(NOTE: This story was featured in the Hickory Daily Record in 2014.)
Pierce is learning as he goes
Pierce is learning as he goes
By Tom Gillispie
Casey Pierce has had a
steep learning curve at Hickory Motor Speedway, but Pierce says he loves to
learn.
This is Pierce’s fifth year at Hickory. He started in Hobby Stocks, a division that no longer exists, in 2010.
This is Pierce’s fifth year at Hickory. He started in Hobby Stocks, a division that no longer exists, in 2010.
“I ran really well in that, won one race and finished third in points,” the 19-year-old resident of Lenoir said. “I finished second all the time and I ended up winning the last race of the year. I was DQed (disqualified) one race, the third to last race of the year. For some reason, the air filter was out of the car.”
In 2011, Pierce moved up to Limited Late Model.
“I ran horrible that year. The first few races,
I finished a lap down,” he said. “That was because of not knowing what I was doing.
I did not run well at all first two years. We had no crew chief and were doing
everything on our own. We had to learn everything, and (Limiteds) were a lot
more competitive than Hobby Stocks. I got caught the headlights.”
Pierce says he posted his first top-five finish
in Limiteds in 2012.
“We were running an old car, a '98 or '99. Then
in 2013, we got a new car, with a 2013 chassis,” Pierce said. “And we started
figuring it out. Nobody in the family had raced a stock car, and I had a lot of
learning to do in a short time.”
He says he needed to learn a lot about setups,
and he spent time studying books and making adjustments.
“I ended up winning my first race in May of 2013,”
he said. “It was a tough race, and battled for the lead. That June, I won my second
race. I had some top fives the rest of the year, but I was lacking motor at the
end of the year.”
He says he rebuilt his shocks in the offseason
and changed from a built motor to a crate motor.
Pierce hasn’t won this season, but he’s in fifth
place in points, 34 points out of the fourth-place tie between Jeremy Pelfrey
and Travis Byrd.
Pierce, a home-schooled student, says he’s
currently going to community college, but “I want to go to UNC Charlotte and
major in engineering,” he said. “I’ve always been interested in science and
math, and the racing stuff has made me even more interested.
“I’ve learned a lot from racing.”
Like most young racers, Pierce says he’d like to
race at a higher level.
“I don't have one set goal; I guess there are multiple
ways I can go,” he said. “But if I don't get move up, and everybody's goal is
to move up, I’d like to do some engineering-type thing in the higher levels of the
sport. My main thing is to drive, but I want to be involved in the sport.”
Right now, he’s just enjoying racing at HMS.
“I have a lot of friends, actually,” he said.
“(Late Model driver) Landon (Huffman) and I are good friends, and I’m friends
with (Limited driver) Dylon Wilson and (Late Model driver) Josh Berry has helped
me a lot with my race car.”
More entries from TARJ
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)
EDITOR@WORK blog entries
Entries from The Dog Blog
More blog entries by Tom Gillispie
Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie
