Some people grow up in racing families and fall in love with
the sport as young kids.
Others learn about and get into the sport at an older age
and learn to love it through experience.
The second is the case for Nick Rice, the new Director of
Operations at Berlin Raceway, in Marne, Michigan. Rice was hired by the track
in November for the newly created position at the 0.4375-mile asphalt oval
after he got to know the owners through his dirt series, the American Ethanol
Late Model Tour.
“In the off-season several times over the last decade Berlin has put clay down on the asphalt and held dirt races here,” Rice said. “We brought the dirt series that I was running here to the track so I started building a relationship with those guys that way.”
Rice admits he didn’t have a huge racing background, and his
own time behind the wheel is limited.
“I shouldn’t say I’ve never raced,” he said. “We toyed
around with some scramble stuff, some really low-end fairground type stuff when
I was in my early 20s. But as far as being a racer I was not.”
In 2015 he was working for an ethanol plant in Michigan, and
through marketing and promotion he ended up running the American Ethanol Late
Model Tour as a director and promoter. The series eventually added a modified
tour the next year, and grew from being Michigan-based to a regional series by
2018.
“Building that series from the ground up, that was kind of my crash course in racing in general,” Rice said. “I didn’t really have any experience before that in 2015.”
READ MORE: Berlin Raceway track schedule
Like most people who fall in love with racing later in life,
Rice said, while he loves the racing aspect, it’s the people who have kept him
coming back.
“Especially in the beginning it
wasn’t so much the racing in general. The competition, yea it’s fun and
exciting, but what I really enjoyed being in the position I was in, and even
now, is just getting to meet the teams and the drivers and seeing their
excitement,” he said. “See how all these things work and building those
relationships.
“All the people that you’ll meet
within the industry, you’ll meet so many good people. And just getting out
there, people get to know who you are. I spent a lot of time really trying to
build these relationships with people and just move things forward. I’ve always
been a people person, I enjoy people. The racing part of it, the excitement is
kind of secondary to me, but that’s something that I really focus on and what I
really enjoy about it.”
Rice’s new position at Berlin had him working with marketing and the business side during the off-season. He also spent time trying to meet with race teams and drivers at their shops or over a drink. That way, he’ll have those relationships built and it isn’t such a crash course for him or them on opening night.
But when they open the year this
Saturday night, his focus will turn to race direction, a new challenge for him,
but one he’s excited to try.
“Everything else I’m pretty
comfortable with. The only thing I haven’t really been involved with, with my
dirt tours I always hired out all the officiating and race directing, so really
the learning curve is the race directing portion of that,” he said. “Just being
the guy on the mic and in the guys’ ears. I know how the races flow and
everything. This is one of the only things that I don’t have any experience in
yet.
“So just the flow of things. It’s also my job to keep the show moving, so just that fine balance of trying to get the show up and going but also keep things consistent the way I call a race. I’m really going to have to learn that.”
READ MORE: Berlin sees growth due to live streaming races
Berlin’s Super Late Model program this season will feature several big events, including the 3rd annual Money in the Bank 150 on Monday, June 10. This weekend’s 8th annual Icebreaker opening night will feature a $4,000-to-win Super Late Model show where the winner gets a starting provisional in the Money in the Bank event.
Berlin will also have Modifieds, Sportsman and 4-Cylinders this Saturday night beginning at 5:30 p.m. CT.
Fans across the world will get a
chance to watch Berlin on a weekly basis through the live-streaming platform,
FansChoice.tv.
“As you can imagine how busy things are until that first opening night. And then things kind of, they don’t settle way down but it’s kind of more consistent,” Rice said. “We’ve got all the opening night stuff out of the way. But I am really excited for our Super Late Model program this year.”
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