As young as 10, Longmont’s Adam Deines unraveled the mystery of engines and embraced the freedom they offered a young man itching for a fast trip down some blacktop.
“When I was little, I loved playing video games and enjoyed controlling the cars,” the 36-year-old Deines said. “I started driving when I was 10, and I shifted gears for my grandma. I just watched her feet and knew what to do. It just came to me.”
Deines knack for hard, fast driving earned him a career-full of kudos and awards for short track truck races at Colorado National Speedway. The Dacono-based speedway is considered Colorado’s premier NASCAR short track and on Saturday it will feature Deines chasing down the championship in the Matco Tools Pro Trucks category.
The speedway is also Deines’s home track, his wife Michelle Deines said. It’s there that Adam and his team race their bright yellow No. 7 in both Super Late Model and Pro Truck races, which Adam Deines won the championship in 2009 and 2017, she said.
Colorado National Speedway is home to one of the premier short tracks in the country and is a paved oval track, according to the speedway.
Adam Deines is the leader heading into Saturday’s competition but only eight points separate the top three competitors.
“It’s neck and neck,” Adam Deines said of the championship. “I don’t think it’s been this close for four or five years.”
Adam Deines said despite the competition, he and the other pro truck drivers get along well. “We’ve raced side by side for at least 10 years,” he said. “And we have touched trucks maybe once.”
All the drivers and their teams are fueled by the high they get from speed and competition, he said. “It is absolutely awesome racing,” Adam Deines said.
Pro Trucks are based off of Ram 1500 plastic body and fiberglass with V-8 engines supplying 450 to 500 horsepower, Deines said.
Depending on the race, the trucks can fly over 50 laps with straight-away speeds of 105 mph, he said. “It’s hard to explain how it feels, but it is definitely a rush. It truly pushes you through your seat,” Deines said.
He got his Commercial Drivers License at an early age and now works at Roof Check - which sponsors his truck - doing sheet metal, operating a crane and at anything else that is needed.
The Deines crew consists of family and close friends, said Adam’s wife, Michelle Deines.
“We are fearless, we are resilient and when we are on the track it is always exhilarating,” according to a Deines Motorsports pitch to potential sponsors.
The Deines crew consists of an “old guy,” Buck (Don) Deines, who is the crew chief, owner and father of Adam, Deines Motorsports states. The pit crew is best friends - Phil Keppel, Jose Gardner, Toby Thorpe and Adam’s father-in-law, Roger Haskell.
“The more time we get to be on the track, the more fun and entertainment is to be had, and the better results we get,” Adam Deines said.
“My crew is really everybody I grew up with,” he added. “I couldn’t do any of this without them.”
