Media Contact: Megan Dupuy – woodhullracewaypr@gmail.com
For Immediate Release: June 8th, 2017 – SWL Awards photo -
(Woodhull, NY) – Auto racing is a popular sport all across the country. But for this week’s driver, Karl Born, he first started racing in Florida with his dad before moving to Williamsport, PA. Still continuing racing with his dad, the driver best known for being the best pit gate drawer, moved up north and now races at Woodhull Raceway on a weekly basis.
Born first started driving around 2003. He had to take a small break due to his moving from Florida to Pennsylvania. The car Born currently races is the same car he and his dad built back in 2003.
“What he didn’t tell you was I got sick in ’03. We built that car to get my mind off of everything,” said Karl’s father Fred Born.
The car was originally an asphalt car when Born started racing in Florida but then switched over to dirt when coming up North. For the fans reading this- is it hard to change your car from asphalt to dirt?
“The biggest difference is the driver,” said Karl.
“Asphalt is just so much different. When you are racing asphalt you have a fine line between fast and not fast. With dirt, it’s a little bit more forgiving. When a car slips and slides, you can recover on dirt. With that being said I find it more difficult to run dirt.”
Another big difference is the track. The weather has a huge impact on a dirt track. A dirt track changes week to week, where an asphalt track does not. It might get wet but when it dries its gonna be the same track it was before the rain.
Born’s father couldn’t see getting rid of the car when Born moved up North in 2010, so he kept it in his Florida garage until it was time to race again. In 2015, Karl decided it was time to race again and wound up at Woodhull Raceway.
Living in Williamsport means a three-hour drive every Saturday night to compete. However, Born loves Woodhull and the people here so he decides that it is worth the drive.
“There are probably four or five tracks closer to me. I like this track, I like how Ted runs it. Once I started running up here I got to where I liked the people,” Born said expanding on his commute and reasons for doing so.
For Born, driving is not his favorite thing about racing. It is working on the car all week. The process of problem solving, trying figure out how to make the car better is what really intrigues him.
From the minute Born started racing, it was always he and his dad. It was something they did together. So when Born moved up North and Fred stayed in Florida, it was different for the both of them.
Fred said, “I was (always) on the phone. It was like I was at the races with all the updates.”
“Very regularly I would call him up and say ‘Dad I need this and this’ and he’d go pull it out of the barn and throw it on UPS,” Born said.
Born loves having his dad at every race now. Born’s father moved up here in January to be back with his son and enjoy the races together. Born is still on a back-up motor due to losing a piston in the primary engine. This has not had much effect on his finishes and hopefully we can see him in victory lane soon.
A couple weeks ago Born had a piston crack, which caused a fire during the feature event.
“I was confused because they threw a red flag and started yelling at me to stop and I thought I wasn’t stopping fast enough. Finally I found out my car was on fire and I never saw it from where I was sitting,” Born said talking about his motor problem.
If it was not for Woodhull Raceway’s safety crew and officials Born’s motor would have blown up the next lap.
“I simply went from having a bad piston to one more lap and it would have destroyed everything. So, I’m very appreciative of the track crew."
Stay tuned all season long for more of Megan Dupuy’s driver profiles, as she travels the pit area at Woodhull Raceway to help tell the stories of the drivers that put on a show each week. Megan is finishing her sophomore year at Mansfield University, where she is studying to pursue a career in public relations. She has returned to Woodhull Raceway for her second season as Media Intern- an experience she hopes to make useful in a future career in motorsports media and marketing.