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Lanigan, Stuckey launch newest chassis business
By Joshua Joiner
DirtonDirt.com staff writer
Darrell Lanigan (left) and Ronnie Stuckey are launching a new chassis. (DirtonDirt.com)
There’s a new union forming in Union, Ky., and it involves two of the biggest names in Dirt Late Model racing.
Two-time World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., has partnered with veteran setup and chassis consultant Ronnie Stuckey of Shreveport, La., to launch a new chassis brand. The partnership brings together one of the sports winningest drivers over the past few seasons with one of the most experienced setup gurus in the business.
“I’ve known Stuckey 10 or 15 years,” said Lanigan, whose notable career victories include Eldora’s $100,000-to-win Dream, the Dirt Track World Championship and the Knoxville Late Model Nationals. “I’ll call him and throw some things at him to pick his mind. He’ll throw me some ideas back and help me out. It’s good to have someone you can call and ask questions. Everybody’s got different ideas, so it’s good to have a couple good minds working together.”
The new chassis will debut in January with Tony Jackson Jr. of Lebanon, Mo., Justin Asplin of Birch Tree, Mo., and Jason Papich of Arroyo Grande, Calif., all planning to run the new cars at Tucson (Ariz.) International Raceway’s Winter Extreme miniseries. Lanigan will attend the Arizona events and may also compete in one of the three driver’s cars.
The cars will be assembled in both Lanigan’s shop in Kentucky and Stuckey Enterprises in Louisiana. The 43-year-old Lanigan plans to continue racing nationally while spearheading testing and development for the new chassis. Meanwhile, Stuckey, 46, will focus on car assembly and technical support.
“My end of it’s gonna be the technical, the telephone and getting the parts out there,” Stuckey said. “His end will be traveling, gathering information, doing the testing — tire testing, suspension testing, shock testing. He gets to continue what they’re doing on that end and keep getting that input.”
In addition to his years of racing experience, Lanigan brings to the partnership the experience of a proven setup consultant. Through his Club 29 business, Lanigan has assisted some of the sport’s top up-and-coming drivers in recent seasons with drivers like Jackson, Kent Robinson of Bloomington, Ind., and Chris Brown of Spring, Texas, emerging under Lanigan’s tutelage.
Lanigan will use his own experience from more than a decade of national touring and his experience working with Club 29 drivers in following a similar outline with the new company.
“We’re taking everything we’ve learned on our cars now and applying to the new ones,” said Lanigan, who has driven Rocket Chassis for many years but has developed his own suspension designs for the cars in recent seasons. “All the front-end geometry and suspension stuff like that, we’re putting that on the new cars. They’ll be identical to what I’ve got now.
“I try to make it where the car is driver-friendly. The stuff we put on these cars, I think it makes it easier for these guys to drive. They steer very well, so it helps them guys out. The more simple I can make it for those guys, the better it is.”
Lanigan joins a growing list of high-profile drivers to launch their own chassis brands in recent years. While some of those drivers have struggled at times to maintain a high level of performance with their own racing programs after taking on the title of chassis builder, Lanigan hopes having Stuckey on his side will help him avoid that.
“That’s something we’ve got different than some guys, is I’ve got Stuckey there where I can lay a lot of it on him if I need to,” Lanigan said. “I really don’t think it’s gonna hurt my program at all because I can bounce some of that over to Stuckey whenever I need to.”
For Stuckey, the new partnership will expand on the foundation he’s built with his company, Stuckey Enterprises. Along with acting as a setup and chassis consultant for more than a decade, Stuckey has long been a supplier of multiple chassis brands and repairs damaged frames.
Stuckey, who has also served as crew chief for high-profile drivers such as Hall of Famer Billy Moyer, had often considered launching his own chassis brand, but was waiting for the right partner to help him enter the market nationally.
“We’ve clipped all the Victory Circle cars that have been torn up on our side of the country the past five years, and we’ve clipped a lot of the MasterSbilts and the Rockets the past 10 years,” Stuckey said. “We’ve just never wanted to make that step into the chassis building without having someone like Darrell that comes in there and gives you that national input. Without that national input, you’re just a regional chassis builder. Well, I didn’t wanna be a regional chassis builder, so I just never built one until this deal with Darrell.”
The new partnership ends Lanigan’s long-standing relationship with Rocket Chassis. Lanigan has been one of the top drivers for the Mark Richards and Steve Baker-owned chassis brand and has driven the Rocket house car on occasion. But Lanigan, who this year finished second to Richards’ son Josh in the World of Outlaws title chase, believes it’s time to go his own direction to reclaim a competitive edge.
“It’s nothing against those guys,” Lanigan said. “They build great race cars, and they still build great race cars. It’s just time for me to do something different. I can’t run for the championship running the same chassis they’re running.
“When we’re parking together, that’s great; it helps us both out at times and it helps all their Rocket cars. But the position I’m in, I’m not really wanting to help all their Rocket cars. I’m there to win the race myself. It’s time where I can just take my stuff, do my own program and help my own guys, and just keep it to ourselves.”
While the new chassis brand has gotten off to a fast start with guys like Jackson, Asplin and Papich jumping on board early and others showing interest, Lanigan and Stuckey don’t plan to overdo it. Their hope is to produce a limited number of chassis in order to maintain a hands-on approach with their customers.
“People just like to call and talk to somebody,” Lanigan said. “That’s one thing we have to offer is we don’t have 300 cars a year we’re building, and we don’t plan on building 300 cars. If we can build 20 cars, that’s great. But we want to talk care of the people we deal with.
“There’s a lot of good cars out there getting built, but people want to be able to get on the phone and call and talk to somebody. When you get too big, you can’t do that. You can’t talk to every one of your customers. People want support.”
While the new chassis brand gives Lanigan a way to both differentiate himself from his WoO rival and help his own clients, it’s also a move made with an eye toward the future. Lanigan is in the prime of his career, but he knows his driving years won’t last forever.
“I’m not gonna race for the rest of my life, and I would like to stay in racing,” Lanigan said. “I enjoy this part of the sport. I don’t have to race, but I do enjoy it. So when I do get done — and I do like helping these younger guys to see what they can do and see what kind of driver they are and to help them on the track. That’s what makes this new deal exciting for me.”
