What young man wouldn't love driving a race car?
Not many of us would be interested in driving a car 90 miles per hour down a speedway, but Mason Big Eagle is one of the young men in this area with a passion for racing. Officially a regular down at Estevan Motor Speedway, the 14-year-old is now eligible to compete in the IMCA (International Motor Contest Association) Modified races.
Big Eagle has competed in races in Estevan and Emo, Ontario, as well as out of country races in North Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa. This past weekend, Big Eagle competed in the annual Wollf Pack Run in Swift Current.
Even though Big Eagle is only 14, he has been around race cars for many years. "My dad started when I was about seven. When I was younger, my dad would let me drive the car around the track that he made behind our house. And I really liked it. And then Joey Galloway from Ontario came down to help my dad out, and he really got me into it. He is a really good driver and he knows a lot about cars, so he started showing me how to do stuff. And I just got hooked on it."
"I drive a modified. It has a different style of body. It's all made out of tin. It is kind of a weird looking car actually" said Big Eagle. For those with knowledge of cars, it is essentially a hybrid car between an open wheel car and a stock car. For the majority without, it means that the front wheels have no body around them while the rear wheels do.
"This year is my first year racing. You have to be 14 [years old] to drive the type of car I drive, and you have to be 12 [years old] to drive a lower class car. But I wanted to drive the 14- year-old car because it's against all the older people and stuff. Like right now, I race against my dad and Joey."
Every second Wednesday, Big Eagle can be found on the Estevan Motor Speedway. "There are different types of races so the racers vary between the weeks. There are hobby cars which are the class below us, and stock cars which are below us too. So they do all of those races and then it is our turn [the modified races]."
"There are heat races first, which are kind of like qualifying races for the big feature race. So there might be five races with a number of people in those. So you draw numbers to see what heat you are in. Sometimes there are eight racers in a race and sometimes there are like up to 25 in the next one, like the big feature race. And the heat races are 10 laps and the feature race is 25."
Big Eagle's favourite thing about racing? "The adrenaline that comes from driving the car for sure. The adrenaline is so much. It goes on forever after you are done the race. I love that part of it."
Big Eagle says that the hardest thing for him is "probably judging what the track is going to do because I'm not very good at that right now. Because if it is slippery, you can't go very fast or it might be grippy too. So many things change the track. The moisture in the air can change it or if it's windy out, it might blow all of the grip off the track really quick. If it is dry out too. And it all depends what the people at the track do to the track. And when you are actually in the race, it is probably figuring out how you are going to get to the front. Like finding a way to do it. So like the strategy of it."
And while it may be a lot of fun, there is a lot of hard work that goes into preparation. Big Eagle says that he spends a lot of time in the shop working on his car. "I probably spend five days a week out at the shop working on my car. And I'm probably in there for at least four hours a day. You have to make adjustments to your car all the time. For me right now, it is twice as long as others because I am still learning. It takes up a lot of time. There is always maintenance to do and stuff."
Big Eagle is the first to appreciate all of the support that he has received. "My dad [Derrick] was the one that got me first interested in it when he started racing. And Joey Galloway has been a huge help to me. He has taught me a lot in the shop with all the tinkering and things that need done. And I have three main sponsors too. Shane Cuddington from New Drill Generators has helped get me started. Gary Anderson from Edge Drill Bits Services has helped too. And Jason Waugh from Pure Chem Services and Equal Transport. And then Arizona Performance Parts as well."
As for his goal for this summer, Big Eagle knows exactly what that is. "To win a heat race. That would be awesome. There are a lot of good racers down here, so it would be really great to win one."
