New look, new number

Hooker Racing breaks tradition for daughter’s idea

By LARRY McFALL, Staff Writer sports@minotdailynews.com
Numbers are a very important entity in sports. In most team sports, players that are used to wearing the same number will cherish and keep that number for as long as they are competing in their respective sport.

The numbers almost become a part of the individual. And in auto racing, the driver’s number is adored by fans who will display their favorite hero with T-shirts, window stickers and other memorabilia. When a driver does change numbers, it seems to throw everyone for a loop.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. driving Dale Jarrett’s 88. Unheard of. Mark Martin not in No. 6, but running the No. 8 car of Earnhardt? Ghastly. When drivers change numbers in the big leagues, it is usually because of a change in the ownership group that the driver is driving for. But why would a local racer from Minot do the same?

Jeff “Hot Foot” Hooker is a local modified driver from Minot, and has been running the number 7X car with a dominant green or black color scheme. So why is he hitting the track with a red No. 95 machine that looks like something out of a movie?

Because it is based on a movie. And, it is the brain child of his 10-year old daughter Taylor.

One of the favorite movies in the Hooker household is Cars, which was an animated movie about a racing legend car named Lightning McQueen. McQueen was a favorite on the racing circuit and was on his way to the big race when he rolled out of his hauler while he was sleeping and ended up in a small town. McQueen ended up having to do some community service before he would be released from town to find his hauler and continue to the big race in the chase for the national point championship.

The story had been viewed over and over again by Taylor and her 4-year old brother Blake, and last fall Taylor approached her dad with the idea to paint next season’s car with the McQueen theme.

“Through the years Taylor has always wanted to have a part in the design of the car,“ Hooker said. “But when she came to me with the idea, I really didn’t give it much thought at first.”

Hooker ran the idea past his pit crew, and the general answer he received is that he couldn’t do that and break tradition. But after hashing it over some more, Hooker decided to give it a shot.

“I realized that changing a number was going to be a huge step, but I decided to do it,“ he said. “I decided to make the change to please my daughter, and I think it scored some brownie points with my wife Cim as well.”

Hooker started his driving career on a part time basis in 1989, filling in for his brother John. John’s car sported the number 51 because of the 1990 movie Days of Thunder, in which Tom Cruise played the part of young upstart racer Cole Trickle.

When Jeff got his own car a few years later, he wanted a single digit number for his car.

“I wanted a single digit number because I couldn’t afford to put on the extra digit on both doors at that time,” joked Jeff.

Hooker settled on number 7, and then in 1998 he added the X when another driver in his division was using the same number. But after those changes, it appeared to Hooker’s fans that the 7X would be around forever.

The new look of the Hooker racing team has already drawn rave reviews, and the season hasn’t even started yet. At the annual show at Dakota Square Mall, the car received many stares from the spectators at the mall. And when the crew took the car out of the mall that weekend, Hooker couldn’t believe all the fingerprints from little kids all over his car.

“There was always someone taking a picture of the car at the mall show,“ Hooker said. “She (Taylor) hit a home run on this one — maybe she will be in advertising some day.”

When Taylor and Blake finally saw the finished product in the garage several weeks ago, Hooker realized by the look on their faces that he had done something for the whole family. He feels that the change has actually brought the family closer together. The look on their faces told him that changing the car scheme was the right choice.

Jeff’s brother Ken used to race and had retired several years ago, but once he saw the new paint scheme he seemed to gain his interest in racing back immediately, and is looking forward to having his grand kids enjoy the car as well.

When asked if it was just a one year deal, Hooker said that he wasn’t sure, but if he wins a few with the new car, don’t look for him to change back soon.

“I’m not a very superstitious guy, but if it changes our luck this year I will probably keep it till the end of my career,“ Hooker said.

“I feel that the time a person has with their kids is like an open window that is going to close eventually, and when it closes they will be grown up and off to do their own things,“ Hooker said. “So I figured that I would stick my foot in the window and try to hold it open a little longer, so maybe later on in life the kids will appreciate dad a little more.”

So when you bring the kids to the races this year, tell them to look for Lightning McQueen.