Ask Frey, the laid-back tire specialist for the Mark Richards Racing Enterprises No. 1 team and driver Josh Richards, how he manages to always sport bright white sneakers on his feet despite working in a decidedly dirty environment, and it’s clear he doesn’t think his footwear’s impeccable appearance is a big deal.
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| Frey shows off his trademark white Nikes |
“There’s no secret to keeping ‘em clean,” Frey says of his size-10 Nike sneaks. “You just take the air hose and blow off the dirt, and in the morning I wipe ‘em down. Not too difficult.”
But it’s obviously an issue for Frey’s fellow World of Outlaws travelers. You won’t find any other crew member or driver walking around the pits with kicks as consistently sparkling as Frey’s.
“There’s only one guy in the pits who can keep his shoes that clean, and that’s Jimmy,” said Randall Edwards, who serves as Darrell Lanigan’s chief mechanic. “There’s no way I could wear white shoes at the racetrack like Jimmy does.”
Frey would have it no other way. A veteran dirt Late Model crewman known for his tire-preparation expertise, white shoes are his trademark. He simply likes the color and takes pride in maintaining them with as much care as a Hoosier right-rear.
“When I get up I put clean everything else on, so why would I not put clean shoes on?” Frey asks rhetorically. “Why would I put clean feet and clean socks into nasty-ass shoes? We might be at a dirt track, but you still want to look respectable.”
Frey always brings two pairs of white sneakers with him on every road trip – one to wear while working at the track, the other for off-track excursions like visits to restaurants. He says he goes through “probably five or six pair a year.”
And what happens on the occasions when an especially muddy pit area leaves his sneakers slightly off-white even after a thorough scrubbing? Well, he has a contingency plan.
“He changes shoestrings – a lot,” says Matt Barnes, the car chief for the Richards team. “Believe me, changing shoestrings makes a difference.”
“It’s like putting new plastic on an old body,” quips Frey, explaining the renewing effect of fresh shoestrings. “It brings the shoes back to life a little bit, so I always have a few extra pairs with me.”
