EDITOR’S NOTE: Since the league itself hasn’t updated any rosters—we miss you, Jason Twite!—this preview is based upon the rosters that I have gleaned from talking to different drivers and people associated with the league.  In short, it’s entirely possible that these ‘teams’ I am previewing are not 100% accurate.  Email me with any corrections at chris@twentysevenandahalf.com

 

You Can Read Part One of the 2014 TDA Preview Here

 

TEAM 4: FULL THROTTLE

           I liked the dark horse nature of Full Throttle when I still thought Levi Turnbaugh was racing.  Turnbaugh is a sneakily good runner who doesn’t necessarily get the respect he deserves.  When I learned that he wasn’t racing this year, I didn’t like Full Throttle as much.  Partially because Turnbaugh is gone and partially because I have no idea who is replacing him.

* Shakes fist at sky over the lack of roster information available *

Full Throttle is a team that pretty much everyone wants to do well.  No one hates Full Throttle or has a blood feud brewing with them.  Full Throttle is your cool, mellow uncle who knows what’s what and always offers you a beer when you go over to his place.  Team owner Ron Johnston is a stand up guy and someone who genuinely cares about racing the right way.  Jay VanAllen is a consummate professional.  Turnbaugh was a wildly undervalued runner.  Steve Schaefer has shown glimpses of true promise, but hasn’t quite put everything together yet.  That lineup could definitely have surprised some teams this year… but of course, that’s not the Full Throttle lineup this year.

Johnston and VanAllen will make sure that every race that Full Throttle races is pretty competitive, I’m just not sure how many of those competitive races that they’ll end up victorious in.  If Full Throttle’s 2014 schedule isn’t filled with scores of first round races against Orange Crush, JYD and Mean Green, I think they have the ability to sneak up the leader board in a way that might surprise a lot of people.

Driver to watch:

That would be Ron Johnston.  I consider Johnston the Greg Maddux of the TDA.  When he’s on the track, everything is done for a reason.  Johnston is precise, crafty and determined.  If it’s in the team’s best interest for him to take out an opponent in turn 1 of the first lap, Johnston’s going to do it, even if it means he spent 15 hours building a car for ten seconds of ‘racing’.  I love watching Johnston race.

Why you should cheer for them:

• Levi Turnbaugh is the funniest guy in the TDA.  If you get the opportunity to spend any time at all talking with Turnbaugh, I highly recommend you do.  Turnbaugh is a quick witted, sarcastic guy with more than his fair share of pop culture references and a unique perspective that makes you jealous that you didn’t come up with a lot of the stuff that he says.  He is also quite fond of flipping off other drivers, cameramen, people in the stands, and anyone else who can see him while driving.  And yes, I wrote this a while ago, before I heard that Turnbaugh wasn’t racing this year.

• It would be easy for a low-budget team like Full Throttle to come out and not really compete.  Johnston and company never succumb to this though.  Their cars are always ready and they are ready to tackle whatever lies in front of them.  Full Throttle is another team that is definitely due some good luck.

TEAM 5: REAL STEEL

            Let me start out by saying that I think we need a moratorium on the headline “Real Steel is the Real Deal”.  I saw it at least two times last year and that was somehow three times too many.  While it is apt and accurate, it needs to be retired, especially when the word ‘Hartung-ed’ is still out there and unused.  Headline writers should be counting down the minutes until they get to write that some team just got Hartung-ed by Real Steel.  If Nick Hartung stopped The Junkyard Dogs’ Mike Leodoro, we’d instantly have a headline of ‘Real Steel Hartungs Pancakes’.  It’s at moments like these that I am genuinely sad that Brian “The Tickler” Anderson is not still racing.

That said, Real Steel does look pretty damn good this year.  If there were a real deal, they’d be it.  In their first year in the TDA, Nick, Wally and Anthony Hartung, Shaun Elder Jr. and Dave Hauschild came out and surprised a lot of people.  They more than held their own against the best and brightest that the league had to offer, finishing second to Orange Crush.  They lost three times on the season and all three of those losses came at the hands of Orange Crush (they did beat Orange Crush to take the Second Night trophy).

Naturally, given the state of constant flux this off-season, Real Steel’s lineup has not remained completely intact; Elder Jr., the 2013 Rookie of the Year, is no longer with the team.  Hauschild is filling in in his stead.  In 2014, Anthony Hartung has a year of racing under his belt and are is poised to have a break out season; Nick Hartung has transformed into a man possessed, winning the 2013 MVP, and generally wreaking havoc wherever he goes; and Wally Hartung is the glue that holds the team together.  Wally knows what it takes to win, what it means to build the right way and how to ensure that people will adhere to that.  And, if you don’t like it, you can leave.

Real Steel puts a premium on doing things correctly and keeping their cars going.  A number of drivers that I’ve spoken to wave off Real Steel’s success by stating, “It’s just because they spend a lot of time building their cars,” or “Wally makes everyone do the same thing.”

Uh, yeah.

Those aren’t excuses or things to wave off, but rather, the reason that they’re doing as well as they are.

With their 2013 arch-nemesis, Orange Crush losing Carl Brouwer, Real Steel looks to be in the primary beneficiary.  Their drivers are more experienced, know what it takes to build for a season and what they have to do to win.  More importantly, they know that they can do it.  If you’re looking for a team to beat, it’s Real Steel.

Driver(s) to watch:

That would be all of them.  In an almost Moneyball like fashion, Real Steel seems to emphasize a building and driving style that will allow their cars to keep going.  This might not mean a lot of enormous, highlight reel hits, but it certainly does help with winning.

Reasons to cheer for them:

• You mean apart from them outlining a plan, sticking to it, working as a team and eschewing individual glory for the betterment of the team?  Let’s see…

• Nick Hartung is what you want in a demo driver.  When I started following the TDA in 2010, Hartung was on Bad Company.  Mid-season, he was replaced.  He then went to a fill-in team, Quicksilver Destruction Company.  Then he went to Stranglehold and then Reckoning, before ending up on Real Steel.  Every step of the way, Hartung was learning, continuing to experiment with his builds and working on getting better.  In 2013, he was named the league’s MVP.  If you spoke to someone in July of 2010, it’s doubtful that he would have ever thought that Hartung would be one of the better drivers in the TDA, let alone the MVP.  In July of 2013, things had certainly changed.  Hartung has kept his head down, remained focused and made a lot of improvements in a short amount of time; he has a lot to be proud of.  And if that’s not worth cheering for, I don’t know what is.

TEAM 6: ORANGE CRUSH

           When reading about the San Antonio Spurs, the St. Louis Cardinals or the New England Patriots, it’s almost impossible to get through a story without hearing about the remarkable culture those organizations have put together.  Their successes are attributed to the players (obviously) and the team wide culture that permeates throughout the organization.  I mention this here because Orange Crush has created this precise type of culture surrounding their team.  And that starts with owner Kenny Kasper and long time driver Ron Tyrakowski (and Elmer Fandrey).  Together the men make up the spiritual core of Orange Crush.

Kasper has owned Orange Crush since 2009 and is entering his fifth full season as the owner.  During that time, despite a large amount of driver turnover (save for Tyrakowski and Fandrey), Orange Crush just keeps plugging along.  First place in 2010, second place in 2011, second place in 2012 and first place again last year.  The constants are Kasper and Tyrakowski (and Fandrey).  They have created a winning culture in the Orange Crush pits and it’s hard to argue with the four years of proof we’ve been given.

Drivers repeatedly join the team and begin talking about how much different it is being on Orange Crush.  Beyond simply being well funded, the drivers mention how much assistance is offered to them and how everyone is part of a team.  The drivers go out together and spend time together… even when not racing.

Orange Crush lost an extremely talented driver to injury in Carl Brouwer last year.  It will be hard to replace his skills, but having lost Ryan Bleuer, Johnny Ryan, Tom “Brickman” Lewis and “Sneaky” Pete Ryan over the course of the last three years and still fared well, it seems like Orange Crush knows how to perservere.

The flip side of this coin is that Orange Crush lost Carl Brouwer.

Period.

Brouwer is one of the best runners that the TDA has seen and that’s a bitter pill to swallow (especially for Brouwer).

This is a clash of an absence of talent vs. an intangible culture.  I’ve learned my lessons though: Orange Crush is going to come out strong and challenge for the title.  Kasper, Tyrakowski, Fandrey and crusher extraordinaire Jason Ritacco will see to that.  It will be interesting to see how much the Orange Crush brain trust impacts the building and driving of new transplants Alex Tucker* and John Clemmons.

Driver(s) to watch:

That would be Ron Tyrakowski.  Tyrakowski doesn’t know half-measures.  He goes full-out all the time and isn’t afraid of anything.  Tyrakowski delivered the hit of the century last year (breaking numerous bones in the process) stopping the Junkyard Dogs’ Ryan Bleuer cold against the front straight away, several car lengths from victory.  It’s the first hit I’ve ever witnessed that elicited silence from the crowd.  Yeah, it was that good.  There is nothing bad that will come from zeroing in on Tyrakowski (66) and watching him go, go, go.

Reasons to cheer for them:

• Orange Crush is awesome.  Did I mention that over the course of the last four years that they’ve had two first place and two second place finishes?

• John Clemmons is great.  I cannot speak highly enough about how much I like John Clemmons.  At least three to four times a year, Clemmons will message me on facebook detailing how much of a jackass I am for writing something or another.  Invariably this will be followed shortly thereafter by an apology.  Clemmons is a really nice guy who is passionate about racing… and sending critics late night messages.  I always root hard for Clemmons to do well.