This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Retired Arcadia Firefighter Keeps Trucking (video)

Arcadia's Neil Conrad is one of the top drivers in the Southwest Tour Trucks Series.

If anything, Neil Conrad has been consistent in the Southwest Tour Trucks Series. He’s finished second in each of the first four races of the season. Each time, Jeff Williams has finished first.

When Williams was asked if Conrad has been close to winning any of those first four races, the leader in the Southwest Tour Trucks standings said, flat out, “No.”

Even Conrad admits his truck is about two-tenths of a second slower than Williams’. But Conrad is quick to point out that that his truck has been running pretty good considering he’s a part-time racer going up against a driver who pours a ton of resources into his truck and has a stock car he races regularly at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.

Find out what's happening in Arcadiawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Jeff lives and breathes the racing and he puts a lot of time into it,” said the 56-year-old Conrad, who lives in Arcadia. “So far he’s been about two-tenths a lap faster than we are. Usually it take about a lap or two for him and he just checks out on us a little bit. It’s just hard to catch him. I wish I could figure it out, but I don’t have the time to spend into it that he does.”

Find out what's happening in Arcadiawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

It was pretty much the same story in the most recent Southwest Tour Trucks Series race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night. Williams set fast time in qualifying and took control of the race early. Conrad settled into second place and steadily worked his way around the track. The two drivers separated themselves from the rest of the field and the race for third place was on.

“Me and him have a pretty good distance on everybody,” said Williams, a driver from Newbury Park and the reigning Southwest Tour Trucks Series champion. “I don’t see anyone else challenging us at the moment.”

Conrad, a retired Arcadia firefighter and club soccer coach, has been racing in the Southwest Tour Trucks Series since its inception 20 years ago. The current version of the series is in its third year. The drivers and teams travel around to Southern California tracks and race at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, the Lucas Oil I-10 Speedway in Blythe and Havasu 95 Speedway in addition to Irwindale.

“It was nice because it could be anybody winning  on any given night,” Conrad said about the first years of the Southwest Tour Trucks Series. “We’d have six or seven trucks right up at the front. Everything’s a spec series, so all the trucks are evenly matched and it’s evenly priced out here to run this.”

Conrad started his racing career at Saugus Speedway in stock cars. Even then, between coaching his sons’ soccer teams and working for the fire department, he couldn’t dedicate all his time to racing. He said he sometimes would show up to Saugus Speedway after qualifying and start from the back of the field.

He somehow managed to move his way to the front and challenge for wins at Saugus Speedway.

He won two races in the Southwest Tour Trucks last year. Patience and experience contributed more to those wins than anything else.

Conrad has established a reputation as a respectful and skillful driver. Jim Satterfield, the crew chief on the truck for Brady Helm, raced against Conrad in the Southwest Tour Trucks Series 10 years ago. Satterfield said he enjoyed racing against Conrad when they were on the track together.  

“I have the utmost respect for what he does,” Satterfield said.

The next race for the Southwest Tour Trucks is Saturday at Irwindale.

“It’s a great starter series for those who are trying to move up,” Conrad said. “Everybody’s pretty respectful of everybody else racing out here. So you learn a lot. I like that part.”

Download the movie

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Arcadia