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Important Lesson
When Mark Oswald lost his sponsor in the early 1990s he never expected to be back. The 53-year-old, multi-time champion was like most any of the drag racing veterans who had served nearly two decades tenure – he was burned out. There comes a point for most every veteran driver when the burnout they experience is far different than the one that preceded their vaunt down the quarter-mile.
Oswald’s desire to be at the drag strip just wasn’t what it used to be. The demands of wrenching, public relations and driving subtracted from the enjoyment he had of the sport. “When we lost our sponsor on the Bill Schultz “In and Out Burgers” car, it just served as the last thing for me,” Oswald said. “I was tired and I had raced for 20 years straight. I took a break and when I came back out as a tuner, I realized that it was tuning that I always enjoyed anyway.” A funny thing happened on the way to leaving the drag racing community for Oswald. He realized that there is life after driving a nitro car. The early days of drag racing produced a dramatic role for a driver. Not only did most drivers have to prepare the clutch and put a tune-up in the motor, but they were also required to nail the starting line reactions and drive it to the finish line. Oswald will testify that being burned out helped him to reach his destiny in the sport. The more he turned the wrenches, the more gratification he gained by just standing on the starting line analyzing runs. a d v e r t i s e m e n t
“I was brought up as a driver who was very hands-on,” Oswald said. “In those days you had to be. I did that all the way until I quit driving. Not driving anymore didn’t leave me crushed; the mechanical aspects were always intriguing. “I found that when I started tuning on a car and I had a competent driver that I had more fun than I did as a driver. You had a lot of hard work on a daily basis even though the cars were simpler. We had a lot less crew guys and we had to do it all from driving the transports. We ran the gamut.” Oswald’s departure from the sport left a void in his life; although he was able to fill mechanical tendencies by working in his machine shop. Blame it on John Lawson as the one who convinced Oswald that he’d taken enough time off from drag racing. Lawson was graduating from the alcohol ranks to nitromethane and saw Oswald as a logical choice to mentor him into the volatile world of fuel Funny Cars. a
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Oswald’s decision was made when he saw the path Lawson took to get where he wanted to be. “John was always my kind of guy,” Oswald said. “We are still best friends. I really liked the idea of seeing a new guy come up in the ranks and being a part of that. I was happy to help him.” Still, if Lawson hadn’t called, Oswald to this date might still be spinning the lathe in the machine shop. “I had missed racing, not just driving, but racing in general,” Oswald said. “When you grow up in something like this and this is everyone that you have ever met and your friends your whole life, you can’t help but miss it.” “I couldn’t bring myself to go to the strip. I’m used to being busy at the track and I’m not much of a spectator. “ Oswald now turns the wrenches for Mike Ashley on his SKULL Gear-sponsored entry. He landed the job when the Lawson gig ran its course. He’s busier today working on ways to improve the tune-up but still finds the time to enjoy the challenges of working in his machine shop and fabricating things. As far as hobbies, he reserves that for fishing and going out in his boat. a
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“There’s no doubt I’m married to my work,” Oswald said. That’s one love triangle Oswald’s wife of 13-years has no problem with. Zoë Oswald has accepted the lifestyle of a drag racing wife. “She deals with it very well because we met when I was racing,” Oswald said. “She knows how it all works. I think when I was out of racing it was tougher on her because I didn’t know how to act. I was always used to living in hotels all of my life. I wasn’t much of a homebody.” Oswald now wants to work in racing for the rest of his life. “I want to be here for the duration and I’m hooked up with some good guys in Mike Ashley and the Worshams,” Oswald said. “They are my kind of people and we enjoy working together and I can envision myself staying here a long time.” “Mike has been great to work with,” he said. “He’s dedicated to doing this and he’s a winner, you can tell. I have a lot of confidence in him. He doesn’t even seem like a new driver to me. “ Oswald sees a lot of parallels between himself as a driver early in his career and Ashley. “He’s very focused. When he says he wants to learn something, he learns it. When you tell him to do something he does it. He’s just like one of the guys. He’s not a primadona. He knows he has to learn and wants to do it. He’s doing it rapidly.” Not even an offer to drive will pry the wrenches out of his hands now. Oswald has found his calling in life. a
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“I had 23 good years in this as a driver,” Oswald said. “I think that’s a satisfactory career. I was always into building the cars and tuning. When you’re a driver all you can do is drive good and you don’t want to screw it up. The driver’s job is to not make a mistake under pressure. As a crew chief, you just have to make it run.” And in Oswald’s case, make it run fast.
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