Caleb Dennis didn’t jump behind the wheel of a race car because he thought they looked sexy. He didn’t want to race a car because of the speed, the power, or the thrill. What intrigued him most was the mathematics behind them. That interest drove him to buy a sport mod and start racing in 2011.
“The only thing that made sense to me in high school was geometry,” Dennis, 31, of Chillicothe, Missouri, said. “I loved math, and did well in math class.”
Dennis earned the IMCA Missouri state rookie of the year for the sport mods. He moved into the modifieds in 2019. Dennis competes regularly at US 36 Raceway in Osborn, Missouri. That’s where spends most of his time testing his theories.
“Any changes that I make at the track — bar positions, bird cage [settings], slider adjustments, and tire pressures — are all documented in notes,” Dennis said. “When I get home, I scale the car again, and see if my percentages have changed. Do I have more or less rear and left-side percentage? Did I gain forward bite? I note track condition, my lap times, and how the car responded on the track. It is all about the geometry.”
In the shop, his father, Ronnie, assists his efforts. Ronnie Dennis used to race stock cars and won the Saturday night after Caleb was born.
“I work in 24′ x 30′ garage at home,” Dennis said. “I’m as low budget as it gets. I trade for parts, and tow my car to the track with an ’86 gooseneck trailer on a 10-year-old Chevy pickup.”
Despite his budget or his track record, you can still find Caleb Dennis regularly at the races.
“I’ve raced for 10 years, every weekend, never won a feature, and I’m still having fun,” said Dennis. “Doing the math creates a love/hate relationship at times, but solving the equation is what keeps me racing. It’s about making small changes for big results, and taking baby steps to get to the point where your car is faster. For me, finding speed is like playing a chess game.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
