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Varnadore Catches On Fast

Photo by Ross Calabrese

Travis Varnadore (41) is already making a name for himself on dirt tracks, even at age 17.

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By BILL GREEN

Tribune correspondent

Published: May 22, 2008

At 17, Travis Varnadore is a veteran racer.

He also is active in Future Farmers of America and is an "A" student at Durant High, but when your family owns the local dirt track, you are expected to excel on it. Growing up around the track has given Varnadore a complete view of grass-roots racing.

"Learning what it takes to prepare the track and all the things that have to be done to make a Saturday night of racing happen gives you a whole new perspective on what it really takes to go racing every weekend," he said.

Coming from go-karts, where he started at 7, Varnadore took his first track championship as a 12-year-old in the Gold Restricted class. He spent almost two years preparing for his full-bodied racing debut at age 14.

"Dad told me I had to be 14 before I could race in competition," Varnadore said. "I won my first Outlaw 4 race in 2006, actually it was two races back-to-back at East Bay, but I was at Putnam County Raceway when I won my first Late-Model A-main event during their Summer Series in 2007."

The driver followed that with his first East Bay late-model victory against a full field on May 3, racing many of the veterans he watched working around the track.

"That was a nice win," said Varnadore, who turned 17 two weeks later. "There were 22 cars in the race, but we had a lot of cautions. I think we only completed 18 of the scheduled 25 laps, but I really enjoyed winning it at home."

Having been around racing all his life, Varnadore is mature beyond his years.

"Watching closely, I learned from my dad the way to drive when I was in the car," Varnadore said of his father, Dean Varnadore, co-owner of East Bay Raceway Park. "But outside the car, he really leads by example. He seldom gets upset, always thinks things through and seemed to enjoy the people in racing most of all."

Varnadore did not win Saturday's late-model main event, but he took the season points lead by finishing two places ahead of previous leader K.D. Kelly.

Varnadore has high goals for his racing career, and he believes anything is possible.

"I'd love to think I could make it to NASCAR," he said. "Living it, watching it and dreaming it makes me think I can do it. My family's support makes me believe it is possible."

In other races Saturday at East Bay, Buzzie Reutimann notched another Open-Wheel Modified win Saturday night, his third in five attempts this season. Other winners included Jeff Mathews (Late Models), Buck Skinner (Street Stocks), Jim Courson (Outlaw 4s) and Tim Gay (Limited Late Models).

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