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High School Dirt Racing in Ohio

2025-04-11 16:03

Earning a varsity letter in highschool is something a lot of kids experience. Usually it's earned in Football, Band, Cross Country, Basketball, etc. Now, students in Southern Ohio have a chance to earn a varsity letter in dirt track racing. Yes, you read that right. A varsity letter in dirt track racing. Atomic Speedway, just south of Chillicothe, Ohio is working on the SMART Mod program, which will give high school students access to everything related to dirt track racing. The kicker? They'll be going up against other local high schools for all the bragging rights in what is a first-of-its-kind program in the United States.

"For a couple years now, this idea has been blossoming," said Charlie Vest, Owner of Atomic Speedway. "My cousin is a superintendent, so I've been running liability ideas off of him. Finally, we got to the point where we had a plan and this program came together. Everybody who races knows that you learn every day; you're always trying to get faster, being creative with your setups. So why wouldn't we teach these kids early on that regardless of what you're doing in life, you're always going to be learning something?"

Vest has wanted to get the kids involved in racing in Southern Ohio since buying Atomic Speedway a few years ago. He has plans to build a kids track behind the 3/8ths mile oval to give the kids a place to race. In most areas, kids have decent access to go-kart tracks or quarter midget tracks, but it's more of an anomaly in Southern Ohio. Giving these kids, the future of the sport, an opportunity to learn about racing and be involved in racing-behind the wheel of a race car or not- is one of the main goals of the SMART Mod program.

What is the SMART Mod Program? Atomic Speedway has purchased a handful of Sport Mod cars, which will be housed in local racers shops, detuned, and with all the top-notch safety features, including STIDA Insurance. The cars are all built the same with the same motors, tires, and suspension components, so no school has a clear-cut advantage. Every student that is interested in being on the team will be able to hop in the iRacing simulator, where Charlie will help determine, based off of lap times, who will be on the Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Reserve teams. The students with the best lap times will be eligible to be the primary driver, or the reserve driver.

The unique part is, even if a student is on the team for PR or design purposes, they still get simulator time, and could end up behind the wheel of the actual car. Charlie is working directly with schools to develop a curriculum that benefits both the students, and the schools. Charlie has also talked to the University of Northwestern Ohio [UNOH], a college in Lima, Ohio well-known for its motorsports programs and operation of Limaland Motorsports Park, to see what UNOH is looking for in high school students coming to their programs to better suit everyone's needs.

"As this came together, the competition at the track became less important, and the education became way more important. Not only do we want kids to learn, we want them to understand how many jobs there are in the racing industry as a whole. My crew chief that I had when I had my [Nascar] Truck team is now the head shock guy at 23XI [Nascar Cup Team]. We were talking in Charlotte, and he had these kids working on the computer simulator, and you have all these departments. Almost everything that you can imagine if you want to work professionally, if you're an artist, a computer geek, an engineer, a tradesman, it doesn't matter what you are, if you want to be in the racing industry, you can do it," Vest said.

"That's what spawned this idea. We're going to show these kids that even on a weekly racing deal, that even with a Sport Mod, there's a place where you fit. You want to design race cars? You fit. You want to understand engineering and the physics of the car and the math of the setup? You fit. There's so many cool ways to participate in racing. That's where the gears really started turning for this program. The program is driven more by the education than the competition," Vest continued.

"Once we can get the kids to understand that you're an artist, and you're a part of this team, and you're going to design the race car, you're going to design the press releases, or the print, or the social media. There are so many avenues to be a part of it and grow as you further your education. All the facets coming together has been awesome. The welding kids, the hospitality kids, you have your EMS and police officers, and it's all relevant. Now, we aren't just talking about race cars, we're talking about race tracks. Now we have all these kids that want to do AV, and now FloRacing is intrigued because it's up their alley. I've really just taken racing as something really cool and fun to do, and we're showing how racing can be involved in almost any career path for you."

Once the SMART Mod program gets to the point of racing, they'll take to the track on Wednesday nights, with each school potentially having a varsity, junior varsity, and reserve team, with each team having a primary and reserve driver. If the primary driver wins one night, then the reserve driver takes the wheel the next race night. They'll compete for points as if it were a regular division at Atomic Speedway, and a champion will be crowned at the Speedway's banquet in the off-season, just like the 410, late model, modified or sport mod teams.

There are some hurdles though. As Charlie said in his interview, "The schools are a little timid, and the insurance guys are jerks." Then, Charlie said something that makes a lot of sense about what this program is about, and how racers are as a whole: "I told them, put them on my insurance, I don't care. We're racers, we understand the liability, and most people don't, because they don't understand racing. I can promise you, that based on these risk assessments, racing is half as risky as gymnastics. These kids aren't going to be going fast. I could probably pass them in my Jeep. If I could just get these people to the track, put them in a car, and show them what they're going to do, I could calm them all down and get them to understand. It's racing, and it seems dangerous and on the edge, and I get it, but these aren't 410 sprint cars, they're sport mods."

For Vest and company though, the obstacles are just a minor blip on the radar when it comes to the overall goals for the SMART Mod program. The goals extend beyond Atomic Speedway, Southern Ohio, and Ohio as a whole. Vest envisions this kind of program across the nation, and as a program that can convene to crown a state champion and even a national champion. But that's the competition side, and as Charlie said, the program is driven more by the education than the competition.

"Year one, I just want to get the damn thing off the ground and I want to get the kids involved," Vest started in about his goals. "I want a lot of excitement and I want to get the kids that have disengaged, reengaged in the education system. If we can get them to understand that it's not just the jocks or the or the smart kids that can excel in education. I want the artsy kids that would never talk to the welding kids and appreciate what each one does. That's something you don't learn until you're older."

Vest pointed out an example of the race car driver appreciating what the wrap-designer does, because someone may be able to drive the wheels off of a race car, but they can't draw a stickman to save their life.

"I want to get it off the ground and have a truly successful and safe year one. I'd like to grow it and have five schools in ten states in the next year or two. I'd love to have statewide races and a national championship and have this program become a standard and viable sport once we get the schools to come to the fact that racing isn't as dangerous and isn't everything that they think it is. It gets more people involved because it isn't a strict 'you have to be an athlete or have to be this or that' to succeed. Racing has a much bigger place at the table than where it does right now."

"It's about being there, being part of the deal, and understanding that you want that team environment. You want them to understand that when a quarter panel gets ripped off, or the front end gets tore up, that it takes four or five guys or girls thrashing to get that car back out," Vest said.

The local race teams have also volunteered to help out with this program, which was one of the gaps Vest needed to fill as he has brought this idea to life. The SMART Mod program will have a mentorship aspect to it, and the cars will stay at the local teams shops. The racers will mentor the schools to teach them the racing side, and it doesn't stop there. Atomic's graphic designer for their banners will be in charge of the creative aspects of the program and can help show the kids how certain things are done, and why certain things are taught in school. He can show the students his graphic design shop and show the students how the basics are applied in his shop. There are a lot of moving parts in this project, but these moving parts are all working towards a common goal promoting racing and getting more kids involved in racing.

A big, remarkable step that Atomic Speedway owner Charlie Vest is taking towards this goal is making this program a template, so that any track in the nation can plug in this program and race. Charlie is doing the leg work and figuring out how to answer the tough questions from the schools and insurance companies, and trying to make this program as accessible as possible, at no cost.

"My goal was to get these companies like My Race Pass involved and a part of this templating, so I can build this structure into something like My Race Pass, so all of the formalities of this process and procedure are built in, and say when Skyline Speedway wants to do this down near Athens, Ohio, I can give them the package on My Race Pass and it has all the structure you need for a race night," said Vest.

"By the way, we've done the hard work with the insurance companies, and have done the legwork with why they're going to tell you no, and what their excuses are for this and what excuses are for that. Here's your packet of information, so that when you go before a school board or a superintendent, you have everything you're going to need; the structure of the creative arts program, the things you're going to want to get the kids to understand and entice them to design. As we work through this platform this year, we'll have some key points we can put together and pass on to the other tracks. We can give them the entire program, all you have to do is plug this in at your racetrack and have a representative go out and talk to the schools. Here is your platform, here is the template, here is the structure, the education. UNOH is backing it, everybody's behind it, they believe in the curriculum and in what we're doing. It takes all of the hard parts that we've fought the last six months for away. All we have to do is hand them some three ring binders, tell them that Atomic has done this and no kids were hurt. Here are some pictures, here are some videos, here are some grants you can get. It's a great deal because the schools don't get charged," continued Vest

"That's the template that we're building. I could call Husets and say 'Hey, you have to do this, it's awesome,' and they can go to ten schools and they have the template and they can plug and play. When somebody says something like 'We've been dealing with these insurance companies,' we can show them where that's been addressed and move on. We're doing the hard work, because I really, really want racing to be more of the norm when we start talking about education. We can do it because if we build the cars right and do it right, they're safe."

The SMART Mod program is a very ambitious program, but one thing I learned during the interview with Charlie Vest is that he has thought about everything that could pertain to this. I had plenty of follow-up questions about curriculum or local team involvement that he answered before I could even ask. There hasn't been a stone left unturned with this program, and it is being put together for all the right reasons. As people's interests and motivations change, racing has to find a way to keep their place at the table, and as Charlie said, earn the bigger spot that racing deserves. That means getting students, parents, teachers, administrators and even state government officials involved. Get them involved to see what racing truly is; not the dangerous crashes and near-misses we see in compilations on YouTube or TikTok, but all the hard work, education, teamwork, and camaraderie between so many different facets of life to get a local race team to the track every Friday and Saturday night.

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