3/27/2023
SCDRA - Sport Compact Dirt Racing Association
Brandon Dalton Gets First SCDRA Victory in Little Tarheel at Tri-County Racetrack
BRASSTOWN, N.C. (March 25) — The Sport Compact Dirt Racing Association made its first-ever visit to Tri-County Racetrack and Bowling Green, Ky., driver Brandon Dalton emerged from an eye-popping 52-car field Saturday night to earn his first-career victory on the Kelley Carlton-founded touring circuit.
The 40-lapper for compact-type machines was aptly-titled the Little Tar Heel, since it was held at a location that has served as the longtime home of the Tar Heel 50 for Super Late Model-type cars. The track has gained a reputation for solid racing action during Cook’s near decade-long tenure at the helm of the quarter-mile facility, and this one was no disappointment for what appeared to be mostly a locally-based crowd that turned out for a good first look at the highly-competitive touring series.
“It’s the first one we’ve won on the series and we’ve waited a long time for it,” said Dalton, who switched from pavement racing to dirt a few years ago. “We’ve been running these events occasionally for about four years, but the last two we’ve run a lot more of ‘em on a regular basis. It’s a big win for us, and while we’ve won a bunch of races on paved tracks, we’ve had a lot more fun racing on dirt.”
Dalton immediately placed the track in his personal list of favorite places to race, and the win among the most satisfying of his career.
“It’s the biggest win I’ve ever had, and also the highest payday,” Dalton said. “I loved this racetrack from the moment we got here. It’s unique, and it’s unlike any other places we go on this series. When we were able to race all over the place for two days, that’s a sure indication they work really hard to keep this place well-prepped. The way it was shaped and the way it raced so good, I felt like it was a mini-Eldora to all of us.”
Dalton struggled earlier in the weekend during the two-night program, having qualified a dismal 30th on the first evening. Drivers are allowed to re-qualify on the second night should they elect to attempt to improve on their time, so Dalton and his crew went to work and made wholesale changes to their car. He used the second round of qualifying to submit the second-fastest time of the weekend, earning the right to start from the outside of the front row in a 26-car field next to pole position starter and overall fast qualifier Andrew Smith.
“We were totally horrible during the first night’s qualifying session,” Dalton said. “We were 30th due to some transmission-related issues, so we changed that out and made huge changes to the car. We were lucky enough to have a good racetrack here all weekend, because it’s not usually a given that you’d better your time on the second night. We started here with nothing, and re-started on everything.”
Dalton took the lead on the opening circuit after Smith’s car stumbled at the opening green flag, allowing John Windham to nab second over Isaac Gipson. A lap-five incident landed Windham’s car partially on top of the guardrail between turns one and two, and Gipson was able to restart from second position after series officials checked his car for body damage.
Dalton paced the rest of the distance to claim the checkered flag over Smith, who dropped back as far as ninth place on the sixth circuit before making a late-race surge back towards the leaders to eventually post a runnerup finish in a come-from-behind effort.
Newman Presnell was next across the stripe, while Shannon Barnhill made an impressive recovery from the rear of the field after some early frontstretch contact with Brandon Gibson Jr., which sent Barnhill’s machine sliding into the infield. Working through the field from the back, Barnhill posted a solid fourth-place showing over Reid Christenson.
Dalton held a slim lead at times and had plenty of company in his wake, and on other occasions he was able to establish a comfortable advantage and ride away from his closest challengers. When the laps had clicked away to a critical juncture, Smith had completed his march toward the leaders and was waiting on Dalton’s rear bumper to issue the young driver’s strongest threat.
He did so on the race’s final restart, driving low in turn three and ducking underneath the leader, a quick exchange that followed the ninth caution flag of the race. After issuing the challenge and falling short off the fourth corner, Smith said he wished he’d tried something slightly different.
“I should have slid him in turns one and two on that last restart, because my car was better in the middle groove at the other end of the racetrack,” lamented Smith. “I got side by side with him between turns three and four, but not quite enough to slide up there ahead of him. After that I was waiting on one more restart, and we never had one.”
He did manage to get Dalton’s immediate attention, though. Responding to the challenge by electing to run his car harder than he had all night, Dalton drove underneath the checkered flag ahead of Smith and held a 1.208-second advantage at the finish line. His next-to-last trip around the oval was his fastest lap of the entire distance according to transponder scoring: 15.621 seconds. Comparably speaking, his official qualifying time was 15.788 seconds.
“I don’t run a mirror on the car, so until he showed me the nose on that last restart, I didn’t really know when he was close to me,” Dalton said. “When I saw him underneath me late in the race, I ran the car a lot harder and someone on the crew told me our last three laps were the fastest we’d run all night. Earlier in the race I was taking it easy to save the car a little bit, and I felt Andrew [Smith] bump me one time in the corner. Basically we worked our butts off this morning, and the effort changed our whole weekend.”
Smith was also hampered by a skip in his car’s engine compartment that helped thwart his last-ditch effort to secure the win.
“I was limping bad toward the end,” Smith said. “The car went to skipping on the last restart a little bit, and that hurt. I figured the caution might wave again, but it never happened. These cars can sometimes be so temperamental. That bit us tonight.”
Dalton’s car carried sponsorship and assistance from G-Fab, Butler Built Race Engines, Parrish Recycling, Bradshaw Motorsports and Tri-County Discount Center.
The touring circuit’s next event is scheduled April 7 and 8 at Winchester (Va.) Speedway, and will offer a whopping $10,000 prize to the winner. The event is an alternate points event which sanctioned by sister series SCDRA Northeast.
Little Tar Heel: 1. Brandon Dalton, 2. Andrew Smith, 3. Newman Presnell, 4. Shannon Barnhill, 5. Reid Christensen, 6. Josh Adkins, 7. Lee Hutchinson, 8. Walker Windham, 9. Justin Stephens, 10. Cale Deese, 11. Isaac Gipson, 12. Jerry Gibson Jr., 13. Logan Exum, 14. Joey Kelly, 15. Eddie McGrew, 16. Billy Tidwell, 17. Jacob Sharp, 18. Brandon Gibson Jr., 19. Shannon Jones, 20. Michael Trotter, 21. Kevin McKenzie, 22. Clay Smith, 23. Brian Balcom, 24. Payne Pickles, 25. Roger Adkins II, 26. John Windham.
Fast qualifier: Andrew Smith, 15.785 seconds.
Lap leaders: Brandon Dalton, 1-40.
Cautions: 9
Margin of victory: 1.280 seconds.
B-main winners: Jerry Gibson Jr., Joey Kelly, Cale Deese.
Article Credit: Brian McLeod
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