Daniel Leckliter

"Well you see..."

- Daniel Leckliter, about to go on about something nonsensical.

Daniel William Leckliter (born January 16, 1989 in Dunkirk, NY) is a TM Master Cup driver and FARC driver. For most of his career, he used the pseudonym "Dan Clezl". He won the Independent's Trophy in 2016 in a surprising result.

Biography
Leckliter instantly picked up on racing because his dad raced at the nearby Stateline Speedway in Busti, NY. Daniel started his first go-kart race at the age of six at the now-defunct Dunkirk Speedpark, where he finished 6th in a field of 18. He wouldn't race again until he was 10, where he raced at the Mayville Motorsports Park in Mayville, NY. Throughout his five year career there (1998-2003), he won 23 races, 3 consecutive championships (2000,2001,2002), won the regional Championship race the Pepsi 100 twice (1998, 2002), and raced in the state championship in 2000, but crashed out on the 56th lap. Leckliter is known there for his most famous win "Daniel Leckliter's Farewell" where he won on July 4th, 2003.

Personality
He's known to be laid back and have a great sense of humor, as a result he's well respected in any paddock he's in.

Sprint Car/Quarter Midget career
In 2002, Leckliter moved up to the National Sprint Car Association Quarter Midgets Northeast division, where he got 14 wins in his year and a half career. When he moved to Florida, he raced in the Southeast quarter midget divison, where he got only 9 wins. Once he turned 16 (in 2005) he was eligible to race in the Sprint Car division, after a test runs he was ready, towards the end of the season, he got his first win. 2006 and 2007 he really picked it up, winning back to back championships, becoming the youngest to do so. He only ran a select number of races in 2008 and 2009 as he was running in TM Master Cup. In 2010 he didn't race at all due to budget issues, but in 2011 he came back to race in the Northeast division where it seems he didn't lose his touch and won 10 of the 45 races and the championship. He's also going to run a few races in the Northwest, Midwest, and Southwest divisions in 2013 when he's doing his ARLA and Master Cup commitments.

He also enters in Sprint Car races at his home track East Bay Raceway Park and Stateline Speedway from time to time.

TM Master Cup history
Leckliter then hit the big time in 2008 where he got enough money for a TM Master Cup Series ride and started in the 2008 Round of Daytona. He made every single race that season because of a last-lap pile up in one of the Daytona Qualifiers in which Dan still says was "the best seat in the house". Leckliter secured a spot for Daytona and finished in the top 10. He finished the season with two top-five finishes – his best finish was 3rd at Spa. He also recorded five top 10's, seven DNF's, and finished 23rd in points.

2009 was tougher on him. Leckliter got a ride for Camelot Racing, a move that he said was "going to help his career". Sadly, it was the other way around, as he only made three starts and failed to finish in two of them. Most of the time, Leckliter fell victim to self-inflicted incidents or a lack of speed in the Qualifying races, and was seldom a factor to make it into the field. After 2009, he left Camelot Racing to return to his own team.

In 2010, he ran 2010 Round of Australia in what was supposed to be a Independent's Trophy bid, but the team crumbled due to lack of funding. He did however, attempt to qualify for the 2010 Round of Decatur, but failed to make it past Pre-Qualifying.

Leckliter returned to contest the 2012 Independents Trophy for his own team, driving the #110 Yellow Trucking Lycoia Brute. His return to the series has been a bit higher-key than intended. During preseason testing at Homestead, Leckliter showed that he hadn't lost his touch and regularly ran in the top five among the Independent's Trophy cars.

Former driver and current pundit Lance Andrews stirred controversy after he tipped Leckliter as a darkhorse to win the Independent's Trophy on the Dan Mullen Radio Hour during the preseason testing edition.

Leckliter scored his first point in the 2012 season at the Round of Georgia. He would finish out of the points in Carbondale. He nabbed a 5th place finish at Michigan, he also finished 5th at his last Independent's Trophy race at Grand Detour. He finished 4th in the Independents Trophy standings.

He ended his 2012 season with a brake failure in the 2012 Round of Decatur.

His 2013 Independents Trophy campaign netted him a forth? place finish in the standings. He finished 9th in 2014. His 2015 season gave him a record best 3rd.

Leckliter came into 2016 not even considered as a factor to win the Independents Trophy despite his 3rd place in 2015. Finishing in the top 20 in all of his attempts, three top tens, including an impressive showing at Karjala, a track he never did well at, where he finished 7th, and one podium where he finished second at Grand Detour after leading 30 laps and coming within 3 laps of winning. This consistency is what caused him to shock the world and win the 2016 Independents Trophy. Leckliter stated that he wanted to become the first two time Independents Trophy winner as a result of this.

His title defense in 2017 was solid where he once again finished third. He finished 6th in 2018.

Despite adamantly staying part-time, Leckliter took the offer to drive for Tonare Motorsports in 2019. He claimed that the money was just good to pass up. At the 2019 Round of Wales he once again shocked the world by barely holding off Cameron Taylor to claim his first TM Master Cup Series victory. He would get another points finish at the very next race at Minnesota, finishing 19th.

ARLA
Leckliter was the relief driver for Scott Morales for the 2011 150 Laps of Dwyer. He also has entered the #56 Atten-Hut Military Surplus Cromwell with Chris Winter and Lucas Flint behind the wheel. That car failed to qualify for the race, but Leckliter and Morales made it into the show and together finished 24th, 3 laps down.

Leckliter along with Chris Winter also attempted the 2011 Rockford 200. Leckliter finished second in Heat 2, putting him in the show. Winter, however, failed to qualify. Leckliter would go on to finish 15th, one lap down.

He finished 10th in the 2012 Mini Indy 500 at Indianapolis Raceway Park in a self-owned #10L Lenard Q9, but got no points due to not finishing the race.

He's going to share the ride with Lucas Flint in 2013, with backing from Scrubbles Cleaning Products and world famous pitchman William Vincent.

He was wrecked out of third in the Rockford 200 by Nick Howard, in which Leckliter replied "Last Row Autosport is a bunch of Fucks anyway".

Formula Overdrive
Daniel has entered the 2012 Hanmore World Championships as a one off.

He will also give the command to start engines and ride the pace car on the pace laps of the 2012 Mayville Grand Prix in front of his hometown crowd.

After the disaster that was the World Championships, Leckliter showed his displeasure with the series, and said that he will not return to Formula Overdrive again.

Name change
Leckliter went under the last name Clezl for two years in the NSCA Southeast Division and two years in the TM Master Cup Series. He claimed it was because of his grandfather when he ran alcohol during Prohibition, and he did it in honor of him. His father didn't go under the Clezl name at any point in his career.

Trivia

 * The pseudonym "Clezl" comes from back when the EA Sports Nascar games couldn't fit "Leckliter" for the last name.
 * His Go Kart experience comes from basically from imagination that carried on from his childhood, when he at the time owned a go kart and used the field outside his house as a racetrack, which then created the Mayville Motorsports Park, which contains a quarter mile Pocono style go kart track and a half mile dirt track.
 * Up until 2014, he used different numbers in each of his TM Master cup seasons.