Racecar Driver, William Sawalich, Talks Racing and Hearing Protection

As up-and-coming NASCAR driver William Sawalich prepares for his first Xfinity race, he sits down with Dave and his dad, Brandon, to talk about his racing career and why he’s passionate about hearing protection, especially at his young age. It’s a loud sport, and as we observe Protect Your Hearing Month this October, we hope this episode offers motivation to make hearing protection a priority. 

To learn more about Starkey’s industry-leading hearing protection product, SoundGear, visit SoundGear.com.

Link to full transcript.

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SPEAKER_02 0:01

Welcome to a special episode of Starky Soundbites. October is Protect Your Hearing Month, and I can think of no one better than William Swalage to come back on the Soundbites podcast. You were here a year ago. And welcome back, William. Thank you, appreciate it. It's been a heck of a year for you. Yeah, for sure. William, for those of you who are unaware, is a rising star in motorsports racing. He came here last year when he was returning to Elko. And for those who are interested in the backstory of William's racing career, I would encourage you to go back and look at a past episode of Soundbites from last year, and you'll hear about. You know, I'm proud to say that I've known you since you were known as the raging rooster. Now you've all grown up and you're William William Swalitz racing. So uh yeah, but last year was really quite a year for you, uh, ending up with you becoming the youngest winner of the All-American 400 race.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Yeah, for sure. I mean, last year was a really good year. We had seven or eight total wins in the ARCA platform. Uh so that was really good for us, builded a lot of confidence for this year and just going in any race this year. We obviously knew we could win. Uh, and my Jacobs racing team had a really good car for me anywhere I went, so I had a lot of confidence in them to bring me a car that I could win in. Uh, and like you said, the All-American 400, that was a really cool win, a milestone. Uh beat out. LC Ellie, I was just about to say.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

Daryl Waltrip went one in the past too. Yep, beat them out. And you were the youngest winner of that race ever.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Yeah, you wanted that one. Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Yeah, yeah. It was kind of a spectacular finish, too, as I remember watching it that uh the top eight cars spun out due to uh oil in the track. Yeah, oil on the track.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

And two years prior to that, I got a concussion in that same race when I was about to win it. Same turn, too. Yeah, same turn. Uh so it was kind of a little redemption.

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

So it felt really good.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

I love it. I love it. And you picked up right where you left off last year. You've won six times this year already in this season. And um, you're also running now uh truck series. Yes. That seems to me like, okay, first question is trucks or cars? What's more fun?

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Uh so I mean it depends on the driver, and you get to go to different tracks in the trucks. Uh so the trucks have a different tire compound, so it's more grip, and they got more horsepower. So I always say more horsepower, more fun.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

Yeah, no replacing displacement in horsepower.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

For sure. Uh, but they also have a higher standard of gravity, so they'll roll over in the corner a little bit more compared to the ARCA car. So they just handle a little different, uh, but it's really based off of feel and what each driver might like. Uh, but for me, I'd like the ARCA car a lot. I mean, it's just got all the down force you want, and you can push it really hard and the tires don't wear away. So it's just it's just a really fun car to drive.

SPEAKER_02 2:41

Yeah, and it's beautiful. And and the gentleman sitting to your right uh really doesn't need any introduction given that he's now a six-time guest on some bikes. Uh the first six-time guest. Brandon, welcome. Thank you, Dave. And uh this is a fun one. Yeah, and they had an unveiling here on the Starkey campus of the number 18 car, which we you've been racing, but also the number 19 car. So when you turn 18 uh in October, um, you will now be able to race in the Xfinity series. Yes. And so that car, the first of all, the wrap or paint or wrap, I mean, I know they're all wraps these days, but the the paint job on it is spectacular. I love the camel on the number 19. Right. And uh talk a little bit about what happens in the difference in horsepower between the 18 and the 19 car when you go up to Xfinity.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

So the 18 is the ARCA car, and that's got about 550 horsepower. Um, and it's it's restricted sometimes, like that at the bigger tracks. It'll get restricted a little bit on horsepower. Uh, but the Xfinity car is about 650 or 700 horsepower, so a big bump up in horsepower. Uh, but the same, almost the same compound and tire as the truck. So it's got the Goodyear tires on it compared to the general tires, um, and a lot less down force. So it's just a lot more to handle in the corner, uh, and you have kind of less to lean on. Yeah. Uh, so you got to do a little more as a driver.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Yeah. Well, and you've certainly shown. I mean, Brandon, I don't know, you want to add in on this, but I I remember I was in um at a at a at a at a work meeting, and we remember we simulcast his his first race uh in ARCA last year that was in Phoenix, right? That your first win, not your first race. Yes. And um, and you led most of the way, but then at the end of that race, um got spun out in the first time. Yes, and and I have to say, what I've seen in the maturity between last year and this year has been remarkable because the thing that impresses me the most is like you almost always are right at the top, finishing at the pole position for the start or near the top. So you really know how to find a line on any track that you're racing. But last year, you know, you'd be out front and then you got bumped and rubbing is racing, I think, as as we learn. And and what I've seen this year is you've gotten into it a lot more.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Yeah, he's more, my opinion, more aggressive. I mean, and it that comes with experience.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:02

More of an aggressive. And I get asked, you know, Phoenix or wherever, you know, do I get nervous and everything? It's like I believe in his skills and what his talent is. It's uh I think kind of like everybody else, you know, when you're driving normally, you it's it's you know, you're worried about others. Yeah, yeah. But and and you know, with with him, and it's really what you always talk about is the team, you know, getting out there and being able to be out front and getting at the top. And it takes a team, and I've learned a lot just by of course being around it, because you think, you know, Talladega nights and go down the list, right? Just get it go fast.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

It's it's like chess, it's strategy. It's it's really is you know, it is so much more. And what he's been able to do uh and continues to do is just you know mind-boggling to me as a dad.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

But in and and Brandon, you're fond of saying, don't worry about the competition, let them worry about you. But I think what happened between last year and this year is you've learned you do have to you you have to be aware of the competition. Last year I would say, I don't know whether it's um unfair to say, I mean, Jesse Love was sort of your nemesis last year.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

It seems like you guys were always back and forth.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

And you need that just in your business, you gotta push.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

I was just gonna ask, did Jesse Love make you better?

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, he made me want to go get that win more and just honestly beat him just to show that I was better and faster. Um, and we had our few run-ins, and that just fueled the fire for me to really dig deep and go get him.

SPEAKER_02 6:27

Yeah, I've I've I've really seen uh now you're back at Elko trying to get. I mean, I I remember when you used to race cars at the age of nine, ten, eleven um in Minnesota here, and now you're coming back looking for that first victory on the Arca series.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I started racing the Legend cars at Big Elko and then Little Elko. Yeah, and Little Elko and the quarter midgets. That's where I started when I was nine. Uh, I have never raced uh full body stock car at the big track uh since last year in the Arca car. So that was the first time I was there in a full-body stock car, and that was a little bit different from what I remember from that tiny legend car. So that was a big change for me, but nonetheless, I mean it's pretty much all the same in what I remember.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

And it's kind of cool to see you come back home and race on that track in front of the home crowd. Yes. Now, uh what I want to do is transition a little bit uh from the racing itself really into uh the observance of uh Protect Your Hearing Month, October. Yep. And you know, sometimes you look at sponsorships between a corporate and some sort of sporting event or whatever, and you say, where's that connection? But this is a noisy industry that you're in. And uh I know because I've measured the sound level in or near the car when it's running at pretty high RPMs.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:39

And I know that it makes it difficult, number one, to communicate with your crew when you're racing.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that communication part of everything is huge in racing. You know, you've got a spotter up top, and you got your crew chief. There's so much information that the driver needs. Uh, for example, like the spotter will tell me where the other cars on the track are compared to me, uh, tell me what lap times I'm running. So that all plays a huge role in how I run a race. Uh, and I also need to communicate to my crew chief what's going on with the car and how he can make it better. Um, so it's just a bunch of little things that if you miss out on, like that can be a win or loss in a race.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

For sure. And and even just being in tune without the communication, in tune with the car, even though you're wearing protection, you still have to hear where you are in the power band, where to shift, yep. Uh any other noises going around, the spatial awareness. You because you don't have windows in these cars. You've got to know um where it is that the your competition is.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Yeah, absolutely. And even on restarts, like you're starting side by side and you can hear the other car's noise, and you know when he's firing. So it just gives you an extra indication of when to go. And so you're just not really guessing.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Yeah, for me, I mean, I think that's been kind of an education for me as I learn more and more about car racing. I think one of the secret sauces of NASCAR is, and I've seen where you've been ahead massively, and then if there's a spin out or some reason for a yellow flag, everyone just joins up again, you go back in and start again. And so that ability to hear what the con what the competitors are doing as they're coming off the yellow back to uh to start racing again is important. Right. And every millisecond counts. It has the advantage. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

And the other thing is it's helped, you know, sound gear on the car has caused the conversation. Yes. More than I thought. I mean, I knew it would bring, you know, awareness to the product, but more the protection of healthy hearing. Yeah. And uh, you know, when I talk to people um, you know, now it's usually yes about Starkey, but you know, it's how's William doing and then you know, sound gear.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

I mean, it's uh, you know, I used to, you know, William, you know, oh, you're Brandon's son. No, I'm William's, you know, uh, you know, I'm William's dad now. And that's you know, any kind of as we've talked about, that's the greatest compliment a parent could get. But um it's whether it's in um DC and other industries, it's brought awareness to what products are out there that could help.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

Yeah, and and I'll tell you. And winning helps.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

I mean, meaning getting out there, it's it's awesome. And the team and everything, yes.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

I mean, it is raising awareness within the general population. Then the second part I'll say, having had the opportunity to go down and meet some of your competition and some of your team, test their hearing, talk a little bit about the importance of hearing. Yeah, I've always been impressed with you. Ever since you were this high and playing the drums, you were you were aware of the importance of preserving your hearing. You were wearing hearing protection when you were this tall, yeah, playing drums. Yeah, not many kids are, including this one. So you started wearing protection before you had to wear these. Exactly. I I did I'm not that smart, and I had to learn the hard way. And so, you know, that's one thing. But I was also impressed at, well, first of all, measuring seeing hearing loss in some some of your contemporaries, 17, 18, 19 years of age, but also after talking to them about a little bit about the importance of hearing, that the fact that the damage that occurs is permanent, yeah, how quickly they were like, okay, I gotta do something about that. And they they got it, and even if they had a little bit of loss, it still is important now at this tender age to make sure that you're protecting your hearing all the time. So in the race car, communicating with the team, listening to the car. How about when you're training? I've seen your training facility at Hot Room, and I know you you have devices, custom devices that you can wear while you're working out, but it's important that you not overdo it either.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, uh going back to hearing protection, I've always been around it. That's what I've known my whole life. So I knew it was a smart thing to do is to protect my hearing so I don't have any problems later on. And I feel like another big misconception is that you get hearing loss when you're older. Yeah. I mean, I don't think many people know that you can get it when you're younger. I mean, obviously loud sounds can cause damage for a few days, but they don't know that it can affect you long term.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

So that's something that I would always know growing up and that my mom and dad reminded me of.

SPEAKER_02 12:01

Yeah, and and you're absolutely right. People only always think of it as only something that affects old people. But here um age and noise, they're almost, you know, inextricably intertwined. As you get older, you've listened to more loud sounds throughout your life. And it's important, even starting now, to do that hearing protection. So I know you know, streaming, but streaming at levels that are not extreme. Um, and then also using the protection when you're not racing and you're just out in the pit area or you're watching someone else race.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

And then we've been able to provide, you know, you have the protection, and then they realize they have a hearing loss. I mean, yeah, whether it's race fans, um you know, team members, they've been around it for so long, and we've been able to educate them on solutions because you know they don't know what they're missing out. It just gradually comes upon, and then you know, 10, 20, 30 years. And so we've been able to educate on uh product and solutions, and you know, it's racing's a small community per se down in you know North Carolina, and all the teams know each other, and they want the best because everybody wants you know the edge, yeah. That that edge for uh the competitive uh advantage on protection, sound quality, and then just throughout the week so they could hear.

SPEAKER_02 13:13

Yeah, well, and and and like following up on that, a lot of times when I talk about the fact that that Starkey has this sound gear division, first people look at me a little crazy, like, why would a hearing aid company want to protect or prevent hearing loss?

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Well, I hear that a lot too, because what, one in six teenagers have a hearing loss? Have measurable hearing loss. I hear that too. Like, oh, well, you're in the great business. Like, I don't want to make money off somebody's misery or that. I mean, so what's the solutions we can do up front to help people?

SPEAKER_02 13:42

There's plenty of plenty of work to go around, yeah, uh, given that the adoption rate for hearing aids is roughly you know a third of the people, let's say, uh, that have hearing loss do something about it. And so if we can prevent some of that loss due to noise exposure, I think it's it's a great, it's a win for everything, and it's a win-win. The the partnership and the sponsorship, I think, has been fantastic. I don't know if you have anything to add.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

No, it really has, because we've been introduced to a lot of other companies that are partners uh with Joe Gibbs Racing, and just being able to collaborate and idea share, but also how we can you know provide uh employee benefits in with hearing aids and starky hearing aids to to their employees. So it's it's really worked um, quite frankly, uh, you know, exceed my expectation a lot more than I was expecting. So especially, you know, I mean, talk to you, you mentioned the Jim, you know, he's maybe we should go uh you know do a workout with him or two. I've seen some of those videos. I don't think I could even come close to keeping up. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

I mean, and and and and you're you're doing that all the time. And and I know a lot of people do stream, but people your age need to recognize that if you're streaming, even with custom monitors or or AirPods or whatever, that you got to listen at a level that is safe because you can be essentially and what I've done in some places is ask people if I could just take their AirPods out with the what they're listening at and measure the level. Yeah, sometimes it's equivalent to the level of a factory worker.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Well, Jim, he's been an ambassador, I mean, for Sound Gear um unofficially, just by people asking, hey, what's that? And so, you know, it's uh it's been a win-win for everybody.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Yeah. Well, and uh, you know, I I think that this sponsorship, if there's anything else you have to add uh of why it is that we started this way, but I think that raising awareness is the most important thing. Yeah, protecting your own son's hearing is important. And uh and then I think um really seeing uh your success has been a joy for everyone at Starkey and in the larger community as well. Absolutely. So since I have father and son here, then when you guys go out for a ride, who drives usually?

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Uh usually him. I was gonna say you answer. Yeah, yeah, I think it's just by uh I drove one or two times.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

What's a dad? Always a dad. Yeah, that's the thing.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

It's just naturally, but you know, sometimes I'll let him. But yeah, I can I know what to expect, you know. Or I uh apprehensive.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

He knows his way around town better than me.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

Okay, so then when I'm in North.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

The nice thing about living in Eden Prairie, Minnesota for people that don't live here, is if you get lost, just keep driving. It's built in circles, and all you gotta do is just go left and just keep going. It's a little bit like a big NASCAR track. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

So maybe you But when I'm in North Carolina, I let him drive. He drives me around. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

All right, fair enough. And uh, you know, the other thing I was gonna say, you've only had your license for about a year, year and a half, right? Um two years now. Have you um have you had any speeding tickets?

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Nope, no speeding tickets.

SPEAKER_02 16:40

So you know where you gotta gas it and when you gotta pay the not that I gas it. Okay, yeah, okay, okay, good. Well, your dad's here too.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

So you gotta keep your superpower on the track is what I tell you.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

Well, I can't thank you enough for being here with us uh in commemoration of Protect Your Hearing Month. And like I said, I I watch to see when you're racing that you got those monitors in all of the time. Because one of the things that I hated, another occupation that uh places people at risk for hearing loss is musicians. And a lot of times in the early days, I would see the musicians' plugs would be on their on their uh shoulder instead of in their ears. And in these cars where the level is often 120, 130 decibels when you're in the cockpit, that can cause instantaneous damage.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

And what he's doing amongst amongst other younger athletes too is you know, he's eliminating that stigma.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Helping eliminate that stigma, having something in your ears.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

So well, keep up the great work. Good luck this weekend. Thank you, appreciate it. I wish you all the success and continued success. Hometown. Yes, hometown win. Let's go. Absolutely, let's do it. So thank you for uh listening to this special episode for protect your hearing, wear hearing protection if you are in noisy environments. Like this if you uh enjoyed this conversation. Please uh feel free to send us an email at soundbites at Starkey.com with suggestions for future content. But otherwise, uh rubbing is racing. We'll look forward to seeing and hearing you again soon. And thank you, William, and thank you, Brandon, for joining us.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

Take care.