Myan taking the checkered flag in his Pro 2.
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Up Close and personal with Myan Spaccarelli.
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Almost everyone has heard of or played with a Tonka Truck while growing up. Could you imagine getting to play with a 900 horsepower Tonka Truck as an adult? Myan Spaccarelli is one of the lucky ones that gets this opportunity. He is the driver of the #12 Tonka Truck Pro 2 in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series. Myan said “I always joke that I have the best fans! Of course most of them are under 12. The truth is Tonka has been around since 1947. Next year will be 70 years so we have people come to the track of all ages telling me there Tonka stories. It’s a lot of fun to be a small part of a brand that has so much legacy.”
With kids being a major part of his life and with having two girls and a boy of his own, he and his wife have lead a Jr. High Church group for the last 15 years. They also have held Christmas parties at the LA County Hospital for Women and Children who are in there over the holidays. He said, “I feel incredibly blessed but it came with a lot of work and sacrifice. I love spreading Tonka’s message about being Tonka Tough and being able to share that with kids these days is a big deal.” He also enjoys sharing the story about how it is to drive in a Pro 2, telling them, “The first time you race a pro-2 you get out and you ask yourself, ‘What the heck just happened’. The whole thing seems like a blur between buckets full of dirt being thrown at you, trucks banging into you, hitting the biggest jumps around and holding your breath the whole time. Once you get a bit used to, if that is even possible, it is a lot of fun.” Myan also describes short course off road racing as a mixture of NASCAR, Supercross, and a boxing match.
Flying through the air with style.
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Sliding through the chicane in Las Vegas.
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Myan missed the last four rounds of racing after starting the season strong and finishing sixth in the first two rounds. For the next two rounds he fell back a little with a pair of ninth place finishes, but still four straight top ten finishes. Myan and the team had big plans for the truck that were in the making for a while, so while there is never really a good time to take time off, there is always a good time to come back. Of course there is no better time to come back then to come back at the track you have been testing the new set ups at. Myan said “It is hard taking time off but we made some good changes to the Toyota engine in our truck and I am excited to see how that works out on race day. We just tested some new Mickey Thompson Tires on the truck at Glen Helen and we put down our fastest laps ever.” Even though Myan was not in his Pro 2 racing, he made sure not to change his practicing routine. Myan tries to drive several laps in his shifter kart weekly to stay racing fit, along with testing and practice in his Pro 2. The more seat time you get, the better you are going to be on race day.
Throwing some dirt with the Tonka Truck.
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Passing out Tonka Trucks to all the fans.
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Myan uses K&N Filters on everything from his shifter kart, cars, and race truck. He said “Dirt, dirt, dirt is not good for race engines. We have not had one incident where dirt made it through out K&N filters. That is very amazing when you figure the truck in front of you has 900 horsepower attached to a tire that is just shoveling dirt your way. Plus we run a yellow K&N filter wrap over our K&N High Flow air cleaner so it makes our Tonka Truck look awesome. I have been running K&N forever. I really wouldn’t even know who else to use. In racing, when something works well, you do not change it.” Even with taking all the time off to make the changes to the truck, one thing that will stay the same are the filters. So check out Myan for his return in Glen Helen, and you will be able to find him in his bright yellow Tonka Truck on the track or walking around with a huge crowd of kids following him.
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