Dixie Motor Speedway Mods driver, Dave Christensen, wears two hats at the track on Friday Nights: Modified Driver and Father of the 15 year old female in the Late Model Division, Miss Hanna Christensen.
Dave started learning about cars in his Dad’s garage before he could walk.
“Dad was a mechanic,” Dave said. “And he was a workaholic. After spending all day at the dealership working on cars, he’d come home and go straight to the garage. That’s where I got started. I ran dragsters until 2001, but the first real race of my life was on a circle track in 2003. I remember looking around at all the other factory stocks in the field. They were all beat up and here I was in a nice, new car. I was so excited I could hear my heart beating. I was thinking, ‘I either have to get to the front or head to the back.’ Because I didn’t want my car to look like all the others!”
Dave chose the front of the pack in his first Heat Race and was hooked.
“I’ve been 220 mph in a drag,” Dave said. “But I have to say; it doesn’t compare to 105 or 110 at Dixie.”
Off the track, Dave is an ironworker and puts in a good 60 hours per week when business is good. “60 hours at work and 60 hours on the cars,” Dave said. “That doesn’t leave much spare time for anything else, but if we get a few minutes, the family heads out to the local Kart track. It’s always about racing at our house.”
Mrs. Christensen holds her own title as the Michigan Racing Scene Favorite pavement Truck Driver in 2005.
“My wife Kim raced for a couple years, too,” Dave said. “She was part of an all girl team called the “Wife Club” and then she ran a thunder truck the following season. She loves it as much as I do. It’s easy to see why our daughter Hanna started racing.”
15 year-old Hanna Christensen started her racing career in the Hornets division two years ago. Her second season was spent behind the wheel of a bomber trying to make good on a deal she struck with Dave early in the year.
“The deal was that if she won a feature in the bomber division I would buy her a Sportsman to run at Dixie this season,” Dave said. “She won and I had to pay up. The Late Model ended up being more cost effective than the Sportsman for us. Hanna said she could live with that!”
The Christensen team is Dave’s dad Al, his big brother Kent, Kim his wife, Hanna and Dave’s youngest daughter Alexis cheers them on.
“Hanna works on the cars with the rest of us,” Dave said. “She loves racing and I love knowing where she is and what she’s doing on the weekends!”
Dave always looks forward to the competition on the track.
“To go out there and say that you were the best of the best on that day,” Dave said. “That’s why I do it.”
But this year, he’s got something even bigger to look forward to.
“In 2009 I am looking forward to Hanna racing the late model,” Dave said. “I don’t plan on her going out there and dominating. It’s gonna be a learning year. She’s excited and I’m excited for her!”
cws
