National Karting Event Held At Beechnut Raceway In Blountville

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – Thomas Underwood zipped around the quarter-mile dirt track in his low-slung machine as his wife watched anxiously from the pits.
Just a few steps away, Underwood’s father and mother were busy executing a variety of mechanical and administrative tasks.

For the past 11 years, the Underwood family has followed the fast world of karting up and down the East Coast.

It’s a culture, a passion and a way of life. And for the Underwoods, the pace is only getting faster.

The action-packed spectacle of karting has long been overshadowed by stock car and drag racing in the Mountain Empire, yet kart racers around the country are familiar with the circuitous trek to Beechnut Raceway.

More than 200 competitors from 17 states came to Beechnut Saturday for a Maxxis National Tour event. There were five-year old daredevils in the Kid Kart class and veteran racers as old as 65.
The medium-banked facility, tucked into a rural part of Blountville, has a special place in the hearts of Teresa and Garfield Underwood. The couple, who live between Roanoke and Christiansburg, Va., decided to lease the track this year when the previous operator decided to pursue other interests.

“Beechnut is like a home track to us and we didn’t want to see it closed down,” Teresa Underwood said.

Garfield works as a plumbing contractor, while Teresa serves as financial aid officer for a cosmetology school in Roanoke. For the Underwoods, the family appeal of karting sets the sport apart from other forms of racing. That’s a big reason for a new approach at Beechnut this season.

“We’ve kind of pulled away from under the WKA [World Karting Association] umbrella, and we’re trying to offer something besides the money races,” Teresa Underwood said. “The money races have been killing this sport.”

With the financial backing of Maxxis, a worldwide tire manufacturer, the focus is now on grassroots racing. Instead of cash rewards which raise the emotional stakes on sponsors, families and tracks, competitors on the Maxxis tour compete for tires and are honored at a season-ending banquet.

“People tend to get to vicious when money is involved,” Underwood said. “We’re trying to take the sport back to the grassroots level and promote what this sport is really about, and that’s families.”

There will be 18 events at Beechnut this season, including eight local, six state and three money races.

“Things are little slow this year due to the economy and the cost of travel, but we’re optimistic abut the future,” Underwood said.

Hot property
In the close-knit karting universe, Spencer Davis is considered a rising star.
The 10-year-old from the racing hotbed of Dawsonville, Ga., won 99 features last year and is being groomed for much bigger things.

“I like to go fast and I like to win,” Davis said.

Though he has only been racing four years, Davis has already mapped out a career goal.

“I want to be in NASCAR,” Davis said.

Scott Davis, father of Spencer Davis, said an early start is vital.

“The quicker you can get a driver in the seat, the better you are. That’s the way things are in racing now,” Davis said.

According to Scott Davis, his son will test a stock car at famed Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina in two weeks and hopes to advance to the ASA (American Speed Association) next year. Scott added that his son has already earned a spot into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in Dawsonville, Ga.

The Davis Racing shop is located just seven miles from the famed Elliott family racing compound of NASCAR fame. Scott said that Dan Elliott, brother of NASCAR legend Bill Elliott, has agreed to build transmissions as Spencer Davis moves to stock cars. NASCAR Sprint Cup competitor Kevin Harvick is a family friend. In fact, Spencer’s kart features the same number and color as Harvick’s No. 29 ride in NASCAR.

“Spencer loves to race and is dedicated, but we will only take him as fast as he wants to go,” Davis said.

With the support of his father, brother and uncle, Spencer Davis won races in 23 states last year. He also maintained an A average at his school.

“We race every weekend and travel all over the country,” said Scott Davis, who works in the poultry equipment business. “We actually had a race on South Carolina this Friday, then drove all night to be here in Tennessee.”

As he waited for his next race Saturday at Beechnut, Spencer Davis maintained a placid expression while playing a racing-themed video game. When asked about his accomplishments thus far in 2009, he pointed to the bottom line.

“I’ve won 36 races, and I’m working on 37,” Davis said.

Family affair

The Underwood family is well aware that success in karting is paved with long hours of sweat and sacrifice.
Thomas Underwood, 21, met his wife, Felicia, at a kart race in Montvale, Va., seven years ago. Felicia was a racer at the time.

“I enjoyed racing, but Thomas was always better than me,” Felicia Underwood said. “I go to the races now with Thomas, and I help him every way I can.”

On this hot Saturday afternoon, the duties for Felicia ranged from washing tires to retrieving computer printouts of her husband’s lap times.

“Karting is a great family sport,” Felicia said. “We all help and support each other.”

A nightmare sequence for the Underwood family during the opening Maxxis national tour event in Jasper, Fla., this February illustrated the unity of the karting community.
Shortly after leaving the team trailer at the track, Garfield Underwood experienced a heart attack while eating dinner. The family was 10 hours from their home in Copper Hill, Va.

“Two of the racers from Tennessee went to the hospital and stayed with me until 4 in the morning,” Teresa Underwod. “Another family took our trailer home for us, and one of the racers from the Blountville area [Smiley Fields] called to check on my husband every day for two solid months.
“I don’t know what I would have done without that support.”

With more than 100 victories and at least 10 state championships, Thomas Underwood has one of the most impressive resumes in karting. However, he doesn’t dwell on the more publicized and lucrative NASCAR world.

“I could really care less about stock cars. It [NASCAR] is really overrated to me,” said Underwood, who is sponsored by a karting company in the Martinsville, Va. area.

Underwood feels if more motorsports fans would turn off the television and attend a karting event, they would become hooked. On Saturday, the top drivers at Beechnut raced only inches apart at speeds approaching 100 miles per hour in the straightaway.

“Karts don’t get enough credit or exposure,” Underwood said. “This form of racing can be more technical than NASCAR, and our races are sometimes decided by tenths of a second.
“Karting is a family sport in all ways. I just love it.”

And Teresa Underwood shares that love.

“We’ve traveled up and down the East Coast with Thomas sometimes running 48 weekends a year,” Underwood said.

The karting culture

Memorial Day weekend is the most popular motorsports weekend of the year. Fans can choose between the Indianapolis 500, the Monaco Grand Prix and the Coca-Cola 600 in Concord, N.C. There was also another major karting event held in South Carolina.

For Garland Rowland, the perfect destination was Beechnut Raceway. Rowland helps run Performance Engine & Chassis, a Sylvester, Ga., based operation which supplies parts to racers.

“Some parents say it costs a lot of money to get into karting but I always give them my sermon,” Rowland said. “Would you rather spend money on drug or alcohol rehab or go racing and have fun. Kids learn responsibility, discipline and dedication through karting.”

Rowland’s son, David, got his start in karting at age eight. He competed up until around three years, when he decided to help out his fellow competitors.

“David and his daddy brought some go karts one day and we just started racing,” Rowland said. “We followed the circuit for years, and I’ve watched a lot of these racers grow up.
“You have to make a total commitment to karting if you want to be really good, and not many kids or their parents are willing do that.”

Between racing in various divisions and servicing karts, Thomas Underwood maintained a hectic pace Saturday. From his smile, it all appeared to be a labor of love.

“I’ve got all my friends and family here.,” Underwood said. “There’s no place I’d rather be.”

|(276) 645-2544

What: Beechnut Racway

Location: Blountville, Tenn.

Directions: Track is located around four miles off Interstate 81

More information: BeechnutRaceway.net

Notes: Several other nationally-known racers competed at Beechnut Saturday, including “Flying Ryan” Montgomery from West Virginia and Nick Long of Greenwood, S.C.
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