The inevitability of Ty Majeski and Toby Nuttleman

Ty Majeski and Toby Nuttleman are inevitable.

Even as Stephen Nasse and Bubba Pollard both drove by on a restart with 15 laps to go, there was no counting out the iconic No. 91. Majeski wouldn’t admit it publicly, wanting to stay out of the drama, but he surely knew his best chance to win the Snowball Derby was to let Pollard drive by and catch Nasse.

There is just so much lingering baggage between the two over the years that Majeski increased his odds by falling to third rather than racing for second. He is absolutely a numbers guy after all.

Majeski is inevitable, but in all likelihood, what happened between the leaders with seven laps to go sure felt that way too.

.@bubbapollard26 and @StephenNasse get together battling for the lead with less than 10 laps to go at the 56th Annual Snowball Derby at @5FlagsSpeedway. pic.twitter.com/TfWcKYCkfJ

— Racing America (@RacingAmerica) December 3, 2023

So, to once again emerge victorious in the biggest Super Late Model race of the year, all Majeski needed to do was hold off a Gio Ruggiero who had driven all the way to the front after barely making the show in time trials.

With confidence, Majeski knew he had it from there.

“Honestly, I have been in this position so many times, so many big moments, it feels secondary to me,” Majeski told Short Track Scene after the race. “I welcome the pressure. It’s something that makes you better, executing in those big pressure moments, and I’ve been fortunate to be part of a lot of them in my career.

“Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but we executed all day, made the most of our best runs and kept ourselves close when the car wasn’t quite as good.”

But to that point, even winning a second Snowball Derby didn’t feel as special as the first, but only because it is becoming something of an expectation. That isn’t to say Majeski and Nuttleman are disrespecting their competition, but it goes back to the numbers, and the best Late Model combination from the past decade stack the deck every time they unload their car.

This particular car, one of the oldest (built in 2018) to take the green flag, had about dozen races on it and most of them came in Pensacola. It’s the car that won the 2020 Snowball Derby.

They hedged their bets.

“This car finished second to Noah (Gragson) in 2018, and really feel like it was the best car but we still had live pit stops so it was the old thing where we’d lead and come out eighth every time,” he said. “We got spun leading in ’19, won in 2020, but only has starts at Kern, a third place at the Rattler, two Milwaukee Miles and raced Madison and Ocktoberfest this year.

“It just really has a knack for this place.”

What makes Nuttleman’s cars, as unorthodox as its geometry might be, is that it’s just less finicky as say the Senneker (Pollard) and HAMKE (Nasse) that it raced against all day.

Sure, both cars were faster at the end, but Majeski and Nuttleman did not struggle at all from one set of tires to the other, unlike everyone else on the grounds that weekend.

They didn’t make a single change all week.

“We probably should have,” Nuttleman said afterwards with a laugh,” but Ty is so good at putting himself in the right position. He’s really special and then you put him with our car owners and the team we have, it’s all really special.”

Majeski, for all the admiration in the world that the racing industry has for his contributions, points equally to Nuttleman. The old-school venerable car builder has been in the industry since the 1970s, previously working with Steve Holzhausen and Dick Trickle, before pairing with a teenaged Majeski.

And goodness, have Majeski and Nuttleman made racing magic together, the now Truck Series star giving all credit to his crew chief for getting him to this point.

“He puts so much into this,” Majeski said. “I do other things, right? I have my Truck Series career and the other things I do to stay busy. My whole world isn’t Late Model racing like his is.

“He lives, eats and sleeps this stuff and that’s one thing I don’t think people realize about him. This isn’t his job. It’s his life. He will outwork anyone here. He doesn’t do it for the money. He has gotten offers to do much better things and make so much more money.

“He decided to stay at home in LaCrosse and work with me. I want to make our Late Model program be successful enough, to have enough sponsorship dollars so that when we win, I can truly pay him what he deserves.”

To that point, Nuttleman says he has been offered a lot more money to build cars for other clients or take on other crew chief assignments but Majeski is more than a driver. They go snowmobiling together during the winter. They talk on the phone almost every day of the week.

Nuttleman views Majeski as a son and winning races together brings him the most joy.

“I have had a lot of opportunities,” Nuttleman agreed. “I have three daughters. I love them all. I would do anything for them. Ty is the son I never had. We have been together so long and we believe in each other.

“I want to win. That’s my whole career. I just want to win. I don’t usually worry about money. I want to win and Ty and this group of people we have, we win.

“It’s phenomenal and just the most fun in the world.”

So with that in mind, you can probably earmark this car sitting in the shop in Wisconsin untouched for another year until Majeski and Nuttleman make their annual trek back south for another Snowball Derby. It was torn down to the studs during post-race inspection but Nuttleman has 12 months to make sure its ready to chase a third win in five years.

“We just may leave it there in the shop to sit there,” he said.

Majeski said practically the same thing.

“It may as well just sit there until next year.”

That’s inevitable too.