Bettis to the BG Products Southern Sprint Car Series in 2022…. Well Sort of

Story by Chris Fozillo:

The big series, NASCAR, Formula 1, Indycar, IMSA all have “silly season” where we start to speculate what driver will go where and drive for who because of contracts. Unfortunately we don’t really get that in the local ranks which is a shame, because it is fun.

But this year we got it to an extent. The Morgan Exteriors team decided to part ways with their driver and go in a more positive direction by bringing in Davey Hamilton Jr as their driver with two races to go in the season. Hamilton Jr. brings substantial experience in formula type single seater, super mod, and a sprint car background up to and including USAC Silver Crown. He has delivered a second place finish in the first race and won the last race of the season for their series and appears to be a top contender for the series in 2022.

With Hamilton Jr. joining the team it has helped re kindle the Morgan Exteriors teams’ relationship with the team of Colton Bettis. The teams will be working together again going forward, and having Hamilton Jr. in the mix, providing positive interaction and sharing his knowledge, it will surely be beneficial to Bettis and his team. It has already made an improvement in how the teams work as a unit off the track.

This brings us to the real point of the article. The big news of the end of the year is that Colton Bettis will be joining the BG Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series for the 2022 season, sort of. The team’s intention is to run the full schedule, but with Colton being 12 years old, a couple of the tracks on next year’s schedule are still trying to work out allowing him to compete at their facilities. Currently 4-17 Southern Speedway and Showtime are the tracks that allow him to compete in the sprint car.

We have covered this previously, but for any new readers, Colton has been racing since approximately 4 years old, won many kart championships, trains hard physically, trains in a kart weekly with other competitors and friends, competes in a Super Mini Late Model and has a first class family and crew closely guiding him every step of the way. At Showtime they ran a New Smyrna gear and slightly restricted the throttle while Colton learned the car. Now after learning what he can and improving, the proper gear is in the car and he has full throttle available. Colton has been under the watchful eye of Tra Pissot since he was 10 years old who brings substantial sprint car knowledge to the team.

This past weekend Colton ran his first BG series race at 4-17 Southern Speedway in Punta Gorda, FL. At the end of the night, no one was talking about him. For the casual fan, they may not have even noticed him. But hear me out, the fact that no one was talking about him (the fans) is a huge compliment. At 12 years old he ran his first BG series race that included some stout competition. Sport Allen and LJ Grimm run up front more than they don’t, Hamilton Jr., Aaron Pierce came from Indiana and competed in the 5s, Tommy Nicholls had a hot rod and ran up front most of the race, Troy DeCaire and others. Colton finished 8^th out of 16 cars. His fastest race lap was only 1/10 off of the leaders pace. Bettis started in the rear and got steadily faster, never got in the way, and had a very clean race. (as usual) The car rolled into the trailer without a mark on it after the race. Aaron Pierce stated “I didn’t get to watch him much as he was behind me..” meaning during the race “..watched him in practice and looks like he has good car control. He will be fine. He is in a good car and has good people around him.” So at the conclusion of the evening, Bettis showed up to a race that featured some pretty fast cars and drivers, practiced with them in the afternoon, ran a heat race, and completed the race in a decent position with zero issues. None.

So this brings us to the big question. Why can’t we see Colton Bettis race at all of the tracks that the BG series intends to compete on. The family carries personal racing insurance for him, the waivers are signed just like everyone else. So I’ll beat you to it, insurance. As someone who works in insurance for a living I get it. But here is my argument to that. One of the tracks that will not let him race the sprint car (yet) allows him to race in a lower class. So what’s the difference? Liability is liability, regardless of age or class of vehicle. I do have to say that one of the tracks is working on this so there is hope.

Of course the keyboard warriors will chime in and spew their he is to young, it is to dangerous nonsense. But if they actually knew this young man, and saw how he carries himself, the way he drives, the respect he has earned from his rivals, I think they would feel differently. And I can promise you that no expense is spared, and no corners are cut in regards to safety. Racing is inherently dangerous but they have taken every precaution they can to make him as safe as possible.

Where would Jeff Gordon be if he weren’t allow to race these very same cars at a similar age? Would he have been as good without all of that experience at that young age? And the list is much longer than just Jeff Gordon but his name is familiar to most so I used it.

I spoke to LJ Grim who stated “I feel as comfortable running next to him as I do anyone else. The kid can drive and he has the right people with him to learn and improve every time he hits the race track. I feel he has earned the right to run the full schedule.”

In closing, the undeniable fact here is that Colton Bettis, has earned the respect of his peers, has the talent, seat time and skillset to run the BG series. The BG series has approved him as an entrant. Colton wants to compete for the rookie of the year title in 2022 and I believe it is possible if just one more track opens up and allows him to compete. All Bettis needs is that one track to say ok, come race with us. If this happens, he has an opportunity to accomplish something special as it is possible he would be the youngest driver ever to win and award such as rookie of the year in these cars. He may already be the youngest sprint car driver to win a race in this country. (awaiting confirmation) Regardless if he is the youngest or not, we would all enjoy seeing him in the series full time in 2022 at all of the events.