When Mike Seat signed on to handle fabrication duties for Championship Off Road Racing (CORR) Pro 4 Champion Carl Renezeder
four years ago, little did he know that he would quickly ascend to the role of crew chief for the entire Team Renezeder organization.
He soon found himself playing the role of "jack of all trades, master of, well, one."
"I still prefer the fabricating," Seat says. "As far as the rest of it goes, I basically figure out how I want to organize
things, and then Brett Repella handles the details because he is better at it than me, just like some of the other guys are
better at wrenching than me. I still oversee everything, but I prefer fabricating. If I had to do a job in the shop, it would
be to fabricate."
Seat got in plenty of it when he and the team built the factory-backed Nissan Pro 2 and the championship-winning Nissan Pro
4 truck that Renezeder drove during the 2006 and 2007 CORR season (the team now runs Ford power). It was during that time
that Renezeder found in Seat someone that he could trust with his entire racing operation, which appears from the outside
to run like a well-oiled machine.
"With Jen [Bissett] and Brett helping, Carl doesn't have to worry about anything," Seat says. "He trusts us with anything
we do, and he trusts me with any decisions I have to make on the truck. And he's such a good guy and a good driver. Everyone
on this team gets along really well. People visit our shop, it seems like we're always clowning around." That's hardly the case. CORR racing is a tough business, and Seat admits that his job can be very nerve-racking at times.
"The hardest thing is that the competition is so stiff now," Seat says. "We used to be able to go to the races, unload and
be really close. Just a few minor changes to the truck and we would be the fastest or really close to the fastest. Now it
seems like sometimes we go to the track and really have to scratch our heads and make some significant changes to make the
truck faster or make Carl more comfortable because everyone has really stepped it up. Sometimes it is really stressful. You
either get it right, or you don't get a good finishing position."
So far this season, it seems as though Renezeder's trust in Seat appears to remain well placed. Renezeder has scored two Pro
2 wins and four Pro 4 wins to remain in the hunt for both CORR titles. If not for a couple ill-timed collisions and a terrible
run of bad luck with blown tires, Renezeder might be running away with both championships right now. Certainly that is Seat's
goal, but if the team nets one title a year, that's good too.
"Winning a championship means everything," Seat says. "This is what we do for a living. This is not just a hobby, so there
is more than just pride on the line here. If we can't keep a good truck under Carl, then he'll have to find someone who will,
so it has to be that way. We strive for wins and championships on this team, and we have the passion to see it through. We
make it happen."
