Sometimes when you stick a microphone in front of a driver’s face, you have no clue what they may say and a couple of times you’ll hear something that surprises you or gives you a bit of a perspective.

Throughout the 2021 season, I had the opportunity to speak to a bunch of different competitors. During those interviews, there were some quotes that stood out. So it seems only fitting we take a glance back through the year at what was said.

“With the side-by-side racing, we didn’t get to make any moves off the start. You’d pass a guy, then the caution comes out, you restart, and it’s just frustrating going there. The guys up front were getting into a little bit, and we were able to make up some spots with just guys taking themselves out of the race and get some positions on restarts – and you would, and then you’d get a restart where you’d get stuck in a lane that didn’t move or you didn’t make the right calls on moves there. It was tough battle there even in the second race trying to get spots. You look up and there’s 10 cars ahead of you, then you get a good restart and there’s just six, and then you look up and there’s 10 cars again in front of you. It was tough and you really had to keep your head on; it was a little frustrating.” – Brandon Watson

“I know I did Dale (Shaw) a little dirty, but honestly after the year I had, I wasn’t accepting second. That car was unreal. All of the crew on my team and on Taylor (Holdaway)’s team deserved it. They all worked crazy today and this year has just been a year to forget, so maybe this will change things around.”  – J.R. Fitzpatrick 

“There’s definitely a  lot of really, really fast cars here. so it’s very tough. You never know what’s going to happen. If you mess up on your setup a little, you’re back in the field quite a bit. it’s a lot of fun racing with all these guys that have a lot of experience and a lot of skill. They’re all really fast so they make it a lot of fun.” – Kyle Steckly

“It was almost like bittersweet to finish second at Flamboro with the adversity we faced. I wasn’t proud of the race overall. There was a lot of contact. I’d say the first 50, 70 laps, I ran a pretty miserable race compared to the last 25 laps of that race or so. We sorted things out, got a little more patient and got back to a second-place finish with a damaged racecar. In fact, it was so damaged it may have affected other races this year. But they got it fixed up and we had some good races – just missing a little bit of speed to get it done.” – Pete Shepherd

“I think Jake (Spencer-Walt) really did a great job out there. Did he make some mistakes? Sure. Did he ruffle some feathers? Sure! But he raced three times this year and had a big wreck. He has learned a ton, and Danielle and I are so proud of him! Jake makes me a better person and everyone around him; he’s truly a one of a  kind kid!” – Rick Spencer-Walt

“After the long run there, I went into the corner and I got squirrely and was like, ‘Something is not right,’ and then down the back straightaway, the front end just didn’t seem right. I lost the lead to Treyten, lost second to (Andrew) Gresel, and then came down on the podium there and you hear a hissing sound, which is never a good sign. So must’ve ran over something with the right front, but to finish off with a podium for the car and our season, pretty happy with that.” – Shae Gemmell

“We’ve had a fast car pretty much every race this year, but it’s pretty much been mechanical problem one after another and stuff that you could’ve never really expected to happen and of course, it happened. Finally, the cards finally fell into place tonight. A lot of good preparation went into this. It was at the WMI shop on Thursday night and they found a lot of speed in it there, and I’m sure that defiantly contributed to this great performance.” – Treyten Lapcevich