After an 18-year hiatus from short track racing, 66-year-old Tom Carlson is having a ball racing in the UMA (Unified Motorsports Association) 602 late model division at paved ovals in Wisconsin and Iowa.
The West Salem veteran and 1986 ARTGO series rookie-of-the-year was always fond of the outlaw-looking bodies these machines sport. The older brother of short track pavement late model legend Steve Carlson is no slouch behind the wheel himself, having recently scored the series win at Oktoberfest at La Crosse Fairgrounds speedway exactly 30 years to the day from his last trip to victory lane at ‘Fest.
Carlson was a regular competitor on the ARTGO Challenge Series in the ’80’s and ’90’s.
“When we chased the ARTGO series and we’d travel to Berlin Speedway in lower Michigan,” said Carlson, who’s won races at the Milwaukee Mile and Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna during his career. “They’d have these 100 lap races with their local late models in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, and they featured those sleek-looking outlaw bodies, same as what we run in the UMA 602’s. I fell in love with that type of car and when Wayne Lensing got this division going at the Dells, I started watching them.”
Carlson could not stand to sit on the sidelines for long. “We went and picked up an older chassis in Ohio,” Carlson explained. “Instead of buying one of those ABC bodies which can cost upwards of $5,000 I bought four pieces of aluminum, and a roof and I paid (racer) Dave Klein to put a body together for my car. Even with paying him for his time the cost to make that body didn’t even cost $2,000. To me, this is what race cars should look like and another part of the car that makes it more affordable than a traditional super late.”
When it comes to wheeling his 602 racecar, Carlson admits there really isn’t enough power under the hood to even spin his tires. “These cars stick to the track like a magnet,” Carlson admitted. “We’re on a choice of two brands of shocks either a Koni or a QA1 and they cost $199 a piece. They are low maintenance and are not adjustable. A couple of guys have had bad shocks, but I have not experienced that yet. It helps keep the costs down.”
The UMA 602’s utilizes the Hoosier D 800 tire. “The tire lasts and to me it’s a better tire than the Hoosier 1070 in my opinion,” Carlson said.
One other feature with the 602 division that appeals to Carlson is the schedule – one which avoids an every-weekend grind. “We run pretty much 12 to 15 nights a year which is perfect for me,” Carlson said. “We race with the supers at Dells (Dells Raceway Park) in the Alive For Five series. We also run shows at La Crosse, Plover, Jefferson, Madison, Slinger and Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids (Iowa). We had races scheduled with C.W.R.A. (Central Wisconsin Racing Association) but we had some rainouts this year.”
To Carlson’s advantage many of the track’s that feature the UMA 602 class are ovals Carlson has prior experience on with the ARTGO Challenge Series. “I raced a lot of those ARTGO shows for quite a while and I was really hardcore into it then,” Carlson recalled. “But around the late ‘90’s (series promoter) John McKarns through his ingenuity knew he had a valuable product. NASCAR wanted to buy ARTGO. I knew when it went to the Re/Max Challenge Series it was time for me to bail out when they bought out ARTGO. For many reasons.”
According to Carlson, when NASCAR changed the chassis (switching from an offset to a perimeter car), many other stars aligned telling him to sell out. “When NASCAR did that, they changed the engines, required the team members to have uniforms and all of that,” Carlson said. “I saw the dollar signs as to what I had versus what I had to go through. I could barely afford to pay for two pit crew guys to get in let alone a bigger pit crew I would have needed with it switching over to Re/Max.”
Carlson’s brother Steve stuck with the Re/Max Series, a tour in which he captured the title in 2001. “I still raced NASCAR late models at La Crosse for a while and Steve and I truthfully never shared a whole lot of information when we raced,” Carlson admitted. “We pretty much ran our teams as two completely different operations.”
Tom started racing with brothers Steve and Tim around 1975. “I drove the car we got the first night then Steve was gonna drive it because he got the sponsor for the car,” Tom explained. “After that we both went to our own programs.”
For a while early in his career Carlson piloted a Larry Shaw chassis out of Arkansas – something that was very rare at that time in Wisconsin. “Nobody else up here really had anything like that,” Carlson admitted. “I was winning races with that Shaw car and was doing it with some crazy spring rates and a really low diagonal which was unheard of,” Carlson recalled. “I walked into the shop one day and Steve and his crew are scaling my race car. He told me they didn’t believe me when I told them the setups I was running. After scaling my car and looking at everything Steve said to me ‘you’re right – I don’t know how you are winning with that.’”
In all his years of racing Carlson has scored plenty of feature wins but a track or series championship is something that has eluded him to date. In the UMA 602 Outlaw Tour points Carlson sits 14 points behind Allenton’s Dennis Prunty. The final event will be the big Falloween race at DRP October 22. “It’s possible to pull it off but I believe Dennis would have to have a bad night or something along the way,” Carlson said.
Heading into the finale at DRP a total of 32 different 602 drivers have earned Tour points in ’22. “The beauty of these cars is the crate motor really allows you to focus your time on the chassis,” Carlson said. “You just change the oil frequently and you don’t have to worry about it. My engine is two years old.”
When it comes to a pit crew in 2022, Neil Nystrom is Carlson’s ‘main crew guy.’ “He’s one of ‘em and Wayne Beecher and John Curwin help me out as well,” Carlson said.
Sponsors that support Carlson’s racing efforts include Barricade Flasher Service of Oak Creek, Don’s Truck and Auto in Tomah, Boondock’s Bar and Grill in Trempealeau and Gordon Epping CPA in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
“I’m going to keep (racing) as long as I can, “Carlson said, hinting towards the future. “I’m having the time of my life racing these cars. It gives me so much of a thrill to go around the corner with this car.”