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Garrett and Bryce’s Excellent Adventure has Teenagers atop Allen Turner PLM Points Standings

By Chuck Corder

Teenagers don’t live life with a governor.

Every chore they begrudgingly perform happens at a lightning-quick pace, in between commercials.

From drive-thrus to 140-character tweets, to six-second Vines to Instagram photos and Facebook updates, their worlds move at breakneck speeds.

Thirteen-year-old Garrett Jones and 17-year-old Bryce Dulabhan wouldn’t change a thing.

The dynamic duo has dominated the revamped Allen Turner Pro Late Model Series through three sets of the 20-lap/30-lap double features this year at Five Flags Speedway.

“When we started the year, we didn’t have any plans to go for a track championship,� said Jones, who recently started attending a private school in North Carolina. “We were just going to run a couple of races in Pensacola.

“Me and Bryce, we’ve talked. He’s a cool kid. I hope I can beat him fair and square. Hopefully, start in front of him and finish in front of him. That would be the ideal thing.�

Jones starts in front of Dulabhan in the season standings when the Allen Turner PLMs return Friday to Pensacola along with the Pro Trucks, Sportsmen and Bombers.

Just barely, though.

Admission is as follows: $10 adults; $8 seniors, military and students; $5 for children ages 6 to 11; and free for kids under 6.

Jones is just 5 points ahead of Dulabhan for what would be a career-defining track championship for either young man.

With one race left in September, the Allen Turner PLM Tune Up 100, neither driver can afford mistakes or inopportune luck.

“The (Gulf) Coast points and the Five Flag points are definitely on our mind,� said Dulabhan, a senior at Fairhope (Ala.) High School. “We definitely have to be a little conservative. We can’t go all out like we want to or take any risks.�

A change in philosophy for a hotshoe whose brief career has been defined by taking chances, including the route he took to snatch his first career victory in May at the famed half-mile asphalt oval.

Both Dulabhan and Jones have enjoyed meteoric rises into late models after years of unparalleled success at infant levels of racing.

Jones was a quarter midget wunderkind, winning a pair of USAC Racing national championships in his final season of 2011.

“My dad figured out how to set those cars up pretty good, and we were the class act of the field,� Jones said. “Quarter midgets was all about keeping your momentum up, going as fast as you could and never letting off.

“You have to let off in (PLMs), for sure, but I’m barely using any brake. For me, it’s transferred over a little bit comparing a 300-pound (quarter midget) to a 3,000-pound (late model).�

Dulabhan was wildly prolific in go-karts before catapulting into Legends where he became an Alabama state champion, culminating in an appearance at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the famed Legends Millions.

In just his second season running late models, Dualbhan etched his name into Five Flags’ distinguished 60-year history thanks to a daring move to capture the latter-half 30 lapper in May.

“I’m ready for Friday,� he said. “I’m looking forward to it. I haven’t raced in a while. I’m ready to put on good show and gain the points back.�

Jones hopes to have a thing or two to say about that prediction.

He is, after all, the youngster who went the extra half-mile to strike up a friendship with Dale Earnhardt Jr. a few years ago.

After beating a quarter midgets rival, and also friend, who had ties to Sprint Cup star and car owner Tony Stewart, on a whim Jones wrote a letter to Earnhardt and his idol wasted little time in responding.

Jones got the thrill of a lifetime by meeting “Junior� in Daytona a few years back and the two still regularly exchange emails and phone calls.

“It might be just a friendship, but talking to (Earnhardt) and getting advice is so cool,� Jones said. “That motivates me. It could open a lotta doors in the future. And, if it doesn’t, it’s never a bad thing to call Dale Jr. a friend. You can’t go wrong with that.�

You seemingly can’t go wrong with the fast lane both Jones and Dulabhan are hurtling down.

Like Johanna Long, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones and Kyle Benjamin before them, the latest two young stars might be the next big things to shine bright under the Five Flags Speedway’s lights.

Only time will tell.

For either, the future can’t come fast enough.

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