[SPRINTCAR]

CINCINNATI -- The tree-lined driveway off Loveland-Miamiville Road leads straight to a farmhouse before curving toward a barn and the outbuilding that neighbors it.

A nearby garage incorporates two old chicken coops that were converted years ago and today house a machine shop and a small storage room stocked with a meticulously organized array of car parts. Parked outside is a large truck with 337,009 miles on the odometer. Emblazoned across the trailer hooked to it are the words "Hoffman Auto Racing."

The name is synonymous with the United States Auto Club, and the team is renowned for its success in the National Sprint Car Series. Founded by the late August "Gus" Hoffman in 1929 and still operating from the family farm in Miami Township, Hoffman Auto Racing boasts a record nine championships and 76 victories in the series.

"It's just like any other team sport," said Rob Hoffman, grandson of Gus and the team's crew chief. "You've got to have not only talent but chemistry among all the team members. And that's what really makes you successful."

The team's crew will be busy this weekend.

The USAC sprint cars were scheduled to race Friday night at Gas City (Ind.) I-69 Speedway, but the event was canceled because of inclement weather. Today, the series visits the three-eighths-mile, high-banked clay oval of Lawrenceburg Speedway before wrapping up Sunday at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway, a quarter-mile clay oval.

"When I was working on the cars for my dad, we didn't go to every race," team owner Richard Hoffman said. "Maybe we didn't have a good driver. Maybe the motor didn't get done in time. That's no excuse for us now."

Jerry Coons Jr. drives the No. 69 car, which this year carries primary sponsorship from Mean Green. The Arizona native brought Hoffman Auto Racing its most recent sprint car championship in 2008 and has won 13 races for the team.

"When they gave me that opportunity, it was a little bit scary," Coons said. "They're used to winning. ... There's a ton of pressure that comes with that. At the same time, they're a great bunch. They're a lot of fun to race with."

Since Gus Hoffman (aka "Old Timer") founded the team, it has attracted several notable drivers, including Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, J.J. Yeley, Tracy Hines, Dave Darland, Kenny Irwin, Steve Butler, Rich Vogler, Eddie Sachs and Don Branson.

Photos of some of them hang on pegboard along the garage's back wall and help tell the story of Hoffman Auto Racing. Other photos and a trophy collection that's but a fraction of those won by the team are displayed in an office above the tire shop.

Coons, 38, won two feature races for the team last year and finished fourth in the series standings. The first of his two wins came last April at Lawrenceburg Speedway. In May, he won the Tony Hulman Classic at Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track. This season opened at Ocala (Fla.) Speedway, and after three races there the team is 13th in points.

"We started out very strong last year," Coons said. "We won this race (at Lawrenceburg). We had some good momentum going and then mid-summer I crashed a car and the car we replaced it with just gave us fits the rest of the year. ...

"We've got a new car now. We struggled a little bit in Florida but we were running some different setups and learned a lot. We went to Lawrenceburg and practiced and were extremely fast down there. The expectations are high."

Track conditions limited racing April 8 at Eldora Speedway, so the team hauled its equipment back to the farm, arriving at 3 a.m. By 10 a.m. the crew was busy prepping the car to return to Eldora for a second night of racing. It was ready to go by 1 p.m. but racing was called off because of weather.

It takes eight to 12 man hours to turn around a sprint car from one night to the next, working off a three-page maintenance list and with everybody pitching in to help. The crew also works Tuesday and Thursday nights.

"You have people that share your passion for racing and they devote their personal time to trying to achieve that goal," Richard Hoffman said. "It's nights without sleep and wives that aren't happy. It's family functions that sometimes get missed. In business, it's lost business opportunities. But it's your passion. If you buy into the fact that it's a worthy goal to win a race, then there's a whole lot of shared sacrifice."

Richard Hoffman took over as the team's chief mechanic in 1958 and became part owner with his father in 1964. The 68-year-old handles most of the paint and body work. His brother, Tommy Hoffman, helps keep the car looking good and tends to the fuel. A fourth-generation Hoffman, Rob's 14-year-old son A.J., could carry on the family tradition.

"A.J. has a lot of mechanical aptitude," Rob Hoffman, 47, said. "... He's good in math and science. I hope he can go get the engineering degree that I did not go get and he could take us possibly to the next level."

Tim Waechter is vice president of marketing and public relations and helps with tires and fuel. Dan Launderville moved from Iowa to join the team about 10 years ago and is director of operations, Hoffman Auto Racing's lone full-time employee.

"He's here seven days a week," Waechter said. "He's so organized. He orders parts. He's a great mechanic. He can fabricate anything. He builds all the bodies for the cars."

Al Janson is a front-end and brake specialist and an electrical whiz. He and Richard Hoffman have been friends since the first grade. Janson said after his father died, Gus Hoffman was like a second father to him.

"Richard's becoming like Old Timer," Janson said. "Richard, he's a businessman. He's a little harsher than Old Timer. Old Timer was mellow. He could talk you into anything. Just like when I bought my first house. I didn't buy it - he bought it.

"There was a repossessed house and he knew I needed a house. He takes me down to Cincinnati Building and Loan. I'm sitting there not saying a word. He said, 'Let me do all the talking.' I was 20 years old. He said, 'This boy, I've known him a long time. He's given me $500 for earnest money. I'll just hold that and I'll speak for him for the rest.' So that's how I bought my first house - on his word."

Janson works out of a back corner in the machine shop. Beneath the workbench are old engines, including a Cosworth Indy car engine. In the the garage, stored in wooden cabinets, are vintage Offenhauser and Cosworth engines and parts.

"We never get rid of anything," Rob Hoffman said. "My grandfather, you have to understand, was a child of the Depression. And therefore you never threw anything out."

Hoffman Auto Racing dabbled in Indy racing from 1973-1984. The team fielded seven Indianapolis 500 entries before refocusing its attention on sprint cars.

"We always had inferior equipment, most always volunteer help," Richard Hoffman said. ... "But it was fun. Learned a lot."

After the Indy experience, Richard and Rob Hoffman thought they would be content watching races at Lawrenceburg. But after a couple of years, they got the itch again and put together a sprint car with the intention of racing only Saturday nights at the local track. Plans quickly changed.

"The thing that started out as, let's just go to a local racetrack, have fun, drink beer, low pressure, became this: I think in 1988 we hit something in the order of 70 or 80 races that year," Rob Hoffman said.

The next year, Hoffman Auto Racing won its first USAC national sprint car series title. Its now focused on trying to get back to victory lane and winning a 10th championship.

Said Richard Hoffman: "My dad said, when you win in racing, it's addictive."


Photo's @ Cincinnati.com search: Hoffman