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Swapping paint is part of auto racing. Drivers racing side by side, bumping and banging to try to get track position.
It can infuriate drivers.
But don’t look for Etna’s Shane Tatro, the current points leader in Speedway 95s Super Street division, to be one of those drivers who loses his cool. Swapping paint is a lot different from what he was doing last year at this time.
He was driving a Humvee in war-torn Mosul, Iraq – a Humvee that contained 133rd Company Army National Guard commander Capt. William Penrod.
The 24-year-old Tatro and his company of engineers were sent to Iraq because there was a shortage of mechanics.
“But they found out about my racing experience so I became the commander’s driver,” said Tatro. “They figured if I could drive a race car, I could drive well enough to protect him.”
One of Tatro’s first orders of business was to reinforce the Humvee.
“It had cheap fiberglass doors so I made some steel doors for it. I also put in some steel floorboards,” said Tatro.
A few months later, the U.S. Government sent them armored kits for the Humvees that were installed by contractors.
“The doors were close to 10 millimeters thick,” explained Tatro.
They came in handy when Tatro’s Humvee hit a roadside bomb.
“It was the loudest bang I’ve ever heard,” said Tatro. “There was smoke, rocks and dirt everywhere. There were pieces of shrapnel inside the truck where it wasn’t protected by steel, but the truck was still driving so I pulled it through the smoke. I made sure the gun truck behind us made it through and then I kept going.
“One of the things they [insurgents] do is try to disable the truck in order to get you to get out to fix it. Then they ambush you,” said Tatro. “I drove forward a mile or so to a safe area [to fix the damage].”
There were trucks with a mounted gunner in front and behind the commander’s Humvee.
He figures he covered around 15,000 miles during his tour of duty as Captain Penrod was a hands-on leader who wanted to be up with his troops, a trait Tatro admires.
“He was very active. He didn’t just sit around and let people do their missions. He liked to be out there to see what was going on,” said Tatro.
That wasn’t the only blast he would hear during his one-year stint in Mosul.
Tatro was in his room, approximately 500 feet away from the mess hall when a suicide bomber entered the mess hall and set off a bomb that claimed 22 lives in December.
“It blew my door open,” said Tatro, who knew two of the victims.
So it’s understandable when Tatro says a little swapping of paint on the racetrack “is definitely not an issue.
“I’ve come to realize that in life, in general, the small things aren’t such a big deal. There’s a lot more serious stuff to worry about,” said Tatro.
By the same token, Tatro’s brother Eric, who helps his brother build race cars and trucks and acts as his crew chief, has noticed a change in Shane since his March return from Iraq.
“He used to drive a lot more cautious. He was really conservative,” said Eric Tatro, who is 27 years old. “Now he’s got the drive to go for it. He does the best he can to win and he takes it to heart if he doesn’t. He has always had fast cars but he would sometimes hand over a top-three finish if someone rubbed him out of the way or slid him up the track. Now he’s ready to rub fenders.”
Eric Tatro thinks a lot of it has to do with the fact his brother missed racing while he was in Iraq.
“He knows he was capable of doing real well last year and he missed it so much. He’s a competitor out there. He really wants it,” said Eric.
“He learned a lot in Iraq. He’s a lot more straight-forward on stuff. He’s more focused on this,” Eric added.
“He’s right about that,” agreed Shane. “I haven’t knocked anyone off the track this season but when there’s a hole [in which to pass], I’ll take it. I desire to be the best and I appreciate having the opportunity to go for it. We used to care about winning trophies for second and third place. But now we just want to win. The winner is the guy who did the best that particular week.”
His love of racing and his close bond with his older brother helped him pass the time in Iraq.
“I would check the Internet daily. I would see how the races went at all the tracks in the state,” said Shane.
Eric said he and Shane each bought computers before he left so they could e-mail each other.
“We’re best friends in addition to being brothers,” said Eric Tatro who has given up his own racing career to run his brother’s team.
The Tatros caught a huge break when the opening of the season at Speedway 95 in Hermon was postponed by rain for five weeks. The car was still being worked on when the season was supposed to open.
“We were lucky. I wasn’t going to run for points this season because we were going to take our time putting the car together. We wanted to do it right,” said Tatro who finds the Camaro a much more comfortable fit for his 6-foot-4 frame than the Humvee.
The rainy spring gave them enough time to properly prepare the car and he has racked up four wins to surge to the front of the points chase.
Eric Tatro said Anthony Thayer has been another key to their success as he has been a valuable crew member.
Although he may be a more aggressive driver these days, Shane Tatro is well-respected by his rivals.
“I love racing with him,” said Prospect’s D.J. Moody. “He’s a good, clean driver. He’ll give you a break when you need a break. He’s a real straight-up guy. It’s awesome what he did in Iraq.”
“He knows when to push it and when not to,” said Bradley’s Deane Smart, his closest pursuer. “If they missed the setup, he’s isn’t going to push it and run into anybody.
“He’s a real good driver and a good guy,” added Smart, who has raced with Tatro for several years.
“He’s a heckuva nice guy. He loves the sport,” said Milford’s Joe Legere.
Tatro began his career racing Enduros before moving up to Super Streets four years ago. He was 10th in points his first season while driving a Chevy Monte Carlo. He switched to a faster Camaro for his second season and finished seventh.
“We had a huge year of bad luck that second year. It was pretty discouraging,” said Tatro, who is originally from Bradford and is a 1999 graduate of Corinth’s Central High School.
He raced only part time the next year as he was going to school full time, earning a business degree from Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor.
Then came his deployment to Iraq.
In his short career, Tatro has already posted wins at four of Maine’s five racetracks.
“We’ve won at every track except Beech Ridge [in Scarborough] and we’ve never raced there,” said Eric Tatro, who works for Greenworks Landscaping in Bangor, one of the team’s sponsors..
Shane Tatro, who is still in the Army Guard and works for the landscaping company D.L. Green Inc., his other primary sponsor, said he still thinks about the troops in Iraq.
He said he was grateful for all the support from the U.S. people and he feels fortunate that the 125 members of the 133rd Company all returned safely.
“We were all happy for that. It was tough over there but we had a good group of guys and we made the best of it. We worked well together,” said Tatro, who is engaged to Jamie Carey.
Now he is working well with his brother and Anthony Thayer as they vie for a points title.
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