Eric Wilson: Jacked up about racing

Eric Wilson never ran local divisions at Hickory Motor Speedway, but he knows the track pretty well.

He won two Dash Series races at Hickory and finish second in another, and he’s done a bunch of testing at HMS.

The Hickory track hasn’t been far from Wilson, whose family moved to Bethlehem from Texas in 1989.

Nowadays, Wilson is the pit-crew chief for Kevin Harvick and Richard Childress Racing’s No. 29 Cup team, and he makes his 80-minute commute to the team shop in Welcome. Earlier, he was the jack man for the 29 team and several teams before that.

Wilson became a jack man almost by accident. Mike Beam, a member of Hickory Motor Speedway’s Wall of Fame, was leaving Junior Johnson’s No. 11 team in 1995, and he took his jack man with him.

Johnson walked into the shop one day and called Wilson outside.

Wilson recalls Johnson telling him, “ ‘I’ll show you how to jack a race car.’ I guess it was because I was 25 and in shape. He told me to be a team leader. It really helped me. There was no way I was going to let that man down.”

Wilson, whose speech still sounds more Texas than North Carolina, was a long-time racer and won the 2006 Dash Series title. He wound up a crewman and pit-crew coach for Cal Wells Motorsports from 2001-06, and later did the same for Michael Waltrip Motorsports and Ray Evernham Motorsports.

Wilson is in his first season with RCR, and he recently became coach for all four RCR teams. He says he already broke down pit-crew video when he was jackman, and he continues to do that.

The 41-year-old says he doesn’t mind moving away from jack man.

“Yeah, for the big picture, it’s a good move,” he said. “I’ve been doing this (jacking cars) a long time. I don't know how much more I can get out of it.”

Wilson says he also helps his wife with her Blondeez’s restaurant in Hickory, mostly with paperwork. He also has a dirt Late Model that he races at various tracks in North Carolina and southern Virginia, and he helps his son with his go-kart racing.

In fact, he says he hopes to have his 15-year-old son race at Hickory Motor Speedway next year, perhaps in the Limited Late Model division.

“I’ll say one thing about Hickory … my experience is that it’s a great track to learn on and get taught on,” Wilson said. “The corners are very different, with different entrances and exits, with banking. There are a lot of things to battle with there.

“If you can set up for Hickory, you can go to another track and run good. That’s the same thing I’ve been telling my kid; I want him to use Hickory to learn to race elsewhere.”

• BOBBY ISAAC RACE: The 35^th annual Bobby Isaac Memorial race, moved from earlier in the month because of weather, is set for Sunday. Late Model, Limited Late Model and Street Stocks will run Sunday for track championships, and the Vintage cars will also race.

Grandstands open at noon on Saturday. On Sunday, grandstands open at 1, with racing at 3.

• POINTS BATTLES: Jesse LeFevers has opened a 50-point lead over Austin McDaniel in Late Model. Pietro Fittipaldi has a 24-point lead over Tyler Church in Limited Late Model, and Kevin Eby leads Dan Moore by eight points and Roger Pitts II by 10 in Street Stocks.

• CHAMPIONS: The other divisions have been decided. Chandler Levan beat Donnie Harmon by 46 points in 4-Cylinders. Clint Fields edged Jason Crouse by four points in Super Trucks, and Chad McKinney topped Lewis Slagle by 10 in Hobbys. In Renegades, Dillion Crouch won by 24 points over Greg Austin.

• LAST WEEK: There were two battles of points leaders last Saturday. In Late Models, points leader Jesse LeFevers got his eighth win as he beat out points runner-up Austin McDaniel, with Josh Wimbish third. In Limited Late Model, points leaders Pietro Fittipaldi topped No. 2 Tyler Church, with Jeremy Pelfrey third.

Roger Pitts II beat Dan Moore and Marshall Sutton in Street Stocks, and Devon Haun finished ahead of Todd Harrington and points champion Chandler Levan in 4-Cylinders. In Super Trucks, Jason Crouse, division champion Clint Fields and Jeremy Birch finished 1-2-3 in a six-truck field.

Carroll McKinney beat out points champion Dillon Crouch and Trey Pitts in Renegades. And in Hobby Stocks, division champion Chad McKinney, Lewis Slagle and Steven Willis finished 1-2-3.

• CONTACT: Tom Gillispie, author of “Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.,” can by reached at nc3022@yahoo.com.