Pat Stone went from racing a car to raising a family
– and back to the former again once his girls had grown up and
he could spend more weekends in the shop and on the track.
HOLLISTER
Pat Stone went from racing a car to raising a family – and back to the former again once his girls had grown up and he could spend more weekends in the shop and on the track.
He has done that by driving road races in the California circuit of the Camaro Mustang Challenge the past five years. Stone, coowner of South Valley Trailers in Hollister, finished third last year in the seven-race series.
But the one-time drag racer is realistic at age 53, treats it as a hobby and loves watching NASCAR on most weekends like other normal race fans. He’s a Jeff Gordon fan because he’s “a good driver and drives with respect and doesn’t try to run people over.”
For a month late last year, though, he experienced a brighter spotlight than he ever imagined as a contestant on the second season of the reality show “Setup” on the Speed cable network. He was crew chief for one of 24 drivers who competed for $100,000 and a seat on a pro circuit.
The season premiered Thursday, so Stone for the first time could share some thoughts about the experience – though he had to remain vague on most details, including his performance.
Stone, who lives in Gilroy with wife Sandy, got on “Setup” when one of his Mustang series competitors, Brady Flaherty, told him he had made the show and asked him to be his crew chief on a two-member team.
Flaherty needed someone on late notice who could afford to take a month off work for the filming in Los Angeles at Willow Springs Raceway. Stone, with his wife’s help running the business by herself in his absence, was perfect for the job.
And not just because of the time commitment.
Both racers, Stone believes, had ideal experience for the show’s format. Contestants all drove the same car – the Pontiac Solstice GXP – a roadster he described as “3,000-pounds with 230 horsepower” and a vehicle close in resemblance to his own No. 50 car.
“It’s exactly what we do,” said Stone, who also has been a mechanic “pretty much all his life” and worked as a master technician for GM Motors many years ago.
He’s bound tightly by a network contract that swears him to secrecy about what hasn’t happened on the show. He did say the 24 drivers in it had various backgrounds. Some driving styles weren’t as conducive to the “Setup” format such as autocross racers who are used to driving a course alone.
“It’s more nerve-racking in a pack going three wide into a turn,” he said. “It’s a whole lot different than just driving on the track by yourself. We’re used to driving in packs.”
Drivers and their crew chiefs primarily spent most days on the track or in a downtown L.A. warehouse where they worked on the cars. Throughout the show drivers get narrowed down in some fashion for a final race on the its season finale.
He enjoyed the filming part of it such as having the camera operators and producers around. He also made friends with some of the other contestants and they all often went out at nighttime to restaurants and clubs.
Stone kept in touch with wife Sandy on the phone, but couldn’t leave L.A. during the shoot. That didn’t stop him on their 20th anniversary, though, which landed on Nov. 11. He snuck out that day, drove home, showed up with flowers and the two went to dinner.
At first she thought he was booted off the show, until he explained.
“It was pretty romantic, I would say,” said Sandy Stone.
She said she could handle his time away – in keeping South Valley Trailers running seven days a week – because the two have a “good business partnership.” She conceded it was, however, getting a bit tiring toward the end.
The whole experience has been exciting for her as well.
“This is a realization of a dream he’s had,” she said. “He loves to race.”
He does pretty well at it off camera, too. Pat Stone has finished in the top 3 the past two years in the Camaro Mustang Challenge. His “Setup” driver, Flaherty, was the 2006 champion.
Sandy Stone enjoys watching her husband on the show for another reason aside from his new fame: She’s “absolutely” a racing fan herself.
“I have to be,” she said with a chuckle. “I’m married to a racer. I’m definitely a racing fan.”
