Profile On: Nate Van Haaften!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Nate Van Haaften #3 360 Sprint
by Joanne Cram
Nate Van Haaften has had an extensive racing career, beginning back when he was barely tall enough to climb into a sprint car on his own. Nate’s driving experience started in go karts when he was only ten years old. He was part of a seven kart team, which included his dad Doug, uncle Mark, family friend Larry Schut, and current 360 owner, Boyd Burnham, as well as a few other kids. The team would travel around the country together in the same trailer, sharing the cost of the fuel, oil, and other karting equipment to put a small dent in the racing expenses. Nate climbed the karting ranks by driving the junior 1 and 2 classes, then moved up to the junior cage karts, open karts, the 305 sprint car, and currently a 360 sprint car. Van Haaften enjoys mastering a challenge, so each time he felt he had mastered the current class, he would move up to conquer the new challenge. So, in 2005, Van Haaften Racing Inc. moved up to sprint cars. They first began in the 305 class and ran half a season at Oskaloosa, Des Moines, and Stuart to gain familiarity with the feel of driving a sprint car. Then, at the tail end of 2005, he finished the season at Knoxville and ran 6 races. The 2006 season was a learning curve, and Van Haaften finished 24th in overall points.
Nate Van Haaften is an Otley native, a small town between Monroe and Pella, Iowa. He has lived in the town for all but 4 of his 24 years. If you were to look up Van Haaften in the phone book for Otley, you’d find no shortage of them. Nate has several aunts and uncles in the area, as well as his parents, Doug and Patty; grandparents, Marge and Marion or“Red“, and his sister, Madi. Recently, Nate moved back from Des Moines, where he lived for 4 years working for an insurance company. He currently manages the Auto Body Department, at DeVore Motors in Knoxville.
In Otley, Nate’s dad and Uncle Mark have owned a service shop for many years. The shop has been involved in several ventures, including a cage kart business for ten years, and a body shop. It currently houses Van Haaften Racing, Incorporated, as well as the full service automotive repair shop. The business allows Nate and his crew to have a race shop complete with all the amenities that would make any sprint car feel right at home. Nate’s work force consists of a mostly family based crew. His dad, Doug, and Uncles Mark and Kevin put in many hours on the car, and friends Matt Blom and Wade Van Weeldon are also loyal slaves to the sprint car. With all the time he spends on the car, Nate has little room for hobbies!
Van Haaften has had a couple strong influences on his racing career. He credits his dad with getting him involved in kart racing when he was young. Nate wasn’t completely convinced that his future would include racing of any kind, but his dad had other plans for him. At his first appearance at the karting track, Nate’s dad put him in the kart and handed him his helmet. Nate’s life was now transformed from ordinary, to speed crazed. Van Haaften also looks up to the late Dale Earnhardt. Not only do they share the number 3 on their cars, but Nate can identify with Earnhardt’s early beginnings. They both had to work really hard early on to get their racing careers off the ground. Nate is inspired by Earnhardt’s drive to succeed through hard times.
Van Haaften’s choice of running the number 3 isn’t as simple as picking it because his favorite driver ran the number. When he began karting, his team mates (dad, uncle Mark, and Larry Schut) all drove numbers in the 3 family; 63, 33, and 93 respectively. The team decided that they would choose another 3 number, and 13 was the choice, since Nate’s birthday is on the 13th of September. After a really horrible start to his racing career, Nate decided that the number 13 was not his lucky number- so with a little creative design of tape peeling, the 13 became 3. The number has followed him ever since. When asked about his bold orange-flamed car, Nate said that his dad was behind that scheme. Nate is a reserved, laid back type of guy- so the flames don’t necessarily fit his personality! Due to an end of the season roll over in 2006, the team ended up with a new wing, tail tank, and hood to paint, so the flames ignited.
Goals for this up and coming 360 driver are to get a top ten in overall 360 points this year at Knoxville and to win his first feature. His long term goal is to move up to a 410, and like every sprint car driver, Nate would love to win the Nationals some day. Van Haaften feels very fortunate to be driving a sprint car at Knoxville. There were plenty of people that Nate recalls saying their team just couldn’t afford to move up to the big time sprint cars- it is a huge financial commitment to move into a sprint car from a kart. But somehow, all the support of their sponsors and the random donations from many Otley residents got them going. Nate says that all the kart championships and feature wins are drowned out by the rush of competing in a sprint car.
For the 2007 season, Van Haaften Racing Inc. had an Eagle chassis, powered by a fresh Stan Carrol Racing Engine. The team was paired up with Carrol when they traded all their cage kart equipment for a used short block that Stan was very helpful in offering advice to rebuild. Nate is thankful for all of Stan’s advice and patience while the team asked many questions and figured out their new toy. Nate says the crew spent a lot of time cleaning up and replacing their suspension on the car this winter also.
Sponsors of the number 3 are KCL Farms, Van Haaften Racing, Inc. and the Otley community that pitch in with random donations for fuel and parts. Nate’s cheering section includes his mom; Patty, his sister; Madi,; Aunt Patty (Uncle Kevin’s wife), his young cousins; Davin and Kinzie; and Aunt Marge (Uncle Mark’s wife).
(Dave Hill Photo)
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