Most of us remember the scene in Days of Thunder when Cole Trickle whips into his pit stall and looks over to see the pit crew eating ice cream. Well this story isn’t quite like that but it does have similarities; I will explain later.
Imagine a driver who is a track champion. Imagine a driver who has a total of 342 career wins to date and won a remarkable five races just in his first late model season. You would assume the driver would be a seasoned veteran, which in truth he is, with one exception. He’s only 14 years old, is currently in the ninth grade and his name is Cruz Skinner.
Skinner has been involved with racing his entire life. His father, Greg Skinner, was a race car driver as well, racing for 26 years. He retired from racing to focus on his son’s love of racing and exceptional talent behind the wheel. Cruz wasn’t his only child bitten by the racing bug; his older sister Katey raced too. They both raced go carts and often raced against each other. In their rookie year, they raced each other in a division of their own. They used the same hauler which had each of their names and the number 11; a number they had both chosen to use because it had been their Dad’s number when he raced.
Skinner’s father related a funny story about the night that Katey had bested her brother. For the entire two and a half hour car ride home, she teased and tormented her brother over her victory.
He described the incident, saying, “We had a truck and trailer there and we’d travel up to Huntsville. Katey had to race Cruz. Katey’s my oldest daughter. We had on the side of the trailer there, Katey’s name and had the number there and then Cruz’s. Both of them was number 11. Katey beat Cruz that night, so she picked on him all the way home. It was about a 2 1/2 hour ride.”
The story continued when the next day, Cruz gets up and asks, “Is Papaw at home?” Papaw lives right next door. I said, “Yeah, he’s at home.” Cruz says, “I’m going to see my Papaw.” He was gone about 20 minutes and Papaw called me wanting to know what in the world happened at the race last night. I said, “What are you talking about?” He said, “Well, Cruz is over here and he wants me to take Katey’s name off the trailer.”
“It was pretty comical. Papaw had told Cruz that … Cruz went and seen Papaw and sat up on his lap. Cruz was five or six years old, said, “Papaw, is that truck mine?” He said, “Yeah, I told you I bought that truck.” He said, “How about that trailer?” He said, “Yeah, I told you I bought that trailer.” Papaw had no idea what he was getting around to. He looked at Papaw he said, “Well, good. Get Katey’s name off of it, then.”
After the first moments of talking with Skinner, it’s easy to forget that he’s only 14 years old. He’s extremely respectful, and it’s evident that even at his age he’s very comfortable in an interview. Even though he is young he has a clear vision of what he wants for his future and although his dream is to make racing a lifetime career, he’s well aware that it may not happen. He is still staying focused on school and feels that education is very important. Skinner realizes that an education can play a part in his racing career and if he isn’t doing well in school he doesn’t race. It’s not just passing either, he makes sure it’s A’s and B’s. He does his homework when he comes home and he makes sure it’s completed before he hangs out with his friends or goes to the race shop to help out with his car or just cleaning up.
In May of this year, he became a spokesperson for the Alabama “Click it or Ticket” campaign. He also is interested in the family businesses and will be learning how those are run. His father has been his children’s biggest fans and wants them to do what makes them happy, whatever that may be.
I talked to Skinner about the Talladega short track where he runs and asked him how the other older drivers treat him on and off the track. I also asked him if he had any mentors.
He explained, “Well when I first started racing late models they were wondering about how I’m going to do, how I’m going to race. They’d shift around me until I really got out there and started proving to them that I’m a clean racer. I’m out there to race, not be in a demolition derby.
“I had some really good people that’s been helping me out, like Ronnie Johnson. As you may know, he’s in the dirt track hall of fame. He’s been sharing a few tips with me. He’s helped me anywhere from driving tips, how to adjust to the track for the night, or helping my set up. Me and him will text all through the week about new tracks, where we’re going to race at, and how to set up the car. He also helps me out a bit. Some people at local tracks just like to stay to themselves and not let anybody else know what they have. For the most part, those people, and a couple more have really helped me out and helped me progress to where I’m at right now.”
Even with all his achievements, he is still very aware of the areas that he needs to improve upon as a driver, which speaks of a maturity you wouldn’t expect from someone so young.
“Where me, as a driver, needs to improve, he said, “is I need to learn more about the setup aspect of it, changing set up, camber, springs, and shocks and all that. That’s something we’ve been working on for a little while. That’s really our main areas we’re trying to work and improve on. It is me coming off the track and being like, ‘We need to do this to the car, so it will do this better.’ Right now, I’m coming in and relaying to my dad what I’m feeling and what’s going on in the car, whether I’m loose, tight, not turning, or whatever. I come in and tell him all that and we’ll set it up, and he’ll explain it to me. Every time I come off the track I learn a little bit more about what this and that does.”
I asked what Skinner believes his strong areas are as well.
“I believe one of my biggest strengths is my patience,” he told me. “If you start mid-pack, or in the back, or if you’re leading and catching lap cars, that’s something you have to have, is patience. If you don’t have patience, you’ll end up over driving cars or putting the car in a hole that’s not really there and end up causing a wreck and tearing up a lot of stuff. I believe that’s one of my biggest strengths is being patient, calm, and collected, realizing I need to calm down and take my time right here and work my way through like I need to.”
Skinner, as is the case with most drivers, is an avid NASCAR fan. I asked Skinner who in NASCAR has been his favorite driver and why?
He stated, “In the NASCAR world, I’ve always looked up to Jeff Gordon; not only just because of his driving skill, but he’s always done an amazing job of representing his sponsors. Like last season, or two seasons ago, he did some of that Pepsi stuff, like those Pepsi pranks. I think that was a fun and good way to get Pepsi out there for … all the new flavors, and all that. He also seems to surround himself with good, championship quality teams. You know when he shows up, that he’s going to be a contender for the win and the championship.”
Skinner added that he is happy that Gordon will be able to be with his family but is still going to be a part of racing, but he is going to miss seeing him on the track.
Most young adults at times feel as if nothing bad can happen to them, so I asked Skinner if he’s ever been scared in a wreck, or thought it was too dangerous. He told me about his most serious accident.
“One of my biggest wrecks in my career,” he said, “was at East Alabama Motor Speedway in Phenix City, Alabama. I was racing in a heat race before the feature later that day. We were up at the 100 to 120. Me and this driver were racing side by side and made contact. I ended up going off the track and barrel rolled four or five times. Then, it got up on its nose and spun a couple times and it sat back down on all fours. That’s really my biggest wreck, but I’ve never thought, after a wreck, that I don’t want to do this. I recognize that wrecks and accidents are just a part of the sport. You just have to work through them and come back stronger the next week.”
Listening to him I realized how much experience he’s had behind the wheel. I was so impressed with his maturity in how he looked at racing and how much he truly understands when it comes to risking injury but not being afraid to tackle whatever may happen at any given time, in any race.
He has received some big accolades for someone his age. At age 12 he became the youngest race winner in the NeSmith weekly racing series by scoring a late model dirt race victory at the Talladega Short Track. This season Skinner became the Sunoco Young Guns Challenge Series Champion for drivers under the age of 18 racing in the NeSmith Racing Series. Even more impressive, he won the Crate Late Model track championship for 2015 at the Talladega Short Track where he races regularly. Next year they are planning to branch out into the super late models which have a bigger engine with more horsepower.
His father explained the difference, “It’s the engine, yes ma’am. A motor, say, one’s got 400 horsepower, one has 600 horsepower, a super late model is one that, on their engines, can be anywhere from 800 to 900 horsepower. That’s a pretty big jump for us to jump in one year.”
He has more accomplishments than many adult drivers he races against yet his biggest achievement to date is his first ever win. It’s also where ice cream comes into his story.
He recounted this day for me “Actually, my first go-cart race was scheduled to be at Talladega Raceway Park. There are go-carts out right beside their short track. Well, I broke my arm playing soccer so we had to delay it about six or eight weeks and we went somewhere in mid-Alabama and went go cart racing. It was my first time out there, I was getting used to it and everything, and before the race my dad takes me up to the grandstands and says, “See that light pole?” I said, ‘Yes sir.” He says, “the other drivers are letting off there you’re letting off before that, don’t let off until you reach that light pole.” I looked at him and asked, “If I win, can I get an ice cream?” I mean, this is the first cold day of the season. It’s 30 or 40 degrees. Everybody looks at me like I’m crazy and asks where we’re going to get ice cream. Sure enough, I turn around, and there’s four or five people over at the concession stand eating ice cream. So we made a deal, and I ended up going out there and winning my go-cart race.”
Needless to say, he got his ice cream so I asked what flavor it was he said, “All they had was vanilla, I was really dying for some chocolate, though.”
It’s pretty clear to everyone that this young man is going to go far. If he’s this talented behind the wheel at 14-years-old, just imagine how fantastic he will be when he gets to the big show. With this much talent, there’s no doubt that he will be noticed and find his way to the top touring series. Until then he’s going to be burning up the racing world one track and ice cream at a time. Someone get this young man some chocolate ice cream, please!
