Dixie Chopper and racecar driver Shaun Pangman are hoping some recent baby steps produce great strides for the future of their new partnership.

The 28-year-old Pangman -- a Sloansville, N.Y., man who runs a Snap-On Tools franchise -- drives a modified racecar as a passionate side business in Upstate Central New York.

Dixie Chopper is the new sponsor of the 76P car Pangman runs at Glen Ridge Motorsports Park and Fonda Speedway, as well as during visits to Albany and Saratoga, N.Y., tracks and Devil's Bowl in Far Haven, Vt.

With a 20-year racing resume, Pangman is a track veteran. He owns somewhere between 50 and 60 career victories (mostly in go-karts, although he did win three Sportsman modified races two years ago before moving up to modifieds in 2008). But it was his newborn baby daughter that helped put him in the driver's seat of the Dixie Chopper car this season.

"It came about through Gary Morgan," he said of the new Dixie Chopper president and CEO who is from the same New York area. "My wife Annie and Gary's wife used to work together."

The Morgans had yet to see the Pangman's baby daughter, Addison (now four months old), when they all decided to go to dinner earlier this year.

"We talked about his business, and we talked about my business," Pangman recalled. "And near the end, Gary said, 'Say, don't you drive a racecar? Send me an e-mail about it.'"

Within a week Pangman was working out the details with Dixie Chopper Media Marketing Manager Rick Judy and a racing sponsorship was reached.

Over March 13-15, Pangman took his new Dixie Chopper car to the Rotterdam (N.Y.) Square Mall.

"It was very cool," he said. "I had two cases of Dixie Chopper literature, and it's gone now. I had tons of questions about the mowers."

Territory Manager Bill Cary was also on hand at the mall to help spread the word about Dixie Chopper, which will sponsor two special nights at Glen Ridge speedway this season.

"We'll have an exhibition with the lawn mowers," Pangman said, explaining that the "Dixie Challenge" is scheduled for two nights, May 15 and Sept. 5.

Hoping to deliver victories for Dixie Chopper, Pangman hopes the transition to the new sponsorship is as smooth as his seamless shift to fatherhood.

"It's been awesome," he says of the addition of little Addison, born Nov. 9. "She has slept through the night almost from the start. I told my wife if I had know it would be this easy, we wouldn't have waited eight years."