The Rhinelander Daily News - Online news and information for the Rhinelander, Wisconsin region

Vern Hollister - Correspondent

Lined up with only the tubing to provide shape in Baldwin's garage, the structures resemble antopods, insects with jointed limbs and a segmented body. They are, however, the frames and motors for the Baldwin Racing Team based in California but constructed, tuned and re-built by local mechanics.

Baldwin's racing season began January 24 in Laughlin, Nevada, with the Desert Challenge and won't end until December 6 and 7 in Chula Vista, California. From start to finish, the men who work at Baldwin's garage about two miles north of Argonne return the machines after races to the small town base where they will go over them pipe by pipe, weld by weld and motor part by motor part. Then they will re-assemble the trucks for transport to the next race.

For most of the workers, racing is in their blood, and mechanical work and motors as much a part of their being as trainers and stable boys to thoroughbreds. Though crew chief Kevin Pence was out of the office, receptionist Holly Kulinski led the way into the garage where Ed Quade, a mechanic who has worked for the Baldwin team for five years, explained the operation. Each mechanic has his specialty, his special type of truck, or at least is assigned to one.

"We build the cars and maintain the cars, and rebuild the cars," Quade said, "and then they're trucked out. We take care of all the Baldwins."

Quade has been around racing all his life. He used to drive, and his father raced. His grandfather, Joe Houle, competed in the infamous Brush Run 101 and snapped up a few victories over now Crandon mayor Gary Bradley. Of the first of a series of trucks in a straight row in the garage, Quade said, "This is Jason's old Pro 4. It doesn't get raced." No one races the second in line, either, Jason's "old trophy truck," a Desert winner.

In 2005, Jason Baldwin, son of Jim Baldwin, was killed in a plane crash on his return to California from a race in Mexico. The elder Baldwin, a construction developer in California, owns what is known as CORR or Championship Off-Road Racing. Information provided by CORR's Web site said that Jim Baldwin, seeing the popularity of short course racing in Crandon and the Midwest, purchased the newly formed series from Marty Reid with plans to expand to the West Coast. Though the shop remains in the cooler northeast climate of Wisconsin, CORR racing occurs primarily in Nevada and California.

Jason's brother, Josh Baldwin, competes; and it is for him that the mechanics in the Argonne shop build the trucks and do the repairs, as well as for Jeremy McGrath, another Baldwin team member.

There's almost a pecking order, though mechanics help one another with their tasks. Quade works on the Trophy Trucks, the "desert stuff," he said, and he sees to the tires for short course races. He built a Trophy truck this past winter for use in Desert races. The next event in the desert is August 21-23 on a route from Las Vegas to Reno. Jeff Kevilus also works on the trophy truck. Dustin Pence zeroes in on Pro 2's, and Jesse Lewis Pro 4's. Pence was doing some welding on a Pro 2 for McGrath, a crossover racer who made his name first in motorcross.

At a counter, Lewis rebuilt brake calipers. Still under age 30, he, with ten years at Baldwin's, has worked there the longest. Each day, he drives in from Antigo to the Argonne shop. Like others, he took to cars, trucks and racing early from family connections.

"I've been working on race cars since I was 14," Lewis said. "I've worked with Scott Douglas and worked with different teams," he said, having gone through a progression of teams as he learned and advanced in the racing mechanic world. When he began with Baldwin, he said, "I started out sweeping floors."

Tony Votis, making a transmission cooling screen, said that he also once raced, both at the Brush Run and on what he termed "circle" races meaning oval tracks such as the TNT near Three Lakes. Now, Votis said, he gets paid to work on others' trucks when before he paid money to work on his own and for nothing. The expense is one reason some have gotten out of driving. To stay connected, they find teams and work for them, and the shop in Argonne is a boon to about ten mechanics as well as the Baldwin drivers. Bill Palubicki does the wiring for all the vehicles. That's his specialty.

Sometimes they build trucks for others. Quade pointed to a chassis and said that particular one belonged to Jerry Daugherty racing out of Las Vegas and a driver who competed in June on the Crandon track. Kevilus assumed the duty of building Daughterty's truck. They have also built for Ricky Johnson, the Red Bull number 29 and Keith Steele in a Monster truck.

With the WSORR series based in Crandon and the CORR series headquartered in California and expanded, the once tiny garage for the Baldwin team when they competed at the Crandon track was replaced by the larger shop. Even with the California base, construction remains in the Argonne countryside where the work ethic of the mechanics is strong and reliable. Mechanics work year-round to build and to maintain vehicles for both the CORR series and for Desert competition. Trucks and vehicles are transported to the race drivers. July 23, most will leave for San Diego, one of eleven weekends for which they need to have the trucks ready to roll.

A few racing teams compete in both CORR and WSORR. Others have made choices, or sponsors have done it for them. Still others compete mostly for one but pick and choose in the other. Jeff Kincaid, from Argonne, for example, competes in both series. Other familiar names in the CORR rankings include Douglas, Carl Renezeder (a brother-in-law to Josh and the late Jason Baldwin), Chad Hord and Johnny Greaves.

While competition for drivers and teams may swirl about them, the Baldwin mechanics report to their jobs and fulfill their tasks to belong to the sport and the racing tradition that flows through their veins.

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