Rickys interview on Girls Garage

“ONE STEP CLOSER” by Arianne

Ricky Gonzalez driver in the iPower Dash and most recently the Craftsman Truck Series, announced big news this weekend when he secured a sponsor with MechanicsFoam. This will allow Ricky to make some of his racing dreams come true. With plans to run in NASCAR events this season, Ricky's delighted to have MechanicsFoam onboard. It wasn't hard to find Gonzalez and Co. this past weekend, they were up and down pit road handing out MechanicsFoam samples. They were seen running back and forth to the transporter in order to keep up with demand&ldots;. of course, who better to test the powerful hand cleaner other than the top mechanics in the world? The results were unanimous; MechanicsFoam and Ricky are both welcome on pit road.

Ricky Gonzalez began his racing career at local tracks in New Jersey in 1995. He's paved his own way up to the iPower Dash Series (former Goody's Dash) and has now set his sights on the Busch and Craftsman Truck Series. Ricky's tried his hand within various motor sport series from AMSRA Microstocks, Legend Cars, to American Race Truck Divisions. His ability to run well in different vehicles is a sure sign that there is more to come for this South Plainfield NJ native.

After impressing the fans and fellow competitors in the Goody's Dash series since 2002, Ricky's ready to do the same in NASCAR's upper tiers. He's already impressed the scouts within the Drive for Diversity Program at Hickory Speedway NC. It's only a matter of time now. Gonzalez plans on running in Mansfield for the Ohio 250 Craftsman Truck race and possibly Richmond International Speedway's Busch event. He knows with each attempt, that his time gets closer and closer.

Girls Garage caught up with Ricky at Martinsville Speedway during his first attempt in the Trucks. He missed the field by one car but proudly talked about the future and what it will bring for him, his friends, crewman, sponsors, and family.

GG: How are you feeling about almost making the field in your very first attempt at a CTS event?

Ricky: We'll, we're here. It's where it starts, we'll keep plugging away. Yeah we're gonna run at a few more truck races and maybe some Busch races.They'll be short track races most likely, Richmond, Dover, and then we'll move up to the mile and half’s. My whole goal this year is qualifying for the Daytona Busch race next year. The ultimate plan is to run a full season in Busch. This is one of the hardest races to get into, I mean Geoff Bodine didn't make the field. When I was a kid Geoff was my hero, I was like wow. We knew that this was a hard one to get into. I'm really here to get out there so I can move up and be able to race the mile and a half’s, two-mile tracks. I have a sponsor in Florida, so we hope to run Homestead. It's definitely not the end, it's the beginning.

GG: Do you think the Drive for Diversity Program is helping the situation for minority racecar drivers?

Ricky: At least they are attempting to do something, it's not an easy job to do what they are doing. So many good drivers out there, too many that aren't able to race, anything that anybody will do is a good thing. It's hard, it's all about money. They were only able to place 5 of the 12 drivers and even that, I don't know if all 12 are racing. I know it's a good thing, only because of financial backing. Hopefully they'll be able to help some people. It was a good experience for me, but it didn't get me here. We've been working on this for a long time. It's good that people are recognizing the need for it. I have a lot of fans who are Hispanic and they email me or come see me, they love it, they love the cars, the racing. They really don't have anybody to root for.

GG: Have you been able to network with any other teams?

Ricky: Carl Long has been a great help and a friend to me. I met Carl at the Drive for Diversity Program. He has a lot of interest in diversity and this was before all the big hubbub when he flipped. Even today he walked the track with me and gave me pointers, he's been super. Just a really nice guy. Rick and Loni Ware are partners in this, I'm driving for them this weekend. Of course we are under budgeted here, same thing with the Dash series. It's just gets worse as you go up, expenses.

GG: Have you had anytime in a Busch car yet?

Ricky: I've done some testing in a Busch car, about a year ago. Coming from the short tracks in Jersey and PA there's a big learning curve. The first time I saw Martinsville was yesterday. It really was a tough track and we only missed it by one spot.

The rest of Ricky's time in Martinsville was spent with his sponsor, Mechanicsfoam. Investing in Ricky looks to be the right thing to do for the company. In fact the Florida based corporation is looking at long term, which is music to Ricky's ears. "We're really jazzed about this" Edwin Bickel, (MechanicsFoam representative) added as he discussed MechanicsFoam's commitment to Ricky. "Just one of those things that was meant to happen. Maybe a month ago, we did a press release, and Maureen saw it (Ricky's PR representative) now we've put this thing together in a week. It indicated to me that it's the right thing to do. We're really behind Ricky and moving up through the ranks. We're coming up through the ranks ourselves. "It looks like Ricky's on his way, with some help from MechanicsFoam. Wherever Ricky runs next will be just one more step, one more hurdle, in his ride to the top.