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Last Saturday, while TVMRS teams prepared for the season opener at Monadnock Speedway, tour announcer John Spence caught up with Jimmy Kuhn, driver of the W.S.Shepard, Modern Auto Body, sponsored #72 modified during a break in the practice schedule. Kuhn, married, and the father of a son and daughter from W, Bridgewater Mass., is about to begin his second year with the tour after finishing fourth in the 2005 point standings. Spence talked to the 35 year old driver about his career, his decision to move to the TVMRS and what it will take to dethrone the current tour champion.
JS: Jimmy, when did it all start for you?
JK: “I began with my Dad years ago at Seekonk in the charger division back then, I started going with him to help him at a young age, I was really young about 9 or 10 years old. Then he went pro stock racing and I went and did that with him. When I was 14 or 15 I was getting itchy to do something because I had been going with my Dad so much so I started in a charger car and one thing led to another and here I am.”
JS: After the chargers at Seekonk, how did your career progress?
JK: “ We ran the chargers till I was 19 and then stepped into a pro stock at Seekonk, we ran in the top ten in points and got rookie of the year that year, won a race, in fact we ran pro stocks for quite a while maybe 6 or 7 years there. We ran all over the northeast, Thompson, Lee, we learned a lot, I started building cars for a lot of guys, did a lot of R&D with a lot of people to help me gain the knowledge I needed to be competitive, I wanted to get going sooner then later, didn’t want to wait around 20 years learning, wanted to get going right then and there.”
JS: When was the decision to go modified racing?
JK: “At the end of 98 is when we decided. We ran Thompson and finished 2nd in points to Rick Martin for the championship going down to the last day. For the 1999 season we bought an older car, ran four or five shows to get our feet wet, and then in 2000 with a newer car, we ran a little more but not with enough money. We ended up running the Featherlite tour till we came here a couple of years ago.”
JS: I remember you coming here to practice last year and I interviewed you then about jumping to the TVMRS. You, as I recall, were confident that you had made the right decision. Here we are a year later. Still feel that way?
JK: “Well, we found running the other tour it was going to take a lot of money to be competitive, in any series you run you want to have a shot at winning no matter where you go, running that tour you were stuck behind the 8-ball, we stuck it out but you couldn’t test like you wanted too, like the teams that can afford it. We could not run the way they do with freshened motors as often as they do, you spend and spend and it’s never enough.
You get beat by dollars. We were almost out of business till this deal came along. We watched this that first year and decided to go for it, we figured we would end up here anyway so we did it last year, spent a lot less money, were competitive, that’s all you want to be is competitive.. We had some good runs over there but we could not afford to keep it up. Don’t get me wrong, I am not knocking that series. That is a good series, a very good series, but I just could not afford it anymore. There are some very talented drivers on that tour and there are some very talented drivers here that could be competitive with the right deal anywhere. This is a whole lot better, the expenses are down, and the maintenance is down, the travel is down, it pays less but the costs are less. We actually have fun coming here. It’s been great.”
JS: As this tour enters its 3rd year, are you surprised that a 21 race schedule has been created, 60 cars are registered, and the interest being what it is?
JK: “Not at all. We are glad it is taking off the way it has. It’s the reason we made the move. The guys coming here want to spend less, have fun, and go home at night.”
JS: Kirk Alexander had a dream season in 2005, what will it take for Jimmy Kuhn Jr. to have a dream season in 2006?
JK: (Smiles) “Step up and get the car a little bit better. He’s got a car that rocks and rolls. He is not beating you with motor, he just has that car working extremely well, He has a good team, everything works well there, and it clicks. It’s our job to do our homework and go out and beat him. We are trying a lot of different things we have not tried before because we know we have to find something, if we don’t we’ll be in the same boat as last year. Hopefully we’ll hit on something that will work for us to beat him.”
