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Philip Baker, Logan County

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Keep on truckin'

Philip Baker got into the relatively new sport of diesel truck racing on the ground floor.

Baker, a Logan County school board member since 2009, was among an informal group that began getting together in the early 2000s around their common love of diesel trucks. The get-togethers grew into competitions and, eventually, two national racing organizations were formed.

“We’ve been referred to as the freaks of the racing industry. But we’re growing every day, we’re starting to get national spotlight,” said Baker, who works full-time as an engineer for Logan Telephone. He said the diesel performance side – the racing parts and accessories – is a multimillion-dollar business today.

These trucks are not like pricey NASCAR-type vehicles. “This is something that I can take the same truck that I might use on the farm or at work all week, I can take it and race it on the weekend and be back at work on Monday – provided I don’t break anything,” he said.

Baker grew up in a racing family and says this is a natural progression for him. These days, he has minimized his traveling the country for races, instead focusing on promoting the sport through a website he maintains for 46,000 members.

He now drives a 2008 Dodge Ram 2500. If he were racing, he would have a more powerful vehicle, but he’s not willing at this point to spend the kind of money that would require. “I think I’m growing up,” he chuckled.