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.