Inside Dirt Late Model Racing
Column: Young racer forges on without father
Drake Troutman has had nearly a month to process the sudden, heartbreaking passing of his father, D.J., but the new normal for the 16-year-old racer from Hyndman, Pa., hasn’t gotten any easier. It never will, no matter how many laps he turns in his open-wheel modified and Dirt Late Model and how many checkered flags he earns.
Always, and forever, Troutman’s mind will be filled with visions of his father, a former Dirt Late Model racer who died Aug. 12 at the age of 39 with complications from Covid-19 and pneumonia.
“It’s been tough without him,” Troutman said recently by phone when asked about losing the man who was his biggest cheerleader. “My first day back in the (race) shop (following D.J.’s passing), everything I did … I can’t stop thinking about him.
“It’s just a shame,” he continued, his voice cracking a bit. “You kind of take things for granted, I guess you can say, until you don’t have it anymore.”
From Troutman’s earliest days racing gokarts to his debut in the modified division as an 11-year-old to his tentative toe-dips into the Dirt Late Model realm over the past three seasons, right there by his side has been his father. It’s an absolutely foreign concept for Troutman to work on his equipment and race at the track without rubbing shoulders and talking things over with his dear old dad.
Troutman has been back racing without his father for the last three weekends — and notably, on Aug. 20, he won a modified feature at Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex in Markleysburg, Pa., in his first start since D.J.’s death — but it’s certainly not the same for him. He knows, though, that his father would want him to be out there continuing to chase his motorsports dreams, so that’s what he’s doing.
“We’re trying to stay as busy as possible and just do the things he’d be wanting us to do,” said Troutman, who is pressing on with the support of his mother, Lori, and all of his grandparents, including his paternal grandfather Dave Troutman, a veteran Dirt Late Model driver himself. “He wouldn’t want us to stop living, so we’re just trying to keep everything rolling.”
The speed with which Troutman’s life changed was mind-blowing. During a July 30-Aug. 1 trip to Indiana where Troutman piloted both his modified and Late Model in events at Indianapolis’s Circle City Raceway and Shadyhill Speedway, D.J. began to feel sick. He stayed in the team’s hauler as Drake completed the weekend and then they headed home.
Upon returning to Pennsylvania, D.J. took a Covid-19 test and it came back positive. Within two days “he got to the point where he couldn’t even bend down to put his socks on,” Drake said, so Lori Troutman drove her husband to the hospital and he was admitted.
At first, D.J., who wasn’t vaccinated for Covid-19, and his family and friends were confident that he was on the road to recovery. D.J. never even stopped thinking about Drake’s racing.
“The first week he was in (the hospital), we were gonna be out (from racing) that weekend,” said Drake, who had to quarantine at home while his father was hospitalized because he also tested positive for Covid-19 (in fact, Drake’s mother and three of the other four team members who traveled to Indiana contracted Covid, though their symptoms were minimal). “But he told me he wanted to get back racing as soon as possible that way he had something to watch in the hospital.
“We all really thought he was gonna get out. He even thought he was gonna get out. He said, ‘Go racing, and then hopefully next weekend I’ll be out of here and we’ll be able to get back at it again.’ ”
D.J.’s condition began to worsen, however, and on the morning of Aug. 12 Drake woke up to the phone ringing in his house. His mother received news that D.J. was struggling. Later that day D.J. succumbed to the combination of Covid and pneumonia.
Drake was shaken as the scourge of Covid hit home.
“Honestly, I was one of the people who kind of blew it off,” Troutman said of the coronavirus pandemic. “I knew it was real, but I was like, you know, obviously you can’t stop living life, so I didn’t really focus on it like some people did. Now I’d highly, highly suggest to take precautions. Don’t stop living life, but definitely think about taking precautions.”
Troutman said the grief that accompanied D.J.’s passing was tempered by the outpouring of sympathy his family received from the racing community.
“There’s a lot of support there,” Troutman said. “You don’t really know how many people are behind you until something bad like this happens. Bobby Pierce posted something on Facebook. Kyle Bronson and (his sponsor) Brandon Ford sent flowers … there were so many things like that from people all over. It was really cool just seeing everybody reach out. We’re very fortunate that a lot of people are behind us.”
Troutman and his mother found a sense of comfort just two days after losing D.J. by turning to the embrace of their racing friends.
“We got out of (Covid) quarantine on Friday (Aug. 13) and (Maryland’s) Hagerstown (Speedway) was racing Saturday (with the Nathan Durboraw Tribute), so we wanted to go up there just to get our mind off of things and be back home to a racetrack,” Troutman said. “We just went up there to watch. They did the half-staff (flag) deal for dad … it was just really cool.”
The show of love for D.J. continued as he was laid to rest. Drake said the funeral director was amazed by the turnout for D.J.’s viewing, which included a nod to his life-long love of racing.
“We got Hoosier tires put by his casket, kind of involved it with racing,” Troutman said. “My grand pap got a big old 7 sticker (D.J.’s number), one of his first 7 decals, remade, and we put it on his casket.”
Then, just days later, Troutman was back in the seat of his modified at Roaring Knob and promptly drove it to an emotional victory.
“It was definitely the most meaningful win so far,” said Troutman, whose superb 2021 season shows 18 triumphs (15 modified, two Legends Car, one Late Model). “It wasn’t like it was a huge win. It was a big one for us, but it was just the purpose behind it.”
Yes, that checkered flag was for D.J.
“He was the rock, the rock of the race team for sure,” Troutman said, fighting back tears. “Man … it’s tough.”
The teenager who has shown maturity beyond his years — and now faces the challenge of growing up even more without his father — turned to reflecting on the determination D.J. had to ensure Drake had all the tools to succeed in racing.
“We started out (in 2016) on an open trailer, old car, and then one of our sponsors let us use his enclosed trailer,” Troutman said. “We went from an open trailer to an enclosed trailer to a smaller toterhome in like three months, and then we flipped that (hauler) after like two years. Dad got to the point where we were taking more people with us, like eight people sometimes, and we were sleeping on the floor, and he was like, ‘I think it’s time to upgrade a little bit.’ So we sold that thing and we got ahold of Ashton Winger and bought (Winger’s car owner Billy Franklin’s) Peterbilt toterhome that they had for sale at the time.”
How did D.J., who worked at his family’s D&R Trucking in Hyndman, Pa., afford the big purchase?
“My grandpap (Dave) let him truck for it at night time — that’s how he did that deal with the toterhome,” Drake said of his father. “He’d work from 8-to-5 or whatever during the day, and then as soon as he got off he’d truck once or twice a week (to earn extra money to put toward the toterhome). He said he didn’t mind doing it because of how hard I worked in the shop.”
Troutman asserted that he had to demonstrate a serious work ethic on his race cars because his father “did everything he possibly could to get me where I’m at.” He went on to note that D.J. stopped his own racing career — his resume included the 2015 Super Late Model championship at Bedford (Pa.) Speedway — so all the family’s resources could be pointed toward Drake.
“If it wouldn’t be for him, I’d probably just be getting into racing really,” Troutman said. “Or I might have never got into it.”
Troutman said he’s learned virtually everything he knows about racing from his father, who was so proud to see his son’s progression on the technical side.
“Honestly, just about a month ago is when I learned how to do everything setup-wise, to where I can pretty much make all the calls on my own,” Troutman said. “I was just learning over time, and now I can be the one kind of calling the shots during the night.
“He rode my case over the years about a lot, not so much workingwise, but just like sports or whatever — I need to do this or this — and racingwise too. Obviously when I first started (driving) I was a little bit hesitant and he’d get on my case about that too. But thank goodness he did, because if not, who knows?
“He was definitely the perfect dad,” he continued. “You couldn’t ask for a better one, that’s for sure. Me and him were tight. Honestly, me and him were best friends. I mean, obviously we loved each other very much, but it was like a friendship more than family in some ways because we could talk about anything with each other.”
Troutman never had a doubt about how much racing meant to his father.
“Dad was the type where, we would be (planning on) going somewhere (that weekend as of) Wednesday, and obviously we’d get the cars done and ready to load, and I could be like, ‘Hey, why don’t we go down South or whatever, or go out West and race?’ ” Troutman said. “If it made sense, he was like, ‘All right. Let’s go.’ He generally loved it. I feel like he loved it as much as I did.
“He worked really hard as far as keeping up with technology, making sure the racing program was good. Like, we don’t come from money. You might look at the big setup that we have and be like, ‘OK, that kid’s spoiled,’ or this or that, but me and dad worked really hard together for everything. The racing was kind of me and my dad’s deal.”
Troutman will now have to rely on the assistance of his volunteer crew members as well as his grandfather Dave Troutman, who has “really stepped up” since D.J.’s passing to help keep Drake’s career moving forward.
“He promised dad that he’d make sure he kept the racing going for me, like driving the truck and going with me,” said Drake, who is leading the Renegades of Dirt Modifieds series points as he chases the title worth $15,000 . “He’s been hanging around the shop some more as well. He’s definitely made it easier than doing it on my own.
“But no one will ever fill dad’s shoes. It don’t matter if it’s somebody who’s got endless money in the world or not. He made it work with what we had and we’ve been really successful, too.”
Drake now finds himself focused on following the path that his father had set for him.
“Mom and dad’s plan was to go full-time Late Model racing next year, the following year run like 20 or 30 races with either the Lucas (Oil Late Model Dirt Series) or the (World of) Outlaws (Morton Buildings Late Model Series — whatever makes more sense at the time — and then the following year after that hop on board with one of them,” Troutman said, looking ahead to an ambitious future provided the proper sponsorship can be obtained. “That’s what we’re gonna make happen, whatever we’ve got to do.”
And Troutman will be thinking about his departed father every step of the way.
“I mean, usually I can talk about him and just smile or whatever throughout the day,” said Troutman, who is taking his junior-year high school classes from home through a public cyber school. “That’s one thing that’s nice. I’ve got so many good memories with him. I really don’t have any bad ones with my dad. At the time I might have thought they were, but now I can look back and laugh at it.
“I won’t ever fill his shoes,” he added. “He was one of a kind. Hopefully I can be half the person he was one day.”
Ten things worth mentioning
1. The first D.J. Troutman Tribute Race will be a two-day Renegades of Dirt-sanctioned modified weekend on Sept. 24-25 at Bedford Speedway. It’s an event that was hastily put together by the Troutmans in conjunction with Bedford promoter Joe Padula and several sponsors because of something D.J. said earlier this year. “My dad just told my mom just a few months ago, he was like, ‘If anything ever happens to me, I want a $50,000-to-win modified race (run in his memory),’ ” Drake said. “I don’t know if he meant actually 50-grand to win or a $50,000 overall purse, but with the short time we had, we put together a pretty good deal for him.” The tribute weekend will feature complete modified shows on both Friday and Saturday nights, with each 39-lap feature paying $12,007 to win and $507 to start. There will also be a $1,000-to-win non-qualifiers’ race each evening and other social awards, helping push the total purse for the doubleheader to over $70,000.
2. Drake, of course, will participate in his father’s Tribute Race weekend, which is scheduled for the same late-September weekend on which Bedford’s marquee Super Late Model event, the Keystone Cup, was contested in both 2018 and ’19. This year’s fourth annual, $21,000-to-win Keystone Cup — another race Drake on his schedule — will run later in the fall for the second consecutive year, on Oct. 22-23.
3. Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn., missed his first Lucas Oil Series event of the season Saturday at Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park, but he received hardship points because his absence resulted from a crew member’s positive Covid-19 test putting the team in the tour’s Covid protocol. With the crewman recovered, Marlar plans to compete in this week’s double World 100 at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
4. Big Frog Motorsports owner Augie Burttram is looking forward to running the World 100s with his driver, Mark Whitener of Middleburg, Fla., after surviving a harrowing battle with Covid-19 and double pneumonia that left him hospitalized in Ocala, Fla., for more than a week last month. Writing on Facebook that the episode was “definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever had to fight in my life,” the 46-year-old Burttram sent out thanks to the many people from the racing community who offered him “prayers and kind words of encouragement” as he struggled to regain his health.
5. With six-time World 100 champion Billy Moyer not entering this week’s action at Eldora as he looks to liquidate his racing operation and his son, Billy Moyer Jr., opting to sit out the doubleheader for the first time since 2013, we’re looking at a rare occurrence indeed: the first World 100 without a Moyer in the field in an eternity. The elder Moyer has entered every World 100 since at least 1986; a check of the history books is needed to uncover whether Moyer failed to qualify for World 100s before that.
6. Looking through the entry list for the World 100s, there are nearly 20 drivers set to take their first-ever stabs at Dirt Late Model racing’s most prestigious event. NASCAR Cup Series points leader Kyle Larson, of course, is the most high-profile “rookie” — the winner of July’s $175,000 Kings Royal Sprint Car race at Eldora will race Wednesday and Thursday before heading off to compete in this weekend’s Cup stop at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway — but there are other first-timers as well. World 100 rookies that caught my eye include Spencer Hughes, who won Sunday’s Baltes Classic at Eldora; Max Blair, who ran well during June’s Dreams in his Eldora Super Late Model debut; Jensen Ford, who opened eyes during the Dreams; Austin Kirkpatrick, who is itching to bring his homebuilt car back to Eldora after a disappointing June visit; G.R. Smith, who has a World 100 owner’s trophy from 2017 with Jonathan Davenport; Hunt the Front’s Joseph Joiner; and California’s Jason Papich.
7. By the way, if Papich were to make one of the World 100 feature fields, he would become just the fifth driver to start a World 100 headliner while listing California as their residence. He would join Tyler Reddick (24th in both 2012 and ’13); Ernie Irvan (12th in 1984); Jim Hurtibise (15th in ’74, 19th in ’75); and Joe Ruttman (second in 1971’s inaugural World 100).
8. The 42-year-old Papich, who was in the Midwest over Labor Day weekend for MLRA-sanctioned events in Kansas and Missouri that were rained out, said he decided to stay out for the week and give the World 100 a shot. He noted that he’s never been to the World 100 before “but always wanted to attend.”
9. World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series technical director Kenny Kenneda has been away from the racetrack since being hospitalized in August with a lacerated spleen and subsequently being diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, but he’s planning a return to oversee DIRTcar’s tech during this week’s World 100s at Eldora. He’s still regaining his strength, but he’s “going to see how I do” over the course of the four-day racing meet. Kenneda, who will have assistance from other DIRTcar technical officials, said he starts his chemotherapy treatments on Sept. 13 so Eldora “may be my last race weekend for a while.”
10. I was just thinking about something I’d like to see in Eldora’s souvenir area with this week marking the milestone 50th World 100: Throwback T-shirts of past event winners. I’d love to get a, say, Jeff Purvis retro shirt from the ‘80s.
