The transition from Legend Cars to full-size racecars is different for all aspiring drivers, including those who found resounding success in Legends. Some are never able to find the same success, while you have the rare few that click almost immediately. There is also the group that finds success after a period time of learning some hard lessons.
For New Hampshire young gun Casey Call, it now appears that he is fitting into that latter group. In his third season with the Granite State Pro Stock Series, Call finally achieved victory almost a month ago at Lee USA Speedway. After some promising performances since moving up, the thought of Call winning a race seemed to be on the horizon, but maybe not in the way it ultimately happened.
The richest and longest GSPSS event of the season, a $10,000 winner’s share after 150 laps, saw Call hold off the field on multiple late restarts, including NASCAR Cup Series race winner Tyler Reddick who nearly snatched the trophy away coming to the checkered flag.
“It’s sunk in a lot more now. I still look back at it thinking there’s some things I could’ve done differently, as well as with the car to be a little faster. It was a lot of fun, but from here on out I’m still looking to improve, I still got some stuff I got to clean up. But I’m hoping to keep that momentum going forward,” Call told Racing America.
It’s story book win that almost didn’t end up happening.
“What, it took three years to do it in the Pro Stock. For the longest time I started getting really hard on myself thinking it might have been me instead of the car, so I started doubting myself a lot almost to the point where I almost packed it up and quit. Go find a career type job instead of concentrating on the racing dream.”
But, Call did not give up on the racing dream as he would get the help he needed to get his No. 90 Pro Stock into winning shape.
“Then this year we hooked up with Shane Tesch from Port City Racecars and our whole program has turned around, like night and day. Our car is so fast now wherever we go, after we had some bad luck earlier this year we were fast in the $10,000 race. Then we went back to Lee for one of their local shows, car was fast again, and we won that one. Now we got two wins under our belts and it feels great, let’s see if we can make it three this Friday.”
Coming up this Friday night at Claremont Motorsports Park is another big money event, a $7,500 winner’s check for the victor of the 100-lap Granite State Pro Stock Series feature. The NH 1/3-mile oval just minutes from the border with Vermont, is one that Call has frequented since 2020, and it’s a track that he has shown a lot of promise at.
“I know how to get around the track, earlier this year we were fast off the trailer, then on Lap 1 of the feature I entered Turn 3 a little low because the car on the outside didn’t leave me much room, and drove me off through a hole. That broke a metering rod in one of the shocks, so we had shock problems the next three races which caused the car to be tight. We didn’t even catch it until after we won the $10,000 at Lee.”
With one end different from the other, Claremont often causes confusion when setting racecars up for even the most experienced drivers and mechanics.
“One and two are so different from three and four; you have to debate which corners you want to set up for, kind of like Monadnock. Three and four are really tight, then you carry all that speed into one before two tightens up. You really have to know those differences in order to drive well there.”
Fresh off his 19th birthday on August 4, Casey Call is as confident as ever heading into Friday night. That said, he still knows there is a long road ahead on becoming a great racecar driver.
“High hopes right? I still got a little bit of work to do, I’m still learning, I’m still fresh with it. It takes years to perfect your craft in a Pro Stock, like maintaining the car for a whole race. Plus, the race has to go your way too, it has to fall into your hands. I think we got a good shot at this one, I’d like to win at Claremont just because we always seem to struggle there, and I’d like to change that.”