It was an outburst by Chase Dowling after a crash Friday in the SK Modified feature that certainly perked to life a chilled crowd in the grandstand.
Following a lap 23 restart in the 40-lap feature, contact from Ronnie Williams in turn two sent Andrew Molleur up the track and into Dowling. Both Dowling and Molleur ended the night with wrecked cars after the incident. Williams was penalized for overaggressive driving.
Over the track’s public address system an angered Dowling said: “Ronnie Williams has got no talent at all. He messes up back there, he misses a shift so he wants to drive it in 25 [cars too] deep because daddy’s got big pockets and he can fix anything he wants.”
Dowling made also made reference over the PA to Williams not working on his cars saying: “The kid probably doesn’t know what a half-inch wrench is in the drawer.”
During Episode 96 of Unmuffled this week Dowling said he was regretful for some of what he said on Friday, but stands by his criticism of Williams being a driver who doesn’t work on his own cars.
“I look back at it, it’s not that I think the kid doesn’t have talent, the kid is obviously a very good race car driver, and that’s the bottom line truth,” Dowling said. “… He didn’t win two [SK Modified] championships by mistake. If I could redo the interview [Friday over the PA] I would say he ran out of talent at the time. But just being so raw and hot coming out of the car you just kind of say whatever.”
Dowling said he has a hard time respecting Williams because: “He just walks in a race track with sweatpants on and shows up and drives.”
“Kids that have money, that don’t have to physically work on their race cars or know what it’s like to work on their race cars don’t think the same driving behind the steering wheel,” Dowling said. “I think that’s through the Truck Series ranks, the Xfinity ranks, dirt racing, asphalt racing.
“You wreck someone’s race car, it takes them all week to fix it. They stay up countless hours taking time away from what they want to do in life. That kid can just go home, sleep and show up on Friday night with his sweatpants on and not have to worry about his hands getting dirty.”
Dowling spoke at length on Unmuffled about the divide and animosity that exists between drivers who work on their cars and drivers who don’t work on their cars.
To listen to more from Dowling about his brewing rivalry with Williams and plenty more take a listen to Episode 96 of Unmuffled.
Very few drivers actually work on the cars they drive. That’s the way it is. Teams have Crew Chiefs and mechanics that do that.
Dowling drove the LFR Marketing car, with Crew Chief Kopcik a few years ago.
You have a hard time respecting people who have nice jobs and don’t have the time to work on their car so they pay other people to do it? What’s wrong with that?
Should just stop talking. It’s has always happened . Don’t let your mouth wreck your race talent with fans. Show them on the track that your the Man.
Riverhead here we come!!!!
JBon and Sap running the joint!!!
I need a time machine. I prefer Race car drivers over kids with money.
“Very few drivers actually work on the cars they drive”. Dadope, I suggest you get out of the basement and go to a garage or go into the pits. You really have no clue on so many fronts.
Knucklehead, as I am always in the pits, I observe the drivers standing around while others work on the cars. While the drivers are doing autograph sessions, the crews are working on the cars. And I’ve never seen our drivers in the garage working on the cars. So I stand correct, very few drivers work on their cars. Now keep in mind, this applies to the NWMT. With go karts and other hobby and non-professional classes, more drivers probably work on their cars.
Tomorrow night there will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 cars at Stafford and the overwhelming majority will be worked on by people including the driver and in many cases primarily by the driver.
I rate each Unmuffled in my mind and this one is clearly an A if not A+. This article is a teaser and not at all representative of the entirety of the content, the points made or the emotion.
No one will ever accuse Chase Dowling of being a word smith but he should get every fans support for being genuine. He was his own harshest critic about what he said and did Friday then went on to refine his points that are relevant in todays racing world whether you agree with them or not.
Then the cerebral observations of Kopcik from the driver/crew chief perspective and the unfettered enthusiasm of Bert Myer.
It’s clear that Chase does follow the commentary in social media and/or this forum and is sensitive to how people react to what he says and does. I personally hope Dowling does not retreat back into his shell because of the reaction in this situation. If you’re going to judge him harshly at least be fair about it. Even if you don’t believe you have a responsibility to support RaceDayCt join for this episode alone. What you will come away with is a better understanding of the pressure cooker some of the top drivers are constantly in from the family, owners, sponsors, crew and fans that pretty much only recedes while they are actually driving in a race. You’ll also learn from an actual driver the thought process that goes into pay back when something like what happened Friday occurs.
Hmmmm……so the punk regrets opening his mouth? Ya don’t say. Hey Chase, the mature drivers are smart enough to think before they speak. Someday you will mature and understand this. In the day if you pulled his crap you wouldn’t make it out of the parking lot without a beating. Now we have kids standing behind camera phones waiting to post a pic for their assault and battery case. They should face the music in the parking lot and I promise the BS with these kids would stop quick. Unfortunately unless we all throw away our phones we will have to live life listening to kids like Chase, who has never held a job or paid for anything himself, complain about spoiled drivers. Wow. LOL!!!! Bring back the 80’s!
Mod Guy,
So let me get this straight, you’re suggesting that someone should get “a beating” in a race track parking lot because of something they said after getting wrecked? Not for nothing but that’s a pretty sick statement even suggesting that. I’m quite sure most involved in the sport wouldn’t agree with that the idea of beating someone because they said words. I’d suggest you might search out some anger management therapy.
A fight in the parking lot you say. That begs the question in a case such as this where the affront was against Ronnie Williams. Who Ronnie Williams and his dad would hire to do Ronnie’s fighting for him.
Well, it looks like all those kids with smartphone cameras has cramped the style of the troglodytes and neanderthals like Mod Guy. Whatsahmatta Mod Guy, afraid to get caught giving out some of that music in the parking lot? 😝😝😝😝🤣🤣🤣🤣
Mod Guy = 🐓💩 = 🐈
Mod Guy, you appear to be perfectly hypocritical in threatening Chase, calling him out, etc. You are doing exactly what you are accusing him of doing, and saying he needs a parking lot experience to face some music. Conclusion: You are an idiot. 🤪
Shawn, you really shouldn’t allow more than one person to use the same screen name. There are clearly more than one person using the screen name “Doug”. For evidence, I submit this from a recent poster going by the screen name “Doug”: “Who Ronnie Williams and his dad would hire to do Ronnie’s fighting for him.”
That is indeed hilarious, and simply not possible to be thought out by the long term poster around here known as “Doug”, so this new poster “Doug” that posted that line about who would be hired to do the fighting for Ronnie had to come from someone other than the “Doug” that called for patronizing the 🚽 to enrich the owner.