Every day, he watched his father wake up and start all over again. It didn’t matter what happened the night before; Tom “Tiger” Baldwin mantra would be to get up and go. Tommy Baldwin Jr spent his childhood grasping all that grit, watching his father fight for every inch on the short tracks with his No. 7NY. “I learned from him is just like you got to keep going,” he said. Little did he know that this survivalist DNA would later be the only thing keeping him afloat when he came across what would be the roughest phase of his life.

In 2023, the man who spent years hustling with his underfunded yet very popular team in the NASCAR Cup Series was pinned down by a diagnosis he never saw coming: cancer. It was treatable, but the cost was letting go of the life he always knew. Watching life go from the racing world to the oncology ward was not easy, and he didn’t shy away from expressing how vulnerable he felt at that moment.

“I had a little battle with cancer, and I tell you,” he said speaking at Kenny Wallace’s Conversations podcast. “And it took longer than I expected to get back to 100%.” He talked about the challenges he faced. “It was an experience, man. You know, lying there, and it got you thinking about a lot of different things, and it changed me a little bit. But I’m glad to come out of it and be healthy again and, you know, do whatever else I can do to help anybody else that’s gone through it or is going through it,” he added. And truly, his treatment and recovery were agonising, almost having him turn into skin and bones.

The treatment took months. He had to go through eight rounds of chemotherapy and 35 rounds of radiation. Understandably, by the time he had recovered, Baldwin was in weak shape, having lost 60 pounds. But his comeback was stronger than anyone else expected, and today he has found a new purpose.

Today, when the oncology centre has a patient who is struggling or refusing to fight, they call Tommy. He walks back into those sterile rooms not as a team owner but as a survivor. Now, he is going about life with what one can call a “positive mental attitude”. And he makes sure; his routine is proof of that.

“I’m at the gym every day, 6 am. So, yeah, I’m good, man. No complaints inspired some people along the way. Inspired some people along the way,” he mentioned. Not just that, he is also has a new found love for life, now that he is also a grandfather, and he is more then excited, that it’s a baby-girl!

“Just had my first grandbaby. So uh that’s kind of changed my life a little bit of baby girl. So the first girl in our family so um you know how that’s going to go. She’s going to be uh well taken care of.” 

Strangely, as he spoke with Kenny Wallace, the backdrop behind him seemed to mirror everything he had been through. He was seated in his modified shop, and behind him was his father’s old 1970s coupe. “I’m sitting in my modified shop here, and I’ve got one of my dad’s old cars… it’s cool to walk in here and see that every day,” he said during the interview. “This is what started our life in racing, it just makes you want to get after it.”

Tommy Baldwin returned to his duties in 2024, becoming the strong, charismatic leader he is today. But his cancer diagnosis wasn’t easy, especially for his son, Luke, who was an aspiring driver at the time.

How Baldwin’s son remained focused on his NASCAR dream during his cancer treatment

2023 was a breakthrough moment for Luke Baldwin, who had just won the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing title at the New Smyrna Speedway. However, his father’s diagnosis came shortly after this. Understandably, it wasn’t easy for him and his racing career, but much like the fighter that his father is, Luke managed to strike the right balance.

“I knew I was going to have to pull a big weight around the shop and the house,” he said. “It was a huge learning experience, but all the guys helped tremendously and taught me a ton. I picked up some slack when [Tommy] wasn’t around. Everything was going to be alright, but I just had to give it time.”

While Tommy Baldwin had to step away from the track because of the nature of his treatments, Luke managed to keep consistency in his performances, running the Modified Tours and Late Model Races.

In the following year, when his father recovered and was back on the track, Luke Baldwin found success racing the SMART Modified Tour with Sadler-Stanley Racing, winning the title on his first attempt. His constant participation and consistent performance at the grassroots level soon cleared the way for a NASCAR run. He currently runs both the O’Reilly Auto Parts and the Truck Series on a part-time basis for Hettinger Racing and Team Reaume, respectively.

Tommy Baldwin’s story of recovery and hitting the track back again as a team owner provides motivation to many, as he revealed. It is undoubtedly one of the strongest recovery stories that the sport has had in its history. And to consider that his son managed to find his NASCAR breakthrough amidst this is just as impressive.