DONNIE MORAN: DIRTCAR’S NEWEST ‘MR. TELEVISION’

By DOC LEHMAN

“I thought it was pretty cool,” revealed a slightly amused Donnie Moran when asked what his reaction was upon seeing the television commercial he made for new sponsor QPI Tools for the first time. Moran’s commercial is running on the SPEED Channel and made its debut during the recent debut of the new UDTRA Pro Dirt Car Racing Series television package.

“My kids liked it,” continued Moran. “My kids saw it on TV when I was down here (shop) working. They watched it during the day there on Monday when they reran it. My oldest boy called up and says, ‘Hey Dirt Ripper! What ‘cha doing?” (laughs) ‘Dad! Dad! We saw your commercial!’ (Laughs) They were ten times more excited than I was.”

“I said, hey, you didn’t know your old man did TV commercials? (Laughs) They all busted up laughing. So, for a family thing like that, it’s pretty neat.”

“A lot of other people saw and it said it was pretty cool.”

Beyond the UDTRA television “series”, Moran’s commercial was a giant step forward for the sport in terms of exposure and viability. Donnie Moran Racing and the sport surely benefits a great deal with this opportunity for another showcase vehicle.

“Yeah, I think it’s a major plus for everybody,” agreed Moran. “You know, with QPI and (QPI President) Mark Gracy giving us this opportunity and also with them selling the Dirt Ripper and their other tools at places like Home Depot and things like that, it’s going to help his business and it’s helped ours.”

“It just helps everybody in general. And alot of people don’t understand how it works. Some think you just plop the money down right now and it happens right away. But a lot of times it takes a couple months to start seeing the effect on the market. It trickles down.”

With the season still relatively young, Moran’s relationship with new sponsor QPI Tools has exceeded his expectations.

“QPI Tools is great,” proclaimed the ‘Million Dollar Man’. “I talk to Mark every week and everything is really good.”

Moran is also keen on the new UDTRA television package and sees it as a major step forward for his team, sponsors and the sport as a whole.

“It’s good, it’s real good,” stated Moran. “A lot of people don’t get to see us race so they can now and it promotes the sport. Plus, a lot of local people say we don’t race around here that much so they get to see us race.”

“Some of the in-car camera shots, people thought that was pretty astronomical. It shows them what we go through out there.”

Moran’s QPI Tools #99 CJ Rayburn Race Car had an in-car camera mounted inside the cockpit for the first televised race, adding an extra depth and perspective to the production.

Moran was asked about his plans for the rest of the season and they haven’t varied much from what was previously announced during the early winter.

“As of right now the plan is to run UDTRA races and just try and race basically every weekend,” explained Moran. “With QPI I’m supposed to run all ten TV shows. I still like to run Renegade and I’ve run more Renegade, but I still like that organization for where my home base is. As for running every UDTRA race, it’s tentative right now.”

“If my luck don’t change I don’t know (laughs)! I’ve got this monkey off my back and I can’t seem to get him off!”

Moran’s mini-slump should be short-lived, as he is too talented and hardnosed to let a couple bad nights get him down. Besides, he may use all his bad luck up before the return in a few short weeks to the mighty banks of Eldora Speedway for $100,000 to win THE DREAM race at Earl Baltes’ playground, a place Moran virtually owns, racing-wise.

“We’re working that way!” declared Moran. “We went out to Rayburn’s last month and started building us a brand new car. We’ve got it about ¾’s the way done right now. We’re getting it ready for THE DREAM.”

A new secret weapon.

Moran also has a new crew together and it appears they are starting to jell as they spend more time together.

“Tim Marshall started working for me last year,” explained Moran. “Chris Cannon works for me now and Bobby Harcher, he works for me too. So there’s three full time guys I’ve got working for me right now.”

“Bobby just started last week. He’s got a CDL and he can drive the hauler too and he’s been around racing. I’ve known him for a while. All four of us work pretty good. And I’ve got a couple other guys that go on the weekends with us a lot. When you’re running UDTRA you usually leave on Thursday and get home late Sunday night so it really takes a team effort.”

Before ending our conversation so Moran could get back to work on his car, I quizzed him on his feelings about being inducted this year into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame.

“It’s pretty neat!” exclaimed Moran. “You know, when you’re a kid you watch different football and baseball teams and you see people pretty big in sports, the top of the line in their sports, get inducted into their Hall of Fame’s for their sports. And when you’re a little kid you think, ‘That’s pretty cool!’ And now with me getting older and stuff and now it’s happened to me, I think it’s pretty neat, too!”

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