In a two-hour span earlier this year, Tyler Castle won a Mini Stock heat race and was nestled behind Donny Andrews in the penultimate lap of the Winter Classic feature at Columbus Speedway.
Blood pulsating through his veins and eyes wide open, the 16-year-old Sulligent, Alabama, native was no stranger to running well; the Sulligent High School junior won the track points title at Columbus in 2014. That night, though, he was still hunting for his first feature win. Though the race didn’t attract as many Kajun Mini Stock Association drivers as the sanctioned KMSA events, top contenders Bo Minor and Donny Andrews were there. On the final lap, Castle saw the efforts of his first three years of racing culminate in his first career feature win.
“When I won my heat race, I thought, ‘OK, I got this one race,’ ” Castle said. “But I wasn’t sure if I could run with Donny Andrews. I thought, ‘I don’t have the money to run with those cars,’ but I still had the confidence I’d run well, so there I was, running second, and Donny spun out in front of me. It was the last lap and they didn’t throw the caution. But I was on his tail, and I was so happy.”
The first thing Castle did when he stopped at the finish line to collect the checkered flag? He called his mother, Cynthia, who didn’t attend the race because of near-freezing temperatures.
“She was asleep and didn’t answer,” Castle said, “but she got some great news when we got home.”
Castle and other area Mini Stock drivers will compete in the KMSA $1,000-to-win race at Columbus Speedway Saturday night. Qualifying and heat races for the KMSA race, plus Limited Late Model, 602 Late Models and Street Stocks, will begin at 7 p.m.
Castle hopes to re-capture the form and the fortune from the Winter Classic this weekend, but he’ll have to do it against KMSA series drivers.
“I’m really excited because I want to see what my car does against these real fast cars,” Castle said. “I’m not sure what all makes their cars go faster, but they have Eisinger motors, like $12,000 in their car. A lot of my stuff, we traded on, got it, took it to the machine shop and built that way. (Saturday’s race) will be a test, for sure.”
Castle’s from-the-ground-up approach to racing is how most drivers gain experience, particularly at a young age. And like many young drivers, Castle has help from family members, not just in funding his endeavors, but in being with him in every arena, from the shop to the track itself.
Castle’s father, Billy, and his step-brother, Cody Wright, also race Mini Stocks at Columbus Speedway. Billy returned to the track this season after a nine-year hiatus. He raced from 2000-05, mostly in Guin, Alabama, where he won his only feature race, and Winfield, Alabama.
“Things have changed so much,” Billy said. “Back when I was racing, there were a lot of limitations in the division, from the vacuum to the size of the tires. I had to start learning how to drive a more powerful car. But my big thing in getting back onto the track was to get him out there, get some encouragement with racing. Right after that, he got his first feature race. I knew that what I’d done had worked.”
Billy said Tyler got the itch to race when he was 12, and shortly thereafter, he began investing in a car. Part of that investment is actually in the car Billy drives, which he hopes to trade for a car and parts to bump Tyler up to Factory Stock, which have larger motors and more horsepower. Since Magnolia Motor Speedway abandoned Mini Stocks in favor of Factory Stocks, the family’s race opportunities have been solely at Columbus. Having a Factory Stock ride would allow Tyler to race more often, sometimes as much as four weekends a month.
“It’s hard for me to turn loose the wheel to get rid of it, but I’m about to post it on the Internet,” Billy said. “But I want to see how the factory stock was gonna do at Magnolia.”
Tyler’s also had help from other drivers in the racing community, particularly Jason and Jennifer Byrd, who recently switched from Mini Stocks to Factory Stocks. Tyler said he connected with Jason between races one night and asked him about the car’s suspension.
“I walked up to this dude and asked him — he looked good on the track,” Tyler said. “He actually looked at my car and told me I had stock springs on the front, and I didn’t know that. We took the car to his shop at his house. It was random. I didn’t expect it. Jason and Jennifer Byrd help set up my car, taught me a lot of stuff with camber and stuff. They didn’t really build my car but helped put a sheet metal body. They taught me how to adjust the ride height and stuff. They’ve helped me a lot.”
Castle plans to attend college when he graduates from Sulligent High. He hopes to attend Auburn, which might limit how much he can race outside of the summer months. But he’ll make that decision when the time comes.
“I’ve thought about what that day will be like, and then I haven’t thought about it,” Billy said. “Every night we’re out there is that moment for me, as a dad. He’s out here having fun and learning, and we’re enjoying that.”
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