PLAINFIELD, Ind. — Bill Rose has an unshakeable passion for racing. It’s been a part of his life for so many years. And his love and commitment to the sport will lead him to the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car tour once again next year.
“It’s just the drive,” Rose said. “I just love the people and the excitement of it. This is going on my 49th year of racing, and I still desire just as much now as I did then. That’s how crazy I am. I live and breathe this stuff, and I love to do it. Maybe I need to take up fishing or something, but I’ve tried that and get bored, so I don’t do it. I just love to race.”
Next season will mark Rose’s fifth consecutive year of committing to The Greatest Show on Dirt. He’ll again pilot his personally-owned No. 6 machine.
This past season didn’t go as Rose hoped. Much of the campaign presented a puzzle as he struggled to get a handle on his cars and dealt with the challenge of learning the new Hoosier tire.
“Well, it sucked,” Rose said with a laugh of 2023. “We just never could get a handle on the cars. I even switched brand of cars. We got better with it, but it’s just so tough. We’re going to continue on the way we are right now. I’m trying to hire a couple more guys. Trying to do it with just myself and Amanda (Hoegsted) pretty much is tough.
“I just couldn’t get the handle on getting the setup right on the car. I’ve got good cars. I’ve got good motors. We’ve got the package. Getting it all flowed together is our problem. But we’re not going to give up.”
Rose also combatted injuries in the latter half of the campaign, leading to Tim Kaeding, Brian Paulus, and Kody Hartlaub all stepping in to make sure the No. 6 continued to compete. While Rose didn’t enjoy having to miss action behind the wheel, he found being able to operate as a crew chief and watch his car with different drivers to be beneficial.
“For sure I learned because all three of them are different drivers,” Rose said. “Tim, of course he’s got so much experience, and there’s certain ways he wants things to be done, and I learned a lot by the way he wanted stuff… Brian, he hadn’t been in a 410 in a while, so I didn’t learn as much from him. But he still had enough knowledge with the fueling and things like that to help me out. And Kody, oh my god that kid is going to be a talent coming up. He’s a good kid, and that was only like the second or third time he’d ever been in a 410.”
A bright of the season for Rose was Amanda Hoegsted’s continued presence. She is Rose’s primary team member and stayed as dedicated and helpful as always through the rotation of drivers filling in while Rose was injured. Her commitment and positive attitude led to her receiving the Jason Johnson Sportsmanship Award this year, and she’ll be back with Rose in 2024.
Since this year’s campaign ended a month ago, it’s been a busy offseason for Rose as he continues to work his normal job and prepare for next year.
The 59-year-old is in the process of gathering more support both on the financial and crew sides. With another year of experience under his belt, Rose is hopeful he can piece together a 2024 package that allows him to take a big step forward from this year.
“I’m definitely looking forward to it,” Rose said. “Like I said, I learned a lot from putting those guys in the car. We’ve got a lot better notes after last year. We’ve got good equipment, good cars, and good motors. We’ve just got to put the whole package together. We’re working on quite a bit of stuff right now. We’ll see what happens before the season starts. We’re trying to get some more partners to come and help me out. We’re trying to get some crew together to help make it easier on Amanda and I. Here in the next couple weeks, we should have some things finalized.
“We’ll be ready. We’ll be ready for Florida for sure.”