Chase Van Sant - a young man in a hurry

so in here is a very very cool Pro Stock Motorcycle Champion Chase F zamp and we are here at trick tools and isn't it trick what a complex uh excuse me young lady I'm here to meet the world famous Chase van do you know where I could find him I don't know I think he might be right there oh there he is oh does he sit there with that trophy every day and every day all day long oh what you got there mate is that like an Academy Award or something chase yeah the the Wall-E what every drag rer dreams of that is pretty cool yeah so tell me what you won this for yeah we uh we went out on the west coast for our little mini Western swing we had in July God these chairs are heavy yeah they're fantastic by the way yeah um man we won in Seattle so uh it was my first win uh we we took down Gage who was won I think at the time you won 11 races in a row which was the longest streak in NH history so we made a little bit of history of our own with my first win and and uh end in that so it was cool that's pretty mean Chase guys you know the guys having an historic run and you picked that one to do that yeah I mean someone had to do it might it might as well be you yeah right these thing I just just saw one of these with Jimmy vanz at his shop in oi so he got his for engineering okay for you know fabrication engineering best engineered car award last time I saw you we're at Mile High Nationals yeah yeah just kind of a random thing Tony bov's like hey you know there's a kid from Pella who's rocking the protto motorcycle world what's been going on since then something about a championship rookie and things like that like what happened for you oh man yeah I guess it was a little over year since we we last saw you but uh yeah a lot of the a lot of the same just racing is as much as we can and um yeah we we ended up uh getting the Rookie of the Year which was really cool um that was a a big goal that I had for my my rookie season at least so y um we checked that box I had a little bit of a injury in the meantime and and got back from that and uh we won a race so it's it's been a little eventful you glossed over you had a little bit of an incident um it wasn't great what happened and where uh we were in Dallas um it's the third to last race of the year and um was a it was almost a 20 mph crosswind so um our motorcycles are are great when they're going in a straight line um but they are a little bit on the heavy side for what they are and um aerodynamically are not uh not the greatest things on the world so um it caught a little bit of a crosswind and I was in the shutdown trying to keep it off the wall and uh kind of when I was hanging off the side hit a bump and it just kind of drove my knee into the ground quick and on camera it didn't really looked like much it it looked like you know there'd be nothing wrong but it put about a golf siiz ball you know a golf ball size hole in my leathers and knee and uh when I got the bike stopped I could see my kneecap and all sorts of fun stuff so um got that fixed missed the last two races and and obviously that one so um got that fixed and and really was feeling kind of like myself around middle of January early February and then uh our season started in Gainesville in March so um ever since then it's been full steam ahead so in the office over there some super cool old pictures that your dad was showing can we go in there for a second I mean this I mean I don't want to walk away from this thing you know cuz it's uh super cool but um yeah the office over here is pretty pretty gnly wow your family's worked hard for this amazing building and this amazing business look at this boy now your dad pointed this out to me yeah there a little bit of a little bit stuff going on there around a very important part of his body yeah extremely close are three motors three times what I've got you know sitting under my chest at least is um is proo motorcycle where you want to stay like yeah I think for me um proo motorcycle is kind of the Pinnacle of of motorcycle drag racing um I think when you look at naturally aspirated racing and and the NH you know it's the only really the only motorcycle racing that you race for a wall which is you know in Drag Racing the most prestigious prestigious award you can get so um for me that's really the only one you can race consistently throughout the year for a wall and and for the championship and um yeah it's just always kind of felt like the you know the Cup Series in NASCAR or whatever for for motorcycle driv racing and uh yeah to be out there and and obviously be televised it's a it's a pretty cool deal so um I'm going to stick around here as long as I can that's for sure is there a respect between Pro Stock drivers and Pro Stock Motorcycle Riders in that there's the Precision involved in the shift points and the I think the really Pro stop guys are like the Mad scientists of drag racing aren't they like the the surgeons yeah yeah I mean like when you look at the naturally aspirated stuff it's like you don't have something like a power Adder to to necessarily you out you know so um like managing the wheel speed and and making the just making the run in general requires a lot of finesse for the drivers or the Riders and whatever class um but then you start to dive into like what they do and and the R&D that they do in the engines and and all that stuff and it's it's way above my head um I am not near smart enough to to know all the stuff that they do but just you know what I know what we do with our program and stuff like that it's it's incredible the you know the science that goes into making these things work so um not that there isn't that in other forms of of racing where there are power adders or Nitro or anything like that there always is but um when you're taking a you know an 1855 cc motorcycle and squeezing 400 horsepower out of it that's a that's that's every last little drop so uh over your shoulder there as a guy in a Spider-Man set of riding gear uh he's a legend of the sport yeah tell me who that is and you guys are friends with him yeah yeah so it's uh Larry Larry McBride um probably better known as SP Spider-Man around the world but uh yeah when I was um man I'm trying to think probably four weeks old or so I think my first track I went to is Indie and my dad was racing um and in the organization they were running at the time Larry was running Top Field motorcycle um so I can remember you know when I was really young like 2 three years old some of my very first memories around the racetrack were um watching Larry and watching my dad and and I remember I'd waddle over to Larry's pit and he'd hand me a couple stickers and and a T-shirt and stuff like that so um it's cool they're actually running a five race series with any race so um at five races well actually we weren't at one of them so four races we get to see them and um it's always great catching up with him he's one of the most interesting just down toe people that you'll ever meet and so um and St just did a driven um is their series that they call it so they did a video on him and um you kind of get a taste to Larry's personality in that because he is one of the most genuine people you'll you'll ever meet so I would encourage everybody to go check that out because it goes into detail of all the runs and and kind of behind the scenes of who Larry is when I was at Mile High it struck me the volume of Spectators like when you go through that tunnel yeah at the archway and then you're getting set to go and you start you're getting ready for the burnout there is thousands and thousands of people pretty well over your your backyard fence [Music] [Applause] do do you ever get a chance to look up at that or are you just so singularly focused on what you have to do you know like I I do look every once in a while just because you know it's one of those things where it doesn't really bug me like having people watch me doesn't bug me too much um and it's kind of one of those things that brings you back to um remember just that you're thankful to be there um I think you can get or at least I can get wrapped up in the fact of how how good I want to do and how I want to perform and you know how badly I want to win this race and you can kind of let the compe iess get the the better of you but you know looking up in the stands every once in a while and seeing a a packed Grand stands just kind of brings you back to square one and and just reminding you to be thankful of just the opportunity that you even have to be out there and and putting on a show now I say this with respect there's not Mega prize money for you no uh and and as I said I'm not being disrespectful so it means that you need to build your merchandise means build your profile so can you go on and do this sort of thing you're fortunate you have the backing your family business and you come back to a normal job yep can this get to a point one day where you just do this full-time for yourself I think so um you know it takes a lot of work and and really in Drag Racing the money comes from the sponsors as far as the the drivers and Riders go um you know like my team for example my crew chief um that's all he does this is 100% his day job and another employee our truck driver who also works on the bike um his name's Chris um it's a full-time job for him so um you know the money is the money is out out there um and you just kind of have to go and and find it so um I think you know there are several people out there you know the the Smiths Matt and Angie um they do this full-time um just through sponsorship money and and winnings and stuff like that so um I do think we could get to the point to where that's a reality for me um it is just going to take some work and and figuring out what I'm going to do here you know as well um cuz I do love my job and I love love trick tools so um yeah it's just going to take a little bit of figuring out but I think it's possible now you um your family has a great connection to Australia mhm uh in in fact you your your family owns a business in Australia that's got to lend itself to you having to at least have a ride in Pro Stock Motorcycle in Australia doesn't it like is that on the radar yeah um it's not something I've ever really thought about I know there have been one or two people that have gone over there and Race Pro Stock um you know and it's funny I've I've never been I've I've always wanted to go um and wanted to check out some of the tracks there but um you know if the opportunity came up for me to go ride a bike over there I I think I would have a hard time turning it down uh I would think that we need to make it happen yeah I mean there's not a lot of there's no professional teams running Pro motorcycle they're all dedicated family people with the family teams and things like that but um you mean we do ship you know motorcycles in containers and things like that it'd be cool for you to have you know um so what do you have left this season mate so we go to reading this week I leave Thursday actually um then we go Charlotte and St Louis all back to back to back um and then we have a week off and go to Dallas and then it's Vegas and Pomona after that so um we this F this is the first race of our countdown so um I think we're sitting fifth in the playoffs so um basically these next six races are just going to be um kind of applying all the work that we put in in the regular season and and really trying to climb up some spots so so what can you do what's the best result for you can you this thing you know I think so um it's been really tricky we've had some weight changes thrown at us and some some rule changes throughout the year and so trying to adapt to those has made it tough but I think in a way it's also kind of leveled the playing field because we're all we're all dealing with some of these weight changes so um you know the two guys that kind of set themselves aside in the in the countdown are are going really fast right now um and one is your last year's champion and the other is the champion from the year before so um it's not going to be easy but you know realistically I think we're a top three team and and I think we could be top three no problem so um really that's my goal if if it's better than that great if not you know we're we're going to go out go out swinging that's for sure is it the rush of leaving the line or is it the the rush at the other end that you've shifted perfectly that the run is technically perfect what's the bigger rush for you for me I think you know drag racing is such a number sport you know everything we do is measured so you know I think for me it's it's going out and doing my job the best that I can and getting the ticket at the end and seeing you know validation that I did do my job so um for me you know it is a rush it's it's a lot of fun but um you know I do love the performance side of it and I love putting big numbers up on the scoreboard so um but there is nothing like going 200 milph that's that's the best is there any other thing on your radar like Bonville for example like land speed stuff that's on your radar no not really I I'm kind of a drag racer through and through you know um I think the Bonville stuff is interesting I I would like to go see that too but um for right now in the moment it's uh it's all I'm all in on on Pro Stock Motorcycle yeah we need to be committed to [Music] it your family is a huge huge part of everything you do Chase isn't it yeah yeah absolutely um you know obviously without them I wouldn't be racing and and I wouldn't have a job here so um you know every little aspect of my life they're they're such a huge part of and um you know I'm lucky to I my dad gets to come to all the races he gets to work on the bikes a little bit and uh my mom has come to all of them too so um to have a sport system there and and have family there means means the world you know um not everybody has that where they get to do something like this with their family um so it's something I definitely don't don't take for granted and uh it's it's cool that we get to travel you know across the country several times a year and and see some sites and uh also compete together so there's windmills and chips in Pella yeah a lot of tulips you don't exactly tiptoes for the Tulips on your weekends there's a beautiful irony in this Chase yeah you live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world yeah yeah no I I love it here this is this is home for me um you know and and as much as I I'm not around necessarily for the the Tulip Time Festival and stuff like that it is definitely a part of of who I am and where I grew up and um you know more so than just the the Dutch culture or whatever it's just the I think the Small Town Iowa kind of culture of of having a tight-knit community and family and stuff like that that I I do really enjoy um you know most of my family lives lives here or at least in driving distance you know to to see each other so um there's quite a few of us of my cousins and aunts and uncles and I I really enjoy that we get to see them and and not have to plan a trip or anything to do so