What makes Jordan Goldesberry’s success even sweeter is that this is a classic family operation.
“It is really just me and my dad and we have a neighbor who comes with us, but as for the hands-on work it is just me and dad in the shop every night,” Goldesberry explained. “Again, that is just like everybody else at our level. We don’t have a crew chief or anything like that, we just do what we can with what we got.
“Don’t get me wrong we have a lot of great helpers and supporters that allow us to do it.”
He quickly noted that the most needed encouragement comes from within his own household.
Things had developed into a bit of a routine, then a funny thing happened that altered his racing universe. Slowly but surely Jordan and Jack Goldesberry began pointing their rig in a different direction.
“We always talked about going to Wisconsin and then around 2011 or 2012, we finally did it,” Goldesberry said. “We could race closer to home, but we just loved racing up there. The tracks are awesome. Steve Sinclair and the IRA run a professional show. At first, we went up there for a handful of races, then we were running 70 percent of them, then it was 80 percent.
“Finally, in 2022 we ran every show for the first time and won the championship.”
Snaring a title at any level is not easy when you have a job, a family and the tracks are at minimum four to five hours away. Goldesberry admits when there is a 60-percent chance of rain, it is hard to commit to those long drives.
However, on balance the people and the experience have been enough to keep him coming back. What also helps is having a solid sponsorship package behind him.
Backing from Rockstar Energy Drink ensures that his race cars stand out from the pack.
“We were at the right place at the right time and knew the right people,” he explained. “We tried it the first year with Rockstar and they loved it. They thought the branding went well and we are going into year four which isn’t all that common.”
Goldesberry is under no illusions. The external funding allows him to continue to have success in his arena, but he isn’t going to turn his entire life upside down to chase a shiny object.
“I am not in position to do this on a full-time basis with work and a family,” he said. “But this helps tremendously. We made it work before, but this makes you wonder how we did do it.”
Goldesberry surveys the racing landscape, checks out the calendar and takes a big healthy gulp of reality.
The High Limit Series or the World of Outlaws is not in the cards.
“I’m not young anymore,” he said. “I mean, I don’t consider myself old either, but you look around. For example. look at Brenham Crouch who won our title last year. These kids are so good. I have been racing sprint cars for 16 years now and I feel like I am better now than I ever have been. But I probably didn’t excel as quick as the kids do now.
“I wanted to make it happen probably 10 years ago and I would have given everything up to try it. But not now. We are comfortable with where we are. We are having fun as a family and I’m just not willing to be on the road all the time even if the opportunity was there. I just don’t think the timing is right.”
The record shows Goldsberry has a point. In many respects his 2023 season was as good as his championship campaign, but when all the markers were tallied, he fell one position shy of his goal.
He won three times early in the season, but in the end, he feels the consistency wasn’t there to defend the title.
The main obstacle in his path was Crouch.
There was disappointment, but in the end, he thinks his young rival deserves a great deal of credit.
“It was like every week he got better and better,” Goldesberry said. “You could just see it. He has a seasoned crew chief and has the best of the best stuff. That’s great, but he is also just a good driver. He makes good decisions. Sure, he made a couple of mistakes this year, which cost him a little, but overall, night in and night out they finished races up front.
“I know when I was that age, I wasn’t that consistent. I tore up more stuff than that. The kid is talented and there are more like him.”
A funny thing happened as Goldesberry watched Crouch’s maturation, he also had a change of heart.
Brenham Crouch Wants To ‘Turn Heads’ During High Limit Season
“Honestly at the beginning of the year because we wanted to go back-to-back, I was like maybe kind of cold to him,” he acknowledged. “But by midseason, I realized the kid was just good. He wasn’t doing people dirty and he wasn’t wadding his stuff up. Now, I am definitely rooting for him. I mean he beat me, so I want him to go out and beat everybody else.”
In 2024, Goldesberry’s goal is to capture the IRA championship. His history underscores that this is far more than a pipedream. There are a few new wrinkles in the upcoming season that grab his attention.
New on the schedule is a trip to Indiana for Maverick Mayhem, a mini-series of four races co-sanctioned with the Honest Abe Roofing Maverick Winged Sprint Car Series.
Goldesberry, like many of his peers, has these dates circled on the calendar.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “The field is going to be stacked. They are putting up good money and as much as we like going to Wisconsin we also like going to different places. I have been to Haubstadt once or twice and Terre Haute once, but I have never been to Bloomington or Lincoln Park.”
Maverick Mayhem will introduce Goldesberry and the rest of the IRA clan to a new audience. Goldesberry believes because many of the IRA drivers are located in Wisconsin, they are often underappreciated.
“We have guys who have done fairly well at Knoxville and there are young guys coming up who have had success,” Goldesberry said. “Maybe there are people in Illinois, Missouri and Indiana who haven’t heard about them, but it is a good group.”
It seems certain, new audience will meet Jordan Goldesberry this season.