Still involved

You don’t see Chad Little, pedal to the metal, racing around NASCAR Nextel Cup tracks but the Spokane native is still surrounded by horse power.

These days Little, who drove his last competitive race in 2002 but now works for NASCAR, fuels his racing Jones with his son.

“I have not retired,” Little said in a telephone interview from his home in Charlotte, N.C. “It’s in my blood. I race 30-40 times a year with my son; I attend 30-plus races a year for NASCAR; and I make several corporate appearances driving cars for the Richard Petty Driving School. I’ll never retire.”

Just for good measure, in addition, “busting my knuckles” on 10-year old Jesse’s cars.

Daughter Haley, 9, is into horse power, only it’s real horses.

“That’s by design,” Little laughed. “I couldn’t handle two kids in racing. And she’s so competitive, she’d probably beat Jesse and that would cause more problems.”

Little grew up in a Golden Age of Spokane athletics, competing against legends Mark Rypien, Ryne Sandberg and John Stockton. All made the big-time in their sport of choice.

On the way to the major leagues of stock car racing, Little, a 1981 University graduate, won six races at NASCAR’s Busch level and won a regional championship. Though he didn’t win a coveted Nextel race he is very satisfied with his career.

“I’m a very analytical person,” he said. “Racing is a difficult sport to figure out. The most talented driver may never have had the resources to prove his talent or his/her timing is off.

“Racing is expensive and you need the resources and timing to prove your talent. I made the big league and maintained an above average level of performance for over 10 years.”

Little went to work for a NASCAR sister company when he quit competitive driving and three years ago joined NASCAR on the competition side, basically managing the development levels below the Nextel, Busch and Truck levels. There are three different levels, divided by horsepower, weight and driver experience.

“It’s a lot of racing; there’s no shortage of racing in the United States,” Little said. “I’ve been very involved with the Mexican project. I spend a lot of time in Mexico. There are 15 races, similar to the Grand National Series in the United States, but it’s a 100 percent Mexican series.”

Little still has a lot of family in Spokane but doesn’t get home as much as he would like. He does take his family on an annual skiing vacation with Rypien’s family.

He tries to keep up with Spokane-area athletes, though the Gonzaga Law School graduate hasn’t slipped over to a Charlotte Bobcat NBA game to check in on former Bulldogs star Adam Morrison.

“When you’re from a small city you have to stick together,” he said.

Charlotte is a nice place to live, Little said, a sports-crazy town.

“You should see the complex for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Unbelievable,” he said. “It’s an awesome city from that standpoint.”

But?

“I miss the (Spokane) weather,” he added. “The weather in Charlotte is very difficult. It’s awful.”

That doesn’t mean he’ll move anytime soon.

“I don’t know about long-term; long term I see myself on a ski slope with a warm beverage,” Little said. “(But) if you love racing, how can you beat it? It’s a solid company with a good future and I get to work with young drivers.”

Sometimes without leaving home.