This week I spoke with Rowan Mason, 18, from Lincoln who is going to be making his first turns on the high banks of Eagle Raceway this year. He is no stranger to the friendly confines, however. He spent 4 years racing cage karts beginning at 14 and running them through last season. "I struggled through the first couple of years and didn't come up with any championships. But, the last two years we were able to pull off around 10 wins and last year I finally got my first win at Mini-E Raceway. Now we're making the jump up to the IMCA Hobby Stock Class".
I mentioned that was quite a jump from a cage kart to a Hobby Stock. "I'm the first one in my family that actually wanted to get involved in racing. It's kind of an interesting move, but I'm fortunate in that all of my family is right there supporting me. I've enjoyed watching the Hobby Stocks ever since I've been coming out to Eagle Raceway, which is quite a few years. I watched all of the other races, but the Hobby Stocks have always been a very fine, competitive class that always seemed to put on a good show and it's the class that I've always wanted to get involved with. I'm really happy to get the chance to be involved with that great competition. I'm going to be running an Assasin Chassis this season. I got a chance to make some laps at a practice night, and it was awesome!! There was a LOT of learning, and I'm looking forward to getting a lot more laps turned on the track".
When I asked how he thought it would be to race on the high banks at Eagle, he said "I can hardly imagine how different that’s going to be!".
Then I inquired as to whether or not he had picked out his number. "#28. There's no significance to the number. I was just thinking about what one to use and 28 just sounded like a cool number. So, I went with it".
As for help on the car he stated "My Uncle Monty is by far my biggest help, and I can't thank him enough. Matt Gropp, Zach Way; I mean there's just a lot of guys helping us out this year. I need to thank my sponsors too; Big Red Tire Pros, Daily Driver Auto Care, Elite Welding and Fabrication, KS Lawn Care, Demon Decals, Blackmax Asphalt, Assassin Chassis and Full Curl Duck Camp. I couldn't do this without all of them".
I finished by asking what his goals were for his rookie season. "My goal is to just improve after every race, making sure that we make good use of our time on the track, using that time wisely; just learning and getting better each week. I'd love to get a feature win, a top 10 in points or Rookie of the Year, but the main goal is just to learn. Hopefully I keep getting better and better for my second season".
It sounds like this young man knows what he wants and how to get there.
