Meet the Team- Randy Williamson

Randy Williamson is, of course, Mat’s father. Being the father of a young and talented driver is, in itself, a challenge, with the parental concern for his son’s safety, along with his fervent desire that he perform well. There is, however, another dynamic at work, the family businesses, BRP and Merritville Speedway. 

 

As if running a business and a race track weren’t enough, Mat is in need of a father’s guidance and inspiration, as well, which brings with it an unusual dilemma for Randy and his son. The nature of the business requires that Randy spend countless hours counseling drivers and race teams on how to get better, a good number of them who race against Mat. Reconciling that can mean walking a tight rope, at times.

 

Mat’s racing career began at the age of five, racing karts. When he reached fourteen, Randy and wife Tracey decided it was time for Mat to take the next step. After a brief dalliance with the idea of racing a Mod Lite, it was decided he would go right to the Sportsman division

 

Randy recalled Mat’s first year driving the Sportsman in 2003, saying, “I told him, ‘Don’t get in trouble racing against these veteran guys.’ He actually ran pretty well. The first week, he didn’t get lapped. The second week he finished around tenth, and the third week he was actually leading the race. He had about a straightaway lead with about three laps to go, and the guy running second at the time was our track champion, Wayne Conn, who is now on our race team. Wayne pulled up beside him a couple times and I guess he startled the kid. Mat blew into turn one and spun himself out. Luckily, the field missed him and Wayne went on to win the race. We finished at the back, but I think it was a good learning experience for Mat- to take the pressure that’s given to you and do the best you can.”

 

Randy sees his main duty on the crew as advisory, but he can be found at crew chief Rick “Dipper” Windeatt’s shop in Ridgeway on Wednesday nights working on the car with the rest of the team. He also travels to Series events and other tracks with the team, when time allows, spending much of his time fielding questions from other teams who are running BRP cars, as well as making suggestions for Mat.

 

While he certainly has input in the setup for the car on race nights, which is his specialty, he points out, “On Saturdays, with my other duties, I don’t spend my nights with them at Merrittville. The crew takes care of it. We’ve got Rob Sawatsky and Wayne Conn to kind of oversee the racing prep for the car. Uncle Dipper takes care of the race team, whose other members include Teddy Renshaw, Charlie King, and Ronnie Sumbler, who have been there over the years. Also, there is Bobby Paladichuk, who was a NASACAR official, who has considerable knowledge. The guys we have surrounded us with are great people. If anyone wants to give me advice, I’m always willing to listen. One thing about racing is, if you’re not willing to give 110%, you shouldn’t be racing.”

 

The dilemma, as noted, comes with the need for Randy to dispense information to his son’s potential opponents. Randy reconciles this by noting, “That’s the business. My son isn’t going into NASCAR racing. He’s going to do the best he can do at local dirt track racing. His ultimate goal is to go Big Block racing. Certainly, the future has him taking over my role in the business, when I retire. He understands. At some points, he’s like any other racer. He doesn’t want to give away the secrets that he learns, but I don’t learn the secrets if we don’t try them on the race car. A lot of time, it’s my decision as to what we’re going to try. It could be good, and it could be bad. We had one night where I wanted to try a right rear shock on the race car and Mat really didn’t agree. We lent John Miller a set of rear shocks that Mat had won with the previous week. Miller liked them so much, I told him he could keep them. I’d sell them to him. When we got to the race track on Saturday, I forgot that I didn’t have another shock like that for the right rear. Mat was a little disgruntled because we had just won with it the week before. I said that it’s about time we tried something else. I put a shock on the right rear; he hated it, and we ran terrible. I don’t know if it was mind over matter with the driver, or it was the car not handling very well. I think he started ninth and finished eleventh. If we didn’t try it, we wouldn’t know if it was good or bad, but the funny part of it is, I turned around and sold that same shock to Travis Braun, and he loved it. Travis always kids me and says, ‘If you’ve got any more shocks that Mat doesn’t like, send them over my way.’”

 

Randy scoffs at the notion that he might hold out information from other Bicknell drivers to help his son, “I’ve always had the open door policy. If you don’t believe that I’m telling you the truth, there’s my son’s race car. Measure it up. I’ll help you out any time. Sometimes, Pete’s crew doesn’t like me giving out some of the information, but the big picture is that building on Cushman Rd (BRP). That big building is what got me where I am now, and it’s allowed my son to race and have some fun.”

 

Notwithstanding the balancing act he has to juggle between the businesses and Mat’s racing career, be assured that Randy is an integral part of the race team, exulting in his son’s success and counseling him through the rough spots. Through it all, he shares Mat’s competitive spirit, while trying to keep the big picture in perspective. It’s been an interesting journey for the man who got his start in racing by hitching a ride with Pete Bicknell a long time ago. That he is now a successful businessman, an iconic figure in the sport he loves, and a key member of his son’s racing team has made the trip well worthwhile. 

Williamson Racing Team- Meet the Team- Dipper

Dipper is the unquestioned conductor of the Williamson Racing Team train. Every team needs a coordinator, not necessarily a boss, and the garrulous 52 year old, Dipper, who drives a tow truck to pay the bills, fits that role to a T. He is intensely dedicated to racing in general and the racing team in particular. The car is garaged at the shop at his home in Ridgeway, which affords him the opportunity to work on it when time allows, along with the regularly scheduled work night, when other members of the team participate. He readily accepts the responsibility of making sure that the car is prepared and at the race track at the required time. In fact, he is usually the first one in line at the pit gate, at home (Merrittville) and on the road. Being early is a fetish with him (there is regular time and there is “Dipper time”), as is enjoying the fruit of the barley after the races, which gives him great satisfaction, as well.

On race nights, assuming his mantle as crew chief, he can be found working on every aspect of the car, in addition to assigning various tasks to the crew members on hand that night. He’s also responsible for having all the equipment, tires, spare parts, tools, or anything else that may be needed on a given night. He even makes sure the coolers are filled. If he’s not grinding tires, he’s checking something on the engine, the gears, the shocks, or just making sure everybody has what they need to get the job done. During the races he makes sure they are ready if Mat needs to come in for any reason. Afterward, he joins with the rest of the team to put things away, load the car, and hold court on what transpired that evening for the sponsors and the many fans who come to visit the pits at the end of the night. A few cool ones usually put the exclamation point on the evening.

Dipper sums it up this way, “I oversee everything. On Wednesday night, everybody shows up and works on the car. I’ve got the cars prepared, so we can spend three hours on Wednesday night to get them ready to go racing. If something drastic happens, we may spend time on other nights, but I maintain everything.”

As iconic as his brother-in-law Randy Williamson’s name is around the dirt racing circuit, the name Dipper has a large following of its own. It seems like everybody at the race track knows him, which brings me to the next point. Where did the name “Dipper” come from? He explained, “When I was sixteen years old, I met Dave Lape. He was coming up here to race and used to hang around with the guys from Ransomville. I was working at Ransomville and Merrittville at the time. He used to call me ‘Dipstick’ for hanging around the race track. That’s where it came from. It went from ‘Dipstick’ to ‘Dipper,’ probably when I was about eighteen. They started calling me ‘Dip’ or ‘Dipper,’ and it just stuck. Everybody has called me ‘Dipper’ since then. My mom and dad even call me that now.”

Dipper’s introduction to the sport came through noted car owner, Bill Morton, who lived near a couple of his buddies. Morton had guys like Dave Moore, Harry Sittler and others drive for him. They used to hang out at the shop, and they also used to go to Merrittville. Upon arriving in high school, he got to know Pete Bicknell and Dave Rizzardo, who had built a race car at their high school. He also went to high school with Randy. He recalled, “I just started hanging around with those guys, going racing. I went from the grandstand to being on the pit crew, and then became an official at Ransomville. I did just about anything you could think of at the race track. I was the assistant starter to Barry Davidson at Ransomville. I packed the rack, watered the track, cut the grass, stocked the shelves, worked the corners, whatever they needed.”

He continued, “When Randy and Pete bought Merrittville, I became a track official there for the first two years. I was head of security, and was also involved with getting the track ready to open. I basically built the bar at Merrittville. We bought a portable building, which was an idea that arose when they first bought the track. Then I built the deck all the way around it and had a friend build the bar. That’s why they named it ‘Dipper’s Turn One Bar.’”

Once the track was established, Mat, who had been racing karts for years, came of age. Dipper noted, “Randy said, ‘Let’s get Mat in a car.’ They were going to build him a dwarf car, but Pete said, ‘Let’s have him in a sportsman.’ So, we formed ‘Mat Williamson Racing.’” The first two members were Dipper and former racer Teddy Renshaw, who ran the operation the first few years. As time went on Rob Sawatsky became involved, bringing sponsorship and technical knowledge, along with Wayne Conn, who supplied additional valued sponsorship and, as a former sportsman and modified driver, on-track expertise. Charlie King, Ronnie Sumbler and others joined at various junctures.

A lot goes into running a race team. To keep it simple for the group involved with the endeavor, Dipper is the owner of the cars. He also owns most of the equipment involved with the operation, including the truck and the hauler. As noted, he provides the team with the materials they need to succeed and spends countless hours working on the cars. However, on race nights, Randy, Rob, and Wayne put the race setup in the car and make the needed adjustments, using Randy’s unparalleled set-up knowledge, past experience compiled by Rob and feedback from Mat. Wayne consults with Mat about the car’s handling. Dipper wouldn’t have it any other way.

On top of everything else, he does, Dipper is well known for the superb pit parties he throws several times a year, which brings up another one of Dipper’s credos. He observed, “I always look after my sponsors. My main concern is my sponsors and my crew looking good. I’ve always had crew shirts and pants, and I’ve always had parties. I used to do a pig roast at the track every year for my sponsors. As it stands now, I do a party every month with food, so if one of my sponsors can’t make it one month, he can possibly make it to another. Every sponsor gets a calendar and is kept informed as to where we’re racing, what we’re doing, and when the parties are.” He is ably assisted with the parties by a bevy of loyal helpers, including sister, Tracey Williamson, his mother, Marlene, who also does a great job as the unofficial team historian, Bonnie
Robison, and other friends of the team, but there’s no question that it’s Dipper’s show.

Dipper considers the toughest part of his job is keeping everything in perspective when things aren’t going well. When the going gets tough and nerves get frayed, there needs to be someone to keep equanimity within the group. He noted, “When you’re going through a bad period where you’re breaking, wrecking or missing the setup and everybody’s down, that’s where I get angry and frustrated, as well, but I’ll always be there. I might be stressed out, but I’m there. I’ve never missed a race that Mat has been in. Mat has been in 348 races, and I’ve been to every one.”

Asked his ultimate goal, Dipper didn’t hesitate. He replied, “It’s to win the points championship at Merrittville Speedway when Pete (Bicknell) is still in his prime. Right now he is the king. My goal is to beat the master. For three years we’ve finished second to him, and every year we’re getting closer.”

After that, he suggested that big blocks might be in the future as well. “Whatever Mat wants to do, I’m there,” he added. Of course, Mat often has a hefty shopping list and, though Dipper would love to give him everything he wants, reality, in the name of finance, rears its ugly head. As the “Chancellor of the Exchequer,” he has to tell Mat they can’t afford it.

Rick “Dipper” Windeatt is racing’s “Everyman.” He loves what he does and is very good at it. The success of the team and the multitude of friends he has made pay homage to that. Here’s hoping he can enjoy his passion for many years to come.