The Dale Jr. Download - Bonus: Wednesday Q&A Session Live at North Wilkesboro

Episode Date: September 2, 2022

On today’s episode of the Dale Jr. Download, we have a special bonus episode live from North Wilkesboro Speedway. On Wednesday, August 31st, Dale Jr. hosted a Q&A session with 7 late model drivers.��Brandon Pierce (3:30)Hayden Swank (16:46)Kaden Honeycutt (23:41)Carter Langley (33:00)Dylon Wilson (41:!5)Stefan Parsons (52:28)Katie Hettinger (1:06:24)Brandon Pierce just sounds like a race car driver's name, doesn’t it? Maybe that’s why one of the greatest late model drivers of all time, Lee Pulliam tabbed Pierce to drive for him. Pierce and Dale Jr. talk about turning their first laps at North Wilkesboro and how they plan to set their cars up for the race. Plus Brandon lays a friendly wager on Dale…and Dale does him one better.Hayden Swank is from Woodstock, GA. To some racing fans is relatively unknown but you better start paying attention. Swank grew up racing with up-and-coming Truck Series winners, Corey Heim and Chandler Smith. Kaden Honeycutt is from Texas but many fans in North Carolina may know him as the occasional from in the NASCAR Truck Series for On Point Motorsports. Kaden’s dream is to move up the ladder and race in the Cup Series no matter what car it is. His passion is racing but his hidden talent is that he can get Dale to spill the beans on his future racing plans. Carter Langley is a newcomer to the CARS Tour. He grew up racing Go-Karts for Elliott and Hermie Sadler and is a true late model historian. He and Dale talked about all the old-school local track heroes and how they’re still idolized today. Plus Carter shares his future aspirations if driving doesn’t pan out. Dylon Wilson is Landon Huffman’s, right-hand man. Well in the content game that is. Wilson has a knack for content as well and his personality makes it natural for him. Wilson’s family roots are deep at North Wilkesboro Speedway, his great grandfather helped build the place. Dylon jokes he’s probably ridden more laps around this place on a bicycle than anyone. He had lived outside turn 3 for most of his life. Stefan Parsons is a name most of you will recognize. His Dad is Phil Parson and his uncle is Benny Parsons. Stefon and Dale talk about that upbringing as Phil’s son and trying to follow the footsteps his dad and uncle carved out. Plus Stefon shares a story of a short track fight Phil got into during one of Stefon’s races.Katie Hettinger was the last driver to take the stage but she was certainly not the least. In fact, she’s the winningest female driver in Hickory Motor Speedway history. Katie is still in high school where she is on the varsity volleyball and basketball…in Michigan. That’s right she and her family travel from Michigan every weekend to compete in the southeast. She’s a name to watch in the next coming years for sure. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey Dale Jr. Download fans, as promised, we have another bonus episode dropping this week. Today's episode is the Q&A session from Wednesday, August 31st, live at North Wilkesboro. Dale sat down with about seven late-mile drivers, helped fans get to know them a little bit better, know their story. We had one driver, she's from Michigan, one driver lived right outside turn three of North Wilkesboro his entire life. It's incredible stories. Plus, at the end, Dale answers a few questions from fans in the crowd, and he may have even dropped a little hint at future racing plans. Not going to say any more, you'll have to listen to the end to hear about that.

Anyway, without further ado, here's Wednesday's Q&A session, live from North Wilkesboro. I wanted to just talk a little bit about yesterday. I guess, I mean, it's no secret we're going to have roughly around 20,000 people here tonight. and it's pretty incredible. I don't know what I expected when we talked about doing this deal, but I mean, I don't know that we could expect more than this. Just so much excitement. And, you know, the racetracks a big draw,

the history of this track and everything about it coming back. I mean, I don't know if it's really even sunk in for any of us that when you look around this place, it looks like it's been running for years, right? It looks amazing. such an amazing job. But we're also going to see a great race. The late model stock car, for me, is kind of my roots.

The late model stock car races primarily in Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina. And, you know, racetracks struggle. They come and go, but mostly they go. And there's less and less places to run this car. And, you know, we're just really trying to do everything we can to shine a light. on this type of race car. There's a little piece of the pie for every style of short track race car out there from asphalt

to dirt. You know, on the asphalt, you got the super late models and the pro late models. And there's a little bit of pie for everybody. And I'm just doing what I can, I guess, are trying to shine a light on the late model stock car so that it is celebrated and has a good future. We have a lot of amazing drivers that are going to run here tonight. Some of the most talented short track racers that run the late model cars. in this area or in this field for the Cars Tour.

The Cars Tour is just an amazing series. It tours, obviously, around to some of the short tracks in this area. We've been running in that series for a long time. That's really where Josh Barry got most of his experience. And they just do a great job. With online streaming and everything like that, now I can watch all the races when I'm at work, and it's just a lot of fun to be able to follow along.

You couldn't do that before, you know, five, ten years ago. We weren't watching the races. We were just kind of, you know, texting and asking people that were at the track how things were going. But anyways, we had a good day yesterday. Car was really fast. I qualified in sixth position, and the car is probably better than that, but I ain't done this in a long time. So, yeah, the car is really fast in practice, but it's a tough field, and I feel. thrilled to have set myself somewhere in the top 10. And Carson, our other car got the pole,

so that was great. And anyways, we'll talk a little bit about that or see if we can't have some time for some Q&A on the back end, but let's get some of the drivers up here. The first driver we're going to bring up here is Brandon Pierce. He's been racing in the cars tour for quite a while. Brandon's a great guy. Thank you, Brandon. I've been watching Brandon. A lot of these, I mean, every one of these guys, I recognize the name and been watching them race for a long time. So you're kind of almost a veteran, I guess, in this series. But just tell us a little bit about where are you from and how you got you starting racing and, you know, how you got to this point.

Yeah, well, first off, thank you for having me and thank all your guys for your support, not only for Dale, but for the series and coming out here and supporting the racetrack. So my name is Brandon Pierce, some 26 years old, I'm sorry, from Oak Ridge, North Carolina. Man. All right. So I went to military school at Oak Ridge. Do you know that?

Yeah, so my parents' house is my parents' house about a mile and a half. Everybody laughs like that's some joke. That's where they got my ass straightened out, I guess. So, but yeah, right there, like I said, parents' house about a mile and a half up from the military academy. And I guess really for me, my start came from racing being in my family. my dad growing up my grandfather owned a goodies Dash series team

Kirk Bryant drove for us some Bobby Labani had a start for us and then actually one of your employees best friends of my dad Billy Wilber they had Mickey York run a car up at Milwaukee so racing's just kind of always been in my blood and dad raced a little bit

he never ran late models or anything but did legend cars and go carts and stuff like that so I started racing late models in 2006 and I've been full-time on the car store since 2017. Yeah, who do you drive for? Drive for Lee Poyum, so I'm sure most of you've probably heard that name. So obviously very honored and blessed, and he's taught me so much, you know,

especially in a short amount of time. I came straight out of go-carts straight into a late model, so, you know, no pure stock, no limited, no street stock, no nothing. You know, these cars are hard to drive. And every year, the technology and the advancements get so much further along, competition gets so much tougher. And, you know, when I first started running the car store, you know, you'd have six to eight guys every week, I would say, that could probably win a race.

Tonight, I don't think it's, you know, out of context to say any of the 30 cars in this field could win. And it's been that way for about a year and a half now. So very, very tough competition. It's the weirdest thing because I watch the races and you'll see a guy that won to race last week run, you know, 20th. It's just, you know, like Deke, McCassel, He's kind of struggled a little bit this year, but then shows up last week at Motor Mile or just a couple days ago and was by far the best car just running away with it.

So it is a very competitive series. And you mentioned Lee, Lee's multi-time national champion to put a little respect on his name. Josh Berry thinks that he's the best race car driver he ever raced against. So what's it like to be able to have a chance to work with a guy with so much accomplished? Does it put a little pressure on you or is it a big advantage? I would say a little bit of both. You know, probably most of you don't know, but Lee took a chance on me at the end of the 2018 season. He was ready to take a step back a little bit from full-time racing.

He did run 2019 full-time at South Boston, but we had kind of been in talks, and the phone rang one day, and he said, hey, I want to have you up here at my shop, see if you'd be interested in driving for me. And that was November of 18, and signed with him later in December of that. year and started driving for him like I said full-time and 19 been with him ever since and it's just he's taught me so much I mean I've learned so much about a car and drive and you know how to make a bad race car have a good night and take a good race car and have a great night and and just to take what your equipment will give you and to move around I mean he's probably one of the best when it comes to that

I mean he's told me that he's you know he's won over a hundred races and he said you know probably only 20 of those I feel like I had the best car. But I think that's just what separates guys like him and Josh. And as you said, Deke, you know, it's just an honor to run this series and to have been able to race against Lee. And so now he spots for me. So that's really cool, too. And, you know, my first race with him, we actually got to beat, you know, you guys with Josh. And so that's by far been the biggest win of my career. And, you know, it was just a really special moment. First career pole, first career win with the tour and our first race together. So that was really special.

So this race came along. Y'all's schedule comes out. Y'all are in the middle of the season, grinding along, and then this race itself kind of gets put in your calendar. And it's literally just a couple days after the motor mile race, so it'll be a quick turnaround, which everybody had to grind to make that happen. When you heard about this race being put on the schedule, what was the reaction from you and your guys?

So I was extremely excited. I think anybody that grows up in races like yourself, late model, you know, anybody that has that urge to race, the goal is always cup. You know, I think if they tell you any different, they're probably telling a story. But so for me, this is me making it there. You know, we had the opportunity. It looked like, you know, the other year the tour was going to go to Rockingham and stuff just didn't work out. And I think that was, you know, a good call. But I think these cars definitely belong here.

And so when it came out, I was, you know, extremely excited. And then also, you know, for my dad, if it wasn't for my dad, I wouldn't be here. And, you know, he's put everything into me in my racing career and helping out. It's something we do together. And, you know, he's always loved it and given me the opportunity. And we have a business right up the road here about eight minutes, crossroads Harley Davidson. So, you know, to finally race at home for them is really, really special. And I'm sure you guys have seen the banner up around here.

And, you know, I also have some other awesome local Wilkes community. community sponsors. So it's just awesome to be here, man. And can't thank you enough too for coming to run with us. It's really cool. And you've obviously been a big advocate for the series. And I always see you tweet. You know, you're tuned in every race, you know, even when you're away doing your TV stuff. So it's just an honor. And, you know, yesterday taking the first laps was really, really cool. I told somebody it was like my first time going to Martinsville. So that was really neat. I was going to ask you that. So yesterday we had this Q&A and we hadn't been on the track. So now we'll have a chance to talk to Sydney all about your experience.

on the track. I know I felt the same way when I pulled out there. It was like walking out on Fenway Park or something. It was just really a great feeling to be on the track and making laps. But how does the track drive? How do you, what would you compare this to? What are some of the challenges you're thinking you're going to face tonight? You know, I think tire wear, obviously, is probably the obvious. But, you know, I guess this is a good time to say it. I'm torn. They're going to tear this place up. I think the surface is great. I love it. To me, turns three and four, resembles.

The guy that's going to tear the surface up over there, his name's Barry. You can talk to him afterwards. I think he turned his head when I said that. That's why I went to say. He's looking at the ground. Everybody's shaking his hands. Sorry, sorry, buddy.

So for me, I resemble turns three and four a little bit to Myrtle Beach, at least, you know, as far as turning off the wall, getting into turn three. That's the closest thing I resemble it to. Obviously, the way that transatlose. transition goes up out of four, that makes it a little different than there. But I think the way you try to exit still resembles that a lot.

And then for me, one and two is unlike anywhere I've ever been, but it's a lot of fun. I mean, you really float the car off in there and kind of do like a mini diamond and then, you know, get it low. And then you're coming uphill. And so that's pretty incredible as well. So it's just a really fun place to drive. Obviously, before yesterday, I'd never turned a lap on it besides eye racing. And that helped a lot, you know, just trying to get my bearings about me and at least, you know, being able to get up here and get out and go. You know, these cars or races, we get a decent amount of practice,

but obviously yesterday, you know, weather was a little bit of a factor, so that threw wrenching some things. But luckily, he was able to get some track time, and I'm ready to go to work tonight. Yeah, me too. Could you feel the uphill and the downhill? It's pretty – I mean, when we're sitting here, we're not even thinking about that. But, man, when you're out on the racetrack, climbing up out of two, it's just lugging all the way up the straightaway.

And then you fly down the front straightaway into one way over your heel, you know, way over your skis kind of getting into the corner of the cars trying to back in there. It's kind of wild. Yeah, I told, Lee, it told me, you know, hey, you know, it's a transition, and I could feel it, but I actually, we're kind of diagonal from y'all's hauler down here, and I don't think you really get an appreciation for it until you're down here in the concrete bottom, and you can see the way the rock wall is here and how much you actually are trying to come up out of that hole. And then you can, like you said, you can definitely feel it getting into one.

So it's definitely a driver's track, and like I said, a lot of fun. So you're going to have to save tires. 125 laps, you get to put on two right side tires at some point, which I'm sure you're going to try to wait to the last possible minute to do that. Where do you want to ride? Where do you want to position yourself in that top 10? I mean, do you want to go out there and lead and control the race? Because I see, you know, over the last like three or four years,

tire conservation had a lot of these tracks has become more and more important. But also, sometimes the guy that's out front is saving his tires more than the guy that's in eighth. So explain that. Yeah, that's like you said. It kind of has become interesting. You know, for the longest time, tire saving was just the guy that went to the back, you know, and just hung out. Basically, road slow enough or just fast enough to not go a lap down.

But as you said, and obviously I feel like Josh has become one of the best at doing that, him and Lee, being able to keep the track position up front and not fall back and still save enough to pull off the win at the end. So I wish I could give you an answer right now. honest one's gonna be I'm gonna do exactly whatever Lee William tells me to do yeah I'm with you I got Josh spot for me or he's gonna be my crew chief so I'm just like hey listen don't think I know anything just just tell me everything that you think I need to know and I walked up to him

yesterday before practice I said I how hard am I going in this practice is this 80% 90% 100% he's like you know just go out there and drive smart I'm like all right so you're gonna have to tell me like when to ride when to turn it on when to turn it off because you know it's not going to be obvious to me. This is a fun style of racing. I love tire conservation. I think it makes a driver think. I think

it puts it really into the driver's hands to take care of his car, so I'm excited about that challenge tonight, and hopefully I can figure it out. I'm not as good as you guys, or I'm probably going to burn that right rear off, even though I think I'm saving it. Yeah. I'm just glad, you know, like I said, to be able

to come to another place that is kind of tire conservation. Obviously, I know you guys with Lost Speedways have documented, you know, Myrtle, unfortunately, going down down. You know, that was a place that was very near dear to my family's heart. Dad has business down there. He actually, the years you were going down there to make the late model race, he was the sponsor for those races. So, you know, that place was always really special.

And so now, luckily, Steve Zacharias and his family, you know, short up the road to Florence. So we go down there and support those guys twice a year. And it was three with the tour, but go down there for the icebreaker and the South Carolina 400. So I love tire conservation races. I used to hate them. I absolutely did early on in my career because I couldn't save.

I was the new kid, and for me, it was just go as fast as you can. And I learned really quick that hickory and, you know, places like that wasn't the way to go. So I, this is my style right here, and, you know, I couldn't be more excited to go out here tonight in front of a sold-out crowd and put it on a show for these fans for 125 laps. You got it, buddy. Well, thank you, Brandon, for coming up here and giving us a little bit of time, man. One more thing, I just wanted to, I had a little friendly wager for you. Okay. If I finish in front of you tonight, I'd like us to have a beer on pit road and you come sign my door, I'm going to put it in the man cave of my fiance's new house.

I'll do you one better. If I cross the finish line and get the checker flag, on the lead lap, we'll have a beer. Sounds good. But one more thing. For all you guys, if Dale outruns me, I'm going to make a contribution to his foundation. All right. Can't thank you enough for everything. Thank you.

Yes, sir. Man, that's awesome. He's a good guy. We've been racing with him for a while. So the next guy I want to bring up here, I don't really know a whole lot about, and so we'll all learn together. It's Hayden Swain. Come on up here, Hayden.

Kind of one of the newer guys around the late-mottstock ranks. So, Hayden, first off, tell us where you're from. Sure. So I'm from Woodstock, Georgia. Kind of just outside of Atlanta. So, you know, I'm not quite a Carolina guy, but, you know, it's still still feel really cool to be here. So where did you get your start in racing? Yeah.

So I know a lot of guys get their start, you know what I mean, through their family or whatever, but I never had that. My dad was a football coach. And it was just really by happenstance. You know, I always grew up watching NASCAR on TV as a kid. And fortunately, I live just a few minutes away from a quarter midget track. So, you know, I mean, once I went over there for my first time, like, I always grew up. I saw what they were doing and stuff and realized there was kids my age race. I'm like, oh, no, no, no.

Like, this isn't something like I want to do. Like, I have to do this. So, you know, I grew up, started out in that, racing with Corey Hime, Chandler Smith. We all kind of came up together, so that was pretty cool. Moved into Bandoleros, Legends cars, and then 2020, I got my first taste of the big stuff in Chargers, limited late model. And, you know, this is my first year in full-blown late-bom stock cars. so they definitely threw me in the deep end.

So, you know, what's your, what's the race track, I guess, that you've been spending most of your time racing at? Yeah, so our team, Tech Racing, is based out of Roosemont, North Carolina. We're about two or three minutes away from Orange County Speedway. Love that track. Really wanted to come back next year. I'm not sure who I talked to about that, but yeah, that's where I kind of grew up, or came up and really learned how to drive these things.

So at Orange County, yeah. When we first got back into late model stock racing, we built a late model stock car for a guy named T.J. Majors, who's a spotter now in a cup series. TJ's going to spot for me tonight up there in turn, too. But anyways, TJ was a driver, and we built a car and went to Orange County. That was the first place we took the car to shake it down. Timothy Peters come up there and drove it a little bit. And then we let T.J. out there to run some laps. And we ran our first race for Junior Motorsports at Orange County. It's a great little racetrack, man. It's got cracks in it that you can put your hand in. They're pretty wide.

But those old war-out surfaces. We talked about it just previously with Pierce. The war-out surfaces seem to be some of the most fun tracks to run on. Absolutely. Yeah, no, I love those kind of driver's tracks, even if Orange County's about probably 20 years overdue for a repave. I still love places like that. And I think we ran really well at Coastal, our good year, All-American,

earlier in the year, and that was a big tire. saving track. So I'm hoping this will play really well to us and our team later today. I think we got a lot of work to do, but it should be pretty good for us. Yeah. So when you heard that North Wolfsboro was going to be on the schedule, was this something that you guys put on your list of races to go to? Was this something you guys had to put together and work toward? So, you know, tell me about your, I guess your emotions when you heard about the car store coming here. Yeah. So I mean, like just growing up, around racing and stuff. I always heard like stories in North Wilkesboro, but you know what I mean?

Even despite all the grassroots movements, I never really thought it would be something I got the chance to do. And when I saw like this was happening, I already had it circled and I was like, all right, we got to find out, figure out a way to get here. And then, you know what I mean? It made it as a cars tour points race and it was on the schedule for real. And, you know, luckily we were able to get here with our partners from overtime. So huge thanks to them for helping me get out here, but I mean, just the opportunity to race here at this track is just something else. Like, anything that comes, like, beyond that, like, a good finish today is just bonus, really. Talk about the racetrack.

You had some practice yesterday. You know, we weren't able to talk to some of the drivers yesterday because we had the Q&A before practice, but now that you had some laps on the track, what are some of the unique things about it or some of the challenges? Yeah, so I think what kind of caught me off guard here was I knew the corners were sweeping, but I didn't realize how little banking there was and how little grip that banking, or like how little grip there was in general.

I was kind of expecting a little bit more of a high banking. Track maybe a little bit more like Hickory, but when I got here and found something a little bit more like Greenville, which is a super flat track, I may have really had to change my mindset really quickly, but I think we really found a good neutral setup for our car, something that's going to help us be there at the end. I think it'll run really well on worn-out tires.

So I think we'll have a good piece for tonight, starting at the back is going to be kind of a challenge, but just running this place. I'd say like the biggest shock was going down the front straightaway. It being down there, I'd never, never did anything like that in an oval car before, so that was definitely new. Yeah, we were talking about that, how pronounced it is. You know, when you're standing here, it doesn't, you know, you can obviously see it visually, but you wouldn't think it would be a big deal, but the car comes off a two,

and it just really never gathers much speed all the way down the back straightaway, and you can drive into three so deep because you're really carrying probably 10, 15 less horse or miles per hour into that corner versus the front stretch. But you fly down that front straightaway, downhill into one. And the car is kind of rolled over on the right front is trying to back into the corner or push into the corner. It doesn't really handle very well down the middle no matter what. Yeah, that's what I was like really, really shocked about because I was like I felt like I was driving in pretty deep and I'm like, oh my gosh, it feels like it's going to come around. And my crew chief said, I was like, yeah, I'm just going to do that. So you better get used to it.

so I called Darrell Waltrop. So we were, you know, who's the best at this racetrack? You know, Junior Johnson, Darrell Waltrop, they had the most success here in my mind. And knowing that Daryl drove for Junior and this is right in Junior's backyard, I called Daryl. And I said, hey, man, go and run North Willsborough

and I know it's been, I don't know, 50 years since you raced here. Anything special you all did to the car or anything unique of the geometry or the sway bar or trying to get down into one. I'm just really loose. And he's like, no, he's like, just back off earlier. I'm like, simple enough.

I was hoping he had some tricks because, boy, you know Junior Johnson had some secrets and some tricks. He would bend that rule book. But Daryl didn't have anything of significance in terms of changing our setups to help us. But he just said lift earlier, so we're going to try that tonight. Definitely, definitely, yeah.

I'm not sure how much I buy the he didn't have a trick, maybe just wasn't willing to share it. Just in case it's a chance to come out here, but no, it's definitely unique, and I'm really excited to see how this thing's going to race. I am too, man. Thanks for giving us some time today. Absolutely.

Enjoyed having you. Yes, sir. See you out on the track. Oh, man. So the next driver coming up here, races with the cars tour, seen his name in the lineup here over the last couple of years. Caden Honeycutt.

Come on up here, Caden. Good to see you. Thanks for coming up here. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So how long you've been running on the cars tour? So this is my second full-time season. Okay.

And the first year that I've ran for Mr. Nelson. Okay. Yeah, who'd you run for last year? I ran for Justin Johnson last year. It was our first time. He was his first time being a car owner in campaigning, and we had three full-time cars, and we were fortunate to almost win a championship.

So that was fun. So where are you from? Where did you get you starting racing? So I'm from Alito, Texas, and I've raced since I was eight years old, so this will be by 11. year of racing and I started in mandoleros you probably know what those are and uh through legends cars I did a couple of arc as starts here and there and uh just kind of gradually worked kind of backed off about a couple years learning actually building gracecraft and learning how to win

races and uh this is probably the best place for me and uh I've learned so much from the series so I if I had to recommend anybody to get to learn these race cars I would race here yeah I think that the um that's a great point I think that the late model stock car is a great place to learn racecraft. There's not a ton of power. They have a hundred more horsepower than when I raced them in the 90s, but there's still not a lot of power. The brakes are very, you know, kind of throwback, old school brakes, not a really great braking package, and the standard old steering box. So, I mean, it's really like an old cup car from years ago, and it doesn't do anything great. And so you kind of have to learn how to drive

the car but also stay off each other and take care of each other and that really teaches the driver racecraft you know absolutely and i think this this car actually has a lot similarities like to move up to an arque car and exfinity car with the truck around style style of things and it has that characteristic that you doesn't that you don't get in a pro and super late model so that's why i think this is more of a relevant standby to to move up and it would teach you a lot more so are you predominantly just running the Cars Tour this year? You're doing any other kind of driving and another, you know, running any local track stuff every once in a while show up at a weekly show somewhere? So this, for now, I've ran just for the cars tour this season and I've made some track

starts already for the team I'm working with on point motorsports. I've ran Richmond in Pocono already. We're running Kansas in two weeks. So right now I've just stick with late mile stocks. I haven't done any pro late mall type thing. So I pretty much. Donnell we stick with this series. What's it like been, what's it like jumping in a truck and going to these, you know, a place like, was Pocono? It was Pocono. Like what it?

Didn't make a lap. Massive. Oh, really? No, this is when we rained out and the first lap was heading towards Turn 1 and 180. So it was like, wow. I'm just, my eyes just like opened up as wide as possible. Like, wow, this is really just about to happen. You're doing this.

Yeah. Yeah. Never thought. Never thought. And then when we hit the tunnel, I was. like, well, I wonder how this is going to go. And a literally wreck happened at the tunnel turn right in front of my nose. I'm like, oh, that's an awesome way to start.

Yeah. That's how I feel every time I went to a tunnel turn. What's going to happen here? You never can't hit that thing the same way twice. Absolutely. And it gets worse every year with the bumps. And if you hit it wrong, you're in the fence pretty hard. So I guess, you know, obviously you're trying to get more opportunities to run in the

truck series. You know, is that looking pretty promising for next year? It is. You know, I haven't had a plan to announce anything yet, but we're very close. So I'm making that happen with the team I'm currently with. So whether it be a part-time or four-time deal, I will be able to do some stuff next year. And I've already told these guys I will race some select races with this tour again. And it's hard for me to let go late model racing at a young age already. So it's, I definitely don't want to, you know, put the series aside for me. I want to actually do some. You know, you can always get better. You know, there's nothing that I won't learn, whether it be this race or the next race or next year in the same class. So as much as I can race, I will race. Yeah, I think once you spend the amount of time, even just the amount of time that you've spent in the late-mile stock car, it's in your system forever, you know. And I always said that when I retired, I was going to go back to late-mile stocks, and I was really, I wasn't very proactive to doing that, but here we are. I think I'm going to probably get done tonight

and say, why didn't I do this sooner? Is this a foreshadow you're going to do more with us? I would, I think it? I mean, yeah, why not, right? If it goes well, and I don't embarrass myself. No, I doubt it. You know, I remember watching the South Boston race this year. If I don't do what, if I don't create what happened

on the front straightaway in South Boston tonight, I'll be very happy. But, you know, I'm trying to make a lot of friends down there in the garage. so everybody takes care of me. I think people will love you no matter what, especially these guys. Well, I need, I need the all,

I need the drivers to like me too, so I don't, you know, so I don't get spun out out there. But, you know, talk about, you obviously have a pretty good understanding of the history of this racetrack, and I asked this question to one of the drivers we had up here earlier.

I kind of want to know what the emotion was like or the thought was, good or bad, don't matter. When y'all have a schedule, right, you've got to plan for the year, and then right in the middle of the season, we put this schedule. Yeah, we put this on your table, right? And it's literally just a couple days after the last race. So it was a challenge. I'm sure the car owner's grown a little bit about just the schedule of it.

But when you heard that, man, you're going to get to come out here and run some laps here. Was that a cool thing? Absolutely. Whenever it was put on ira racing, whenever COVID hit the expedition race with the Cub Drivers race, I was really hoping something. What happened, you know, this has been in a conversation for a couple of years, and I was really just looking forward to just being able to watch, just to be able to watch a race

here, I think it would have been awesome for me. And to be able to run laps on it yesterday was just unbelievable. Like I was like, wow, this is the most historic place I've ever driven around. and it lives up to its name already. These guys are supporting it, just like they said they would. And I don't think without these type of people, we wouldn't be here. And also with, like you said, with the car owner's side, luckily we had backups to be able to be ready for that. But I think for other guys that don't have backup cars, I think they were so excited just to be here.

It didn't really matter if it was the next day after motor mile or a day before motor mile. So, you know, I'm happy to be here, and I really appreciate you for help for getting us here and making all this happen for us because quite honestly, even if how the race turns out today, we're still going to enjoy it. And we appreciate just being here. Yeah, I feel the same way, man. I talked to a couple teams. They said after motor mile, which was Saturday night, right? So after motor mile, they just spent the night in motor mile at the track, working on the car in the middle of the race track, you know, at the track itself after the race getting the car turned around to come. come here, but we really appreciate everybody in the industry, everybody down there in the

garage, you guys for working so hard to be here. And, you know, in my mind, it's one of the premier series that runs in the country for short track racing. So we're very lucky today to have the car store here. But, yeah, just tell us about, you know, next steps for you. You know, I know you want to race in the truck series, but what's your ultimate goal, obviously to probably get to a cup series ride at some point. Yeah, I mean, hopefully I can be able to ride some trucks here,

some trucks here there, hopefully for a couple of years. And, you know, hopefully race for you one day next three or four years. And then, you know, my ultimate goal is to be a cup driver. I think that's every driver's dream. So whatever I have to do to make it happen, whether it's to run 30th every week or whether it's again for a win every week, I won a race in the Cup Series no matter what the circumstances. And I feel like we're on the right track on doing that.

We just have to continue to work hard and learn. And I have to execute just about every week just to make that happen. So it depends on my part and it depends on outside the racetracks part. Well, tell everybody you car what it looks like, your sponsors, your partners that are got you here today. So when they see you out on the track tonight, they know who to pull for. So I'm driver number 12, autos by Nelson Chevrolet. and it is white, solid-out carriers, friends of Jacqueline. We also have Chevrolet, Castro, Autos by Nelson on the back bumper cover.

It is a black bumper cover with a white base. So look out for tonight. We start P3. We'll have a good race car, and hopefully we'll be able to race this man for the win at the end of the night. All right. I love it. Thank you so much. Appreciate you coming.

All right. So the next guy also out-qualified me, I think. Carter Langley, come on up here, Carter. Thanks for coming up. I saw your dad last night walking through the garage. You introduced me to himself as we was leaving here at 2 o'clock in the morning. We had a late night last night. I know some of you might have been here, but with the weather and everything

and there's some track issues, they had a little leak here and there. Everything was pushed back, and we ended up qualifying about one in the morning. Have you ever done anything like that? Actually, Martinsville last year, I think we ended up qualifying pretty late, not that late. Go-cart Nays, I definitely qualified. pretty late or race late at least but last night was probably one of the latest nights yeah i was dragging um i'm still dragging a little bit um so yeah like did you get enough rest not really no will you nat would try to catch a nap in the middle of the day sometime maybe after this

i might there's some gaps yeah i'm looking at the gaps i might try to get me a nap i mean we don't race till like seven 30 no i mean i think street stocks are going first oh that makes it even better no It said on the schedule The streetstocks are racing first Hey All right You need to check, man I keep

We'll catch a neb after the race All right We're going to find out Me and Barry have a competition Of who's right He texted me yesterday at 7 o'clock And I said He said

We're going to run the street stocks And the limits before y'all qualify I said Barry we're going to be qualified at 1 in the morning He said No 10 o'clock. It was one in the morning. 10 o'clock came around pretty quick.

Yeah. So just tell us a little bit about where you're from. You know, the Langley name, I think about obviously the racetrack. So you've got a little racing heritage in your name, even if your family's not a racing family. But maybe, you know, just tell us a little bit about where you're from. And how you got your start? Well, I'm from Zebulon, North Carolina. I started racing go-carts when I was seven.

I think I was around 9 or 10. I started racing for Hermie and Elliott Sadler in their go-kart program. And I raced there until I started racing Charger about three years ago and moved out to Late Model last year. I raced Southern National. I ran Myrtle Beach, Dylan, ran A-Sum. I ran just about every I could. Yep.

Tried to get as much track time. Second year in Late Model. I love it so far. our first year in the tour and just trying to make a name for myself right now. Had some top five, top ten finishes, the top ten, still looking for the top five, and hopefully a win here soon. South Boston is one marked on my schedule, but hopefully we could do good there. Yeah, so you ended up qualifying really well last night.

Was that kind of how you felt, do you feel like the car had that kind of speed and practice? Well, I didn't know. I mean, before the rain delay, I got half a lap of practice, and then when, out for night practice basically and a car felt pretty good didn't stick her up just had had some old tires that we thought were pretty good and got the car as close as we could on those and we went out to qualify it just felt really good and I could drive it off in there and it would stick so ended up putting a decent lap down and got P4 yeah good job so when the race starts what's the mentality how you're going to run this race I don't know it

These past couple of races, I've just been going with the flow if you don't know the truth and seeing how everything plays out, and it's worked out pretty good for me so far. So I think I might find somebody ride behind, maybe you, maybe Carson. Don't ride behind me. I don't know what I'm doing. You might go to the front and dangly leave this thing. I'm going to burn it up. I am not going to burn it up.

That's why I need to ride behind you, so I don't burn it up. Man, I was going to try to find somebody to ride behind. Shoot. Yeah, I mean, we talked about it. Trying to save the tire. The tire wear here is insane, which is a really good challenge. We'll be able to put on some rights, at some point, but the lefts will be destroyed. And so I noticed, you know, after four to five, six laps, the car just didn't do anything right.

And there was nothing really you could do as a driver to adjust to fix any of it. You kind of got to put up with it. Is that kind of common at most of these racetracks, you know, that you have where, you know, where you've got the war out surface? The car's just not going to do everything you wanted to do, and you just got to make the best of it. Yeah, it really reminds me a lot of Myrtle Beach, honestly. I ran second for one of my charger races the longest time,

and I was just trying to save tire the whole time, and ended up having a little bit tire left at the end of the race, and just I feel like tonight is going to be really big on saving tires, especially yesterday in practice when I went out there the first time, and then I went out the second time, and it slowed down a little bit, and I looked right here and it didn't look too good, so I had to pack it down a little bit for the race.

Yeah, I think you're right. I don't think anybody's going to do it just right, and we're all going to be slipping and sliding pretty big at the end of this thing. Yes, sir, I think so. The past couple of races with the tire shortage and everything, we haven't really got a lot of tires to practice on, and everybody's been using their old tires to practice on, and I feel like everybody had old tires.

practice on at the beginning of the day yesterday and kind of got used to that sliding around a little bit and adjusted the cars a little bit early to see so they have a better long-run car yeah so you know you mentioned that you kind of just getting started with the cars tour what's what's next steps for you do you even think about that i just go one weekend at a time i mean i like to run the tour again next year but it all depends on how this year goes and hopefully one day i mean get to come you know, that's every kid's dream. But late models right now is my priority, and I really like racing late models.

If I stay here the rest of my life, I like working on them. I like messing with them all the time, so I'd be fine staying here if that's all I got to. Yeah, there's a lot of guys. We obviously wish for you to get as far as you can go and accomplish everything you want to in your future, but there are a lot of guys that made a life in a career out of racing local short tracks.

And there's some names, I think personally, you know, just in this area alone, some of the names like Max Presswood and Barry Beggerli and some of the guys that I remember being legends on the late mall stock circuit are still as respected today as they were then, you know? So I kind of, you know, the guys that make a life out of racing on the short track,

They're tough competitors and some of the guys that are probably the most respected in motorsports, in stock car racing at least. It's pretty incredible. Some of those guys will run those short tracks for their entire lives, thrill to death to be doing it, and then eventually turn the steering wheel over to somebody else and become a mentor for a younger driver. Yeah, that's kind of my goal is to hopefully be a crew chief one day and all my own own team. just be able to put my knowledge and give it to somebody else, you know, and make younger people like me have a career out of racing and hopefully do the same thing as me one day.

Yeah. Well, that's pretty awesome, man. Thanks for coming up here and giving us a little bit of your time. Yes, sir. It's been awesome to get to know you a little bit. Thank you. We'll be seeing you out on the racetrack. Let's have some fun tonight.

Yes, sir, I will. You've got it. Thank you. So you know down deep in his soul and his heart, he wants to get as far as he's, can go and he probably dreams a little bit about running that running a cup car one day but it's pretty impressive to see a young guy like that with so much wisdom uh to have a have a goal to be a short track racer the rest of his life because that's that's a that's an incredible thing to do as well um

the next guy coming up here he didn't have to come too far uh he lives right across the what turn four back turn three all right dylan wilson come on up here dylan Yeah, buddy. Dylan drives what I think might be the best looking car out there. Can't miss it. Black, and is it pink? Orange, what is it? I think it's technically fluorescent red.

Fluorescent red. It's kind of like a Bass Pro red or something. I just wanted the brightest thing I could find, and I do raps as like my day job. I've got my own printing machine and stuff, and wanted to promote my business, and I figured the best way to catch people's eyes would be something bright. So we got a hold of some really bright vinyl. and the rest is history. It's a good-looking race car.

So you've lived right next to the racetrack your whole life. Yeah. And how old are you? I'm 26. So you're 26. What does this racetrack mean to you? Well, so I've actually, so I grew up literally, like you said, like 600 yards that way, was my first house.

And we actually moved, like I lived in Hickory, and I still live in Hickory now, but, you know, about 30, 40 minutes away. my grandpa still lives down there but i mean it means everything to me like my whole life my whole family it's everything i've ever heard of is is this place you know my our family history was built here my great grandfather was one of the original builders and owners of the track his name was jack combs um his brother charley combs was like one of the designers of this track and uh hickory and other tracks so man rooted pretty deep so it means a lot to uh to be able to actually get to race here. I look forward to it my whole life. I tell

everybody I probably ran more laps than anybody here on bicycles and big wheels and on foot. Going in a race car, it's a surreal feeling, but man, probably fine. We was fast. I was surprised at how fast it felt. So yeah, man, this means the world

to be able to actually do it. So you've kind of paid attention to the progress and the work being done here. I mean, I'm pretty blown away by the way the place looks did you think it would be anything like this when you came here for this race no i thought there'd still be vines hanging on the backstretched uh on the backstretched stands and probably a couple holes in the pavement and stuff but my god i mean they've they've done a ton i love the r v camping like when when it first came out on i race and i was like man look at that there's

campers against the fence like tri county that's that's my favorite part of tri county and uh when i seen that they were doing that here i was ecstatic so You know, I guess it used to be over in one and two, or was it three and four where they had campers. Here? Yeah. I think it was over there. Yeah. Yeah.

I think it was one and two, right? Yeah, okay. So, yeah, so that's really cool. They've cleaned the place up, especially the infield. Like, you would never know how long it's at dormant and how, how, but there's just enough, just enough history and like a little bit of aging here and there that that's okay with me, a couple potholes and stuff, but that's something that they'll have time to fix. but man there's the amount of work they've put in like advertisement wise and and everything like I love the banners on the on the old press box that's really cool too so man there's a ton of stuff they've done that's really cool so tell us about yourself um what kind of racing have you done what

did you get you start in um so I started obviously like everybody else racing go carts but I started late man I was uh I was like 14 my dad raced in the dash series and Eric Wilson he won a championship once it was like the IS cars or whatever and obviously my grandpa so I always knew I wanted to race but I think he was like so busy racing that I didn't want to bug him and I was playing sports and stuff but anyway so I got into go-karts and then uh 2013 he traded in his dirt late model for a limited late model which I'm still racing today is the same chassis yeah same car 2006 uh june light car got a little bit of a updated front clip on it so big spring front uh You know, fun car to drive. She's got a little bit of age on her, but she flexes just right. Gets us to the corner sometimes.

But, yeah, man, it's, it's, you know, so I raced at, in 2014, I started winning some in Limitids and moved up to late models, and then life kind of happened to where I couldn't really run full time. I got to run, you know, several races a year, and then eventually I ran the first cars for a race at Hickory they ever had, and kind of won-off deals every now and then. and then, you know, here recently, when I heard the rumblings about Wiltsboro coming back, and my, well, I got to get ready because I ain't raced in three years.

So I need to go run a limited race. And then I was like, well, we'll go run the car store throwback race. So we did that and ran decent. And then so here we are today. So not necessarily a full-time touring driver up until this point, but my goal for next year is to go full-time on cars tour if I can make it all happen. So what needs to happen for that box to get checked? I mean, obviously getting partners.

You know, we've been able to work with. a few already, two boroughs brewery here, a local brewery in Wiltsboro and Jan Lee, detective agency. I know, you know, Mitch, Lash, he's helped us out this year. And, you know, we've had plenty of other partners, but man, just trying to put together a bunch of partners to do this thing right. And, you know, I never had a bunch of money to be able to race. And so I really try to appreciate when we do get someone that wants to help us out. So we try to make the best of it. I try to do as good as I can on social media with videos and Twitter and all that stuff. And try to do a good job.

And then Landon and I do windshield deep and stuff. So we try to make ourselves marketable to some degree. But that's my goal for next year. Just try to get some partners to go run full time. Talk about that a little bit. The marketing we had Landon up here yesterday, and I do see you guys work a lot together, creating a lot of content. And I think that that is absolutely going to pay off big for him.

because no one else is really doing it. And you guys got great personalities. Y'all really play off each other really well. Kind of got this little posse together with Moonhead and so forth. So tell us a little bit about some of the stuff y'all do together. So me and Landon met his dad, Rob, and my dad, Eric, raced against each other in the Dash series. And then obviously Rob is the only other five-time champion in the Dash series,

along with my grandpa. So like we've kind of been intertwined since Berth, I guess, but it didn't really start hanging out until I started racing in Hickory. And then once we met, it was kind of off to the races. We probably drank our first beers together, probably, you know, did everything that you can imagine that 15 to 17-year-olds would do and grew up, grew into men together. And now we started a podcast, which we kind of, we call it a podcast, but I don't think we've ever done a podcast. We literally go to racetracks and take a tent and a cooler full of beer and a microphone and just talk to fans and drivers and streaming on Facebook and stuff. And that's called Windchell Deep. I know some of you guys probably heard of that.

But we try to do a lot of stuff. We do some vlogs and stuff together now. Landon's been pushing me to do some more vlogs, which I'm trying to do some more of. He does it all the time. But we, I don't know if I've got that much grind in me on the vlog and stuff. But it's fun, man. we do work together well. We have a good relationship, and I think going forward we're going to do a lot more stuff,

especially like things are getting bigger. They're growing. I feel like for years we've done stuff, and he'd be like, oh, man, we got to do this. We got to go to this track and make a show here. I'm like, man, you're crazy. I ain't going all the way to Franklin County to do a show. And we don't even get paid for it or nothing. We're going to spend more money in gas and beer than we make a week.

And sure enough, that's what we did. but now that we've kind of built together a little bit, a small fan base, but a little bit of a following and stuff, and people like to see us go race and have fun. And, you know, going three years without racing, you kind of get comfortable not racing. And, like, you feel like, man, maybe I'm just not a competitive person. Maybe that gene isn't really in me.

And then soon as you get in the car again, it's like, all right, yeah, I remember what I was doing. Like, this is why I did it, why I want to do it. So it's kind of the same thing with that, you know, So the last few years have been really big for both of us. And then this year alone for me has been huge. So I'm really ready to carry it in the next year. Yeah.

What do you expect for tonight? I mean, this place is going to be tough on tires. We've been talking about it with everybody that's been up here. But kind of what's your approach to the race? Yeah, I think I'm going to save as much as I can. I mean, I think that's probably our best shot. I knew we wouldn't really set the world on fire. The lack of experience phone the driver in qualifying probably was our main issue.

but we probably left the 10th on the table or so. I've never qualified on track this big, and I've qualified on stickers twice the last four years now. So got a little bit of learning to do with that. But I think the car has good speeds. Our tire temps looked good all day. On old tires, we was plenty fast. Started off the day a little bit snug,

and as the night it went on, got a little bit too tight and qualifying. So we're going to make the necessary adjustments for that, and hopefully 100,000. 20 or 115 laps into it will be in a decent position. We're going to go out there with realistic expectations. I know I'm up against really good competition, obviously. So our goals go out there and get us a top 10,

and we'll hang our heads high on that. But, you know, most of all, I think the race is going to be somewhat tame. I feel like it's going to be tame because there's some controlled cautions in effect. So people are going to be racing for those. But there's always a couple guys, especially on tracks where people are saving, that they like to try to go out there and lead labs real fast. So it's going to be a mixed bag, but I think it's going to be my strategy

is to save as much as I can try to be there at the end, and I think everybody's going to say that. But as soon as the pace lights come on, everything changes. Yeah, the switch goes off in the brain. Oh, my God, I can lead at Wiltsboro. I'm taking a lead right now. Which might happen to me. So if y'all see me in 10th and I'm passing cars,

hold a sign up. Slow down. Don't quit doing that. You're not going to be there at the end. So if you see me doing that, just come to the fence and give me one of those or something. So I chill out. Man, we appreciate you coming up here. And glad to get to know you, finally see you and meet you.

I've seen you on the internet and social media hanging with Lannin. Super great dude. And good luck, night. Have fun. Yeah, ma'am. Appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thanks for coming up.

Here, I take that. He's a great personality. So the next guy coming up here, his dad and my dad both raced on this racetrack together, Phil Parsons. his son Stefan's in the race tonight. Come on up here. Stefan. Stefan. You all have no idea how impressive this man's qualifying lap is.

I looked at the rundown this morning and I was like, what? So when he got here, went out on a racetrack and going in, even in second gear, things was bottoming out on the track. So they miss the setup on the pull-down rig. I'm sure they never even got it on a pull-down rig. The Sim didn't show. Tim didn't work. Yeah. But anyways, he was spent most of yesterday just trying to get his car off the ground

to where he could make a lap and then went out there and put it in the middle of the field, which is pretty impressive because there's a tough field all the way through. Blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then. I love this guy, man. He's got a great attitude. We race with him in Xfinity Series. And as this race was getting closer to the date, we had a, you know, if you're going to have a couple drivers or a couple teams realize that they can't make the truth,

or something happens whether it's the race car, the budget, or an issue with an engine or whatever. And we had a spot opened up, and this guy put together a program like, what, in the last three weeks? Last Monday. Yeah. Yeah. And so that, you know, he shows up. Car ain't right. Just, and all through yesterday, even with all the struggle and the rush to get here, never seen him without a smile on his face.

I just love his personality and the way he carries himself. And he's not assuming of anything and works really hard for every opportunity he gets, especially we watch him in the Xfinity series, just trying to get everything he can get, man. So we're glad you're here, glad you're going to have an opportunity to race, and it looks like you got your car handling pretty good. Glad to be here. Yeah, no, this is so cool. I mean, look at all these fans here.

I mean, this is awesome. There's so much hype around this. I remember as soon as they announced this, I was like, I want to do this race. I have to do this race. and it took every bit of two months, but as of last Monday, it worked out, here we are. So it's super cool. I remember when I got off the exit here,

pulling up to the racetrack, I started blasting, give me some loving from Days of Thunder. I'm ready. I'm ready. But no, this is super cool. Obviously, this track and this area is super special to my family. My uncle Benny having grown up here. My grandparents also grown up here.

My mom went to high school around here, and obviously Terry has. had so much to do with bringing this place back along with yourself. So it's just an honor to be here. Yeah, that's true. I mean, you know, the connection to the Parsons family with this racetrack, I know Benny's wife was all about trying to preserve this place. And so that's, I know that's been important to her. So how does that feel? You know, you pull in here today. The place looks amazing. Is it everything you expected to be? I mean, it's everything I expected it to be in more. obviously we're here seven hours before the race and y'all, y'all faithful are already here out here in support.

So it's super cool. Man, I'm just excited. Like, I don't know how to describe it. I'm just excited. Like, it's different. You know, it's different than racing on Saturdays. There's a whole different type of feel and vibe to it. This is like, I feel like this is what racing was 30 years ago before I was even alive.

And it's so cool to be a part of it. It's so cool to be here. racing against you, racing against all these great late mall stock guys. So I've said this word probably 100 times this week, but I am pumped. Yeah. I feel like that we don't realize what's happening around us here this week. And it's probably going to be one of things when we look back. We're going to be like, damn, I wish I'd enjoyed that more because I just now feel,

you know, I'm starting to realize exactly what I was doing or what we were experiencing. But it's hard to live in the moment when it's happening so fast and so big. It's going to be a lot of fun tonight. We're going to have some fun on the track. I don't think either one of us really are that Uber focused on performance. We're just going to go out there and have some fun. Some of these guys are racing for points and the cars tour is doing its thing. And we don't want to get in the middle of any of that.

But, you know, what is your approach to the race? Well, it's funny. Somebody asked me an interview yesterday. So what are you going to do with that green three cars in front of you with two to go? I said, first of all, if I'm anywhere near, Dale, I'm having a great night. Second of all... Not a guarantee.

That's not a promise. Second of all, if I even come close to touching him, I'm not sure I'd be able to make it out of here. But, no, I think it's going to be a lot similar to like a Myrtle Beach, Florence-type race. This place is super worn out,

super hard on tires, so I think it's going to be, you're going to see a big tire conservation for the first, probably three quarters of the race, and then whoever saved the most that last quarter of the race is going to be the one to beat. Yeah, I agree. You know, I was watching the limiteds last night, and they went pretty hard for 50 laps. You know, I know they went, they weren't really anybody riding a lot in that race. So that surprised me just watching, they're on a scuff

tire. It's already got some wear to it. And they put it, you know, put it through its paces for 50 laps. So that gave me a little more confidence maybe to, we won't have to, we won't have to conserve quite as much as we thought. When we watched the mods race here, man, they were conserving hard three seconds off the pace yeah and and I think that they realized maybe they over did it a little bit that first night and then they went and ran a totally different race the second night but we're all going to be learning on the fly talk about you know where you got your start where did you run your first race what was your first race car so actually I started in Mandalayas

they're basically like a basically like a go-cart with a full body I started racing at the summer shootout Charlotte Motor Speedway race there for a few years moved up to legend cars and then race late models for for three years just around cars tour Hickory Orange County Myrtle Beach places like that it's kind of where I cut my teeth and I just love being able to regardless of where it is whether it's here at Wilkesboro or Florence or anywhere being able to come and run late models because it's a whole different type of discipline than what we get to do on the weekends all these guys here are so competitive the field stacked I mean I think

think from like first to 20th is like two tenths and qualify yeah so uh to be able to come down here and compete uh and and kind of hone your craft and and i think it really uh is advantageous to be able to do stuff like that i mean you see uh Kyle Larson William um chase i late a lot of these guys go down and run weekly races and run short track races and obviously it pays off for them so um yeah no it's just super fun um and i just love Langellate models. I love this type of car. I love, you know, not a lot of power, not a lot of brake. They don't drive very good. So I think it really shows a lot of discipline to be able to be good in one of these things. Yeah. So you run into Xfinity Series. Talk about that program.

Y'all, we have, I seem during the week sometimes when I go over to the late model stock shop, we have a little racing community over by the drag strip in Moorsville. and LW owns some shops over there, my brother-in-law, and we rent one of LW's shops for our late mall stock program, and then Stefan's team rents the buildings from LW that are right next door to us. So we and him kind of cross past quite a bit. But talk about that program, what you're trying to accomplish. Yeah, so I've been running with Alfred Prime racing this year,

Tommy Joe Martin, Caesar Baccarella, got SoCal as a sponsor, have been very fortunate to have them as a partner. But, you know, we've, we're just trying to build our program. You know, we don't necessarily have the funding that some of the big teams have. But we're trying to kind of win the race within a race, right? Like, we know, we know when we go to the racetrack that, you know, we might not be able to compete for a win, but if we can finish top 15, that's going to be a great day for us. So we're trying to build that program. We've had some good runs this year. Our last race out of Watkins Glen, we finished 12th, and then, Daytona last week, I wasn't driving, but one of my teammates finished fifth. So really trying

to build that program and just try to make the most out of that opportunity. You know, it's it's a great learning curve. It's a great learning step for me to be able to run in equipment like that because one, it teaches you the car, teaches you how to run Xfinity cars, these all these tracks and stuff like that, but also being able to get the most out of your equipment is obviously imperative. So that's really important to us. We got Darlington. on Saturday. So that place is also worn out. So hopefully I can learn a little bit tonight, and that'll help me on Saturday, too.

The first time I saw Stefan Race was at Hickory. I went over there to watch Josh run. I think it was Martinsville Race weekend, so a night before the Cup race, went to Hickory, and Stefan's out there racing. That was my first ever late model race. All right. He gets fenders banged up a little bit in a crash with somebody, a couple other cars. And I see field down in the...

pits and I'm up on top of the truck and I don't know if it was after the race or right in the middle of the race but there was a fight and I think Phil actually started the fight with the other guys that we you end up getting in the dust up with and I mean I know Phil's a fiery guy but he was right there in Hickory I think he just called the truck race the night before as a broadcaster and then he's at Hickory with his son got to Dukes up because somebody was messing with him. But, you know, talk about that relationship you had with your dad and how, you know, it's awesome to have him in your corner.

He's, you know, I don't think that he has a whole lot of monetary influence on your career. But I know that he is there, and he's there with you yesterday down in the garage. So to have him in your corner just supporting you and giving you advice, how helpful is that? Oh, it's a huge help. It's funny you mentioned that. He, when that happened, we got wrecked. we were running around, had fenders falling off all that. I was come on the radio, I'm like, should we pit?

And the spotter was like, no, your dad's busy fighting the entire pit area right now. He can't come down pit road. And he thought he got away with it, too, but he goes to Martinsville the next day on Sunday. He thought nobody was going to know about it. And he gets there, and everybody's asking him, why were you getting in the fight last night? And he's like, how do people know? It was because Dale told everybody. Wouldn't you tell?

But, no, you know, it's. It's really special for me because I grew up. You know, he quit racing when I was like three years old, but just he obviously doing TV and stuff like that, being able to go to the racetrack and be around the racetrack. It was all I ever wanted to do. It's all truly all I've ever been somewhat good at, to be honest with you. So I've just always wanted to really be like him and be like Benny. And he's been a huge help on me. I mean, everything I know I learned from him.

and even now, he enjoys being able to come and do stuff like this and spend time together. This is what we bond over, right? Like whenever we talk on the phone two, three times a day, and it's always about racing, some conversation about racing. So it's what our relationship is based on, and it's really special for us to be able to be here and do this. From watching your father's career and then, you know, obviously going back and studying it and doing the podcast with him and just talking to other people that worked with him, Andy Petrie, and other people that worked with your dad early, early in his career.

There's so many similarities with y'all's grind and how you're hustling, right, to put deals together. Your dad was the same way, man. He worked his tail off to get this opportunity and that opportunity. And a lot of times he was driving cars that weren't competitive, but just to be out there on the racetrack, and it worked. You know, it actually got him into a good race car where he could go out there and eventually win. And then he developed, you know, a great little Xfinity program.

I was, when I went in the Xfinity series in 98-99, the fact that I'm racing in Phil Parsons, this dude's, you know, been there a long time, he's done it all. And I felt like that I could learn so much from him, Mark Martin, and other guys out there that Dick Trickle, you know, there was a good group of guys that had some super-duper veteran experience. And so it was so fun to race with your father for a couple years there. And he had a great competitive team. But I see a lot of similarities in y'all's lives and especially in, you know, racing well i appreciate that you know he uh like you said i i've he he one thing he

definitely taught me is uh try to have a good work ethic you know you can get you can get knocked down beat down uh however many times but it's about how you get back up and how you recover and i definitely learn that from him and still try and uh still try and use that to this day yeah well we appreciate you coming up here and giving you a little bit of time to these folks uh they're going be pulling for you what your car look like uh it's number 21 uh it's black and red got red rocks cafe on it, specialty car company, local company here in Wilkesboro, so we're super excited about it. I want to say thank you all to all the fans for coming out. It's going to be a great night. Thank you, Dale, for obviously helping make all this happen, having me up here, and I'm really excited.

All right, buddy. We'll see you on the track. Yes, sir. Thank you. And he's a great dude. This, our last guest, I'm really excited about it. We added her yesterday when we found out she was going to actually come and run the race. I think they announced it this week. Katie Headinger is. going to come up to the stage come on up here katie she uh she is the winning as female at hickory motor speedway and uh just like uh with stephen an opportunity uh opened up for someone to join the field and and they they entered the race entered their car uh she's really competitive uh but drives all kinds of all kinds of things uh i don't really know it as much as i'd like to about her career uh but let's

learn about her today katie thanks for coming up yeah thank you for having me so tell us where you're from first? I'm from a small town, Dryden from Michigan, so it is about 10 hours from here. I've lived there my whole life, and we travel down here about almost every weekend. So where did you start racing? Was it up in Michigan? Did you start driving cars? Yeah, so my grandpa Jim Hattinger raced, but he mostly ran midgets. He was a really good midget racer, and then my dad started racing, and they both started in quarter midgetts. So there were some tracks up by us. So I started racing quarter digits when I was five years old. And I raced those, so I was about nine.

And we traveled all over for those. I won some championships. It was pretty decent in those. And then when I was 10, I switched to dirt micros. So I ran 360s micros. And I raced those for about two years. And then in 2020, I won a junior late mile championship up by us.

And then we started coming down here. and I ran limited late malls and lay malls for Matt Piercy. So was when the, I guess, do you, you know, when you're living up in Michigan and racing up there and you're just kind of, you know, enjoying every opportunity you can get, when you learn that you might come all the way down here to race, what was your initial reaction? Well, in 2020 when I won the Junior Late Mall championship, that we raced in like Indiana, Ohio, and I would never think that I'd come down here. Like ever since I started racing, I wanted to get to NASCAR.

I wanted to win a cup championship. So, but I never thought I'd be coming down here almost every weekend racing down here. So when my dad told me the winter of 2020, we were down here almost every weekend, testing with Matt. And then we didn't really have success in 2021 in Limited Laymalls until the end of the season. And I won the Bobby Isaac in the Limited Laet Mall. And then the next weekend we went down. I won in Light Mall Stock. So I wouldn't ever thought we'd be coming down here.

So your family, you still live up there and you're, y'all travel quite a bit. I mean, how do you make that work? What are the things you got going on in your life that sort of have to sacrifice a little bit for your racing career? My parents help a lot with it. I give them all the credit for everything. They sacrifice so much. But I am a sophomore in high school, so I miss a lot of school.

We raced last weekend at Motor Mile with Cars Tour. and I missed some school for that. So Monday I went into school, and I asked from our work from last week. Back in Michigan. Yeah, and then I had to tell them that I needed work for this week because I got the call that I'd be here. So it's hard sometimes struggling with school, and then I also am on the varsity volleyball and basketball team.

So I miss a lot of practice for that, but my school and town knows about racing, so they all support me. That's good. So everybody's pretty understanding about your schedule and I mean, certainly, I know you're very blessed and excited to have these opportunities, but, I mean, at any point, are you just, like, drained physically and mentally with that type of a schedule? I mean, last night I was pretty tired, qualifying at 1.30 in the morning, but racing has always been what I want to do. So I will pretty much sacrifice as much as I can to get this, and I'm so thankful my family backs me up for it because that is my dream.

So everyone who helps me, I can't thank them enough. Well, we're excited to see you here this weekend. And when I heard that you were entered into the race, I was really excited because I first got to see you race this year over at Hickory and just impressed by your ability and speed and the pace you have. All the things as far as racecraft, all those things come in time. And, you know, you get better with every race, but you have raw ability, you know, and that's like the key thing.

If you don't have that, you can't never really develop it. And so, you know, who all is supporting you to have these opportunities? Who are some of the people? I know that Chevrolet's in your corner, excited about your future, but talk about some of the other people. I know you mentioned your parents, but you have other partners, I'm sure. Yeah, Matt Piercy, who I drive for, he helps a lot. He gives me a great car every weekend.

Lauren Reneer, he helps me a ton. He gets us. I want to, Lauren Reneer is a big name in motorsports, and I wanted to make sure everybody understands the connection. So, y'all remember the 28 car, Hardee's, the great ghost that Buddy Baker won in 1980, Daytona 500 with. That's the Lanier family, and he's part of that. He's a son of that family. So he is kind of like an agent in a sense, kind of, you know, helping point out or highlight some really talented people all across the country that may deserve opportunities.

And it's a guy that junior motorsports or Chevrolet really listens to in terms of, hey, man, I think this person is somebody to look at. Pay attention to this driver when you go to the racetrack this weekend. So that's a great person to have in your corner supporting you. In 2020, he told me that this weekend I was going to be like here, that this, when him working with me, he was going to be a second dad to me. And I was like, ha, ha, ha, like, I just met you. and now he is.

Now I'm asking him if I can stay at his house this weekend. Like he's a really cool dude. He helps me with a lot. He understands. So he helps me a lot. My parents, my sponsors, Team Chevy, Victory Custom Trailers, frame filters,

auto light spark plugs. And then we just got the central logistics. They came on board for this race, so they're helping a lot too. So I can't thank them enough. So you got some opportunity to run some laps yesterday. I saw you out on the track. And what was your kind of first impression?

Well, at first I got four laps in the rain. So I was just trying to learn how to run the track because I didn't get any simulator time or anything on this because I found out Monday night that I was coming down. So I was really just watched a bunch of videos and just tried to learn the line and everything. I tried to follow you sometimes to learn the line. But it is a really cool track.

I'm so glad I'm getting able to race here because this is an opportunity. opportunity of a lifetime. So it's a really cool track. I just, I really have to save my tires in the race so I hope I can do that. Me too. I don't, so I've never run the late models. I haven't raced in a competitive late model race since 1997, really, really long time ago. And back then, uh, we didn't think about saving tires. We, I raced at Myrtle Beach and it's one of the most abrasive tracks or was one of the most abrasive tracks out there, even back then. And, um, but we didn't know. We just went. And with 40 laps.

into the race of a 100-lap weekly feature, we were done, and we didn't know any better. We didn't never think to, man, maybe we should try to take care of our tires. We just went as hard as we could every lap. But now it's so important, you know, in the late model car, to also be smart with your tires. And so talk about that a little bit. I know you raised Hickory a lot, and that's critical at Hickory. Even in a short feature, you have to be smart about slipping the tires. So talk about some of the techniques or some of the things you really pay attention to

or don't want to do, try not to do during the race. Yeah, so I've never really ran out of track where I have to save my tires. Like, as much as I do here, I never got to run at Myrtle Beach. So at Hickory, usually, like, if I get in the lead in the first lap, in the first 40, then we just save, like, the last 20 laps, so then we have it for the second race. So this one, I think I just need to be patient. Run the first couple laps on starts hard, and then just try and save as much as I can, because this is all a big learning experience for me.

I'm just happy to be here. So it would be amazing to win, but that's not really what my overall goal is here. I just want to finish the race, hopefully a top 10, and just be smart. That's my goal. Same goal. I kind of want to know what you're thinking about your future. I know you're still in high school, and it's probably a terrible question to ask. But when you dream about your future, what's in that day?

dream. What car are you driving and where are you racing? Well, my mom works at General Motors, so I really want to drive for a Chevy team. But overall, my overall goal is to run in the next car of Cup Series. But I don't want to just get there. I want to win a championship. So at the end of this year, we're going to run Phoenix and Las Vegas and an ARCA car. Really? So the announcement is coming out next week for details on the end. So the announcement not out yet. You guys will hear about this consider yourself very lucky. And then I'm pretty sure probably everyone said this, but I would love to drive for you,

just putting that out there. I would love for you to drive for us. I would love that. And so really, like in high school, everyone's like, what do you want to do for your job? And I really hope racing works out because I don't know what I want to do other than drive race cars.

Yeah, that's the way I was too. No plan B. You know, I think that you know, I think that when when you're as young as you are, you know, it's hard to be patient. So, you know, are you, are you able, you know, with Lauren helping you is, is everybody sort of keeping you mentally just kind of like, look, man, go out here today,

run this race, have fun, don't worry about next year. You know, is it easier for you to kind of just, you know, focus on what you're doing in the car and not really have to worry about, like, oh my gosh, is everything ready for the next thing? Is the next opportunity ready? Are we going to, you know, because I will say this. I guess the best way to explain this is when I was in your shoes, I was, I did not enjoy what I was doing because I was so worried about making it.

And even with my last name, I knew that, like you say, in the Cup series, there's 40 cars, so there's 40 guys. And that's the only 40 in this whole country. and the whole world to get to do that on Sunday. And so I thought, yeah, even with all the open doors that I was going to have, it would still be hard to expect that to happen. So I think I didn't enjoy what you're doing now as much as I should have. But talk about that because, I mean, it's hard to, you know,

you definitely want to have fun what you're doing, but it's hard not to be competitive and think about the future. Yeah, I'm a very competitive person. I thank my dad for that. But him, Lauren, and Matt, they all keep me at bay, and they tell me that I will have a spot. I get told a lot that I have a feature in racing. It's just hard because I'm a very competitive person, and I see kids my age who are doing well and moving up. William Tewaulich, he's one of my biggest competitors.

He's a good driver, and he's my age. So I see that, and I just, I worry because I'm like, I want to get there. Am I not doing well. I tested a transam car last week, and when I first got in one, I wasn't going. good and Carson Popple gets in one and he's doing so good and so I was like worried about that and I was like I don't know dad like him I just not good for this but by the end of that day I was having so much fun so I think I just need to trust everyone who's behind me and just focus on doing good in the races yeah that's such a hard thing to do at that age it drove me crazy because I was really living some of

the best times of my life and didn't realize it and I think that that may be the same case for you. This is an incredible time in your life, but sometimes being being uber focused on the next thing or the next opportunity doesn't allow you to really see that, right? But I'm excited for you. I really am, and I hope that I hear your name a lot over the next several years, and we would love to be partners one day and have you driving our race cars. So I'm going to keep my eye on you. Thanks for being here today and sharing with these folks. Tell them about your race car what it looks like, so they'll be able to pull for you out on the racetrack tonight. I'm driving the white. and pink number 71 late model so it's got Chevrolet on the side of it and victory on the hood so

and hopefully it's in victory lane tonight thank you katie thank you man she's awesome um we've had some of great guests up here today this has been a lot of fun for me uh i think we accomplished what we wanted to with these Q&As the last two days uh highlighting some of the folks that are be racing here today for y'all so you'll know i know a lot there is about me out there but it's good to have some information on some of other folks you'll see tonight in the race. And, but anyhow, I think we got a little bit of time. We got, I'll give, if we got a mic, we got an extra mic. There's a couple land around here.

Oh, yeah, of course, that one, they're my feet. Anybody, if you got a good question, raise your hand. We'll take a couple. So you said earlier, you're not going to burn your car up. But if you win the race, you're going to burn your car down? Oh, yeah, we'll do a, I don't know. Wait, I own the car and the motor and the train. transmission.

Now, if we win, you'll do whatever feels right at the time. That's kind of way you do it. You don't really have a plan. But when you win a race, you got it. It's like a court coming out of the bottle, man. You just let it go and whatever happens, whatever you do is what you do. Who's got another one back here? First of all, thank you very much, Dale, for putting all this together and doing this for us.

Yes, sir. I'm from Norfolk, Virginia, and I race at Langley, Speedway is my home track. Talk a little about growing up in Norfolk. I know you were a kid there. Did you ever turn any laps at Langley? Did you ever race there? I know Timothy T.J. Majors did, and he ran an arena car there. Obviously, Josh won the Hampton Heat last year. Butterbean, you talked to him and Connor All yesterday. Thank you for doing that. He'd be a good one to follow as well because he sure knows how to conserve his tires. So thank you. Who's at? All right. I'll follow Butterbean. He's starting right next to me. All right. I

I want to answer his question there. My mom, this is so weird. I was living in a house with my mom when I was five years old in Canapolis. My parents separated in 78. This was, you know, I don't know, 79. Our house caught on fire.

I woke up one morning, the kitchen was on fire. So mom gives, I met the guy that owns the house to yesterday that owns that house over in Canapolis that we lived in. I texted it to Kelly and I was like, man, we can go look at it if you won't. But anyways, mom moved to Norfolk, gave custody to me and Kelly to dad, who was living on the lake in Lake Norman and mom moved up to Northwick because that's where her mom and family was at. And so I went to Norfolk as a kid all my life for 20 years,

every Christmas and once in summer. And my mom worked at an auto of shop Dale Orr owned it and I got to know quite a few of the race car drivers that ran at Langley and it was uh I you know I have a connection to to Langley even though I've never ran a lap there my mom's you know having the history of being up there and we went to the track as kids when I was a young young teenager and and watched Phil Warren race yeah good So, yeah, I've watched all those guys run up there, and that was a fun time. And I know Dad raced up there a little bit back in the day, and then we went to the naval yard and all that, Chesapeake Bay.

But anyhow, yeah, got some great memories from spending a lot of time up in Norfolk and around that area. One more. One more. Who's got it? You, okay. Hey, Dale. I know you talked about it on the podcast, poor, and on Twitter a little bit. Are we any closer to the high rock sun drop coming out?

Or has any progress been made on that? All right. So we love sundrop, have all our lives. We've just started a high rock vodka company with me and my wife started with Sugarlands in Gatlinburg. Y'all know about Sugarlands and all their great products. But they wanted to start a vodka. So me and my wife partnered with them. We own part of the brand.

So it's not a personal service agreement. It's not something I'm going to pitch for. for a couple years and disappear. We're trying to make this work and something I can pass on to my kids. But anyhow, you know, when you talk to High Rock or you talk to Sundrop, they don't know each other. They never met.

So when you say, hey man, we ought to come together and make a drink, they're like, well, why we won't do that? So what else? What's the next step? You enter a late model stock race with Sundrop on the hood and then you give Land and Huffman a little bit of money to wrap a car, get Dylan to wrap his car, Dylan wrapped the 75 car, high rock car that's running limited, and you put them out on a track

and get them to the same racetrack together where they got to talk. And so we'll this into existence. That's what we do. Just like this racetrack here, just like this race. Man, you know, I backed old Marcus into a corner. All the guys that I racing, I backed them into a corner to get this place scan. I'm going to tell you all a little story. You might have heard it. I was on a plane with Marcus to Vegas. I was, me and my wife had that unfortunate accident, so I didn't have a way to travel.

I bummed a ride with Marcus to get to Vegas so I could broadcast. And we're in the air flying, and I text. I was talking to Marcus and I said Marcus I want to scan North Westboro he's like all right what does that mean I said well I just need to go out there and clean it up

and we talked for about 30 minutes and he said if you want to go out there and weed eat it and clean it up you can scan it no problem so I tweeted to one of the guys that I race and one of the higher ups that I race and I said I can scan North Westboro

if you guys are willing to do it Marcus has gave me the green light And basically they couldn't say no. The response on Twitter was so overwhelming that they didn't want to be the bad guy to turn it down, right? So, you know, that's probably unethical on some levels. But here we are, right? It's going to be a great day. I'm going to come over here and sign some autographs.

We're going to do one per person unless you beg. We'll do two. Well, there you have it. Both Q&A sessions from North Wilkesboro, both world. lot of fun to listen to. I hope you all enjoy them as much as we did here at Dirty Mo Media. I'll tell you what, there's been a lot of great content being pumped through these hallways, and you don't want to miss a second of them. So go over to our YouTube channel, DirtyMoh Media, and subscribe, never miss another piece of content that we put out. And let's just keep this train

rolling. What do you say? I'll see you next Tuesday, guys, on another new episode of the Dale Junior download. Dirty Mo Media. Check out Dirty Mo Media. Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. Thank you.