Driving a stock car electrifies Jason Vansickel (pictured with his son, Lincoln) after a long week on the job as an electrician. However, unlike many racers, he doesn’t leave his work at work when he heads to the races. Boone Speedway is one of his customers, and if something goes amiss, he’ll rise to the occasion.
“Fuses blow and lights go out,” Vansickel, of Webster City, Iowa, said. “There have been chaotic nights, but this year’s IMCA Super Nationals was pretty laid back.”
That’s good, because Jason Vansickel remained in the hunt for the Big Dance during the IMCA Super Nationals until the very end. While he won two qualifying races, he had to make his way into the Big Dance via the Last Chance A feature. Unfortunately, during the race a pileup occurred right in front him. With no place to go, he crashed out.
A few years ago, the lighting went dark in back of the grandstand during the IMCA Super Nationals.
“The light pole is 120-feet high,” said Vansickel. “They brought a crane in and I had to go up there and replace a junction box. Over the years there have been a few times when I had to park in the infield and get out of my car to fix something. It’s all good — I’m here to keep the show going.”
For example, at Hamilton County Speedway, the track’s lighting actually caught fire on top of the pole. Fortunately, he had his boom truck at the track and installed new lighting with only 15 minutes of downtime. Both Vansickel’s speed as an electrician and as a racer earned him the nickname as the “Flying Electrician.” This season, however, he renamed himself the “Fighting Electrician.”
“I got tired of a guy running into me,” Vansickel said. “So, right after a heat race, I ripped his window net down and slugged him. I’m not one to talk. If I have a problem, I just get after it and get it out of the way — that’s from being an electrician.
“What’s on the back bumper of my car lets racers know, ‘Maybe, I shouldn’t get into this guy.’ So far, it has worked.”
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.
