Mike Wheeler #09 Crew

I first attended an auto race when I was two years old.  Of course I can’t remember it but my mother took me to see my dad race at Riverhead Raceway.  He raced Street Stocks and Late Models until 1985 when he got out of driving do to the costs.  He began sponsoring a few drivers, which I also tried to help out on.  I first started working on a Blunderbust car driven by Todd Schelin. The only thing I was able to do being so young was to clean parts and touch up the paint.  In 1993 when I was 14 years old I was able to get in the pits at Riverhead to help out Eddie Densieski with the Late Model team.  My dad was friends with them for a few years and we often traveled to tracks like Martinsville and North Wilkesboro to compete with the Late Model.  The biggest event during those years was winning the championship in 1994 as well a handful of races. 

In 1996 the team split up as the entire crew moved over to help out Roger Oxee with his Late Model at Riverhead.  Ted Densieski was crew chief for the first year but a year later he ended up moving back to help his brother.  That left no one to set the car up for Roger.  Steve Pontino had helped Roger for years and he often came by to set the car up.  I started to work with Steve and he showed me many things that got me involved with the set up of the car.  Finally after a while I started setting the car up for myself but still kept in touch with Steve. We ran very well as a team winning many races and pole positions.  While attending college out in Michigan I would travel back and forth to NY during the season so I would miss as little races as possible despite the 750-mile trip.

During the 2001 season while racing with Roger and Mark Tooker, Steve came to me asking for help with Bo Gunning and the entire TS Motorsports team.  I started working a few nights a week with Steve and the guys and traveled to a few shows with them.  While I was at school Eddie Partridge asked me to come out to crew for Greg Sacks up in Loudon, NH.  After a good showing there, I returned to NY following my school term and Eddie offered me a full-time job working and setting up the cars.  The team had struggled much of the year and I was really anxious for a good showing.  It finally came at Martinsville a few weeks into my days as crew chief for Bo Gunning with an outside pole start and a 7th place finish. 

With the year coming to an end, I feel that the entire TS team has come a long way in the last few weeks of the season.  While I have only 1 more school term remaining come January, I look forward to returning next year to the team and am confident that next year will be a good one.

Mike Wheeler