Finding the balance will be the key to Scott Steckly’s season.
Juggling the operation of a multi-car team and defending his NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1 championship won’t be easy for Steckly (no.22, pictured) in 2014. It’s not a new role for the three-time series champion, but there’s a sense that the ante has been raised this year.
A new state-of-the-art race shop for 22 Racing came online over the offseason as have three new teammates – Ray Courtemanche Jr., Luc Lesage and Alex Tagliani. With that comes new faces to know and equipment to prepare heading into the season-opening Pinty’s presents the Clarington 200 on May 18 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park near Bowmanville, Ontario.
“We’ve been out and tested all of the cars, but mine,” said Steckly. “It’s pretty difficult to find time for everything. It seems like the last car to get prepared is mine.”
At 42 years of age, the 15-time Canadian Tire Series race winner is setting the stage for his racing career to continue after he hangs up the helmet.
“This is the way I want to go right now,” he said. “I want to be involved in racing after I’m not in the car anymore.”
No time table has been set for climbing out from behind the wheel and there are no signs that it should be an active train of thought. The Milverton, Ontario driver has won three of the last six and two of the last three series titles. The consistent contender has posted 51 top-five finishes in his last 75 series starts dating back to his first championship season in 2008.
It’s through that consistency and intimate knowledge of the Canadian Tire Series’ tracks and cars that allows Steckly to branch out in new areas of the sport.
“My stuff kind of gets pushed to the back burner,” he said. “Once we get into the season a little, though, I think it will level out.”
Winning three NASCAR championships is not something that Steckly envisioned when he started racing street stocks in 1992.
“It’s more of a testament to those around me,” said Steckly. “It’s just impossible to accomplish anything without a great team. That team includes sponsors, crew members, family members and many others. It’s takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to do what we’ve done.
“From a personal perspective, I’m very proud of our accomplishments.”
Despite the championships, race wins and pole awards, there is one thing Steckly has yet to accomplish in the Canadian Tire Series – win a road course event. It’s not, however, something that he, or his team, spend time anguishing over. More than adequate results are there. In 31 series career road course starts, Steckly has 18 top-five finishes.
“That’s a question that I get a lot, but to be honest I don’t sit around worrying about it,” he said. “If we just go out and do what we do, then it’ll come. We probably already should have a couple, but that’s how it goes in this sport. Overall, our performance has been good. It’s not like we’re not competitive.”
Despite an active offseason for drivers and teams, Steckly expects the 2014 season to look like any other from a competitive standpoint.
“This is an incredibly tough series to compete in,” he stated. “There’s just not a lot of separation between the drivers, cars and teams. Whoever wins this thing this year, or any year, earns it. Nothing comes easy. Everything – pit strategy, lapped cars, qualifying – has to go right to win one of these races let alone a championship.”
Photograph by Ramesh Bayney
