Matt Crafton's Personal Race Shop Tour: Historic Craftsman Truck Survivor and Dirt Late Models

We're here at Matt Craftton's garage and we're going to show it to you. >> My toy shop where I have my dirt cars and go have fun and do some real racing. What I call it my first wind truck in the truck series. I got that for my team owner quite a few years ago and it just collects dust and my son likes to crawl up on the hood of it and fall off more than anything. But >> the story behind it of how it survived some kind of fire or flood or like >> it literally did. >> What happened with this thing? So, in I think it was 2016, the shop in Sesi, Ohio caught on fire in the middle of the night and it's two levels and it's 50,000 upstairs and 50,000 downstairs. When the shop burned, they they were putting it out, they put so much water on it, the basement flooded and this truck was literally basically door tops down was underwater. So, at that point, it almost became virtually retired truck, but it was our first wind truck. We've just kept it just the way it was. the insurance whenever the insurance had paid the team owner something and I ended up buying it back through the insurance company. That's why I ended up getting it. It's got a lot of sentimental value to it. Looking at it thinking like 2008 doesn't seem like that long ago to me, but when you look at this and the way it's built, it doesn't look any different than a truck would have looked in like '95 96. It's all there's no carbon fiber in there or >> Exactly. >> anything exotic. >> No, that's that's where And the dashes are so much higher. Now our dashes are down by our knees and we're just working on the CGs to get everything as low as we can in them. And it's it's kind of funny to look in some of them and just see the little differences here and there. But it's it's just a trophy. And then that was my Kansas pole trophy. And my son, he loves riding that that little truck or car thing around here shop and running stuff. >> What was a truck of this era like to drive compared to the current one? Um, biggest thing was they made very I'll call it very similar downforce. As you can see, look at the headlights on this thing. How laidback they are comparison. It wasn't much like the production vehicle. They they were I mean, if you look at the production vehicle, they're stood up here comparison to lay down here. So, they made a lot of overbody downforce as you call it. And then we had a the splitter here. It looks the same, but it's only it stops. It's only it stops virtually right there. So, we didn't make a lot of underbody down force. Then the manufacturers wanted to make the the trucks and the cars look like our manu manufacturer vehicles. So, they end up standing the headlights up and making it look like a true true production vehicle. When they did that, you cut a lot of downforce out of them. So, then NASCAR had to get to work and the manufacturer had to get to work and try to get them balanced in the wind tunnel. So then that's now why we have giant pans underneath the fronts of these things. They have the same downforce numbers in the wind tunnel, but they act so so much different in traffic comparison to where they used to be in traffic. We used to hear you'd hear a tight, but it's not aotight. Nothing like you see now. I mean, there's times on a mile and a half, you'll catch somebody be a half second faster than them. And if there's not a good lane to go to the second or third lane, it's all but impossible to pass them at times. Just because you're making all of the downforce underneath the vehicle nowadays comparison to overbody downforce. >> When I first walked in here, I saw that quarter panel. I thought it was a dent for a half a second, but that looks like it was built that way. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yep. That's where you get a lot of side force there whenever they were everybody did a lot of work back there to make the quarter panels do what they do. >> Is this truck from 1998? >> Yes. So, the history behind this truck and the cool history behind this truck, this was actually Good Wrench truck. Mike Skinner drove this truck when he drove for Richard Childers. So, inside of the frame rail, you can't really see them. There's orange or the old Goodrich truck used to have the orange chassis. >> Yeah. So, this truck was actually an RCR truck and then Menard started their own truck team and had it for 2 years and then they shut their truck team down and then my team owner Duke Thorson ended up we acquired some of the the Menard's equipment and trucks that they had. So, we got this was one of their chassis, but they got it originally from Richard. >> Wow. >> So, that's the kind of the cool history of this truck. It was an actual good wrench truck at one point. >> Does it still have an engine in it? >> It does. I don't I mean it doesn't there's missing a lot of pieces. It's more just a a show piece. >> Who built the engines back then? >> This was I can't remember. Menards had built some of our engines for quite a while. I don't remember the year that we won who was actually building the engines if it was Menard's or a uh pro motor at that point. I I cannot honestly remember. It's been a minute. cuz I just bought an old SB2 and it has Menard's valve covers and I'm like I don't know who else would even had those besides you or Paul Manard. >> Um so when Menard's used to they they had their own truck team, they built their own truck motors and then whenever they shut the truck team down, they kept building motors and then we ended up getting motor through Menard's when they had their engine shop for a few years and then they end up shutting the engine shop down and then there's different engine shops that bought a bunch of those. I know DEI had bought a few of those motors and used the parts and pieces off of them that they thought were good for the for their motor builds, I'll call it. >> And they might have different used a different cam shaft or different crankshaft, but the heads were going to be fine. So, they would piece them together. Few dirt cars >> that we we race and went through some of them this winter and cleaning them up to go do some racing. Now, I'm not gonna be racing Camp World Truck Series full-time. I'm gonna It's actually Craftsman Truck Series, man. That's it. Yeah, Craftsman Truck Series. Not gonna do that full time. So, I'm gonna dirt race a lot more and have a lot more fun and enjoy life and hang out with the kids and do what we should be doing. >> I was wondering about that. What you were going to be doing now that you're are retired. I think there's only been one guy who's not retired that we've ever done a video with. It was Brad Kazowski. >> Really? >> I'm not fully retired. I mean, like Thorsport put out the post. that said that I was not doing it full-time in the 88 truck anymore, 88 Mards truck anymore. So, everybody took that as retiring and I was actually we're just doing it part-time. So, I'm just going to run a select amount of races, five to 10 races next year and then be able to help some of the younger drivers that are coming through there and then I can enjoy life and go dirt racing, hang out with the kids. >> Oh, that's cool. I'm glad you're not completely retiring. >> No, no, I still still love it. Definitely. But uh there's a time when enough's enough. And here are some of my kids go-karts. My daughter's go-kart and my son's go-kart next to it. And then building him a used one here. It's going to be a wing cart just like hers. We have another go-kart over here on that stand for my daughter. Guy here built some uh chassis and stuff like that. So build the race car from ground up over here in the corner. And these are his stock cars that he builds. And then they come out as a roller like this one over here. But yeah, literally build every bit of them, ground up, bend every piece of the tubing, and they start literally over there on that that rack on the wall. >> What are these types of dirt cars and why did you choose that avenue to go to? Um, well, I can honestly NASCAR, blame NASCAR on this one because when they took the truck series in 2014 to Aldora, I didn't really have much dirt experience. I had raced when I was probably 16, 17 years old, some dirt stuff back in California where I was from. And people said, "You better get some dirt experience before we go to [snorts] Eldora." So, I jumped in a good friend of mine, his dirt modified. And so, from 2014, I've done it. we'll say five, 10 races here or there throughout the years and I have absolutely enjoyed it like no other. It's been a blast to do and now it just became what I love to do and especially building them. I mean, that's the biggest thing. I mean, Brandon does all the chassis stuff on the stock cars. I've never driven one of his, but the modified that I have, that's what I have so much fun. And uh girlfriend Taylor, [snorts] she drives a couple of them as well. and we go out and have fun and do what we love to do. >> What about these things makes them so much fun compared to asphalt? >> Um, it's more I mean the these cars we have a Ford in one. We have a Toyota motor one. They build anywhere between 750 horsepower to 900 and then you're only on a 8 in tire. And so it's it's a lot of footwork and and you're not just be able to run around the racetrack wide open like that they've got where they do a lot of that in the truck series now with the restricted motors and all the stuff we do. You run around there wide open and to me that's not as fun. I want to be able to put the driver back in the seat where we're having to lift more and drive them and have finesse with your your feet while you're driving them. And you have to have a lot of finesse with your feet. So, that's honestly some of the where I've struggled in the dirt world because you do both of them at the same time, the throttle and the brake. And on the asphalt, it's one or the other. That's all I've been taught for 20 years we're going to call it or 25 years just in the in the truck series. So, I've been taught it all my life to just one one at a time. Break or gas, break or gas. And these guys that are good on dirt, they literally are using 80% throttle and another 10% brake to keep the thing doing what you want it to do. So, it's been a challenge. So, that's one of the funnest things I have and learned and getting better at it. And now that I'm not going to race the trucks near as much, I'm going be able to hopefully get a little bit better. >> Were you a right foot breaker in trucks? >> Nope. I was on a right foot break. I was not a right foot breaker, but I've just learned and have been taught and been all that just beat into my head one at a time. One at a time. I mean, if you're touching the throttle, you better have your foot off the brake cuz the the asphalt stuff, they don't turn if you have breathing on the throttle. It's at the short track especially. So, you have to really learn that. And it's just been instilled in me for a long long time. Playing music. Your music's on. >> Is he watching TikTok or something? Yeah, I must be doing something. Um, so it's either one or the other on the asphalt world. So just learning that different I don't know different lingo if you want to call it that. It's just a foreign language to me. I mean and you got to learn it. And so that's what I would honestly struggle with the most when I was racing asphalt as much as I was going back and forth back and forth because I didn't do it enough to kick some of those habits. >> That's interesting cuz I kind of had to go through some of figuring out like how the the Detroit locker ran works. So if you touch the gas, then it's a dump truck and it >> it doesn't turn anymore. >> Exactly. So you you kind of had this exact same concept. So that's way it is. We have a locker in the truck. So when you're off the gas, it free rolls and then you touch the throttle and it locks it up, becomes a spool, and they don't turn very well at that point. And asphalt, you just let the thing roll, roll, roll, roll, and you're on the brake and keeping it turning and steering with your front tires. And once you get it pointed where you're going, you you lift the brake and go to the throttle. I mean, simultaneously, but the dirt world, you see these things how they're really hiked up on the left rear, really, really high, and that's how they get all the rear steer. That's what makes them turn. And so, they got drag brake with them while they're on the throttle to keep it in that posture, they call it, to keep it turning. >> Are you at liberty to explain how any of this stuff works or is your stuff top secret? >> I don't say it's top secret. Not so much me. I mean, that the car builders and all that stuff that it might be, but there you can see some of the stuff that what we what they do. There's just a lot of the a different handle we're going to call it with a with a bird cages cuz you got the you got fourlink bars and this whole deal here. It all moves and does a lot of stuff and there's a lot of different adjustments way above my pay figure pay sometimes. How difficult is the learning curve of not only driving one of these cars, but whenever you're going out there and it's not doing what you want it to do, but the the canvas of how it works is completely different from one of those. How do you know what to to change or to to do? >> My notebook, my phone. I mean, that's I mean, the biggest thing is just doing and learning it over time and just making the changes and having the the wrong changes, making the right changes and different track conditions and different tracks. they all want something a little bit different, but just building your notebook and just having some good people around me that have taught me stuff on it and just keep getting better and better with it. Um, I know Taylor, I'm sure sometimes she wishes that I would just crew chief it because seems like she has more success when I just crew chief and I just tell her just to and drive it. They've told me to at certain times. She's over there shaking her head at me. Why are you shaking your head when I tell you just drive it? >> You do. >> I do that. So, that's kind of funny. But I I've been told that plenty of times. So, it's time to do the same thing. >> So, there's different categories of these things like what Shraider runs Bods or something. They got smaller engines or how does that work? >> You have the Yeah, this is a these are UMP cars here. And then you have uh AODs. Shraider runs he runs a B mod as well. He has a mods as well. The A mod is pretty much identical one of these, but it's a 604 crate motor and it's we're call it four 450 horsepower, Taylor. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. About 450 horsepower. And then you have the UMP cars that have we're going to call it on average 800 horsepower some of these places. So, but the rest of the car, all the fourlink all suspension is pretty much identical in the back. Just little small changes that IMCA has compared to UMP. Me personally, 100 to one. I'd race rather race the UMP stuff for the fact of I like horsepower and that's what it's all about. I am not just a big fan of of crate racing. I know it it makes it definitely makes it cheaper without a doubt the the crate racing, but uh I I truly just love the horsepower, but we go up and race Fair Mountain, Iowa, Taylor and I, and that's where IMCA is majority of it is. So we go up there and there's a lot of really really cool racetracks up in Iowa and Wisconsin and stuff like that. So they don't see many UMP cars up there. So we basically just race the A mods up there. I guess you've driven pretty much almost the entire lineage of the truck series since it existed. Which era of the truck was the most raw to drive in the sense of like trying to wrestle one of those things around where it wasn't so uh I don't know just you felt like you had >> open instead of just running around a mile and a half wide open. I would say that would be the early 2000s. Um, right right in this range 2004, 5 6 7 8, right? I mean, even the 2012, 13. And I'm partial to the built motors because they built power and they and it was they would accelerate a lot faster. I know the spec motors that we run now in the truck series, I think it's a Ilmore motor. It it builds very similar power to what their built motors do, but the crankshafts are twice as heavy and the internals of them are twice as heavy. So, it's really slow accelerating if you're going to call it that. It's kind of like a diesel. You ever drive a diesel that has 500 horsepower? It accelerates really slow, but it's got a bunch of power. And then you have a gas motor has 500 horsepower and you're like this thing has twice as much horsepower as that diesel does, but it actually doesn't. [clears throat] But it's just how fast they accelerate. And that's biggest way I can explain to the built motors to a spec motor that truck series runs now is the acceleration of them. And we used to be able to spin tires at Martinsville [clears throat] and some of these short tracks within 10 laps. Nowadays, we're we're 50 laps into run. still just stomping on the throttle in the middle of the corner because it's so slow accelerating. >> It doesn't want to spin tires near as much. >> Interesting. >> That's what one of the things that I can say is it hurt me as a driver because that's all I knew is learning to control and modulate throttle when the vehicle spins the tires. And when you're driving something that doesn't do that as much and is easy, it hurts you. So, it's kind of a new foreign foreign language. You try to learn and learn it quick. takes all the uh tire management, maybe not all of it, but a lot of it. >> A lot of it. It takes a lot of out of it. And that's that's what I've loved about the dirt and and learning the dirt stuff is learning the throttle management again. But then at the same time, you got to learn about using two feet to keep the car or it steers and does what you want it to do. But just the the throttle management and then as the track changes in the dirt, that's really really really big as well. And one of the the one of I can honest say probably one of my top three coolest wins I ever had was whenever I think it was 2017 when we had went to Eldora. I had raced probably 20 something races that year to just [clears throat] get the extra sea time in the dirt so I could learn the changing of the dirt. what I was what I was seeing when the track was starting to change and to go there and race that many races that year in my dirt car and literally brought my dirt car to there because I was racing during the week and went to Eldor and then actually won the truck race. So that's what made it so sweet to just took that upon myself to just learn the the dirt and the characteristics and the changes of the dirt track, what it goes through that change throughout a race to be able to win and say I was a big part of that just by spent my own money and my own time to just try to figure it out. So and then it's been downhill since then because now I want to do it all the time. >> Did anybody else put any effort into preparing like that like you did? [snorts] Um, I don't think I mean you had like the guys had Steuart Freeze and then Kyle Larson and them all that came and did it, but that's what they've came from more so is the dirt. So, they didn't they didn't have pretty much just the asphalt background. And I I don't know for a fact, but I felt like I was one of the only asphalt guys that put in that much preparation for throughout a couple two three years to get that and learn that part of it and just learning what the track changes and see what it does to…