The late Theodor Seuss Geisel, more commonly known as Dr. Seuss, once said, “Don’t cry because it’s over; smile because it happened.”
USAC sprint car star Chase Stockon may not have much in common with a children’s book author, but he has a similar philosophy about the end of his consecutive starts streak.
After all, he never had that record in mind 15 years ago when he made his not-so-auspicious first USAC sprint car start in 2006. He made the feature, but he finished last that night at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind.
But in the years that followed, he became one of the stars of the series. Last year, he won the Indiana Sprint Week championship, which is a grueling test of driver, car and team. He finished third in the final series standings with two victories.
At press time, he had 14 USAC feature victories. He’s finished seventh or better in the standings every season since 2012 and had won at least one feature nine seasons in a row.
Stockon’s record of 324 consecutive starts ended on April 16 at Indiana’s Bloomington Speedway. He could have used a provisional to keep the streak going, but he and his team decided it would be best to return to the shop and work on solving some of the problems they were facing with a new race car.
After a couple of weeks had passed, Stockon said it was “kind of a relief” the streak is over.
“It was somewhat of a pressure, because it’s always there in the back of your mind,” he said. “Everybody was making such a big deal about it, but records are meant to be broken.”
Stockon is fine with the decision not to take a provisional that night.
“After the success we had last year, we didn’t think we’d have so much trouble getting the balance right and getting me comfortable in our new car,” he explained. “We were still having fun, but we weren’t as competitive as we’ve been in the past, so we decided to stop the bleeding and go back to square one. I think everyone on our team was happy with the decision, especially since we’re making gains on it now.”
Stockon added since the streak is over, it gives him freedom to do other things.
“Last year, we did some IRA sprint races in Wisconsin and we had a lot of fun doing that,” he noted. “We’ve done some winged races in the past and for us it’s something that’s fun and different, so we might do some more winged racing now, too.”
Stockon took over the position of the driver with the most consecutive USAC sprint car starts with his 285th start in 2019, surpassing five-time series champ Levi Jones. At press time, Chris Windom had the longest current streak with 181 consecutive starts.
Stockon’s accomplishment showcases the perseverance, dedication, resilience and great preparation it took to achieve.
But it only scratches the surface of how much the 33-year-old, third-generation driver lives and breathes sprint car racing.
His grandfather, Sam Stockon, drove sprint cars and other types of race cars for 48 years until he retired from competition in 1999. Afterward, he formed the Midwest Sprint Car Series.
Chase’s father, Sam Stockon Jr., drove mini sprints and sprint cars but stopped driving competitively the year before Chase was born.
Stockon was born and raised in Sullivan, Ind., which is about 25 miles from Terre Haute. He started racing quarter midgets at age 5.
When he was 10 he advanced to 250cc mini sprints. He also ran a modified light and a dwarf car, gaining experience on some of the same Indiana tracks where he runs sprint cars today.
Since his grandfather started MSCS, it was an easy step for Chase to move into sprint cars in 2003, driving a family-owned car.
“I was 15 years old,” he said. “On Friday we signed the emancipation papers, and my first sprint car race was an MSCS race at Terre Haute the next day. The first couple of laps were unbelievable. I thought it was the wildest thing I ever did in my life.”
Stockon was the MSCS rookie of the year in 2003.
He and Robert Ballou are tied for fourth on the list of all-time MSCS feature winners with 15 victories.
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