WHAT IT TAKES TO MOVE WOOD BROTHERS RACING
In a first for our small diesel-fuelled website from Down Under, we are heading across the Pacific to meet Wood Brothers Racing’s truck driver, Chad Kohn.
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is the real deal. Tens of thousands of spectators pack the grandstands each weekend and many millions more watch on from home. Following a gruelling schedule, the trucks and trailers behind one of the world’s premier motorsport categories barely stop from early February to the end of November.
The truck drivers don’t have much time for rest either. Ahead of one of his few weeks off, Chad Kohn was kind enough to speak with us about what it takes to haul Wood Brothers Racing’s gear as part of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Trucks at Tracks: What a great job you have, Chad! How did you end up doing this for a living? And how long have you been driving with Wood Brothers Racing?
Chad Kohn: I grew up interested in racing. A friend in my neighbourhood in Illinois had a dirt modified and I just started hanging around doing whatever they asked me to do. One thing led to another and they asked if I would go with them to the track and help. So I did. When I was in high school, I met a lot of friends who went to the races, met a lot of people and got hooked on racing. I helped a friend called Shannon Babb during high school. After graduating from high school, I needed money to live on and he couldn’t afford to pay me to work on his stuff, so I had to get a real job.
In my early teenage years, I taught myself how to shift gear in a big truck, so I started hauling local for couple different companies. I hauled rock, sand, asphalt, corn, soybeans, heavy equipment and pulled just about any kind of trailer that I could pull. The only thing I haven’t hauled is propane. Ran OTR pulling flatbed for a couple years, got screwed around on a couple loads and decided it was time to find something else to do.
So, in the late 1990s, Shannon had gotten in touch with me and wanted to know if I wanted to go racing full time with him. Of course, I told him yeah, so that Christmas Eve, both him and I left Illinois and headed down to Arkansas and we went to work for Billy Moyer Racing. Shannon was the driver and I was them truck driver/mechanic.
I met a lot of great people along the three years. One of his sponsors knew someone by the name of Kenny Schrader here in North Carolina and Kenny was looking for another crew member onto his dirt car operation. So, of course, I moved to North Carolina. I worked my way up through the ranks (worked for a truck team and a Cup series team which had both closed down while I worked for them).
Then I started to work for Hendrick Motorsports in 2009 as a backup truck driver on the #24 driven by Jeff Gordon. After that year, I moved over to the #48 team driven by Jimmie Johnson and then became the primary truck driver for the #48 team in the spring of 2015. At the end of the season, they wanted to go in another direction, so they let me go.
This is my third season with Wood Brothers Racing They are a smaller team at the most with 25 employees. In my years of racing here in North Carolina, I will have to say that they are one of the best teams that I have worked for. They make you feel like you are just part of the family-owned business.
We must say that it's a great looking hauler. What are you driving?
CK: The tractor is a 2011 Freightliner Coronado. The wheelbase is 300” and it has a Detroit DD16 (600) hp Eaton Fuller 18 speed. She will get with the program if you know what I mean.
The trailer I pull is a 2003 Featherlite 53’ With a 10’2” spread. Both truck and trailer are on air suspension even steer axle. The truck is nice to drive and the comfort in the ride is what I like.
How long does the trailer take to load and unload?
CK: If everything goes right, it might take us a total of an hour to load everything. Most of the time while at the shop, we usually get parts and pieces throughout the week and we generally put them away in their respective cabinets. This takes a couple days. At the track it takes about 45 minutes to load after the race weekend is over.
Here is a link on YouTube explaining how most of the trailers are laid out. Some things are different by team specs, but most are pretty close.
How do you keep the truck and trailer looking so clear?
CK: It's not all me keeping this up! I have help from my co-driver and partial team owner, Terry Hall, along with three other guys from the shop. They spend countless hours keeping the aluminium and stainless polished as well as the inside cleaned up from week to week. We have a pretty good group of guys on the team that help clean up after themselves. If it wasn't for everyone's help, I would have a hard time doing it all.
How have NASCAR race car trailers progressed over your time in the sport?
CK: The trailers in the early years had a lot of equipment inside them like lathes and Bridgeports. They were basically a total machine shop on wheels. Today’s trailers don’t really have the room to be a machine shop on wheels.
We do carry welders and torch outfits. Most of the trailers nowadays are set up with cabinets for parts and we can carry enough parts to rebuild the car at the most twice. This includes the motor, gears, transmission, rear-ends, axles, shocks, springs, chassis components and steering boxes if you get the idea.
How often do people want to take photos of the hauler while you are travelling? Do you enjoy this interest?
CK: I am a rolling billboard going down the road. I have had people take pictures of me on the road and sitting at the fuel pump while getting fuel. I do enjoy all the interest that I get. You always meet all different kinds of people and get asked all different kinds of questions. The most asked question I get is “How can I get a job doing that?” The most common answer is to move to North Carolina and apply at different teams.
What is your favourite race track to travel to?
CK: My favourite track to drive to is the last for the year (just kidding!). I would have to say going to Bristol Motor Speedway, due to the night time parade we do.
The Supercars truck drivers in Australia generally look after the fuel and tyres of the race car on a race weekend. What is your role at the race track?
CK: After the car is unloaded and the observation deck on top of the trailer is set up, I work on the LF of the car during both practices. During our pre-race checklist, my job is to checklist the trunk area of the car. On race day I hand in the second gas can and catch the LR tire during pitstops.
Finally, it looks like some of the infield sections at the short tracks are pretty tight! Which circuit is the most difficult to park at?
CK: I would say it is a toss-up between Bristol and Martinsville. At Bristol you enter from turn four on the track and the banking is 30 degrees and then it levels out to 10 degrees on the straightaways. It’s not that hard to park once in now that they have redone the infield.