Media Contact: Megan Dupuy – woodhullracewaypr@gmail.com
For Immediate Release – May 3rd, 2017 - Jay Fish photo
(Woodhull, NY) – For many of us racing is in our family genes. We grow up at the racetrack, only to end up living our life at the racetrack.
For Dale Welty, racing was your typical family thing. Both Welty’s father and mother raced. His mom actually raced at Chemung Speedrome back when they had a powderpuff division. They received points and were just like a division here at Woodhull Raceway.
“One Friday night, when she was pregnant at Dundee, they had to leave early. My dad couldn’t run the feature so I could be born. I was born early that Saturday morning and one week later I was at the races,” Welty said speaking about how he got into racing.
Welty jumped in feet first at 16 years old, driving a big block modified. His brother was currently driving at the time and now owns his crate sportsman car. Welty then took a few years off to find himself with a super stock he won from a five-dollar raffle.
That car itself, won seventy races total between two tracks. Currently, Welty has amassed 99 feature wins. Hopefully we can see Welty in victory lane again for his 100th win.
“Hopefully we can get 100 in the books, if I don’t keep turning the cars over,” Welty added as he had taken a wild ride at Outlaw Speedway the night prior to the interview.
Focusing on Woodhull Raceway alone however, Welty is no stranger. He started racing Woodhull Raceway regularly in 2003 up until 2014.
Do you plan to run Woodhull Raceway full-time this season?
“Our plans are to run the modified here but the modified I just flipped it last night and mangled it up,” Welty said again referring to his wreck at Outlaw Speedway the night prior.
With Welty’s win in the NAPA Crate Sportsman race a couple weeks ago being a show up points event, he sits fifth in points at Woodhull Raceway. He leads the points at Outlaw Speedway in their Crate Sportsman division.
“For the time being we’ll probably (race the) crate until we get the modified ready to run here,” Welty said.
One thing is for sure we will definitely be seeing Welty on a regular basis at Woodhull Raceway. He would love to get a championship at Woodhull and if he keeps up the consistency, he might just get it. Welty had a strong finish this past Saturday finishing in fourth.
“This track is very demanding, very technical. It is easy to drive around but it is hard to drive around super well. To put it in perspective I’ve only raced here half as many times as Dundee and I have 79 wins at Dundee but only 5 here.”
Many drivers race at Outlaw Speedway on Friday and come to Woodhull Raceway on Saturday. Welty is one of them. The two tracks are not alike and require different set ups to get around the track especially since Woodhull is trickier than most.
“Setup we just make minor changes,” said Welty. “We only have to change one shock on the suspension. That doesn’t take too long. It’s more regular maintenance so we don’t break down.”
The big difference between the sportsman and modified for Welty is the difference in the corner. The modified has a lot more power to sling through the corner where as the sportsman does not. The sportsman feels more committed in the corner for Welty compared to the modified where he can ‘overcook it’ and still recover fine. The other major difference is the sail panels which makes a big difference in handling.
For Welty the modified takes preference when choosing his favorite type of car to drive.
“It’s just such a kick in the pants to drive. It is a real blast. It’s such a thrill to smash that throttle and feel that power,” Welty said.
Welty was asked if he had any tips to help get around Woodhull Raceway to sum up the interview?
“The best tip on Woodhull is especially in turn 3, when you’re coming into that corner you don’t want to get it to far sideways too soon. If you can keep your back end tucked and still make the car rotate in the corner, you’ll just carry so much more speed,” Welty responded.
Stay tuned all season long for more of Megan Dupuy’s driver profiles, as she travels the pit area at Woodhull Raceway to help tell the stories of the drivers that put on a show each week. Megan is finishing her sophomore year at Mansfield University, where she is studying to pursue a career in public relations. She has returned to Woodhull Raceway for her second season as Media Intern- an experience she hopes to make useful in a future career in motorsports media and marketing.