Darren Jackson Racing. Darren grew up in Wisconsin Rapids and still lives there today. Auto racing is a family affair in Darren’s family. His dad raced the #2 car in the 90s. When he hung up his racing gloves, he started looking for an activity his six-year-old son could participate in. After some research, they got into go-karts.

Darren raced go-karts fitted with five horsepower Briggs & Stratton motors that were rebuilt to reach 25 horses, reaching speeds up to 60mph. He excelled at racing and travelled all over the country to different competitions. In 2006, he won the Grand National Championship. After that, he and his dad decided it was time to make the jump to auto racing. They sold off all their go-kart equipment and moved on to stock cars. Darren was 13.

Darren raced a late model car for someone else through high school. At 19, he started his own racing team and took on his dad’s old car number, 2. The team consisted of family and friends helping out. Serious racing is a year-round activity. When you’re not on the track, you are in the shop perfecting your car for the next season. Darren has three cars total, but he and his team are focusing on the new one. These days, the cars live at his friend, Jordan’s, house full time. As you can imagine, the garage is filled with spare parts and is especially busy during the race season. There are many late nights working on the car after a race to get ready for the next one.

Darren races super late model, which allows him to use wider tires, bigger engines and it also relaxes rules on shocks and transmissions. He runs a 5.3L LS engine (common in Chevy pickups) with a four-barrel carburetor that reaches around 500 horsepower. That’s a whole lot more power than a go-kart!

 

In addition to family and friends making up his awesome team, Darren has some great sponsors backing him up. Team Schierl Companies, Schierl Tire and Service, The Store and Subway have been proud sponsors along with many other local businesses supporting our favorite racer. We can’t wait for the season to begin! To keep up with Darren, follow Darren Jackson Racing on Facebook. Check out your own local track for some adrenaline-packed family-friendly entertainment! You might even catch a glimpse of the #2 car speeding by.