For much of his life, Don Wackerman (background) didn’t know what a dirt track was. Now, he’s become a sponsor, a crew member, and fervent supporter of Russellville, Tennessee, late model driver Aaron Guinn (foreground).
Don Wackerman grew up in rural Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was there he honed his skills as a hunting guide. That talent took him places, including on TV programs for The Outdoor Channel, and to where he works now, as a site superintendent for an elk restoration project in Kentucky. While in Kentucky, Wackerman found out about dirt racing.
“Some guys who work for me were talking about a dirt track,” Wackerman, 72, said. “I asked them, ‘A dirt track for what?’ They said, ‘A dirt track for racing cars.’ I’d never seen that before. I I got to go.”
Wackerman ventured over to a track nearby, Tazewell Speedway in Tennessee.
“I thought I was going to see a bunch of old cars with windows knocked out of them, and they would bang around on a muddy track,” said Wackerman. “Talk about an eye-opener. I was sitting in the stand, all by myself, and they started bringing cars out. When Aaron’s car came out, I said, ‘Wow, that car is cool. Whoever that is, he’s the one I’m going to root for.’ He won that race.”
The colors of Guinn’s car caught Wackerman’s attention.
“It was red, white, and blue — we should love that,” Wackerman said. “I was in the service, I did six years in [the U.S. Navy]. Red, white, and blue — you can’t beat those colors.”
Wackerman then returned to Tazewell Speedway the next weekend.
“I was sitting up in the stand, where I was last time,” said Wackerman. “There were two people quite a ways down below me. They were laughing, joking, and saying hi to everybody. I said [to myself], ‘I’m sitting by myself, I’m not being very sociable.’ So, I went down to see who they are. [One of them] had a 97 shirt on, [the car number of Guinn]. I walked up to them, introduced myself, and I said, ‘Do you know who that 97 guy is?’ He said, ‘Yeah, that’s my son.’ Holy cow! Aaron won that night, too. His dad told me, ‘If you’re not in a hurry to leave, I’ll take you into the pits. You can meet Aaron and look at the car.’ From that point on, I’ve never missed a race where Aaron is racing.”
Wackerman does whatever he needs to do to help Guinn’s efforts.
“In 2019, we ran the American All-Star Series,” Guinn, 35, said. “Whenever we’d go on these long trips … [Wackerman would] pull the parts trailer with his own truck. In the pits, he’ll help buff tires. It’s nothing for him to hold a hammer, hold a wrench. He’s a jack of all trades — he can do anything.”
However, Wackerman’s greatest help to Guinn doesn’t require any physical labor.
“I don’t have a big brother, but if I did, he’d be the image of what I’d want a big brother to be like,” said Guinn. “He’s always like, ‘Hey buddy, are you ready to win?’ And, I’m like, ‘Hopefully, if everything will stay together.’ He’s like, ‘You got this. That car’s good, but it’s got the best driver in it.’ He always encourages me.”
Some might view Wackerman as Guinn’s mentor, but Wackerman would disagree.
“I stepped into something I knew nothing about,” Wackerman said. “So, in a sense, [Aaron] is my mentor. He’s like a little brother to me now. I asked [the team] questions about this and questions about that. I was probably a pain in their you-know-what for a while. I’m just lucky the people and the crew are people like they are. They’re unbelievably good people.”
The Outside Groove Executive Editor has covered motorsports since 2000. His many awards include the 2019 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Jim Hunter Writer of the Year and the 2013 Russ Catlin Award for Excellence in Motorsports Journalism.
