Bennett rarely enjoyed being around others but found comfort in all things mechanical. He purchased a 1969 Corvette with a 427-cubic-inch engine. He did some drag racing, and even a bit of road racing on a motorcycle, but oval racing remained close to his heart.
Not long after Jerry Bennett’s oldest son, Lance, was born, he was helping another youngster with a quarter-midget program. When Lance tagged along the results were predictable. It seemed that no matter how much Jerry pleaded with Vicki she had no desire to see her son behind the wheel of a race car.
Finally, a compromise was reached. If Lance performed well in school, he could give quarter midgets a try.
At around age 7, Lance was participating in the Rocky Mountain Quarter Midget Club. His father took him to the paved Jefferson County Speedway to practice on slicks in the rain to learn car control.
The family traveled south to Pueblo and Colorado Springs to race and occasionally participated in the Winter Nationals in Las Vegas. There were championships along the way and Lance Bennett eventually moved to the 270 micros, racing at I-76 Speedway in Fort Morgan.
As he progressed up the ladder, there were more chances to race for other car owners, and as might be expected he had his eyes on midget racing. He received a call from Wyoming-based racer Mark Chisholm with a chance to compete in the Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Okla.
After driving for car owner Rory Mallo for a time, Bennett found the funds to purchase Chisholm’s midget.
His car, an Ellis chassis powered by a Pontiac engine, was a perfect piece to begin his midget racing career. Then, in the fourth race of the 2015 season, he destroyed the car at El Paso County Raceway in Calhan, Colo.
Enter Roger “Cappy” and Sherry Mason, who had been helping Bennett before this setback in his career. The Masons had helped Bennett by offering his discarded tires to the aspiring young racer, now they offered to sell him a Spike chassis.
The Masons noticed how Bennett was always seeking information from other racers and liked his approach. Fortunately, he is mechanically gifted, but there was still a lot to learn. If there was a benchmark to monitor his progress it was perennial Rocky Mountain champion Keith Rauch.
“My competition was always Keith,” he said. “I did everything I could do to try to beat him, but up until the past three years I never stood a chance. In the last three years something has clicked. I am more comfortable in the car and I’m smoother. What I needed was seat time.”
In 2022, Bennett fell just short of the title and at the season-ending banquet he watched as Rauch was honored with his 11th series title.
Now that he was racing for Cappy Mason and benefiting from garage and trackside help from the Kaiser family, Bennett’s fortunes were rising. However, two of the team’s engines were sent for refreshing and maddeningly would not be ready the entire season. All they could do was put their respective equipment together and make the best of it.
Cappy Mason also has a remarkable story. He also served in the armed forces during the Vietnam era. With his hitch in the service behind him in 1974, Mason began racing a three-quarter midget at Spring Creek Speedway in Macon, Ill. Four years later he was the champion.
He moved to Colorado in 1979 and eventually began racing a midget with RMMRA. He competed until 2000, but he never strayed far from the sport.
Then he faced a setback. In 2008, he was diagnosed with a medical condition that doctors predicted would evolve into ALS. They were correct. He got the best treatment available and by any standards has staved off the progressive ailment to a remarkable degree. He depends on his electric wheelchair and uses an elevator in his home. The bulk of the caregiving responsibilities falls to his wife, but his commitment to racing remains strong.
This season Bennett picked up his game.
“I noticed how much better my driving was when I came back after racing in a USAC show,” he said. “You never know how fast you are really going until you get around guys who are doing it for a living. Then, you are like, ‘Oh, I could go a lot faster.”
Bennett and Mason were also working well as a team. Mason has devoted 50 years to the sport and is a member of the Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame. Now, he had a chance to see his driver win the RMMRA title.
Because Rauch had already decided to compete in the BC39 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he had effectively taken himself out of the championship chase. As the season wound down, the title came down to a battle between Bennett and A.J. Valim. But something unexpected happened along the way.
Former RMMRA champion and club leader Chris Sheil got the urge to participate in the penultimate race of the year that was named in honor of his father. Even though it was a critical round in a tight point race, Cappy Mason offered Sheil the team’s primary car and renumbered it consistent with the Sheil family.
Bennett would compete in the backup car. The gesture was not lost on Sheil.
“They (the Masons) are great people and will do anything for anyone and Lance puts me in his car for my dad’s memorial race,” Sheil said. “If that doesn’t show character, I don’t know what does.”
If anything, the participants in RMMRA are grounded. Most are working people with a racing habit. There is a refreshing concern for the good of the whole.
“The club has been working really well,” Bennett said. “It is almost like one big team. Everybody helps everyone out. There really isn’t any bad blood among any of our competitors.”
Despite some drama in tabulating the points, Bennett secured the title. He is equally proud of the Sportsmanship Awards he has won with the RMMRA.
“Lance has grown up to be the kind of son most would want their child to be,” Mason said. “At the race track and in his personal life, he treats people with respect and tries to help others.”
Bennett met Olivia McCauley at Bandimere Speedway when she was 16 and the two later married with Olivia driving midgets for a time. The couple have a 2-year-old daughter, Scarlett, and are expecting a second child in December.
She understands her husband’s dedication to midget racing.
“He has so much dedication and passion for the sport, and it ultimately paid off,” she said. “What has been cool is to watch Lance accomplish this, build a family on top of that and be able to prioritize both.”
While Bennett would love to race more with USAC and the Xtreme Outlaw Series, he is now forever an RMMRA champion.
This championship was in so many ways an extended family affair. The two elder statesmen in the group had truly paid their dues. Jerry Bennett endured the trauma of Vietnam and while he has no regrets, his time overseas left a mark.
Roger “Cappy” Mason faces a different battle but refuses to bend in the presence of a devastating physical condition.
There is a lesson here for all of us.
In the film detailing the life of the famous race horse Seabiscuit, trainer Tom Smith makes a vitally important observation. Looking at a horse he is treating in an unconventional way he says, “You don’t throw a whole life away just because he’s banged up a little.”
This story appeared in the Nov 29, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
