FORESTVILLE — Jasen Geesaman has probably never met Michael Waltrip, but if anyone could relate to Waltrip, it might be Geesaman.
After all, Waltrip not only owns NASCAR Sprint Cup teams, but occasionally gets behind the wheel himself.
It’s hardly the same level, but Geesaman is also juggling the roles of team owner and driver in a full-time routine.
So when Big Diamond Speedway promoter Jake Smulley considered the resurrection of the street stock division for the 2015 season, he knew where to go.
“Jake actually messaged me to see how many cars we had,” Geesaman said.
Owner of three street stocks and co-owner of another, the Lebanon resident was happy to bring all of those cars and drivers to the Schuylkill County oval.
“I want them all to be here to support this and keep Jake bringing us back,” Geesaman said. “Because I like it here and it’s only half an hour from home.”
Geesaman owns the No. 818 driven by Tyler Stump and the No. 18 piloted by Chris Derr, who works at Geesaman’s service center, Jasen’s Automotive. Geesaman also is co-owner of the No. 181 with its driver, Butch Helsel.
And then there is the No. 81, which Geesaman himself has driven to the Big Diamond points lead.
“The car that I race is the very first street stock I had, and it will be the fourth year I’ve been running it,” he said.
“All of my 4-cylinder stuff paid for that car to go racing my first year.”
Since he began racing 12 years ago, Geesaman, 32, is former star in the 4-cylinder stock ranks with dozens of wins at several speedways.
Along the way, Geesaman has found a way to stay viable in a challenging business.
“If you buy good stuff in the beginning, when you go to sell it, you’ll get your money back,” he said. “Everybody says it’s a losing sport or there’s no money in it. They’re wrong if you buy real good stuff.
“Everything we’ve sold over the years has been the best product I’ve put on the car. I had no problems selling it and getting my money back.”
Geesaman, a father of two girls, says he finds deals with race teams looking to get out of the sport.
“They struggle with it and they give up on it,” Geesaman said. “I’ll buy it, put some good stuff on it. We’ll win with the car and we’ll sell the car.”
Some of those wins come from Geesaman himself.
He said he got his start as a racer by learning from Bill Sherwood, a former 4-cylinder stock standout at Linda’s Speedway in Jonestown.
“I would look at the car, ask him questions,” he said. “Two years later, I brought a car out. I won my first year. The second year out in the car, I won 17 times — and Bill won three.”
Since then, Geesaman has turned to the street stocks, a move that he thinks others at Big Diamond should follow.
“I think it gives good opportunity for some of these roadrunner guys that have been in it forever. It’s time for some of those guys to move up,” he said. “You’ve got the same five guys in that roadrunner class, and then the rest of the guys learning and running together.
“I think it’s time that maybe they move up where there is some competition and a little more equal playing field with driving skills.”
So far, only Pottsville’s Jeremy Becker, the defending roadrunner track champion, has moved into a street stock, but Geesaman said he is willing to help others.
“I give information all of the time, maybe not all of the information, but enough that they can get the cars around,” he said.
He saves the rest of that information for himself.
“We come to win or break, one of the two,” he said. “I’d rather win or be on the hook. I don’t like finishing second. I don’t like finishing second to my own car.
“Wherever we go, we’re going there headstrong to win somehow, some way.”
That includes Saturday nights at Mechanicsburg’s Williams Grove Speedway, where Geesaman is second in street stock points this season to Auburn’s Jeff Haag.
Haag has only been to Big Diamond once in 2015, where Geesaman won three straight features at one point.
But Geesaman said his season at Big Diamond will be more meaningful if the track can field a full field of street stocks weekly.
“We have had 19 different guys that have raced here on a Friday,” he said. “If everybody could get their schedules straight, we’d have a heck of a feature.”
Today’s races
Where: Big Diamond Speedway, Forestville
When: 8:15 p.m. Gates open at 5:45 p.m.
Program: Schuylkill Mall Night for 358 modifieds, United Racing Club sprints and roadrunners (make-up feature from June 12, regular feature)
Admission: Adult general admission, $15; senior citizens, $13; active military with identification and children ages 12 and under, free.