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Duane Mausteller hails from a well-known family of racers which is led by his father, Randy and brother Shannon. For years they’ve blazed their way around area speedways with an array of race cars ranging from micros to midgets to champ cars and now sprints.
After a respectable season in 2006 that included two wins and numerous strong showings with the 358 sprint class as Selinsgrove Speedway, Mausteller had hoped that 2007 would be just as good if not better.
But the 34-year Bloomsburg racer has thus far been battling behind the eight ball. Aside from a solid fourth place tally on opening night at Selinsgrove, the year to this point has been disappointing.
This is by no fault of his as the veteran of open cockpit jockey is a proven and worthy opponent among the ranks of the 358 sprint division and all the classes he’s driven in over the years.
Frustration was slowly setting in and he was beginning to question his skills. That was until the replacement of the car which reassured him of his confidence from behind the wheel.
“You ask yourself if it’s you as the driver because Shannon and dad spend a lot of time on the set-up. They constantly are working on the car to make sure its right for me. When they spend all that time trying to make it go fast and then you’re not going fast, you begin to question yourself. When we switched cars it felt very good to know that it wasn’t me,” explained Mausteller.
Mausteller feels that the problem may have been with the chassis. Even though it was the same car from last year, things just haven’t clicked in ’07 so last week the team parked the J & J chassis mount and brought out a new Big Max car from Maxim of Springfield, Ill.
Mausteller looked good too. Winning his heat race and then holding steady in the feature until an untimely mid-race crash sidelined him for the night.
“We just couldn’t get the J & J to hookup so we switched chassis’ and it worked well this past Saturday night. We’re planning to bring the J & J back out in a couple of weeks and see if we can get it working like its suppose to,” he said.
The Big Max was intended to be the sister car of the J & J and was not going to be called to use until later this year.
“We just couldn’t get the car to work right coming off the corners. We could drive it in fine but coming off was a different story. When we switched to the Big Max it worked fine all night up until we got crashed.”
He pointed out that having his father and brother for teammates has been inspiring to him. Shannon handles all the prep work while his dad’s years of experience are often relied upon.
“Very thorough. He’s very good with our shocks and getting the car set-up,” is how he describes his brother.
“Dad guides me. If I’m doing something wrong he can see it. He spends a lot of time and a lot of money for me to go fast. He tells me to just take my time and it will come.”
Selinsgrove remains the track of choice. Not far from home and it’s always gratifying when one can win a feature race there.
“The competition is very tough at Selinsgrove and everyone is running very good equipment. There are excellent drivers who are all evenly matched. You have 14 or 15 guys every week that can win,” said Mausteller.
“Charlie Paige has done an excellent job with the track in the way he presents it all. The stands are always full, the people are great and it’s a great place to go and race.
The team also just took purchase on a Don Ott built 410 engine that Mausteller intends to race at the special 410 events at Selinsgrove and may also opt to run in the USAC races in June at Grandview and Big Diamond. A few of the PA Speed Week shows are also penciled in.
Sponsorship is provided through Mausteller’s Service Center, Bloomsburg NAPA, Terra’s Speed Discount Automotive, Bloomsburg Diner, Frank Spencer and Son Auto Parts, Bardo’s Collision, D & R Lolli Pos and Selinsgrove Speed and Fab.
Mausteller, like his father, has never put forth the effort to run for points as most drivers do. Their philosophy is to just race.
“Just go out and when we run, run up front. We never really raced for points. Besides if you run up front then the points will come as they come. We go race as hard as we can and finish at least in the top-10 and of course top-5 is even better and winning is great. That’s what we set our goals at and try to have a good time while we’re doing it.”
Right now Mausteller would be happy to settle for a descent finish and get back to running among the lead pack.
“Just to finish right now would be a good starting point. But now that the car is working well the finishes will come.”
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