Driving with the ‘big dogs’
Eagle River family focuses on NASCAR truck race
Paige Decker is the oldest and most experienced of the three, so she was quick with the advice for her sister and cousin.
“They’re going to be racing with the big dogs,” she said. “This is NASCAR.”
Led by Paige, a one-race veteran at 23, the trio from Eagle River hope to pull off a triple-Decker on Saturday at Martinsville Speedway as Paige, 21-year-old sister Claire and their 18-year-old cousin Natalie all try to crack the Camping World Truck Series field.
“I told them to stay humble and true to themselves, realize that these guys are really good racers and they are not going to give you any slack,” Paige continued. “You’ve got to stay out of the way. And really, just learn.
“Don’t try to go out there and
set the world on fire, because it’s not going to happen your first race. So make friends with the other competitors and do what you have to do. Impress NASCAR, because really that’s what matters.”
Practice for the Alpha Energy Solutions 250 begins Friday at the tight half-mile track in Virginia. Qualifying is set for 10:15 a.m. Saturday and then the race for 1:45 p.m. with coverage on Fox Sports 1.
“That first obstacle, just to make it in the race, is going to be tough,” Paige said.
“Then I know my sister and Natalie will have the same goal once it comes to the race: just stay out of trouble and log laps.
“We don’t have the best trucks. We’re not going to be out there competing for top 10 or top 15. That’s just how it goes with our funding and what we can afford. Just learn.”
Paige is back with Mike Harmon, whose truck she raced at Martinsville last fall, when she finished 30th. She also attempted to qualify for the spring race but stood little chance to crack the field when practice was rained out.
Claire’s opportunity to drive Jennifer Jo Cobb’s truck came together in the past month or so and was the first of the three to be announced, although Paige’s had been a done deal for longer.
“Once Chuck (Natalie’s father) and Natalie found out we were both going to be racing a truck race, then Chuck had to get Natalie in one,” Claire said with a laugh. “Once one person does it . . . ”
Natalie is driving for NTS Motorsports. She is a two-year member of the NASCAR Drive 4 Diversity program and one of the seven participants this year in the Kulwicki Driver Development Program.
Although the three drivers have competed throughout their childhood, they haven’t raced together a lot. Even if they were together at the gokart track, they weren’t necessarily in the same class.
Paige, a senior at UWStout, became the first woman to win a feature in the Tundra super-late model traveling series in 2013. Claire, who attends UWOshkosh, ran Mid-American sportsman cars for a while with her sister. Natalie raced in the Midwest Truck Series before moving to late models and super-late models.
The three all took part in the NASCAR Drive 4 Diversity combine in 2014, with Paige and Natalie advancing into the program. Natalie returned last season, splitting her time between North Carolina, where she competed in late models with Rev Racing, and Wisconsin, where she drove her family-owned superlate model.
Natalie, a high school senior, was by far the busiest last season. Among her accomplishments was a latemodel feature victory over Reagan May in a 1-2 female finish at Golden Sands Speedway near Plover.
“The only time we really competed against each other was in the super-late model division here,” Paige said. “If we would attend, say, Oktoberfest (at La Crosse Speedway) or things like that, that’s when we would be competing, and it was only for a year because we’re always on such different paths with our racing career.”
The dream for all three lie in NASCAR, but to expect for all of them to get there is unrealistic, Paige conceded.
Attention they generate this weekend can only help, as they try to make connections and
attract sponsorship. But there is no easy path. Drivers with stronger résumés have failed to advance, as have people with much larger checkbooks.
Paige related the story of raising $15,000 for her first truck race by spending her spring break begging Eagle River businesses for help. The support was nice but didn’t go far. And because the three know many of the same people, Paige, Claire and Natalie can even be in competition with one another for sponsorship.
“As much as we like to portray ourselves as the three Decker girls, we’re still individuals and it’s very unlikely we’re all three going to make it in racing,” Paige said. “So we’re all trying to do what we can individually to make it ourselves.”