What made waiting more than a decade for his first win worth it for Nick Schilling? Hearing his 6-year-old crew chief and son, Abe, tell him, “It’s the best night ever of my life.”
For on and off the past 12 years, Nick has competed at Buena Vista Raceway. He had come close to winning a few times over the years. Close enough to see the checkered flag fly for the car ahead of him by a nose. While he could nearly taste victory, it was more than those close encounters with a win that kept Nick going.
“Racing at BVR is more about the friends I have made over the years,” Nick, of Sanborn, Iowa, said. “It’s about competing with the best hobby stock drivers anywhere. If you race at BVR, you can race at another track and expect to do very well. It’s because of the caliber of racers you compete with week after week at BVR.”
Like many racers, Nick struggled in his early years racing.
“I flipped my first car,” he said. “Totaled my next car, and then rolled my third car twice. I had a long streak of tough luck.”
During high school, Nick helped out at Sybesma Graphics, and the company later sponsored Nick’s entry into hobby stocks. The company’s namesake, Stefan Sybesma, gave Nick advice.
“He told me to ‘stop racing with my wallet,’” Nick said. “Some guys will destroy their cars for a win. He didn’t want me to be that guy. I began racing as clean as I could.”
This past Wednesday at BVR, Schilling had fan club in attendance. It consisted of his father, Greg; wife, Sara; 5-year-old daughter, Rori; and 6-year-old son, Abe.
In the feature, Nick battled Brandon Nielsen to the finish.
“On the white-flag lap, ‘don’t screw up’ was echoing in my mind,” Nick said. “I kept telling myself, ‘It’s the last lap. Don’t spin out.’”
Nick Schilling finally did it, he won in a hobby stock.
“Abe was so excited — more excited than I was for our win,” Nick said. “He ran up to victory lane and said, ‘It’s the best night ever of my life.’ That made me feel so good — it is indescribable.”
Abe has recently started helping Nick in the shop. Nick has put Abe in charge, and gave him the title of crew chief.
“Abe wants to drive,” Nick said. “So, I’ve got about 6 more years, and then maybe I’ll be crew chief for him in the bomber division.”
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.
