SALISBURY, N.C. – Second-generation shoe Tyler Letarte is looking to create his breakthrough moment during Wednesday night’s Keith Kunz Motorsports Giveback Classic presented by Toyota Racing Development.
Letarte, the 14-year-old son of retired crew chief-turned NASCAR on NBC analyst Steve Letarte, hopes to grab the biggest win of his career in the inaugural fall classic at the sixth-mile North Carolina dirt oval.
The winner of the 50-lap Open division feature on Wednesday night will receive a $2,000 cash prize, a custom-built trophy and a midget-car ride with Keith Kunz Motorsports next season – specifically at the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Okla., if the winner turns 16 before Jan. 14, 2019.
Letarte knows that accomplishing that feat won’t be easy, but he feels up for the challenge, considering he’s raced in the Open division at Millbridge all season long and picked up his first Open win on July 21.
“This track is definitely one of the harder ones I’ve driven,” said Letarte. “I’ve been a few other places … I went out to Iowa for the (English Creek) Nationals and that place was bigger, but this place was still much, much harder. It takes a finesse that you wouldn’t think it would to be able to run the top here, just because of how the wall is shaped and how you have to enter on the cushion.
“I think I’ll have a huge advantage early thanks to the time I have here, and hopefully I can hold on to it.”
This week’s race features a recent rules change that mandated the removal of the side sail panels on all Open division outlaw karts, something that Letarte gave a resounding stamp of approval for.
“My vote all along has been to get rid of them,” he stated. “If the rule is complicated, the easiest way to fix it is to get rid of it. I’ve seen that with my dad in NASCAR. I, personally, like running without them better, because the bottom should be a viable line at any time … and when you’re on the bottom with sail panels, you can’t drive in behind anyone without pushing like a dump truck. Without them, you can actually get on someone’s bumper and truly race them, like a bullring.”
Having raced regularly at Millbridge, Letarte already has an idea of where he and others will have to be fast in order to find success in the Giveback Classic.
“Qualifying is important, but I think the heat is where it’s all going to matter,” Letarte pointed out. “If you win your heat and go straight to the A, you’re set. If you have to race your way in through the alphabet soup, it’s a long, hard night on equipment and the driver. I gotta get a good heat to contend.”
Though he can’t claim the Chili Bowl ride if he wins due to being underage, Letarte still found a bright side in the possibility of parking in victory lane on Wednesday night.
“If I can win – I might not be able to race in the Chili Bowl, but they still have to give me something,” Letarte noted. “Hopefully, whatever they do give me will be of equal value. I’m excited, though.”
How far will the teenager go to win if he has a chance to do so?
“If we get down to the end of the feature and I’m in position, I think I’ll go as far as we saw in this last NASCAR race,” Letarte said with a coy smile. “I’m going to do everything I have to in order to win this ride.
“I won’t wreck someone with 10 to go, but if I have the opportunity to slide someone in the last corner, I’m going to try and win it.”
