BACK IN THE SADDLE: DALTON STEVENS REBUILDS FOR KNOXVILLE RUN

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Knoxville, Iowa (June 1, 2023)………The process of overcoming an accident in sprint car racing is multi-faceted.  There’s the physical part of it; there’s the emotional side of it; and there’s the equipment aspect of it.

After a major incident at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway nearly a month ago, Texan Dalton Stevens was required to hit the reset button before making his return to USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship action this Friday-Saturday, June 2-3, at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway for the Avanti Windows & Doors Corn Belt Clash.

After walking away unscathed from the incident, the 27-year-old Scurry, Texas native’s focus shifted to what many racers in his position often have race through their mind – “Now what?.”

Stevens recalls getting out-horsepowered in his Eldora heat race while utilizing a slightly undersized engine, and soon found the razor’s edge when pushing to compensate.  Soon after getting passed for the last transfer spot, Stevens fought his way back into contention, but lost control with the throttle on the front straightaway, causing the rear end to kick out and the wheels to turn right.  Within a split second, into the front straightaway wall he went, which immediately snowballed into a series of several violent flips into turn one.

“The first thing I remember after hitting the wall was, ‘oh this car is junk,’ and sure enough, it was,” Stevens recalled.  “The next thing I remember is (the safety crew) turning the car over, and it looked like a flagpole with the front axle sticking straight up.  I’d never seen anything like that before.”

After loading up the pieces and making the 800-mile trip back home to The Lone Star State, the team took inventory of what they could salvage and what they could not.

“The list of not broken stuff is much, much shorter than the list of broken stuff,” Stevens explained.  “Joe Devin and his crew at DRC Chassis, I can’t thank them enough.  Those guys put together a car and shipped it out to us, so we’ve got a brand new car put together with the rest of the parts we had at the shop.  So, it’s basically all brand new.  We’ve now got our big motor in it for Knoxville after learning our lesson from Eldora on that one.”

Stevens chalks it up to the learning process of competing with USAC.  It’s been just under a year since making his USAC National series debut during Indiana Sprint Week, and since that point, he’s expanded his schedule to compete in nearly half the series schedule.  From new tracks, new competition and a completely new environment, Stevens is taking it all in stride as he tries to elevate his game at the top level.

Hailing from the land of Foyt, McElreath, Ruby and relatively recent USAC Silver Crown champion, Paul White, a Texan competing on the USAC National tour is sort of an anomaly.  Stevens’ introduction to the sport came via attending many a race at the famed Devil’s Bowl Speedway while his father helped on the crew of factory stock driver Tim McManus.

But the pull pointed Stevens in the direction of sprint car racing where he regularly kept an eye on 2011 National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee, and Texas native, Gary Wright, and later, 2016 Knoxville Nationals winner Jason Johnson.  As his vision expanded beyond the Texas border, soon, Stevens’ racing inspirations came to be seven-time USAC National titlist Levi Jones and four-time USAC National Sprint Car king Brady Bacon.

Stevens started his career behind the wheel at age 10 in dirt go-karts before transitioning to micro sprints at age 13 and into sprint cars at age 16 beginning with winged 305s.  The learning curve was steep, and as a self-described “really shy kid,” asking the right questions to the right people in the sport didn’t come naturally.  In fact, as a first generation dirt track driver in the family, initially, his entire family was learning along with him as he competed regularly with ASCS and at venues such as Devil’s Bowl.

After several years of trekking the same terrain, Stevens altered his direction.  He purchased a sprint car from driver Landon Simon, ditched the wing, then began competing with the ASCS Elite Non-Wing Series.  In 2022, when the summer months came calling, Stevens and his crew took their biggest leap yet, loading up the trailer and heading to Indiana Sprint Week.

“We usually do one big adventure a year, and this time, we said we’d go to Indiana,” Stevens noted.  “In 2015, as a graduation present from college, I went to Indiana Sprint Week just to watch.  I was amazed at the quality of drivers and the quality of tracks, and I knew we had to go up there and race sometime in the future.  Last year, we decided to take that opportunity, and we fell in love with Indiana.  The racing atmosphere, the fans, the tracks, it’s a whole different world and we really enjoy it.  That’s why we’ve continued traveling this year because of just how much fun we’re having and the quality of everything.”

Stevens, a Texas State Technical College graduate, majored in Precision Machining Technology and earned an associate degree in CNC Machining.  He was first employed as a CNC Programmer, but now finds work as a supervisor for a CNC company that makes power transmission products.

With the responsibilities of fatherhood and a full-time job, Stevens has no timetable on how long he wants to continue racing.  But what he does know is that it is now or never in trying to make in-roads to “make it” in the sport.  But when the sun sets and the track lights click on at the racetrack, there’s only one thing that matters.

“I figured now’s a better than time ever to, one, go up there and make it, or two, have fun with what we have left of it,” Stevens said.  “I’m not sure how many years we have left.  It all depends on the results we have and how we do all while having as much fun as we can either way.”

RACE DETAILS:

The Avanti Windows & Doors Corn Belt Clash will take place on Friday-Saturday, June 2-3.  Friday’s feature will be 25 laps in length and pay $11,000-to-win.  Saturday’s feature will be 30 laps in length and pay $12,000-to-win.

The third edition of the Corn Belt Clash features the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship (co-sanctioned by the USAC Wholesale Batteries Midwest Wingless Racing Association).  Knoxville Championship 360 Sprint Cars will be on the card for Friday while the Knoxville Championship 410 Sprint Cars will be on hand Saturday.

Each night, the front gates open at 6pm Central and hot laps at 6:45pm followed immediately by qualifying and racing.

On Friday, general admission tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for ages 13-19, $5 for ages 6-12 and free for ages 5 & under.  Reserved tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for ages 13-19, $10 for ages 6-12 and free for ages 5 & under. Pit passes are $30.

On Saturday, general admission tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for ages 13-19, $10 for ages 6-12 and free for ages 5 & under.  Reserved tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for ages 13-19, $15 for ages 6-12 and free for ages 5 & under.  Pit passes are $30.

Advance tickets are on sale at www.KnoxvilleRaceway.com.

The entire weekend of events can be watched LIVE on FloRacing at https://flosports.link/3Kdc2na.