Austin McDaniel says he expected to do well in his first year of Late Model racing at Hickory Motor Speedway.
He just didn’t expect to win the Bobby Isaac Memorial race, finish second in points and be the track’s Late Model rookie of the year. It was a great year overall.
“I was a little surprised in my first year,” said McDaniel, a 17-year-old senior at Hickory Ridge High School in Harrisburg. “We won four races. If we won one or two, I’d be happy. When we won four, I was happier.”
The team wasn’t among the top three early in the season, he said, so they did extra testing at Hickory. Obviously, they got the bugs worked out, since he wound up 52 points behind track champion Jesse LeFevers.
“Toward the end (of the season), it was stressful, but it was a lot of fun,” he said. “It gave me a goal and made me work harder. I wanted to be champion at Hickory. I didn’t quite make it, but it was a lot of fun.”
McDaniel has done a lot of racing. He ran quartermidgets in Salisbury, then progressed to Legends cars. Last year he was successful in Limited Late Models; then he switched to Late Models this year.
McDaniel says he learned a lot this season.
“Running up front is tougher,” he said. “You have to stand your ground and not give up spots.”
He said his education was “learning how to race (the more experienced drivers) because they race really hard.”
McDaniel says he has three races left on the season, the big Late Model race at Martinsville Speedway, a race at Myrtle Beach Speedway and the Dwight Huffman race at Hickory.
As far as next year, he says they’ll decide in the offseason whether he’ll return to Hickory, race somewhere else or travel from track to track. If he chooses another track, it could be the Motor Mile in Radford, Va., or South Boston Speedway.
In the long run, he says he’d like to pursue a racing career.
“If that doesn’t work, I’d like to get an engineering degree and work for a race team,” he said.
• LAST WEEK: McDaniel won the Bobby Isaac Memorial Late Model race and captured the division’s rookie of the year title. Jesse LeFevers finished second in the race and wrapped up the Late Model title, and Josh Wright finished third in a 14-car field.
Part-timer Landon Huffman beat out regulars Matt Piercy and Tyler Church in the Limited Late Model race. Pietro Fittipaldi, 15, finished ninth in a 21-car field but wrapped up the division title over Church.
Roger Pitts II won the Street Stock race, with Mike Newton and Baron Kurisky second and third, respectively. Points leader Kevin Eby finished fourth.
In the Sportsman Classic Racing race, Todd Bradberry won, followed by Bill Webb and Johnny Gregory.
• TRACK CHAMPIONS: HMS crowned three track champions Saturday, LeFevers in Late Model; Pietro Fittipaldi in Limiteds (Tyler Church was eight points back), and Kevin Eby in Street Stock (Roger Pitts II was six points back).
Already crowned were Chandler Levan in 4-Cylinders, Clint Fields in Super Trucks, Chad McKinney in Hobbys and Dillon Crouch in Renegades.
• THIS WEEK: The ISCARS Dash Series (once the NASCAR Goody’s Dash Series) will be featured Saturday along with the ASA & Super Cup Stock Car Series. Grandstands open at 4 p.m., with racing at 7:30.
ISCARS (International Sport Compact Auto Racing Series) is sanctioned by ASA. For information, visit www.iscarsonline.com.
• BIG RACE: Some of the Hickory drivers will go to Martinsville Speedway for the big Late Model race, the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 300. Qualifying is Oct. 8, with the race on Oct. 9.
• CONTACT: Tom Gillispie, the author of “Angel in Black, Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.,” can be reached at nc3022@yahoo.com.
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