Sprint cars are beasts.
Mix 900 horsepower with a 1,200-pound chassis and put them in a 24-car pack on tracks ranging from quarter-mile dirt bullrings to half-mile asphalt ovals.
“Sprint cars are an animal all to themselves,” says Blossom Valley's Cole Whitt. “The power-to-weight ratio is scary and the traction they get with that huge right rear wheel is something to experience.
“When I walked into the circuit, my first reaction was 'What am I doing here?' ”
A year later, however, Whitt has developed into one of the best drivers on the U.S. Auto Club's national sprint and midget car circuits, and he's funded by none other than two-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart.
Oh, and did we mention that Whitt is 17 and not yet a junior at Alpine Charter High?
In fact, Whitt turned 17 on June 22 . . . just before he wasn't allowed to race at Richmond, Va., because he was still a year shy of the state's legal minimum for race car drivers.
“It was a bummer because it could cost me a shot at the championship,” said Whitt, who is second to Levi Jones in the USAC Sprint Car championships and third in the USAC Midget division led by Tracy Hines.
Both Jones and Hines race for Stewart.
Not that Whitt isn't armed. At age 16, after being invited to join the Red Bull driver development program, Whitt was signed by one of dirt-tracking's top teams, Keith Kunz Motorsports.
The contract has led Whitt to spend the past two summers racing out of Lebanon, Ind., the heart of sprint car country.
“You can race four and five times a week back here,” said Whitt. “In addition to the USAC races, we run at a lot of different tracks.”
By the time he returns to San Diego County this fall, Whitt will have run 60 open-wheel races.
Whitt has already won three USAC Sprint Car races. And while he is still looking for his first USAC Midget win, he has a dozen top-three finishes on the dual USAC series.
“What I'd like to do next is get in a Silver Crown car,” Whitt said of the vintage-style roadster that is the third part of USAC's Triple Crown Series once swept by none other than Stewart.
Eventually, Whitt would like to make the jump to NASCAR . . . following in the footsteps of other open-wheel champs such as Stewart, Ryan Newman and J.J. Yeley.
“I really want to get a shot at stock car racing, but I know the reality,” said Whitt, whose cousin Brandon campaigned Craftsman Trucks for several seasons and still makes the occasional truck and Nationwide Series start.
“Brandon almost got there, then had some misfortune. Hopefully, I'll be seen by the right people, although the window of opportunity is small.”
Whitt is from a family of stock car racers. Grandfather Jim campaigned at Cajon Speedway before turning the wheel over to son Tobin, who became the defunct circuit's youngest track champion.
“My dad quit racing too soon,” Cole Whitt said. “But he had a lot of obligations and felt he had to put racing to the side.”
Cole Whitt got his start in karts and minisprint cars and by 14 was racing in a national series. “Go-kart racing teaches you how to race,” he said.
“I looked at sprint cars as the natural next step. We had to jump in. At first, it was pretty tough coming out here (to Indiana). My first two years in our own car were a huge learning curve.
“But I love this style of racing. If you can drive a sprint car, you can drive anything. When the right rear bites the track coming out of a corner, it's like something you don't feel in any other form of racing . . . it just shoots you forward.”
Most of the tracks Whitt races on in the Midwest are from a quarter-to a half-mile in length. The top speeds are about 130 mph.
“But the quickness of the cars is what's surprising,” said Whitt, who has toured the half-mile oval at the famed Eldora Speedway in Ohio in 16 seconds and the quarter-mile oval at Bloomington (Ind.) in 10½ seconds.
Which gives him quite a story to share with classmates when he returns to school this fall.
Bill Center: (619) 293-1851; bill.center@uniontrib.com
