DirtonDirt exclusive
Maturing Stuckey's trips support family business
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
Clay Stuckey at Spoon River Speedway in Banner, Ill. (joshjamesartwork.com)
Clay Stuckey isn’t only trying to find his footing as a 22-year-old still relatively green at the Super Late Model level, he’s also carrying responsibilities that resemble those of a house car driver.
Why? The Shreveport, La., youngster has spent much of the last year helping transform the family’s Stuckey Enterprises operation from a Black Diamond Race Cars dealer into Longhorn by Stuckey, the chassis venture he and his father, Ronnie, launched last June out of their Louisiana shop as a Deep South extension of China Grove, N.C.-based Longhorn Chassis.
Stuckey is determined to absorb as much knowledge as possible on the road in hopes of improving both their product and the support they provide customers. It’s a responsibility he doesn’t take lightly, especially now that Longhorn by Stuckey manager B.J. Robinson has stepped out of the driver’s seat and Ronnie — a longtime crew chief — is often tied down at the family’s Louisiana race shop instead of traveling often alongside his son.
“I watched (Ronnie) take information from Earl Pearson and go put it on a regional guy’s car,” said the younger Stuckey, who ran his father’s Black Diamond Race Cars until last June’s merger with Longhorn. “And then now that's my goal, it’s to help our business in that aspect, to be able to take the information from this level and take it back to a Comp Cams (Super Dirt Series) level and help our direct customers. But I mean, really, our businesses have gotten so busy at home, he don't get to come as often — so then it's down to me.
“I gotta try to pick it up. (Ronnie) don't get to come very often, not as often as used to … just because our business at home is so busy and we have so much going on. So that's why I just try to sponge as much information as possible just to be able to take it back home to them.
“With B.J. not getting to race as much, it's down to me having to share that information,” he added. “Well, the problem is, I ain't that great at this level. That's what I got to work on getting better at. For my information, I’m little bit more useful.”
Like many drivers hoping to maximize their Illinois Speedweek swing, Stuckey is disappointed Mother Nature wiped out three events this week, especially after making the 14-hour haul to the Land of Lincoln from his Louisiana home.
But even with Wednesday’s FloRacing Night in America opener at Spoon River Speedway being the lone Illinois race Stuckey got to contest before heading six hours south to Batesville Motor Speedway in Locust Grove, Ark., for the Bad Boy 98 weekend on the Comp Cams Super Dirt Series, the Midwestern trip still felt worthwhile.
In Stuckey’s eyes, Illinois is fertile ground for someone in his position to venture into — both as a developing driver and from a business standpoint.
“Definitely, because you get to race on a different dirt,” Stuckey said. “You get to race on a whole different thought process every night. Mainly, I'd say the biggest thing you learn is, like, the people. You get the race with a whole different group of cars, where if you race with Comp Cams every week, then you get used to racing with them people.
“I've traveled enough now, but it don't faze you who's beside you. And then you've raced with enough people that, like, you know everybody, so you know what they're gonna race like. … But yeah, you get to race some different dirt, which means different setups, different driving styles, different thought processes. And you get to race in some different atmospheres.”
Stuckey was disappointed to miss Wednesday’s FloRacing Night in America feature at Spoon River Speedway, finishing seventh — three spots shy of a transfer — in the second B-main. The missed opportunity stung a little more considering he qualified for two of three Illinois Speedweek features last year, at Spoon River and Lincoln Speedway, against 40-plus-car fields.
Stuckey has hardly shied from ambitious swings. Last summer, he spent nearly a full month on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals, racing from June 10 through July 6 while qualifying for 19 of 23 features and posting a best finish of fifth at Benton (Mo.) Speedway. That stretch also marked his debut in a Longhorn by Stuckey machine.
He’s remained one of the nation’s most active Dirt Late Model drivers, logging 30 starts already this year after an 84-start season in 2025. His 2026 began encouragingly with a third-place finish Jan. 3 at Arrowhead Speedway in Colcord, Okla., followed by a sixth-place run in the Jan. 10 Wild West Shootout opener at Central Arizona Raceway in Casa Grande, Ariz.
Georgia-Florida Speedweeks proved more turbulent, with Stuckey qualifying for just one of nine events he entered — a Jan. 22 Volusia Speedway Park feature where he finished 16th. But once he returned to a more manageable regional schedule in March and April, the results followed. He captured his third Super Late Model victory April 17 at in Mississippi State Championship Challenge Series action at Hattiesburg Speedway a month after charging from 14th to second behind Tony Jackson Jr. in Midwest LateModel Racing Association competition at Springfield (Mo.) Raceway.
“It ain't been a stellar beginning like last year, but it's still been consistent-ish,” Stuckey said. “Like (Wednesday) I struggled. Last week, I had one good night in Mississippi Thunder (Speedway in the Dairyland Showdown). Like, it's been hit or miss. Every night, you don’t know what you're going to get. Some nights, it[‘s fantastic. Some nights, you're just average and just another car. That's kind of what I've been trying to turn around, just trying to find something on this car to make it a little bit more forgiving.”
Longhorn’s deep pool of resources — from its network of accomplished drivers to engineers and countless technical minds Stuckey can lean on — has provided a stabilizing force for the fourth-year Super Late Model driver during times of uncertainty.
“So mainly, the biggest advantage to it is, when I was in Black Diamonds, you have to do everything by yourself,” Stuckey said. “All your information is by yourself. When you ask somebody something, all they're going to tell you is, you’re in a Black Diamond and we're not.
“At Longhorn … you get to go ask, you know, all the people that I grew up racing with. You have Matt (Langston) and (Kevin) Rumley, and all the people that are more on your side now rather than against you.”
Stuckey said he’s involved enough in the Longhorn by Stuckey manufacturing process that the cars can be built and tailored specifically to suit his preferences behind the wheel. When he’s not traveling to races, he enjoys staying hands-on in the shop and being involved in the day-to-day operations of the business.
“My cars, I have my group that kind of builds them, like they're all tailored to me specifically,” But in terms of a day-to-day basis, I try to stay in there as much as I can, just be involved in it. But the main thing is just you come up here and you race, you get to take that information back home, help them people out.
“And that's probably the biggest thing that helps us, you get to take information from this national level and go apply it to people at a regional level, just because we have so many of them customers.
“Well, you try to. I mean, information is different in every part of the country and for every driver. But, I mean, obviously, your goal is to help your customers. That's the business goal. It's to help your custom as much as possible.”
Stuckey thinks the dynamic at Longhorn at Stuckey is working well. After DP Motorsports shutdown last October, that’s freed up Robinson, the longtime, Bossier, La., racer, to take on more of a management role. Robinson’s race shop is directly next to the Stuckeys as they stay “super intertwined in our day-to-day operations.”
“He's still in our shop every day. He still deals with all the customers,” Stuckey said of Robinson. “You calling the shop, he’s the one that's gonna answer the phone. He's still super-involved. Just he just don't drive a car as much anymore.”
Though his father no longer gets to travel with him as frequently, Stuckey still arrives at the racetrack with a strong support system around him. For the first time, he has two full-time crewmen in 18-year-old Hayden Bryant and 22-year-old Austin Grantham. At times, a third crewman joins the operation as well — 66-year-old Craig Jacobs, a respected veteran presence who has worked, and still works, for Robinson.
Jacobs is part of the car-building process as well at Longhorn by Stuckey, tasked with constructing rear-end assemblies whatever mechanical needs customers have.
Stuckey is also tasked with something many young drivers at his level don’t shoulder alone: calling most of the setup decisions himself whenever his father, Ronnie, isn’t at the racetrack.
Rather than shy away from the responsibility, Stuckey embraces the trial-and-error process of shocks, springs and the science of what makes a car tick, believing the hands-on experience is making him more self-sufficient in the long run.
“It’s not easy. But to be fair, I mean, if it was easy, it wouldn't be no fun. Sure, it adds to the fun of the challenge. I enjoy the shocks. Learning the dyno and learning the spring master. Like, I enjoyed all that when I was younger. … It’d be nice to have a crew chief, but I haven't really I haven't gotten that opportunity. I got to take advantage of the situation the best I can.”
Gleaning info from Garrett Alberson, the Las Cruces, N.M., driver who raced Black Diamond Race Cars for year and crewed for Earl Pearson Jr., has encouraged Stuckey, too.
“(Alberson) had the advantage of being Earl's crew chief for them few years. He had the advantage of seeing both sides of it,” Stuckey said. “So obviously them first few years, he had to figure out on his own before he got Zach (Huston, crew chief at Roberts Motorsports) who helps him make decisions.”
Stuckey knows there’s still plenty to learn. And whether the lessons come through success or adversity, and he’s intent on soaking up all of it.
“Obviously, when my dad comes, it helps me out a ton,” Stuckey said. “I get to bounce ideas off somebody. He still calls me and sees what’s going on, watches every race, but without him here, I just kind of figure it out on my own. Like I said, I like that part. That’s the funnest part of being out here.”
