Courtesy photo Danny Beauchamp (left) and his father Terry Beauchamp (right) stand in front of his truck earlier this year in Antigo, Wis.

When the green flag drops to unleash the powerful Pro4s — the top division of the AMSOIL Championship Off-Road series — at Bark River International Raceway in just a few short dayss, a dream will be fulfilled for Escanaba’s Danny Beauchamp.

Beauchamp — who has been racing for 15 years after starting in the lowest ranks of off-road racing — made his Pro4 debut earlier this summer at Antigo Lions Roaring Raceway in Antigo, Wis. and will wheel his number eight truck around the mile and a half track he calls home August 13-14.

The reality of the situation, though, has already set in for Beauchamp who has been working tirelessly on the Pro4 truck for the last several months.

Last year, he helped work on his truck owner’s Pro4 racetrack at Bark River.

“It’s almost unbelievable, but I believe it because here I am doing it for the last 15 years, and I’ve had some months now to spend with this truck,” Beachaump commented. “We were there racing a Pro4 last year, and I prepped the truck for Ben (Passa) my truck owner, and we pulled a third out of Bark River last year.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence going there just knowing I’ll have a lot of support there and I will have a 100-percent race-ready truck there. I’m stoked, to say the least.”

Aside from the experience of running in front of the home crowd, the comfort of being just 15 minutes from his house is also a major bonus for Beauchamp.

“Bark River is big for me,” he said. “I can sort of relax. I don’t have to worry about travel or have parts hundreds of miles away that I may have forgotten. I like to go home and sleep between races at Bark River and have almost a normal day up until I go to the driver’s meeting that morning.”

So far in the 2022 season, Beauchamp has been snake bitten with mechanical woes while running in the top five in several appearances.

At Antigo, he was on course for a top-three finish in his first-ever Pro4 race. At Crandon, he was running in fifth. Both times, mechanical gremlins rose at the worst possible moments.

“(At Antigo), I started dead last and somehow got up to third position from everybody else making mistakes and me driving clean and making sure I made no mistakes,” he said. “I was in third place with a lap to go, and unfortunately, the alternator wasn’t working, and the truck lost power, and I never did finish that race. But, it gave us hope that we can run good because we were in third in my very first Pro4 race ever.

“Sunday’s race (at Crandon), I was holding onto fifth position for the whole race, basically racing with the top five trucks in the world. I had come off the last jump before the finish line on the last lap at Crandon, and my transfer case broke, and I rolled (to a stop) 20 feet from the finish line. Not beyond the finish line, before the finish line and never did finish the race.”

Other mechanical issues at both tracks relegated Beauchamp to the sidelines in the other two races he had entered in.

However, working out the bugs early in the season reassures Beauchamp that things will continue to improve.

“These little things that have happened are pretty minor, and there’s still a thousand other parts on this truck that are working perfectly, and we just have to get these couple small things ironed out, which I am,” he said. “I think by the time we hit Bark River, we will definitely be a contender.”

From beginning his career on dirt bikes, then transitioning to trucks and working his way through the ranks, Beachaump has solidified his skills behind the wheel. His 15 years of experience have already paid dividends behind the wheel of his Pro4, which boasts 900 horsepower with the ability to reach speeds of over 100 miles per hour at tracks such as Crandon. High speeds also mean big jumps with Pro4 trucks soaring up to 200 feet through the air, utilizing their 20-inch plus suspension travel to absorb the impact of landing.

“It feels good. It feels like I’m right where I need to be,” Beauchamp noted. “Everything sort of comes natural to me. The truck does exactly what I need it to do when I need it to do it. This truck is built to go fast. The faster it goes, the better it works. I’m finally getting to the point where I’m getting used to the speeds that this truck can do and the g-forces it has.

“(Entering the hairpin turn at Antigo) When I would hit the brakes, it felt like I was going to slide under the dash. The g’s that these things have on dirt is insane. Then it pulls just as hard as it stops. So, yeah, it’s a pretty awesome thing to get used to.”

Through the years — since he began racing dirt bikes — Beauchamp has had many people help him out at the track, in the garage and elsewhere.

“I want to thank everybody that has ever gave me the time of day to listen, to help, somebody that gave me a ride, somebody that went and picked up a part one day, I just want to thank anybody that has ever supported me for this crazy path I’m taking,” he said. “At first, when people used to help me, I’m sure people thought ‘Yeah, Dan will probably do this for another couple years.’ But, I plan on doing this for a lot of years and I just want to thank everybody that has ever helped me.”