Media Contact: Megan Dupuy - woodhullracewaypr@gmail.com For Immediate Release – August 25th, 2016 – Woodhull Raceway photo -
(WOODHULL, NY) – Imagine yourself being a teenager, not yet able to drive legally on the highway but being able to drive a racecar on a dirt track. That is what it’s like for many of our ‘young guns’ at Woodhull Raceway. Many of our veteran drivers have been in their shoes before, climbing up through the ranks.
Brody Amidon, 13, races the No. 2 youth four cylinder in the Daugherty Auto Sales Warrior division at Woodhull Raceway. At 13, he doesn’t even have his permit, but pilots a racecar around the dirt oval.
Amidon is in 8th grade and attends school in Corning. He loves all types of sports but besides racing, his favorite is baseball. He’s even tried out for his school’s team. This is his first time in any type of racecar. Brody has had no prior racing experience, but that doesn’t lessen his confidence one bit.
“I learned how to drive standard two days before the first race,” Brody said during the interview. “It took me a couple tries but I got it.”
Brody’s dad and grandfather got him into racing. Brody’s dad, Rick, races in the adult Mini Stock class at Woodhull Raceway, also sponsored by Daugherty Auto Sales. They share the same car and change the seats in between the two classes.
We asked Brody what it was like to share a racecar and his response was, “nerve racking.”
Sometimes it’s a time crunch to change the seats but they always seem to get it done. He also touched upon the fact that it helps him and his dad figure out what’s going on with the car. They can share what they thought the car was doing with each other and come up with a solution to fix the problem.
“It’s exciting and you never know what’s going to happen,” was Amidon’s response after being asked what he liked most about racing?
He’s not wrong racing is a sport where anything can happen at any moment. You could be leading and the next minute, you could be dead last. However, that’s what makes people love the sport so much and drives them to compete and attend as fans every Saturday night.
For Amidon, his plans for racing are to move up into the Daugherty Auto Sales Mini Stock division after racing one more year in the Warrior division at Woodhull Raceway. Brody doesn’t quite know where he’s going from the mini stock division.
“Sprint cars are cool,” Amidon said when asked if he had a dream racecar, he would love to race?
For the rest of this year, Brody just wants to get used to his car and do the best he can. We asked Brody if he has learned a lot from racing in the warrior class?
His response was, “I’ve gotten a lot better than the first week, so yes.” The warrior class is a great class to get our youth into racing. It is great that tracks are able to have a division like this because after all, it is going to be the youth taking over when not all of our veterans can race anymore.
Brody Amidon is an upcoming driver who is learning what it takes to drive a racecar. He understands that it takes time. Just doing his best satisfies him. Look forward to watching Amidon race for years to come as he plans on continuing in the mini stock division and maybe more. Stay tuned!