Meet Dennis Gainey
Tuesday, June 6, 2023
By Joanne Cram and Joss Groenendkyk
Thanks to Dirt Empire Magazine
Dennis Gainey is no stranger to dirt track racing, but his role as team owner is fairly new. Along with aspiring Knoxville High School student writer, Joss Groenendyk, I caught up with Dennis to pick his brain about his new crazy racing adventure, Team DGRD.
Joanne: How did you get into sprint car racing?
Dennis: I was born into it, my father was into racing because of his father, Big Geno Gainey. Big Geno raced stock cars at East Moline, he was a figure 8 champion. Naturally my father grew up a car nut and always worked on street cars. In addition to working on street cars, my dad also worked on sprint cars back in Illinois and built wings with Steve Johnson for drivers like Jeff Gordon, Tommy Scott, the Schoff 23s and others in the early 1980’s coming through the Midwest. My dad worked on cars across Iowa and Illinois at tracks like Knoxville, Burlington, Little Springfield, and Peoria. I guess you could call me a self-proclaimed race brat. We moved to Arizona when I was 4 or 5, growing up on the west coast race scene getting to go to places such as ASCOT, Manzanita, and PIR mainly. After my parents got divorced, I moved with my mother to the New Orleans and Pensacola areas (hence my being a HUGE Saints fan). I would make summer trips to see my dad back in Moline and spend all our weekends and free time going racing. When I turned eighteen (1997), I realized there was no racing in the south that intrigued me, so I came back north to go racing. Those early adult years I was a spectator mostly, then in 1999 I started working on Newton, Iowa’s Terry Thorson’s 360. I knew him through his cousin Iggy (Jim Farland) from the North Campground; Iggy and Terry co-owned the car. My brother Brian and my dad also worked on the team through the 2001 season. Then in 2002, I worked for the John Kearney (Valley Falls, Kansas) 360 car. The 2003 season, I worked on both Kearney and Davey Ray’s Badger midget and won that championship with Davey. It was the Rajo Wilke Pack owned midget. The following season of 2004 I worked on an assortment of teams, then in 2005 started working with Bobby Mincer who at the time was driving for Steve Wares at Knoxville and his own car for Sprint Invaders.
About midway during that 2005 season, I made a career change that resulted in about a seven-year sabbatical from racing, coming back in 2012. Once again, I came back to be a fan, and that didn’t last long before I started helping Jimmy Light’s 410 from Eerie, Pennsylvania. We joke that his claim to fame is that he was the back-to-back Knoxville Nationals E Main Champion for 2014 and 2015. The 2013 season I helped Jimmy and Brian Sundby’s car with Justin Henderson driving. From 2014- 2021 I sponsored a lot of other drivers, from frames, cars, wings, fuel- all people who I called my friends who I felt I could help out. As for crewing, I focused on my good friend Bobby Mincer’s program as his crew chief.
I have been fortunate that a lot of talented drivers have allowed me to touch their sprint cars over the years, and some of the others I didn’t mention were Critter Malone, Adam Cruea, Manny Rockhold, AJ Moeller, Chuck Amati (during the Masters Classic), and Tracy Hines.
Joss discussed when Dennis became a car owner and how owning a sprint car team came about.
Although Gainey had many years of working on sprint cars under his belt, his desire to have a team had not subsided. And on one random Saturday, he decided to act on it. He purchased a 410 engine in the fall of 2021. Gainey stated that if he had not taken that step then, he may have never become a car owner. Buying an engine isn’t all it takes though; he had to build a team from scratch in only six months. For his first driver, he chose Brandon Wimmer, a sprint car driver from Indiana, whom Gainey had his eyes on for about a couple years. He chose Wimmer because, as Gainey stated, “He’s one of the most underrated drivers in the country. He’s fast and doesn’t tear stuff up.” Gainey knew that a reckless driver wouldn’t do, he had to maintain his equipment to make the program successful, especially in his first year. After hiring Wimmer, he officially had his own team, TEAM DGRD. With his eyes set on Nationals, Dennis wanted a car in both classes. He purchased an engine from AI Parker Engines out of Newton, Iowa, and put together a car, this empty seat was filled by Kelby Watt. The DGRD team started off on a good leg on their 360 qualifying night by setting quick time and locking into the A main for the night. Despite their good start, Watt was unable to finish out the feature due to a spark plug wire coming off. Regardless of 360 Nationals the DGRD team had high hopes for their first 410 Nationals ever. On their qualifying night, Wimmer won his heat and locked into the nightly feature. However, similar to their 360 run, their engine blew at the beginning of the feature, and yet they wouldn’t give up that easily. After a search for a new engine, RSR lent them one for the weekend. On Friday night, Brandon set quick time and made the show for the night. After Friday night’s feature Wimmer locked into the C-main for Saturday. Finally, the biggest show of the year rolled around, Saturday night, the greatest show at the sprint car capital of the world. Despite their rollercoaster of a week, they ran 10th in the C-main, finishing amongst some of the best drivers in the world.
Many people have wondered why Dennis chose to have cars in both the 360 and 410 classes.
Dennis is always trying to give back to some younger drivers that are trying to grow in the sport. It was his observation that some needed a helping hand. Alex VandeVoort had maintained Dennis’s outlaw karts since 2017 (he stepped away from the kart program after last year). Dennis kept his karts in Knoxville and Alex would help get them ready and maintain them during the week when Dennis and his wife Betty had to return to their Bettendorf, Iowa life. Alex also helped Knoxville flagman, Justin Clark with his karts as well. Dennis started with one kart, then added another, eventually running two classes of karts at English Creek with a 500 and cage kart. Ethin, Dennis’s son, raced two seasons then decided to pursue other activities. Dennis put Jerry Hanson in the 500 and Alex filled in at times. Alex and Ryan Downing drove the cage kart as well. That was the start to owning multiple race cars, Dennis enjoyed being able to offer others an opportunity to race and expand their passion in racing.
Dennis also jokes that, “Brandon is getting old, so needs to enhance the backup program, like having an apprentice". All kidding aside, Brandon is helping Alex learn a lot. "We want to build a realistic program for Alex, focusing on running in the top 10 consistently, then build to top 5’s, then focus on winning races. We plan to have two 360’s on the track this season, and we are excited to have Dustin Selvage behind the wheel of our second car”, Dennis stated.
Having three cars on the track could be something to stress about, but Dennis takes it in stride. Each program has its own crew and team to focus on the different needs of each driver and program. “We have three complete, brand new Maxim cars, all Al Parker Engines, Penske shocks, etc. The cars are identical, and I have the safest, best equipment I can put my drivers in”, Dennis said.
Joanne: What is a typical race week like for you since you work full time and live two and a half hours away?
Living in Bettendorf, Iowa, my career with ICE Contractors as a Vice President of National Accounts, focusing on sales and management keeps me extremely busy during the week. I’m on the road for work quite a bit. Keeping cars in Knoxville makes it easier to maintain them. I’m lucky to have Alex and Iggy to do weekly maintenance on all three cars. Brandon’s home town of Fairmont, IN is half a day’s drive, so he and his family leave Sunday mornings to head back to Indiana. Betty and I typically come to town Thursday or Friday, depending on the race weekend. I’m fortunate to be able to fly in or fly out depending on the week’s work schedule. On those occasions, Betty heads home to Bettendorf with the dogs while I head to work. It’s great having a home away from home at the Knoxville Raceway North Campground. We have our race family with us every weekend. All of our close family and friends are at the North Campground. It’s a home away from home, a second neighborhood. It’s like going to your vacation home and seeing your friends, and you just pick up where you left off from the season before, except everyone’s kids are another year older and now want to race sprint cars themselves. It’s also great to have a place to stay that is close to the race shop to visit and keep our operation running smoothly.
Joanne: What is a typical race night juggling all three cars?
Dennis stated that all three cars will be pitted together. Dennis maintains his position as crew chief at the track, making all the decisions with his teams on Saturday night. Multiple crew members are assigned exclusively to each car to keep things streamlined and organized. “It’s like running a business- everyone has their job and role and makes the team operate smoothly. Even if we don’t accomplish our goals, the guys that are behind the scenes are the ones who make things work. They are the ones with the passion and the drive and that is what makes my team. Without them, Saturday nights with 3 cars would never work”.
Dennis’s wife, Betty is one of the hardest workers behind the scenes. “She writes the checks and owns all of it. I’m just here for support,” Dennis laughed. But in all honesty, Dennis says Betty doesn’t get enough credit. She’s the team mom, the team cheerleader. Betty’s only desire is that everyone has a good and safe night and goes home at the end of the night.
Joanne: Who are your crew and support for your three cars?
On Brandon Wimmer’s car, Roger Downing, his son, Big Brain- Ryan Downing; Rod Pruett, and Cody Call are all turning wrenches.
Alex VandeVoort and Dustin Selvage’s 360s have Jared VanWyk, Josh Sutton, Jared “Sideshow Bob” Sutton, and “Will the Thrill '' Kline. On photos, social media and filming, Alex’s girlfriend, Taylan Thomas heads those tasks.
Sponsors for the three car TEAM DGRD include: Ti22 Performance, Walker’s Ear Protection, Stealth Cam, Muddy, Hellraizer Jacks, Pella Motors, JD Welding, Parker Racing Engines, Clark’s Custom Coatings, Penske Shocks, ICE Contractors, New Era Plumbing, and Speedquip.
Merchandise is available for any fans who would like to join TEAM DGRD at TeamDGRD.com.
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