15 Minutes With... Jeff Hicks. Owner of 8H Joey Moughan Sprint Car

With Friday being Miller Lite Armed Forces Night at the speedway, we thought it would be good to spend a little time with one of our long distance participants, who is spending this racing season as a sprint car owner while serving in Afghanistan. For several years, Jeff Hicks has fielded the familiar 8H sprint car driven by Joey Moughan while serving as a First Lieutenant in the National Guard based out of Camp Lincoln in Springfield. In January Jeff began a deployment that has him spending the entire racing season serving our Country in Afghanistan. In addition to Jeff, we want to thank all of our drivers, crew members and fans that either are currently or have previously served our Country in the Armed Forces. We hope you enjoy our visit with Jeff…

Tell us a little about your military background:

1LT Jeffrey Hicks

7yrs of military service

1 x deployment 2005-2006 to Iraq with C CO 2/130th Infantry from Litchfield, IL

Current full time job in the guard in Director of Logisitcs, Camp Lincoln Springfield, IL

What are your present duties in Afghanistan?

Deployed with Bilateral Embedded Support Team BESTA5 from Springfield, IL.

Deployed out of FT. Benning, GA JAN 2010

Spent 2 months training with the Polish 1st Armor Brigade from Warsaw, Poland

Arrived in Afghanistan in late March 2010 as an embed in the Polish Battle Group Alpha

Currently working the Battalion Staff as Infantry deputy S3 or Plans and Operations Officer with the Polish in Gahzni, Afghanistan

Exected to re-deploy to IL in late October.

How long have you been involved in racing in some form?

I have been invovled with racing since 2000.

How long did you drive a race car?

I drove mini sprints for about 4 years and just got too busy with work and the military. I also never had the help I really needed. The extent of driving I do now is shaking a motor down or hotlaps if someone is running late.

How and when did your deal with Joey Moughan come about?

Joey and I had a good friendship with mini sprints and when he took off with sprints we ended up getting together. When I deployed to Iraq in 2005 he took a lot of pressure of my parents by taking my whole racing operation to his shop. For several years we pooled our racing equipment together just to get to the track. The last 2 years I asumed more of the responsibillities of the owner and crew chief and he was able to concentrate more on driving and other race endeavors. This year we have nearly all fresh equipment on the car and a new motor. Next year we look to improve on this years equipment and increase consistency at the race tracks.

How do you stay in touch with Joey from over there?

Joey and I usually email every few days to make decisions on what racetracks he intends to race at and discuss any problems we have with equipment. I normally try to call him to discuss things in greater detail about once a week.

How do you keep updated on races etc?

The only way to keep up to date on races is by twitter, email, and by surfing the web. Track websites like Jacksonville Speedway really make it nice to keep up to date. Alan Holland from www.hoseheads.com and Bill Wright, known as Bill W., who frequently covers many races around IA and IL do great jobs getting results and stories posted fast.

Has it been tougher or easier than you expected to own a sprint car from half a world away?

I think it creates more headaches than I thought. I always hate to see Joey working hard or struggling. The first race of the season the car was a rocket and we had a pushrod slip. He got that fixed but the motor would not run right. We thought it was an ignition problem, but finally realized when the pushrod came out it caused a butterfly in the injection to bend. It took a few weeks to figure out the problem due to the rain.

What are your long term goals for your racing operation?

We have both talked about doing a traveling series like ASCS or Knoxville, weekly. We both know to run those series it takes a lot of good equipment and money to be successful.

What is the best race you have ever seen in person?

I would probably have to say one of the best races I have seen was Shane Stewart at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, MO exchange slide jobs for half of the race, before taking the lead and never looking back. The other race I think rates up there was Shane Stewart coming through the field at Jacksonville at the 2009 Shaheens show and winning it. Also about any race you can throw a Moughan, a Babb, a Standridge, a Weyant, or Jerrod Hull in your going to have some excitement.

Who is your favorite Driver (besides Joey Moughan)?

At the local level – Jimmy Moughan , 360 guys – Shane Stewart, 410 guys – Jason Meyers.

What is one of your favorite racing memories since being with Joey?

In 2008 I took Joey to Eldora to race for the first time. We pulled in and there were sprint cars everywhere. I think there was a total of 44cars. Our only goal that night was to make the A- Main. We locked in the A-Main from the heat race. Needless to say we got upside down in the A-Main, but to make the A-main with that many cars and watch Eldora greats like Dale Blaney, Greg Wilson, and Butch Schroeder turn every lap flawlessly was an accomplishment in our eyes. After that Joey wanted to run Eldora more and more. I think he went back 2 or 3 times with the 410 in 2009.

15 Minutes With… Jeff Hicks. Owner of 8H Joey Moughan Sprint Car