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Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
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Topic: 2nd chance... Email this topic to a friend | Subscribe to this TopicReport this Topic to Moderator
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hamslam2003
MyWebsite
February 12, 2018 at 08:42:49 AM
Joined: 08/17/2009
Posts: 27
Reply

Hey guys, I wanted to share this and I figured this would be the best place. After all, we are all sprint car guys here. So the story begins with my dad Tony Diaz: factory rider for Haley Davidson in the 60s, and eventually Sprint car builder and team manager. Most of you may know of him in his by innovations in Sprint car racing. Some of the drives that drove his cars include Roy Hicks, Bobby Unser Jr, Jan Opperman, Ron Shuman, Sonny Holden, Ted Lee, Steve Siegel, George Bishoff, Jac haudenschild, Jerry Coons Jr and more.

   I made a decision early on to basically work alongside him and build cars and work on the race teams he built. This eventually led me to driving which I found I had a love and natural talent for. Fast forwarding a bit to the late 90s, my dad and I worked for guy who wanted to eventually go to Indy. This, what seemed to be the opportunity of a lifetime actually ended my racing career before it even got a chance to take off. The team owner was, unfortunately, a spoiled rich kid who had everything given to him. To top that off he was an obnoxious jerk, who basically ran all our friends away. In 99, I got to build my first car of my design. We went to do winter testing at a track in New Mexico. The cars were fast I was getting ready to drive with the Outlaws in their upcoming season. Then a one morning going in to work, the machinery and a few other odds and ends had little yellow tags on them. Also, there were the companies CFO and lawyers. I asked what was going on and was told everything with a yellow tag take, everything else leave. The first the thing I asked was, what about the cars??? NO, they said. The chassis and some of the parts belonged to me. We are talking at least 8 frames and misc. parts and pieces. The engines, suspensions parts, I could care less about. So, what happens next? The cars are on EBay and in the race classifieds everywhere. I remember that time like it was yesterday, it felt someone ripped out my heart. This is why you and the sprint car world haven’t heard of me, I never got a chance. After this happened I opened my own business, doing CNC and fabrication work and prototyping for MSD Ignition and other companies. However, that was as far as I got in to racing.

  Here we are in 2018, I miss racing like crazy. I don’t know what drug addiction is like but this is pretty damn bad. I got to where I couldn’t go to the races anymore and last year was the first year I didn’t watch the Nationals. I’m sure there are many out there who know what I’m talking about. I know racing has changed a bit too. I have stayed in touch enough to see what going on with the cars and drivers. Sprint car racing is in my blood, what else can I say? I wish I could let it go, but I cant.

  If you actually made it this far and are still reading, I really appreciate it. What is the point to all this? It’s not that I’m complaining about my life, I became a successful Manufacturing Engineer for a few heavy Hitters (Northrup Grumman, Haas and Boeing). I have an amazing wife, who is very supportive and 3 wonderful kids. However, I have wanted to get this off my chest and possibly see what’s out there. I have missed racing more and more since being away from it and all of a sudden in the past couple of years people have calling about interest in our chassis and what we are up to.

  I thought I would throw this out there. I would like to find a gentleman or gentlemen that want to build a small race team. Possibly have a small 2 car team or larger, 6 to 10 cars, sprint cars and a few midgets (for the Chili Bowl). We would build and maintain a few race cars in secrecy. If you need more info on how good the cars are, just ask around or I can give you references. I’m living in Midwest, (Southeast Michigan), a few hours from the big Ohio and Indiana tracks. There are a lot of possibilities. Shoot me a message, let’s talk, this could be a huge opportunity.

Thank you,

Ham

Ham_Diaz (at) yahoo.com




racing726841
February 12, 2018 at 08:32:31 PM
Joined: 05/06/2015
Posts: 11
Reply
Reply to:
Posted By: hamslam2003 on February 12 2018 at 08:42:49 AM

Hey guys, I wanted to share this and I figured this would be the best place. After all, we are all sprint car guys here. So the story begins with my dad Tony Diaz: factory rider for Haley Davidson in the 60s, and eventually Sprint car builder and team manager. Most of you may know of him in his by innovations in Sprint car racing. Some of the drives that drove his cars include Roy Hicks, Bobby Unser Jr, Jan Opperman, Ron Shuman, Sonny Holden, Ted Lee, Steve Siegel, George Bishoff, Jac haudenschild, Jerry Coons Jr and more.

   I made a decision early on to basically work alongside him and build cars and work on the race teams he built. This eventually led me to driving which I found I had a love and natural talent for. Fast forwarding a bit to the late 90s, my dad and I worked for guy who wanted to eventually go to Indy. This, what seemed to be the opportunity of a lifetime actually ended my racing career before it even got a chance to take off. The team owner was, unfortunately, a spoiled rich kid who had everything given to him. To top that off he was an obnoxious jerk, who basically ran all our friends away. In 99, I got to build my first car of my design. We went to do winter testing at a track in New Mexico. The cars were fast I was getting ready to drive with the Outlaws in their upcoming season. Then a one morning going in to work, the machinery and a few other odds and ends had little yellow tags on them. Also, there were the companies CFO and lawyers. I asked what was going on and was told everything with a yellow tag take, everything else leave. The first the thing I asked was, what about the cars??? NO, they said. The chassis and some of the parts belonged to me. We are talking at least 8 frames and misc. parts and pieces. The engines, suspensions parts, I could care less about. So, what happens next? The cars are on EBay and in the race classifieds everywhere. I remember that time like it was yesterday, it felt someone ripped out my heart. This is why you and the sprint car world haven’t heard of me, I never got a chance. After this happened I opened my own business, doing CNC and fabrication work and prototyping for MSD Ignition and other companies. However, that was as far as I got in to racing.

  Here we are in 2018, I miss racing like crazy. I don’t know what drug addiction is like but this is pretty damn bad. I got to where I couldn’t go to the races anymore and last year was the first year I didn’t watch the Nationals. I’m sure there are many out there who know what I’m talking about. I know racing has changed a bit too. I have stayed in touch enough to see what going on with the cars and drivers. Sprint car racing is in my blood, what else can I say? I wish I could let it go, but I cant.

  If you actually made it this far and are still reading, I really appreciate it. What is the point to all this? It’s not that I’m complaining about my life, I became a successful Manufacturing Engineer for a few heavy Hitters (Northrup Grumman, Haas and Boeing). I have an amazing wife, who is very supportive and 3 wonderful kids. However, I have wanted to get this off my chest and possibly see what’s out there. I have missed racing more and more since being away from it and all of a sudden in the past couple of years people have calling about interest in our chassis and what we are up to.

  I thought I would throw this out there. I would like to find a gentleman or gentlemen that want to build a small race team. Possibly have a small 2 car team or larger, 6 to 10 cars, sprint cars and a few midgets (for the Chili Bowl). We would build and maintain a few race cars in secrecy. If you need more info on how good the cars are, just ask around or I can give you references. I’m living in Midwest, (Southeast Michigan), a few hours from the big Ohio and Indiana tracks. There are a lot of possibilities. Shoot me a message, let’s talk, this could be a huge opportunity.

Thank you,

Ham

Ham_Diaz (at) yahoo.com



Mr. Diaz could you text me a number to get ahold of you. 517-206-9524 thanks

 



elpasoracer1966
February 14, 2018 at 08:05:49 AM
Joined: 02/14/2018
Posts: 2
Reply

I saw you race at Speedway Park back in EP...I hope you get that 2nd chance!

 





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