Chris Hile 2012 Season in Review
Chris Hile at Black Rock Speedway Pre-Race November 10th
Chris Hile at Black Rock Speedway Pre-Race October 20th
Chris Hile at Brewerton Speedway Pre-Race August 24th
July 20th 4th Place Finish at Brewerton Speedway
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Tim McCreadie and other local racers describe the rules of the road
Every sport has etiquette that must be followed, although most of the time these rules are unwritten. Knowing what to do when you are new to the game can be tough.
Racing has etiquette as well and recently I explored the rules with World of Outlaw late model star Tim McCreadie, the son of legendary racer Bob McCreadie, as well as a pair of local racers.
Before McCreadie moved up to late models and before he won over 100 feature events, he was an aspiring rookie in a modified at Canandaigua Speedway in 1997. And he knew about Rule No. 1 for new drivers: Start at the back and don’t interfere with experienced drivers.
“It was an eye-opener.” McCreadie said. “I remember telling my dad that I would pull in whenever I saw the move-over flag. Because the last thing I wanted to do was to get in front of Danny (Johnson) or Alan (Johnson) or my dad or those guys that race there every week ... and get in the way of them making money.”
You start at the back to earn respect. And the only way to earn respect is by holding your line and knowing when to race and when to back it down a little. So that’s Rule No. 2: Earn their respect by the way you drive.
Chris Hile is in his third year of modified racing at Brewerton and Fulton speedways. He is one of those drivers on the verge of his first win and he was just like McCreadie in 1997.
“I can remember my first couple of races,” Hile said. “When you are sitting in the staging lanes those first couple of times and you see Alan Johnson and you see Billy Decker, it runs into your head. You’re saying, ‘I’ve got to make sure I’m doing everything I’m supposed to be doing so I don’t mess up these guys that are legends out here.’ Some of them have been racing longer than I’ve been alive.”
And as a rookie in modified racing, Hile knew that being fast was not the most important thing on his list.
“When you start in the big-block class or any class, you really got to keep your nose clean if you want to be portrayed as a good, clean driver,” Hile said. “You don’t want to come in the first few weeks and wad six, seven, eight cars up every week because you’re done. The time it would take to regain that respect back from those drivers would be nearly impossible.”
Matt Fink was a rookie seven years ago and has two wins to his credit, one coming earlier this year. And he knew about the next rule of etiquette: Hold your line so they can race you.
“I just understood when I was out there that this is the line I’m going to hit,” Fink said. “I’m going to work on hitting my marks. It’s not that you’re not out there to race guys, but when they show you a door, it’s because they’re faster than you. You want to race them hard, but you also don’t need to hold up the show.”
And he also knew what to do when you see that blue and yellow move-over flag.
“If you know it’s the leader, you just give them the room,” Fink said. “There’s no reason to fight to stay on the lead lap.”
But every racer will get better over time and sometimes that early feeling of confidence can get you in trouble. About seven weeks after McCreadie’s first night, he was at Brockville, Ontario Speedway. He was no longer starting in the back and was in the top six racing for fifth against legendary driver Buzzie Reutimann when he made his first mistake.
Leading us to the next rule: If you get into somebody, give them a chance to recover.
“He was driving good,” McCreadie said, “and I went in way over my head and just creamed him in the rear bumper. He started to spin and I just didn’t know what to do so I throttled up and went through him and kept on going.”
What happened next was a lesson that McCreadie never forgot.
“We came around the next lap and I think there was 15 cars piled on top of him maybe,” McCreadie said. “My dad was there and he came over and said, ‘Well, you know maybe you’re going to learn something out of this.’ And I’m like, ‘Learn what?’ He’s like, ‘Well, you never gave him a chance to get straight.’ That was a lesson.”
So just like the golfer who loses respect by walking across a competitor’s line on the green or the bowler who jumps ahead of the guy next to him, racing is a sport where the rules for all must be followed.
If you don’t follow them, you will lose that respect that is so hard to earn and so easy to lose.
Racing has etiquette as well and recently I explored the rules with World of Outlaw late model star Tim McCreadie, the son of legendary racer Bob McCreadie, as well as a pair of local racers.
Before McCreadie moved up to late models and before he won over 100 feature events, he was an aspiring rookie in a modified at Canandaigua Speedway in 1997. And he knew about Rule No. 1 for new drivers: Start at the back and don’t interfere with experienced drivers.
“It was an eye-opener.” McCreadie said. “I remember telling my dad that I would pull in whenever I saw the move-over flag. Because the last thing I wanted to do was to get in front of Danny (Johnson) or Alan (Johnson) or my dad or those guys that race there every week ... and get in the way of them making money.”
You start at the back to earn respect. And the only way to earn respect is by holding your line and knowing when to race and when to back it down a little. So that’s Rule No. 2: Earn their respect by the way you drive.
Chris Hile is in his third year of modified racing at Brewerton and Fulton speedways. He is one of those drivers on the verge of his first win and he was just like McCreadie in 1997.
“I can remember my first couple of races,” Hile said. “When you are sitting in the staging lanes those first couple of times and you see Alan Johnson and you see Billy Decker, it runs into your head. You’re saying, ‘I’ve got to make sure I’m doing everything I’m supposed to be doing so I don’t mess up these guys that are legends out here.’ Some of them have been racing longer than I’ve been alive.”
And as a rookie in modified racing, Hile knew that being fast was not the most important thing on his list.
“When you start in the big-block class or any class, you really got to keep your nose clean if you want to be portrayed as a good, clean driver,” Hile said. “You don’t want to come in the first few weeks and wad six, seven, eight cars up every week because you’re done. The time it would take to regain that respect back from those drivers would be nearly impossible.”
Matt Fink was a rookie seven years ago and has two wins to his credit, one coming earlier this year. And he knew about the next rule of etiquette: Hold your line so they can race you.
“I just understood when I was out there that this is the line I’m going to hit,” Fink said. “I’m going to work on hitting my marks. It’s not that you’re not out there to race guys, but when they show you a door, it’s because they’re faster than you. You want to race them hard, but you also don’t need to hold up the show.”
And he also knew what to do when you see that blue and yellow move-over flag.
“If you know it’s the leader, you just give them the room,” Fink said. “There’s no reason to fight to stay on the lead lap.”
But every racer will get better over time and sometimes that early feeling of confidence can get you in trouble. About seven weeks after McCreadie’s first night, he was at Brockville, Ontario Speedway. He was no longer starting in the back and was in the top six racing for fifth against legendary driver Buzzie Reutimann when he made his first mistake.
Leading us to the next rule: If you get into somebody, give them a chance to recover.
“He was driving good,” McCreadie said, “and I went in way over my head and just creamed him in the rear bumper. He started to spin and I just didn’t know what to do so I throttled up and went through him and kept on going.”
What happened next was a lesson that McCreadie never forgot.
“We came around the next lap and I think there was 15 cars piled on top of him maybe,” McCreadie said. “My dad was there and he came over and said, ‘Well, you know maybe you’re going to learn something out of this.’ And I’m like, ‘Learn what?’ He’s like, ‘Well, you never gave him a chance to get straight.’ That was a lesson.”
So just like the golfer who loses respect by walking across a competitor’s line on the green or the bowler who jumps ahead of the guy next to him, racing is a sport where the rules for all must be followed.
If you don’t follow them, you will lose that respect that is so hard to earn and so easy to lose.
June 30th Pre-Race at Fulton Speedway
June 15th Pre-Race at Brewerton Speedway
Chris Hile at Fulton Pre-race May 12th (click here)
Chris Hile at Utica-Rome Pre-race April 29th (click here)
Chris Hile comments on his 3rd place finish at Brewerton on April 20th (click here)
Chris Hile at Brewerton Pre-race April 20th (click here)
Chris Hile thanks all the people who helped their race team at their fundraiser (click here)
Chris Hile talked about what happened to cause them to lose their hauler in a fire (click here)
The Hile Motorsports Benefit was a Huge Success
With only a month of planning racer Katelyn Kane was able to successfully host the Hile Motorsports Benefit for fellow racer and her boyfriend Chris Hile and family after tragedy struck their household March 2nd when they were woken by their dog to the family freightliner engulfed in flames.
When they day of the event was finally here, Kane recalls how anxious she was. “I had done everything in my power to get the word out about the event, not only was it online, but in local papers and I even had hung flyers all over Onondaga and Oswego County. However, I was very nervous the hour before the event racking my brain for what more I could have done,” says Kane.
There was a consistent flow of fellow racers, neighbors, and family coming in throughout the day. “From the people I was able to talk to, they seemed to really enjoy themselves,” according to Kane. With over 100 raffle items through the generous donations of so many, “the raffle tables were a hot spot throughout the day.”
Both Kane and Hile were blown away by the amount of support that poured out during such a tragedy for the Hile family. Chris recalls, “Without everyone’s support, my race season would have been put on hold, if not completely sidelined for the 2012 season.” “Everyone’s outpouring of support definitely exceeded my expectations,” says Kane.
Chris would like to personally “Thank everyone who came to the benefit yesterday and supported us, it was an awesome time. Also thank you to every single person who helped or donated in any way throughout this wholes process, you all made racing for us this season possible again. Family, friends, and the racing community, to all of you we send a sincere thank you!”
Chris’ first time out to the track this year will be test and tune at Fulton Speedway this Saturday, April 7th with his first race scheduled at Brewerton Speedway April 20th. Stay up to date with Chris through his facebook page www.facebook.com/hilemotorsports.
Katelyn would also like to send out her sincere thanks to all who came out to support the Hile Family Saturday. “The racing community is amazing, we had Barbagallo's packed and I hope everyone had an amazing time! Thanks to all behind the scenes who helped out as well it couldn't have been such a wonderful success without everyone's help and support!”
Katelyn’s first time on the track will also be at Fulton’s test and tune this Saturday with her first race scheduled the following Saturday, April 14th, at Fulton Speedway. You can stay up to date with Katelyn through her website www.katelynkaneracing.com.
When they day of the event was finally here, Kane recalls how anxious she was. “I had done everything in my power to get the word out about the event, not only was it online, but in local papers and I even had hung flyers all over Onondaga and Oswego County. However, I was very nervous the hour before the event racking my brain for what more I could have done,” says Kane.
There was a consistent flow of fellow racers, neighbors, and family coming in throughout the day. “From the people I was able to talk to, they seemed to really enjoy themselves,” according to Kane. With over 100 raffle items through the generous donations of so many, “the raffle tables were a hot spot throughout the day.”
Both Kane and Hile were blown away by the amount of support that poured out during such a tragedy for the Hile family. Chris recalls, “Without everyone’s support, my race season would have been put on hold, if not completely sidelined for the 2012 season.” “Everyone’s outpouring of support definitely exceeded my expectations,” says Kane.
Chris would like to personally “Thank everyone who came to the benefit yesterday and supported us, it was an awesome time. Also thank you to every single person who helped or donated in any way throughout this wholes process, you all made racing for us this season possible again. Family, friends, and the racing community, to all of you we send a sincere thank you!”
Chris’ first time out to the track this year will be test and tune at Fulton Speedway this Saturday, April 7th with his first race scheduled at Brewerton Speedway April 20th. Stay up to date with Chris through his facebook page www.facebook.com/hilemotorsports.
Katelyn would also like to send out her sincere thanks to all who came out to support the Hile Family Saturday. “The racing community is amazing, we had Barbagallo's packed and I hope everyone had an amazing time! Thanks to all behind the scenes who helped out as well it couldn't have been such a wonderful success without everyone's help and support!”
Katelyn’s first time on the track will also be at Fulton’s test and tune this Saturday with her first race scheduled the following Saturday, April 14th, at Fulton Speedway. You can stay up to date with Katelyn through her website www.katelynkaneracing.com.