Cedar Lake Speedway
Diemel's confidence, not wallet, gets boost at CLS
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com managing editor
A.J. Diemel (58) puts a lap on Scott Bloomquist at Cedar Lake. (chrisburback.com)
NEW RICHMOND, Wis. (Aug. 3) — A confidence-builder isn’t what A.J. Diemel was shooting for Saturday at Cedar Lake Speedway’s 26th annual USA Nationals. But that’s what the home-state driver had to settle for after a broken crankshaft dropped him out of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series event he led for 53 of 100 laps.
"I keep saying I guess that’s why they’re 100-lappers and not 50s ... but that’s the way it goes,” said Diemel, who came up with many variations of trying to explain the disappointment of losing the $50,000 payday captured by Tim McCreadie. Most succinctly, Diemel (pronounced DEE-muhl) put it this way: “It sucks, but you just gotta keep going. That’s part of racing.”
The unheralded Diemel, a standout in WISSOTA Late Model racing who has dabbled in open-competition engine events since taking a job with Mars Race Cars two years ago, had everyone believing he just might shock the Dirt Late Model world in one of its richest crown jewel events.
Starting inside the third row, Diemel zipped past the polesitting McCreadie when T-Mac slipped up in turn two on the first lap, then ran virtually unchallenged while he lapped — among other drivers — Hall of Famer and five-time USA Nationals winner Scott Bloomquist.
“It felt good,” said Diemel, who turns 32 on Aug. 20. “I was just kind of moving around to see where some traction was. I guess I didn’t expect it to blow off as fast as it did, but our car, it worked good through it. So I was pretty pleased that way.”
He built leads as big as a straightaway and often had a cushion of two lapped cars between his No. 58 and the pursuing Don O’Neal and McCreadie. Even after the race’s lone caution on lap 42, Diemel pulled away and was in firm control midway through the race on high-banked, 3/8-mile oval where he’d won Friday’s undercard feature for NASCAR-sanctioned Late Models.
“I was with him after that restart, but there was no guarantees I was going to drive by him,” McCreadie said. “Right before he broke, he started to inch away a little bit, and I thought 'Well, that’s about it,' and we’re going to settle in ... it’s just unfortunate, but his day will come if he keeps running like that.”
All seemed well for Diemel until he abruptly slowed on the backstretch on the 54th lap. His powerless car dropped to the infield inside turns three and four, and while McCreadie began his charge to the checkers, Diemel pulled off his helmet and set it on the roof of his defeated MB Customs chassis.
“I felt it a little bit when I came off the corner, and then as soon as I backed out, it let go,” Diemel said. And a half hour later, the Bonduel native who now lives in Elk Mound found himself repeatedly trying to explain how it felt as well-wishers dropped by, and friends patted him on the back.
“I guess I was a little bit surprised how it did start there when Tim just shoved up, and we got rolling pretty good. Not to say that I didn’t think we could do it ... but I grew up watching those guys run around here, and I’ve watched this race many a time from the grandstand,” said Diemel, who finished last in his only previous USA Nationals start in 2011. “To be in it, I’ve always tried to get into it with my spec motor stuff before, so you’re always behind the 8-ball before you start. But to be in it now, and to have the stuff and a car capable of winning, it certainly helps my program and my confidence.”
Count McCreadie among those who were impressed by the third-generation racer.
“Probably everybody in the place will tell him, 'Hey, that was probably yours, you had a good shot at it.' But believe me, it’s not going to make things better,” the winner said. “The good thing is, we’re lucky he probably doesn’t race as much as he does. ... If he ventures out a little bit, it just makes you hungrier. And he knows what it takes now. I mean, he led forever.”
Diemel's racing career started in modifieds at 16, and while attending the University of Wisconsin-Stout, the 6-foot-4, 250-pounder moved up to the Late Model division, giving up his role as a football defensive end after his freshman season to focus on racing. He spent his off-time working at the racing shop of two-time USA Nationals winner Jimmy Mars and his crew chief-brother Chris.
Diemel carved out a solid regional racing career, winning a series-best seven WISSOTA Challenge Series races in 2006, and starting a chassis-dealing business that eventually had “to get bigger to get smaller.” That’s when he reconnected with Mars, moving to Elk Mound to join Mars Race Cars. Staying busy in the shop limits his racing — he won six races in about 20 starts last season — but rubbing elbows with the Mars brothers and fellow MB Customs designer Brian Birkhofer has its benefits as he branches out into open-competition events.
“I had two of the best coaches down here,” Diemel said. “Brian and Jimmy had both won it before. I haven’t run a bunch of 100-lappers, so that part was good. They knew what to expect. They’ve done it before. That certainly helped. With Jimmy and Chris and stuff and the cars, the equipment stuff we’ve got, we’ve got good equipment. It’s just the fact of getting everything situated now and we’ll have to regroup a little bit and get ourselves going again.”
He’ll put the disappointment behind him and forge ahead. The next time he’s out front in a major event, fans might remember the name.
“It’s tough. It’s mechanical stuff. There’s not really a whole lot of stuff you can do about it. It’s not something you can check. It’s a letdown, but we’ll regroup,” Diemel said. “I think we gained a little bit of confidence, I guess, in the car, and in me, as far as being able to race with these guys. It’s tough, because like you said, it’s the best in the country, most of 'em are here. It sucks, but you just gotta keep going. That’s part of racing.”
