Along with Dietrich himself, his team consists of individuals with jobs outside of racing.
Plenty of work goes into a night of racing beyond driving to the facility, turning laps and going home. Preparation before the car is even loaded into the hauler is one of the most important elements of the sport. With nobody on the team being a full-time racer, how will they go about making sure they can not only show up to the track, but arrive prepared?
A variety of puzzle pieces contribute toward ensuring the team operates smoothly including knowing their limitations. Their calendar may show 123 races, but Dietrich notes that they expect weather to wash out a handful of nights, which has already impacted them on their February travels to the south.
While they intend to stick to the schedule as Mother Nature permits, they’ve also listed certain races as TBD for a potential day of rest if needed.
“If we ever do anything different than what’s on the schedule, I’d say it’s just a matter of taking a race, maybe two races off just to kind of regroup because we’ve been racing so much,” Dietrich said. “It’s hard to take a night off when you’re running good. It’s hard to take a night off when you’re winning. You don’t want to miss out on wins, but at the same time it’s nice to get a break once in a while. We rely on rainouts. We rely on some sort of a cancellation, but we’re racers. We love going to the race track.”
Another aspect is weekly maintenance. Dietrich himself helps with shop duties and he has a reliable crew alongside him led by Jake Sgrignoli. With Dietrich’s High Limit commitment taking him out of state for a handful of weekday shows, he’ll be relying on Sgrignoli a little more.
“Jake’s been such a huge help, a great friend,” Dietrich said. “We work really, really well together, and I told him after putting together this High Limit deal, ‘Hey, I’m going to lean on you a little bit midweek as far as when I’m gone, maybe come down and spend an extra hour or two in the shop through the week or maybe even an extra night if it’s a big weekend.’”
As he navigates the busy year, Dietrich hopes the high number of races will also lead to a high number of wins. He hasn’t necessarily set many concrete goals, but one bar he’d like to clear is the 20-win mark.
“The 20 wins is our biggest goal, however we’ve got to do it,” Dietrich said. “I feel like we’ve been so close, you know, this year (2022) having 14 wins, but I don’t think people realize how many times I ran second or led the white flag and just lost it. Or led late in the race and didn’t win when we should’ve. We lost a motor at Port Royal when Lance (Dewease) won the Tuscarora 50. I feel like we were going to win that race. We’ve just had a lot of really close seconds, and I just feel like the 20-win season is almost at our fingertips.”
And as with any driver local to Pennsylvania, Dietrich also hopes to shake off some of the PA Posse stigma of having success off the porch. With some previous triumphs outside the Keystone State on his résumé and plenty more opportunities, Dietrich would love to quiet some of the remaining critics.
“If I could win any of the High Limit Series races out on the road, I feel like that would quiet up a lot of people, the ones who say we can’t win outside the area,” Dietrich said. “That’s the biggest thing. It would be nice to win where people don’t expect you to win regardless of where that might be.”
This story appeared in the March 29, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
