10 to Go with Dave Schneider

Long Island Jam is not taking it easy even though the Riverhead Raceway season is over. We ventured up to the World Series of Speedway Racing at the Thompson International Speedway in Connecticut this past weekend. We did 10 to Go with a Long Island driver by the name of Dave Schneider. Schneider is a 21-year-old driver on the Valenti Modified Racing Series tour from Northport.

When did you start racing?

Dave Schneider: I started racing go-karts in 2002 and moved up from there to Modifieds in 2008. I started racing at Mountain (Pa.) Speedway. And then I came here with my second career running MRS.

How many types of cars have you raced? What are they? And which one is your favorite?

Schneider: I’ve raced three types of cars. Well, actually a little more, but I gotta think. Mostly modifieds. Sport mods, SK.

Is the Modified your favorite?

Schneider: Yeah, definitely my favorite. I also ran Legacy cars in the Allison Legacy Series when they were still up here.

What is it about the Modified that makes it your favorite?

Schneider: The motor, the open wheels. The racing itself. All the drivers that race so great. I like open fenders and the horsepower.

What track do you want to race at the most that you haven’t gotten to yet?

Schneider: Probably Bristol. Because I love watching that on TV with the Modifieds. Or Loudon (New Hampshire Motor Speedway). Up here definitely Loudon. I would love to race Loudon.

Do you have any superstitions or routines that you do each week or any lucky charms?

Schneider: Nothing really. When I used to be a little religious I would pray before my races. But other than that I guess my one superstition is to not think about superstitions.

What is your favorite racing memory?

Schneider: Probably when I won the national championship for go-karts in 2007 for WKA. That was awesome. We got to go down to Charlotte and do the whole spiel with the banquet and everything. It was awesome.

What is your most embarrassing racing moment?

Schneider: Oh I gotta think about this. Most embarrassing? I don’t have that many. My brother, Will has an embarrassing one that I was involved in. He’s stopped racing, but when we were racing go-karts I spun out in a practice in Indiana. The whole field went by me. Except for him. And he drove right over me and destroyed both of our karts. That’s embarrassing when you destroy your kart and your brother’s and you have to fix it all night.

Have you suffered any injuries racing? Which one is your worst?

Schneider: Last year at Monadnock (N.H.) I dislocated my thumb. We were racing and they all stopped on the backstretch and I just didn’t let go of the wheel in time. As I was letting go, the wheel spun. I didn’t break it, but I bent it all the way back. I tore a bunch of ligaments in it. I was in a cast for like four weeks. That sucked.

And then this past May, I tore my meniscus at Thompson (Conn.). Not even racing. I was standing outside and like rolled my ankle, and then my kneecap dislocated and it tore a chunk off.

What were you doing to cause that?

Schneider: Literally, I was standing next to my racecar and flexing my ankle. I don’t know, I must have rolled into a ditch! All of a sudden my knee gave out. It was my ankle and then my knee and it just popped right out. We were getting ready to go out for heat races too.

So that weekend didn’t go too well…

Schneider. No, well it rained out five minutes later. We got in the car, went around to the backstretch and then it started raining. And then they turned us around.

Would you have been able to race through the pain?

Schneider: Through the heat races I was going to, yeah. No one was around. They were all in their cars. I was like I may as well just do it. It didn’t really start hurting until like two hours later.

Do you have a nickname? If so, how did you earn it? If not, why do you think you don’t have one?

Schneider: No nickname. I don’t really care for nicknames. I don’t mind if someone gives me a nickname though. Maybe because I haven’t won yet too.

What is your ultimate goal in racing?

Schneider: It used to be, like every racecar driver, getting to NASCAR and getting the good ride. But now, what do I want to achieve overall, especially now, is just a win in MRS. Get up there with top-fives and top-10s and just have people know who I am. That’s really the biggest thing, you know? Be known.

You said it “used to be getting to NASCAR” so when as a racecar driver does it register in your mind and that the odds of getting there probably aren’t going to happen?

Schneider: Well you look at someone like Ryan Preece who is the best modified driver out there, and he has a lot of doors opening up right now, and he’s probably going to make it into NASCAR. But still there are a lot of racecar drivers just as good as him who don’t make it. And I know they’re all better than me so it’s kind of just like reasoning out. I don’t want to be delusional. That’s for me personally. Plus I have more fun doing this. If I’m sitting there thinking, “Oh I gotta try to get to NASCAR,” I’m 21-years-old…That’s the other thing! I’m 21-years-old already. You’ve gotta be really young.

Yeah, you’re old now.

Schneider: Yeah! (Laughs) You see Chase Elliott and all these other people in K&N who are like 16 or 17-years-old so yeah.

 

Source: Rob Blount/LongIslandJam