The Scoop
TIM VANDEHEI – ELBOWS UP AGAIN AFTER 13 YEARS
Posted on: Wednesday November 6, 2024
Suamico’s Tim VanDeHei returned to racing locally after a 13 year absence.
Tim VanDeHei never would have guessed bumping into a friend at Celebrate De Pere a couple of years ago would coax the former IMCA stock car ace out of a 13 year retirement.
VanDeHei, who is 50 years old, hung up his helmet in 2010 after a very successful run in the rough-and-tumble IMCA stock car class in the ’90’s and into the 2000’s. He had raced three and even sometimes four nights a week. When 2010 rolled around, VanDeHei was truly burned out. “I remember around 2000 or 2001 we raced 100 nights,” VanDeHei recalled. “We’d race everywhere we could locally and hit mid-week specials in state and out-of-state.”
When VanDeHei shut the doors to his racing shop after the 2010 season concluded, he didn’t return to that shop for well over a year. It was another 10 years before he even attended another race as a fan.
So when Mike Mashl, a veteran racer who’s dabbled in both modifieds and in more recent years in the stock car class, offered him a chance to get back into the game VanDeHei gave it serious consideration. “Mike (Mashl) said ‘You know I’ve got a second (IMCA) stock car available. You really should drive it.’
This was in 2023. VanDeHei raced a handful of times. A lot had changed in the 13-plus years since VanDeHei was one of the top pilots in the area. “These days when I climb into the cockpit, it seems like I’ve got 100 different things hooked to my head,” VanDeHei joked. “I’ve got a Raceceiver, Hans Device and an air blower hooked into the helmet. I didn’t have any of that years ago. These cars nowadays drive a lot different. There is mechanical traction in these cars now. The weight transfer is a lot different than it used to be, too. The shock packages have really gone crazy but the main theme is to not break the traction and keep the car underneath you.”
VanDeHei (4) goes three wide in action at 141 Speedway. (danlewisphoto.net)
One thing that has NOT changed since 2010 is that many of the same names that were VanDeHei’s chief foes when he was racing are still doing it. Snellenberger. Karcz. Van Straten, Frederick and Czarapata just to name a few. You get the picture. “It was sort of funny because were standing there looking at the feature lineup on the lineup board at Seymour earlier in the year,” VanDeHei quipped. “I thought to myself ‘Holy Smokes’ There’s got to be close to 500 feature wins in this lineup. All the guys who’ve won so many races. You can’t pick a winner in this class these days. Not a chance.”
The local stock car field remains ultra competitive. The margin of difference from 1st to 10th place is often less than a half second apart. The technology with these cars now is so widespread with the sharing of information, social media and the internet. “Truth be told, back in the day we had a lot of cars beaten before we ever even left for the track,” VanDeHei admitted. “We did our homework at the shop. We had really good setups. Nowadays, everyone has such a good setup. And these chassis builders provide great setup tips and setup books. Gaining an advantage over the competition in this day and age is really, really difficult.”
In 2024, VanDeHei focused much of his racing efforts at tracks in Luxemburg and Francis Creek. VanDeHei also made a few trips to Outagamie Speedway in Seymour to tackle the third-mile on Friday nights. “Seymour is pretty close for me and I’ve always liked Seymour as it’s a true momentum track,” VanDeHei pointed out.
Another thing that has changed is not only a much lighter schedule, but VanDeHei has turned into a true fair weather fan. “Years ago, when everyone could make it we went racing no questions asked,” VanDeHei said. “These days, I’ve also turned into a fair weather racer. If it looks like rain sometimes I’ll tend to stay home. And all those years I raced for points those days are done. I have zero interest in ever running for points anymore. You can drive yourself crazy looking at (points) every week. Most drivers don’t these days.”
The race car VanDeHei wheels is a B & B chassis that used to be driven by Mike Coel. A pair of loyal pit crew members Brock Biwer and Jason Busse, returned without hesitation to turn wrenches for VanDeHei when he decided to return to racing. Van DeHei still sports the number 4 – the same numeral he’s had for years. He’s had a few requests from fans to return to his old purple colors down the road.
VanDeHei’s marketing partners include Prestige Custom Cabinets, Bug Blaster in Suamico and Bobby and Louann Dorner.