“We got home from Macon and a couple of days later Jeff called me from the shop and he said, ‘I don’t know if it matters but how long have you run these front axles?’ I told him I have been buying them from the same place for years,” Grant said. “He said he thought they were screwed up. Now this is standard Walker protocol. He told me that Levi Jones had gone through the same thing, and he said he couldn’t feel the car either. He said we should get new axles.”
The grueling and critical Indiana Sprint Week was next on the schedule. Grant won three races during the week.
“I don’t know if the front axles really mattered or not,” Grant said with a laugh. “But that is kind of Jeff’s magic. He can make a driver feel like they are a driver. I remember working for him when I was younger, and he would do the same thing with someone who was struggling. The next day he would call them and say, ‘Hey man, we owe you an apology. That rear end was all bound up, but we got it fixed and you will be good tonight.’ Then, the next night we would kick their ass even though there was nothing wrong with the rear end. What is funny about all of this is that I know all of Walker’s tricks, but they still work on me. I tell him all the time that I know he is lying to me, but I like it.”
Walker doesn’t even hide his modus operandi. Going back to his glory days with Elliott, he employed the same methods.
“I just try to make comments that I think will help them,” Walker said “I did the same thing with Elliott. Look, everyone is going to have an off night sometime. If I told Elliott that we found something wrong with the car after he had a bad race, the next night he was back on his game. I just try to plant seeds. A lot of owners just don’t get it. I have had a lot of good drivers beat themselves down. There are lots of times you don’t need to get on a driver, you need to go the other way. Some owners will tell their drivers that they suck or are terrible and they don’t realize that they are just hurting their whole program.”
To suggest that Walker has only one tool in his bag of tricks would be foolish. He’s never been afraid to provide honest feedback. A perfect example came during Grant’s preliminary night win in the BC39.
In the end he came out on top that night, but in the early going he looked like a longshot to even make the podium.
“The next day I am scratching my head on how to be better at the beginning of the race,” Grant explained. “And Jeff said, ‘Look I don’t think you were really driving that thing at the beginning. You were just driving around and then you got ate up by a couple of kids and got pissed off and started driving that thing, I think you should leave the car alone and work on driving it. You’re a second faster than anyone.’ It was like, OK, you are probably right.”
It is true Walker had worked with scores of young drivers, but he will tell you Grant is special.
“When he came to me, he just wanted to learn,” Walker said. “Of all the kids who came through here he caught on the quickest and asked the most questions. That hasn’t changed. This is what he does for a living and there is nothing on the car he doesn’t understand. Even to this day he studies before every race.”
When Walker agreed to come on board this year, he understood his role would be a bit different. He knew that when it came to nuts and bolts Grant didn’t need a whole lot of help. What he needed was less tangible.
“When it comes to my sprint car program, I have always been in charge of the set-up stuff and I still am,” Grant said. “But Jeff and I work together. He is really good at getting me to be the best version of myself. Whether it is setting up the race car or driving, he gets the best out of me. For me it is important having Jeff around even if he isn’t in the weeds. Just his presence gives me confidence. He can watch a car and say maybe it needs a little more of this or that. Sometimes when I am overthinking things, he just makes it simple. Where he is really different is that he is always willing to be wrong in order for us to win a race.”
For those who have watched Justin Grant stride through the pits before a race it is difficult to imagine he ever lacks confidence.
“A lot of those times where I am being accused of being cocky, it is me trying to get my confidence up,” he said. “The sport is so mental. The worst thing you can ever do if someone comes up to you and says you are really going to kick their ass tonight is to say something like we will see what happens. There are other good guys here too. All you are doing is telling yourself you aren’t going to win. So, when people say that to you, what you should say is that’s right I am going to kick their ass.”
Walker is proud of the racer Justin has become but the pride goes a bit deeper than that. He sits back and thinks of the kid who showed up at his doorstep nearly lost. That kid is now a man with a wife, three children, a nice home and a professional racing résumé envied by many. He came with nothing and made it work.
This story appeared in the Nov 22, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
