10 to Go with Tommy Baldwin Jr.

Long Island Jam ventured to Wall Stadium Speedway in New Jersey for the Turkey Derby. While there we sat down with a Long Islander who has made it all the way to the top of NASCAR, Tommy Baldwin Jr. Baldwin won the 2002 Daytona 500 as the crew chief of Ward Burton, and now he is the owner of Tommy Baldwin Racing. Ryan Preece drove Baldwin’s historic 7NY at the Turkey Derby.

When did you get started in racing?

Baldwin: I’ve been involved probably since I was I would say eight-years-old I started hanging around my dad’s shop and started sweeping the floors and gradually worked my way up to fixing parts and rebuilding parts and painting parts and just learned from there and kept growing.

Do you have any superstitions or routines that you do each week when you get to the track? Or do you have any lucky charms?

Baldwin: No, I try to always stay away from that stuff. I never followed the superstitions with the peanuts and the green. That aint for me.

What is your favorite racing related memory?

Baldwin: I’ve got a lot of them. All the different levels of racing and winning. Just working hard and having a good time with the guys and obviously winning the Daytona 500 was the biggest thing you could win in our sport as a whole so that was huge. And winning all those races on the modified tour was cool too.

What is your most embarrassing racing moment?

Baldwin: I’ve got a lot of those! The Baldwin family tends to work hard, play hard and fight hard and sometimes that got us into some trouble. But I’ve had some miscues on pit road in the Cup ranks leaving a lug loose and having to come back in as we were going for the lead. Stuff like that is pretty embarrassing. I use it all as a learning process I guess.

Why do you think it is that the path from the modifieds to the upper levels of NASCAR seems to have closed after Steve Park?

Baldwin: Well I just don’t think there really has been anybody that’s come (close). Ryan Preece is just starting to make an example of using his talent and also using the marketing and PR side to make himself known. He’s kind of using the same template that Steve did by running every racecar he can in the North East and Long Island just winning as much as he can to get noticed and he’s doing well so far.

Do you think Ryan can make it?

Baldwin: Oh yeah. He drove our Nationwide car for the first time (at New Hampshire Motor Speedway). Never sat in a full-fendered car before and he was a top-12 car. But not knowing about green-flag pit stops and knowing about pit stops in that series kind of bit us (he finished 24th). But the performance of that car and what he did on the racetrack, he definitely can do it.

What do you think we can expect out of Michael Annett and Tommy Baldwin Racing in 2014?

Baldwin: We have some goals. To run steady in the top-25 and to go for rookie of the year. We have a lot of competition. I think there’s going to be six or seven other rookies. But that’s going to be fun. Just watching the whole thing grow, that’s been the cool part. We are going into our sixth year as Tommy Baldwin Racing and we’ve taken the next step every year and this is going to help us get to the next one for sure.

At the 2012 Daytona 500 when Dave Blaney was leading, what was going through your head under the red flag when that jet dryer exploded?

Baldwin: You know, it was great that we were leading, but as a fan I really wanted it to go back green for the fans. I would have hated-well, not really hated that much- it would have been cool to win it again, but in that merit I was glad it went back to green.

You wouldn’t have hated it all that much if that car was in the museum the whole year, right?

Baldwin: I would have taken the money and the win for sure for our team, but we’ll get one. Like I said, we’re very early in our life at TBR and still growing. We’ll get there someday.

How would winning the 500 as owner compare to winning it as a crew chief?

Baldwin: It’s the same. I always told everybody that everywhere I’ve been I try to act like I own the team and take care of the stuff like I owned it. Yeah, to watch where we started from nothing and to get back there and to hopefully win another one of those someday, yeah that would be pretty special.

 

Source: Rob Blount/LongIslandJam