Every form of motorsports needs plentiful youth involvement and knowledgeable, experienced teachers to ensure a positive outlook for the future.
At 43 years old, American Sprint Car Series champion Jason Martin is among the most experienced drivers on the national circuit, and this year has welcomed a new addition to his operation in 20-year-old Chase Richards.
Together, they’ve wrenched the Bybee Electric, Don Ott-powered Schnee/Eagle Chassis No. 36 to three Feature wins with the national Series in 2025 and are headed toward a top-five finish in the points championship for the fourth consecutive year.
“The motivation and the youthfulness is great,” Martin said. “We don’t get many opportunities for young kids to inject themselves into the sport the way that Chase and a lot of these crew guys on the national tour. They don’t come by very often, or they do and don’t stick around long. So, it’s good to have youth in the sport.
“I really enjoy sharing knowledge with these younger kids and trying to help them learn and understand the basics and beyond. Whenever it gets really complicated, different things about the suspension and the shocks and wings and how they work. Tire prep and different things about the tires that we learned.”
Martin hired the local Sprint Car driver from Burlington, IA, to join his Lincoln, NE-based team in May to serve as his lone full-time crew member. In only six months, Richards said he’s come a long way, and Martin echoes his progress.
“Jason has taught me a lot more than I can even process,” Richards said. “He’s definitely taught me the ins-and-outs of Sprint Car racing. I feel like he and I get along and work together really well.”
“It’s been a huge thing for Chase to come along, and he’s learned a lot,” Martin said. “He’s grown immensely since he came to help me in May as a kid that didn’t know really the direction he wanted to go, and now he’s already wanting to focus on being more in a crew chief role and making decisions on the race car and learning from mistakes.”
The two were brought together from a connection Martin had with Chase’s father, Cory, who was a local racer around Iowa. Martin recalls building shocks for Cory’s cars that Chase and his brother McCain raced, and their racing relationship eventually led to the opportunity for Chase to work with Martin as he chased the national Series schedule.
“Chase was kinda like myself when I was 17-18-19 years old,” Martin said. “I wanted to just get out and learn and travel the world a little bit. He came on board and has been a huge asset to the team. He’s young, energetic and willing to learn and go the extra mile to do things. He and I get along pretty well and communicate.
“That’s the biggest thing — we spend a lot of time together, so you can’t have people that you don’t really get along with or don’t communicate well.”
Richards’ drive to race and compete started at the prime age of four years old, getting his start in motocross, which he stuck with until a major injury sidelined him during the 2020 season. After taking a year off, he decided to get back on the dirt, first debuting in an Outlaw Kart and later upgrading to a Sprint Car, which he’s raced around Iowa/Illinois for the past four years.
After so much time experiencing the thrill of competition for himself, what sparked Richards’ interest in a crew member position?
“To learn,” he said. “Learn as much as I can about Sprint Car racing so that maybe, one day, if was to go out on my own and do it, I would have the knowledge to do it the right way and be more successful.”
Looking back, Richards said he’s learned several things from Martin’s vault of knowledge and experience in his first season on the road.
“I think the most important thing I’ve learned is diversity,” Richards said. “Night-to-night, how different things can be, and how different not just racers, but in life in general, how things can change from a really low point to a really high point.”
Martin said he benefits plenty from Richards’ presence — not only from his support role, but from his perspective as a fellow Sprint Car driver as well.
“It’s obviously a bonus whenever you can talk about the way the car enters the corner or how the car exits the corner,” Martin said. “He’s been in the seat and he feels that; he understands. He may not have ever realized it, just because he’s so inexperienced as a driver as well, but now he’s starting to see what he felt from the other side of the fence.”
“Watching Jason, I can kinda tell from a driver’s standpoint, ‘He did this and this is why,’ and I can base that off of being in the seat,” Richards said. “He did this because the car did this, and I feel like a lot of other crew guys can’t really distinguish that because they haven’t been in the seat.”
Ask him and he’ll not be shy about it — Richards has a newfound niche wrenching on Sprint Cars. He’s not yet ready to give up on his own career in the seat, but he and Martin both have a positive outlook for their future with the American Sprint Car Series.
“Chase has been a great addition to the team, and hopefully, we can continue to race two or three more years,” Martin said. “That would be a great thing if we could continue to build on this experience together.”
The American Sprint Car Series brings the 2025 season to a close Friday–Saturday, Nov. 14–15, at Creek County Speedway in Sapulpa, OK, in the annual running of Fuzzy’s Fall Fling.
Tickets for both nights of the event will be sold at the track on race day. If you can’t be there, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
