Recently I hooked up with Jeremy Clements, the driver of the Jeremy Clements Racing No. 51 Chevy from Spartanburg, SC, to do a phone interview. In spite of his fifth place finish at Darlington, Clements was able to cut out about 30 minutes of his time to sit down and answer my questions.
What follows is a very interesting conversation delving into a few issues, examining Jeremy’a racing history, as well as exploring some interesting aspects of what makes him tick!
Leon Hammack, Working On My Redneck: Jeremy, as we dip our toes into this interview, can you just give the readers an idea of how you got into racing?
Jeremy Clements: Well, my whole family has been in racing their whole lives. My grandfather, Crawford Clements, and his brother, Louis Clements, were in NASCAR back in the 50s and 60s. They only did some races and actually Louis won a race by 1960. So those are the ones that started our family off in racing. Both had a lot of success, and worked with a lot of big name drivers from Buck Baker to Cale Yarborough through the years. There’s a long list of people that they worked with early on in their racing career.
So anyway, they are the ones who got me started racing. My grandfather got me a racing go kart for Christmas when I was seven. He started taking me and my brother, Jason, to the local go kart dirt track. Also I was always around the shop, getting in the way, and always being around race cars ever since I was a baby. So racing has always been in our family.
Leon Hammack, Working On My Redneck: That is very interesting. So racing, has been in your family’s blood and lifestyle for decades?
Jeremy Clements: Oh yes,
Leon Hammack, Working On My Redneck: You happen to be involved with some pretty big names like Buck Baker and Cale Yarborough, historic figures in early NASCAR. That’s pretty cool.
Jeremy Clements: Yes sir, we’ve been around a long time. Also back then my dad and my uncle raced. And like I said, I was going to racetracks with them as a little kid.
WOMR: Okay, you said you started out in go karting. How many years did you race in that level?
JC: I probably raced go karts from the age of seven to twelve. And I think when I first a race car I was roughly 13 years old. I started racing cars at Cherokee Speedway. We raced there from 99 through 2001. After that time we raced a super late model in 2002. We won a lot of races there. Later I got into ARCA racing through Kirk Shelmerdine. We were doing the engines for him (Jeremy’s father, Tony, owns Clements Racing Engines). We kind of made a deal with him to go to Talladega in 2002 and race there. So yeah, just one thing led to another on different things. That’s how I moved up through the ranks.
WOMR: Do you have any idea how many wins you had in go karts.
JC: Oh my goodness I definitely won a bunch! I don’t have a frickin clue, which is sad.
WOMR: Can I help you out? I read you won 47 races. Does that sound right?
JC: Yeah, I think it’s hard to remember. That sounds good to me.
WOMR: So it sounds like when you unloaded at the race track, you were the boy to beat!
JC: I definitely was the guy to beat in race cars, as well. The last year we ran in the dirt, within six days we won two big races. One race paid $12,000 to win, and the next race paid $16,000! Wow, that was a hell of a good six days, $28,000!
WOMR: You got any idea how many of those stock car modified races you won?
JC: Yeah, we won a bunch of those it was way up there!
WOMR: Would 59 be the right number?
JC: It sounds close. Yes sir,
WOMR: It sure appears that you were winning races at every level that you competed in back in those days.
JC: Thank you. Yeah, it was cool. I wish I could go back and relive those days. To be honest with you, it went by so fast and I was having so much fun with it. So I’d like to go back and relive some of that, the good times when I won races, enjoying those times a little more. I have had a lot of fun for sure. It’s just a different kind of fun and different kind of level of stress that you deal with now, versus back in those days. But, you know, in those days I was working to this level, to NASCAR.
WOMR: I don’t know if you want to talk about it, but I read about the injury to your right hand. You want to talk about it, what all happen, and how the heck you got through it?
JC: In 2004 we were racing somewhere in Tennessee, a five eighth mile dirt track, and the track was rough as crap. We ended up getting a rock through the oil tank and that messed it up. The car was just beaten up. Anyway, we got home really late in the morning the next day. We’re gonna race the next day in Winston Salem, North Carolina, at 311 Motor Speedway. It was one of those deals where we just a bad day, and we had so much work to do.
We got to the track late, missed practice, and qualified badly. We’re running mid-pack, and for us that was bad. We were used to always running up front. But something in the drive shaft broke. Somehow a part of it came in the car and destroyed my right hand and my arm. I just pulled off the side of the track, and noticed that I bleeding everywhere badly. Luckily I was able to get out of the car, but after exiting the car, I just fell down. They got me to the hospital, and by the grace of God, I still had my hand and my arm. Initially they wanted an amputate my arm. The medical people were like, there’s not much here we can do with it.
So, it was a bad deal for sure. The doctor said it was like a bomb went off on my hand and arm. The first surgery was about eight hours or so. Then I was in the hospital for three weeks while they did a skin graft from my side. Basically, the doctors attached my hand to my side and my stomach area for for a month. Throughout the whole next year there was total of 10 surgeries and tons of physical therapy.
There was no racing in that year for me, even though I had a five race deal with another Xfinity team that year. That all went away and it was a really bad time for me. I was only 19 or 20, I didn’t know what was happening and it was really hard to get through.
It was one of those deals where it’s like, why is this happening to me?
WOMR: Did you ever think that your racing career was over?
JC: Oh yeah, many times. But I was just trying to stay strong. My faith with the good Lord was able to get through it somehow. Every time I get in a race car I definitely say a prayer before firing the engine. I thank Him for the opportunity to race!
WOMR: Was it an explosion or did it just come apart?
JC: Yeah, I was going down the back straightaway and it was just a loud boom. And then I remember my car just kind of wiggling and not driving right. I remember that I looked down, I saw my hand and I was like, oh my God, this is really bad! Obviously, I got out of the way of the other race cars and moved up the track to the wall. That is when the pain started to hit me. I was like, what in the hell just happened? This is really bad! I got out and I just collapsed.
I remember that ride to the hospital was terrible because the pain was phenomenal. They can’t do anything for me. All they did was strap me down I’m yelling and screaming. It was just terrible.! So, when I got there (the hospital) they finally knocked me out. Oh, my God. Wow. It was amazing whatever they gave me!
Yeah, I woke up next day, and like man, where am I and what is happening? It was so bad for a time, for sure.
WOMR: It’s amazing that you have the ability that you have in that arm and hand, considering how badly damaged you said it was . That you can go out and wrestle a 3400 lb. racecar for 300 miles, that’s impressive.
WOMR: What is your interest away from the racetrack? What do you like to do when you’re not at the racetrack?
JC: I like to do about anything, to be honest. I’m always looking for an adrenaline rush. So I’m trying to stay in shape, obviously for racing, and for my own well being. I’ll go to the park, run three or four miles in that range, and then go home.
I like my charcoal grill, so I’ll probably make some good food on my grill later. I love to grill. One of my favorites is to grill ribeye steak, grill shrimp on the side, some corn on the cob, and a sweet potato works for me. I put it all on the grill, start smoking that corn and sweet potato. And I bought a great thermometer that tells you in two seconds what the temp is so you can really get that medium rare pretty easily!
I will play some Xbox maybe later with my friends, and do some iRacing. With the race at COTA (Circuit of the Americas) coming up, I can use my Xbox memorize that track. I like to go on vacation and see the world. I like doing different things like that. We just went to Myrtle Beach, a couple weeks ago and went deep sea fishing.
I love going to amusement parks, and I like water rafting. Like I said, anything that can get that adrenaline going. I’m always ready to have some fun. If somebody calls me and wants to do something, I’m good.
WOMR: Jeremy if you weren’t a racecar driver what would you be doing to pay the bills? What would be your profession?
JC: I don’t know. I’ve gotten that question a lot. There’s nothing I’m really passionate about as much as I am about racing. Ever since I was a little kid, I have loved racing. I would really have to go to the drawing board for that one. I really, really don’t know. I guess I would be an Uber driver. I loved to go on cruises before COVID. I’ve been to Aruba, Hawaii, Alaska, a bunch of places on cruises. I might do an excursion rental place, you know, where I’m the guy you got to follow.
WOMR: All right, now we’re gonna have a little bit of fun. Obviously, you’re in South Carolina. Are you an ACC boy or an SEC boy for football?
JC: Oh man, you’re gonna be mad. I’ll go for Clemson.
WOMR: So that was my next question you just answered!
JC: Yeah, so I would go with Tigers just because my brother, sister and I love them more. My family loves them more than the Gamecocks.
WOMR: Okay, next question. Rock n’ roll or country music?
JC: Yeah definitely, I listen to hard rock a lot. I’m a Sirius XM, subscriber. There’s a channel on there called Octane I like a lot. They do play a lot of things I like, then they play some heavy stuff that maybe I don’t care for. It’s like a buffet, you’re not gonna like everything they have, right? That’s my favorite channel to listen to. Growing up, I was a country boy because I heard it just about all the time at the shop. My grandfather played the old country songs. They’re ingrained in my head. I don’t really like the new country stuff. No, I’m a hard rock fan!
WOMR: Well, what’s the hardest part of your job?
JC: Finding sponsorship!
Being a small team, I’m the one that’s searching for sponsorship. I’m gonna say I’m doing 95-98% of it, to be honest with you. So I deal with all our partners, potential partners, I’m writing emails, answering questions, ordering suits, crew shirts, and all that stuff. So that’s probably the part that takes a lot of my time. We don’t have people to do that for this team. So, I’m just trying to grab the horns myself, and take control of that part.
WOMR: You must be doing a good job, I do see more names on your car now than I did three years ago!
JC: Yeah, for sure. I hope it just keeps going that way! With more funding we can get better equipment, keep newer cars, and newer stuff all the time. That is definitely my goal, I promise you that.
WOMR: What was it like when you won Road America? Did any of your family record that race for you?
JC: That was a phenomenal day. Nobody recorded that race, Well, you can just go to YouTube and go back watch replays. But that week I was so busy. I remember we had a shop party and I had so many interviews. You know, we had a race next week, so I was extremely busy work, I don’t know if I even got to watch TV that way.
WOMR: But that was a good busy right?
JC: Oh yeah it was a busy that I don’t mind. It was amazing day, to say the least, It was probably the best day ever in my life. Or it would probably be right up there near the top.
WOMR: If you were out having dinner with your wife and some friends, somebody recognizes you, he/ she comes up to your table and asked for your autograph, is that okay?
JC: Oh yeah. That happens a lot. I don’t mind. I’m a very friendly person and outgoing. I don’t mind at all talking to people and doing whatever. So yeah, I’m ok with that.
WOMR: On the racetrack my question is, what’s your “middle finger policy”. What does it take for you to let somebody know they are number one with you?
JC: Yeah, I’ve definitely done it. I would say driving like they just have no respect, doing stupid things. If I’m waiting, if I’m trying to get by, and you’re just blocking me, that will anger me. I’m a clean driver, but I’m also very aggressive, so I won’t move you until I have to. If I move you, you’re gonna get the middle finger. That being said, my patience are getting lower as I get older!
WOMR: What’s your favorite track? Which one do you circle and say I can’t wait till I get there.
JC: I would have to say Bristol. Bristol is one of the tracks that I love. I also really like Road America! That’s another one I circle that just because it’s a fun road course that’s very technical and has high speed.
WOMR: I know you’re not an old man. But what are you most proud of?
JC: I guess winning at Road America. You know we are a small team and that was a huge accomplishment for me. So yeah, that’s definitely still my biggest accomplishment that I’m definitely most proud of. Mainly because any NASCAR series race is really hard win, Road America was special. The competition is really keen so I’m definitely the most proud of winning at Road America.
WOMR: You’ve shown that you can run with the big dogs! I’m sure you’ve heard the saying before, “if you can’t run with the big dogs, stay up on the porch. Your team doesn’t sit up on the porch.”
JC: Yeah, that’s exactly right.
WOMR: It is quite impressive to see small budget teams, like yours, out running with “The Big Dogs” each and every week!
JC: Yeah, there’s no question we got a small group here. Our shop of four or five guys work extremely hard to race all these races all year long, from coast to coast. The workload is definitely a lot less, in my opinion, for most of the big guys. Even though they build their own race cars they have many, many more employees than we do. If our race car gets torn up, it takes a lot for us to get them rebuilt. First off, we don’t have that many race cars, so we know we can’t afford to tear them up.
As I eluded to above, Jeremy and his race team have no intention of “sitting up on the porch”! No, the Clements boys are most definitely out “running with the big dogs” each week!
Now that you have read this interview with Jeremy Clements, I hope that you got a good understanding of this man’s desire and determination to race competitively, in spite of what was a catastrophic injury as a teenager Not only did he traverse through ten surgeries over a one year period, he set his mind to recuperating, getting back into the cockpit of his race car, and being a competitive race car driver at the top levels of NASCAR.
In spite of being a small budgeted family team, Clements continues to “run with the big dogs” at the Xfinity races week in and week out. Last weekend at Darlington, “the track too tough to tame”, Clements left the track with a fifth place in the Steakhouse Elite 200, and the paycheck to go with it in his hip pocket!
Keep your eyes on the Jeremy Clements Racing No. 51 Chevy this season! You may find this team racing against “the big dogs” in the playoffs!
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
