Dario Capirchio Hopeful Off-Season Hard Work Pays Off

After a busy off-season in the shop, you can easily tell that Dario Capirchio is excited to get back to the track with the JRS Auctions OSCAAR Super Late Models presented by Just Foam It.

“We made some big changes on the car, so I'm hoping to have a better car this year than last year and hopefully OSCAAR will bring some more drivers out and some better competition for better racing, hopefully,” he shared. “We hit a tree at Laird the year before and never got the car fixed properly after that. So, last year we were kind of struggling with the car all year, so hopefully this year will be a better year.”

Looking ahead at the schedule, Capirchio is excited about getting back to Flamboro Speedway and Peterborough Speedway this year. Flamboro will come up first, hosting the season-opening Don Biederman Memorial on Saturday, May 23. Capirchio has been successful in the marquee event previously, scoring a victory and a second in past appearances. 

For Capirchio, returning each season is easy as he will admit that he has a racing addiction. 

“Some people have a drinking problem or drug problem, (but) I guess I have a racing problem, and I think that's like most of the people that race,” he commented. “It's a hard thing to get out of your system. I gave it up for a little bit when we had kids and stuff and it seemed to just keep on dragging me back. I enjoy it- sometimes the work is not that much fun, but if you don't put the work in, you're not gonna be at the front of the pack. I think there's a lot of guys that are out there, but they’re lacking the work ethic and then they're the ones that are mainly complaining about everybody else being too fast. 

“So I mean, it's an addiction. I guess it’s like a love addiction and hate addiction at the same time. I mean you do well, you wanna come back and do better. But I mean, when you do bad, it's the same thing. I kick myself in the butt sometimes because I don't do well. I try not to mess up the car, because I see a lot of guys, they show up at the racetrack, and they're always changing stuff. If you're that far off, you're not going to make it better at the racetrack, so you gotta put the time in at the shop and get the car better or go find some help if you can't figure it out.”

Through the years, Capirchio has driven several different variations of late models, but has kept returning back to super late models over most recent seasons. 

“I tried going back to pro late models and I just think the super late model suits my style a little bit better,” he expressed. “Like I'm not saying I'm not smooth or anything, but it allows a guy that likes to be aggressive and drive harder and the harder you drive, it seems like the faster it goes. With the pro late models, it seems like you gotta be super smooth with them and I've driven the supers for a while now and it's going back to the pro, it just doesn't suit my style anymore. 

“It's (also) not as much fun. Like, you can't beat the power of the supers and the way they drive and stuff like that. It's like actually driving a real race car, I would say, compared to driving anything else.”

Though when asked to think about the most memorable moment of his career, he could not help but think back to his time in limited late models, running his own team and funding the whole bill himself.

“I put a setup on it that I did a lot of research on through Mike McColl. He helped me out with the setup, and that first 100 lapper that we ran at Sunset, I led a bunch of laps,” he recalled. “I know everyone else was tire dopping and I wasn't, and they still couldn't pass me. Like, we had a really good car; it was set up like one of the best cars I had at Sunset.”

His advice for the next generation of drivers, as a result, comes from the success he has had in trying to ensure they understand the cars beneath them well.  

“I think there's a lot of good younger drivers out there that need to work on their cars and know what each change does to the car,” he commented. That'll make it an easier transition to be faster, and also if you have a crew helping you, to get them on the same page so you can pick up speed quicker. Like some of these young drivers, they know how to drive a car, but they don't know how to translate what the car is doing, and what kind of changes the car should need to go faster.”