RACING NEWS
14-YEAR-OLD SEVIER TEEN ONE OF THE TOP ROOKIE STOCK CAR DRIVERS
By Morgan Simmons
And Adam Brimer
Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
Published Sunday, December 27, 2009
Dylan Presnell was 3 years old when his parents took him to a go-cart park near the Smoky Mountains and put him behind the wheel.
Even then, he had a natural feel for the track.
Over the next few years, Presnell spent as much time at go-cart tracks as his parents could afford. While most of his friends were playing T-ball or soccer, he was honing his driving skills. By the time he entered the first grade, he had discovered his calling.
"He was competitive at an early age," said Ken Presnell, Dylan's father. "While the other kids were looking back at their dads and running their go-carts into walls, he was out there passing everybody."
Presnell is now 14 and a ninth-grader at Sevier County High School. He's too young for a driver's license, but that hasn't stopped him from becoming one of the most promising rookie stock car drivers on the Southern racing circuit.
Last October, Presnell won his first Super Late Model feature race - the highest class of stock cars in local racing - at the Newport Speedway.
In 2008, at the age of 13, he became one of the youngest drivers to win Rookie of the Year in the Allison Legacy National Touring Series. That year, he won a race at the Orange County Speedway, sat on the pole one time, earned six top five finishes and finished Rookie of the Race 11 times.
Presnell began racing just two months shy of his 8th birthday. At first, he raced quarter-midgets - entry-level cars that resemble beefed up go-carts and run speeds 30-70 miles per hour around a banked track typically 1/20th of a mile long.
Weekends were spent training at a quarter-midget track in Nashville. When Presnell began competing in races out of state, his father, mother and older sister accompanied him on the road.
"I have a lot of good memories of us traveling together," Presnell said. "I missed some birthday parties and school stuff, but I always wanted to drive. My family was there from the very beginning."
Throughout his racing career, Presnell has moved up in horsepower at a precocious rate. From quarter-midgets, he graduated to the faster class of Sr. Honda and Sr. Superstock. In 2006, he started racing half-scale stock cars on the Mini Cup circuit. The family hired a car chief out of Nashville to help with the everyday running of the car, and by the end of the year, Presnell had become Mini Cup national touring champion, making him the first driver in his division to win the championship in his rookie season.
Presnell has never been seriously injured while driving, but there have been several close calls.
One of his most harrowing wrecks occurred when he was 11, when another car hit him on the driver's side of his car doing 70 mph. Presnell's Mini Cup car was badly damaged, but there was still air in the tires and the engine ran. He hurt his arm, but the race director agreed to let him continue on the condition that he go straight to the hospital as soon as the race was over.
Presnell won the race as the fans went crazy.
"I worry about Dylan getting hurt every race he goes out," said Ken Presnell. "He's a conservative driver who doesn't jeopardize himself or the race car to win. We just put it in God's hands, and give him the best safety equipment money can buy."
"I've never been scared on the track," added Presnell. "I get an adrenaline rush at the very beginning of a race, but as soon as the green flag drops, I'm in a zone."
During racing season, Presnell frequently misses school on Fridays and doesn't get back home until Sunday night. His parents have always insisted that school comes first, and Presnell has complied by maintaining a 4.0 grade point average and becoming a member of the Junior Beta Club, a national leadership-service club that promotes qualities of character and good citizenship.
Last year, at the age of 13, Presnell became the youngest driver ever to race in the North Carolina-based UARA-STARS, a touring series for late model stock cars.
"I'm usually the youngest driver in any group," Presnell said. "Age doesn't matter when you're on the track."
Presnell's level of commitment is such that he works out three times a week with a personal trainer to maintain the strength and endurance required to handle a race car 300 laps around the track.
The stock cars he drives run around 140 mph. NASCAR legend Donnie Allison serves as his consultant, and just recently, Presnell was named the 2010 premiere driver for Race 101, an educational and consulting program for young racers founded by Tony Blanchard, one of the top crew chiefs in the industry.
As the top driver for Race 101, Presnell will be piloting a brand-new, Super Late Model stock car at high-profile races throughout the year.
His goal is to race on the NASCAR circuit when he turns 16. By then, he'll have his Tennessee driver's license.
"I think that no matter what age you are, if you can pass the test, they should give you your driver's license," Presnell said. "I think I could pass the test."
Morgan Simmons may be reached at 865-342-6321.
Dylan Presnell
Named 2010 Race 101 Premier Program Driver
In 2010, Dylan Presnell of Sevierville, TN is the Race 101 Premier Program Driver. Dylan will lead the way for future RACE 101 program students to earn the RACE 101 Premier Driver title for future years to come. Look for Dylan piloting the Race 101 super late model at PASS, CRA series events and many other high profile races next season.
