12/25/2022
Owosso Speedway
Driver Profile Interview: Laci Donnert
Laci Donnert
11/26/22
Written By: Destiney Biston
To start out these driver interview articles, we thought we would start with someone that has been racing at Owosso Speedway with his family for years now. Laci Donnert is the #3 Modified driver from Flint, MI. Like many other drivers, he grew up helping his cousins and uncles that began racing in the 60’s and 70’s and got hooked shortly after. In 1998 Laci started driving in the Sportsman division for his first full season. Two years later, in 2000, he was able to break a track record and win a championship with the Sportsman he built. While the championship meant a lot to him, breaking a track record was huge! “Records are meant to be broken”, he said. To him, that was a piece of track history already in his name, at the very beginning of his racing career. Laci later decided to make the switch to the Modified class, where he was able to win championships in 2013, 2014, and 2015. He had some back-to-back Owosso Speedway National wins. The family tradition of racing has now extended to Laci’s son, Alex Donnert, who also races Modifieds. They have had the chance of racing quite a few times together and have finished in the top two together, five times now. Times like that have made family racing so worth it to Laci. He said it’s an extremely proud moment to work on the cars with his son and then for both of them to go out and take first and second together, side by side. I asked Laci what his favorite part about racing was and he said it's a 50/50 thing. Half of it is the competition and the need to continually build better, and the other half is the friends and family that are made along the way. To him, racers are amazing people. He said that “even enemies on the track are the first to help if something goes wrong”. With the constant competition, eventually comes inevitable losses. So, how does he handle it? Laci said that his biggest thing has been teaching his son to never quit. You simply can’t expect to win every race you run. As race car drivers we all hate losing, so for Laci it is a matter of going back to the drawing board and trying something different for next time. “Effort equals results”, is Laci’s motto. No matter what sport we are in, there is usually always someone we look up to. Picking just one idol was extremely hard for Laci, since so many people have impacted him as a driver. Bill Luckhurst and Chris St. James were the first two that came to his mind. He learned a lot from the both of them and they have constantly worked to help each other out. Of course, he also listed the iconic Dale Earnhardt. While Dale is an idol for many race car drivers, Laci feels he relates to him on a personal level. Dale Earnhardt was a blue collar worker who put everything he had into his cars to make it happen, just like Laci and his family. Laci is constantly working on projects to stay busy during the off-season, but only when he isn’t out camping with his family. He is an engineering supervisor and loves to fabricate different things. When I asked Laci what his favorite track was he simply said that there is no such thing as a bad track, because they all have different aspects that make them great. However, Owosso Speedway holds so many great memories for him and his family it is hard to pick any others over it. It is his home track and the first place he ever raced at. Let alone all of the friends he has made there along the way. With all of the new management and changes that are happening at Owosso Speedway, I asked him what makes him want to continue racing at the oldest racetrack in Michigan. Laci said that he has known Jeff Parish for a long time and every single race track that he has worked at has continually had better car counts and overall “positive vibes''. He also thinks that Rex Wheeler is a great owner that is making dreams come true with all of the current progress and planning that has been going on. For him, it will be a fair track run by people that are passionate for motorsports and care for the drivers and fans that are brought in. He plans on making a few changes to his #3 Modified to be a bit faster in order to gain more wins on the brand new racing surface at Owosso Speedway. He is sponsored by Johnson Carbide Products, Drive Train Specialists, Iwen Tool Supply, SLH Metals, and DCR Racing who have all made his wins possible. He also has a great crew that helps work on his car including Mike Luckhurst, Billy Luckhurst, Caden Comer, his girlfriend Christa, his son Alex Donnert, and Alex’s girlfriend Mckenzie. Racing is nothing without a strong support system, and thankfully, Laci has just that.
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