Parker Kligerman scored another solid result in his part-time Truck schedule. (Photo: Sean Folsom | The Podium Finish)
For a team that doesn’t have as many resources as the top NASCAR Camping World Truck Series organizations, Parker Kligerman and the No. 75 Henderson Motorsports team achieve plentiful on the track.
Racing with only one full-time employee in crew chief, Chris Carrier, and on a part-time schedule, the Abingdon, Virginia-based team consistently overachieve.
They don’t aim for respectable showings and results on race day. Instead, they vie for wins against the juggernaut teams.
Prior to Saturday night’s Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kligerman and his No. 75 team competed in three of the first five races. Tallying a strong top five at Daytona, 19th at COTA in Austin, Texas and 16th at Martinsville, the 31-year-old Westport, Connecticut racer approached the 150-lap race with extreme confidence.
After starting fifth in his qualifying heat, the stock car veteran nabbed a runner-up result, avoiding the overheating issues that derailed the efforts of Tanner Gray and Buddy Kofoid. The strong finish netted the “The Constitution State” native with the fourth starting spot after scoring passing points in the heats.
Once the race was underway, Kligerman lost a few positions in stage 1 before settling with a sixth place finish. Stage 2 was kinder to the Dominion State-based Truck team as Kligerman logged a fourth place result.
During the final stage, Kligerman appeared to have great long run speed. The unflappable driver held his own, sometimes even closing in on the likes of Ben Rhodes and Carson Hocevar.
Ultimately, Kligerman drove to a fourth place result, an incredible showing by the determined racer and equally resilient team.
P4 at the Dirt race feature. Proud of this team. Grateful to get chances like this
A 🏆 is coming pic.twitter.com/YoUzZQRH24
— Parker Kligerman (@pkligerman) April 17, 2022
Leaping from 21st to 14th in the points standings, one has to wonder how the team that does so much with so little gets maximum results. No doubt, Kligerman gave kudos to the folks who catalyze his team.
“Chris Carrier’s a magician,” Kligerman said after the race. “We have great help though. I think Chris may be the only full-time employee, but we’ve got a great crew of ex-Cup car chiefs, Tom Clavette, Heath Silver, Phil Tuell, all the people that help us do this.”
It doesn’t take much for Kligerman to rally around his No. 75 team as everyone sees themselves as winners, inspiring each individual to do their best.
“We show up and everyone executes at a really high level,” he said. “And, this whole team, the culture from Don Henderson, Food Country USA, and Chris, is that we’re here to win and we don’t see ourselves as an underdog.”
Make no mistake that Kligerman’s excellent finish was not without hard work. Given the temporary dirt surface for this weekend, it’s safe to say that the 12th year Truck racer was up for the challenge.
As Kligerman and his No. 75 team keep plugging away, they constantly get closer toward scoring another win. (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
“Yeah, it was really tough,” he shared. “It was just so slick. The front two rows had such an advantage. But, you know, once we got rolling, if you had a better truck or drove off the corner, you could get back up there. And I just loved, I thought this was a really cool track.”
Despite coming up a few positions short of a victory, Kligerman raved about his evening and the unique dirt race environment.
“This was my fourth dirt race ever, but I felt like that was a badass racetrack and a bad ass show in terms of being able to use different lanes and move around and getting into each other,” he said. “And I just thought that was a lot of fun. So that’s some of the most fun I’ve ever had driving a stock car.”
Remarkably, beyond the inspired drive and teamwork, Kligerman drove in a truck chassis that was around when Carly Rae Jepsen had a very familiar hit tune.
“That might be a 10-year-old chassis or something,” he pointed out. “But, we’re here to win because we believe that when we hit it right, we can be as good as anyone. So, that’s how we’re able to do it.”
Speaking in an earnest but optimistic tone, Kligerman issued a statement of confidence for his team in their upcoming races.
Perhaps Landon Cassill has channeled eRacr’s magic to Kligerman. (Photo: Jonathan Huff | The Podium Finish)
“If we keep clicking off top fives, I think we’ll get back in victory lane,” he observed. “I thought it was gonna be here. This would’ve been huge, but we just needed a green flag run. We never got it.”
Editor’s Notes
Seth Eggert of Kickin’ the Tires contributed to this article with Kligerman’s reactions from Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee.
