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Another star from the Sprint Cup Series, Dave Blaney, chose Orange County Speedway to launch a career for their eldest son. Ryan Blaney, 14, made his debut in a Late Model car here last Saturday night in the Summer Sizzler 200.
Two weeks earlier, Jeb Burton, son of Ward Burton, made his stock car racing debut in the Limited Sportsman division at OCS, finishing fifth in a 50-lap race.
Young Blaney drove from 10th to third in the early stages of a national event for the Pro All Stars Series and impressed his father and other veteran racers.
“I am extremely proud of him,” said Dave Blaney, who drives Toyotas for Bill Davis Racing of High Point. “He tested well here, but you never know what to expect from a young driver. He’s been around the sport his whole life, so I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised. I never thought he do that well so quickly if I hadn’t seen it for myself.”
Former NASCAR Busch North series champion Dale Shaw was impressed, too. “The kid can wheel it, that’s for sure,” said Shaw, whose teenage son D.J. runs the PASS north tour. “It looked like he had a top five run going. There were a lot of good teams here, so that’s a great job.”
Blaney’s magical run ended with a dead battery that forced a lengthy pit stop. “He was quite bummed out about it as you can imagine,” said his father. “We tested again and we’ll be back at Orange County for the (Renegade 125) ASA South race on August 2nd.”
John Burton, father of Ward and Jeff, was pleased with his grandson’s July 5th debut. “I thought he did a heck of a job,” said the eldest Burton. “The car just got way too tight or he would have finished even better I think. I think he represented the Burton family extremely well!”
Team Burton plans to run selected Limited Sportsman races the rest of the season. “We’re trying to ease him into it,” said the proud grandfather. “We want him to have fun and learn all he can this year.”