It probably happens every day quietly, but yesterday 14-year old Carter Davison took to Facebook to announce that he and his family owned team were selling out of their Late Model Stock Car team and won’t race in 2019.
Davison had been making a name for himself as he came up through the ranks of racing. He started racing at the age of five on BMX bikes and a year later moved to go-karts. By age nine he had won the WKA (World Karting Association) World Championship race at Daytona International Speedway while driving for NASCAR veteran Hermie Sadler. He moved to Legends before jumping to the Mod 4 division at Lonesome Pine Raceway.
At age 12, he won the track championship in the Mod 4 division at Lonesome Pine in 2017. This past season at the age of 13 he debuted at Hickory Motor Speedway in the Limited Late Model division. In the fall he made his first Late Model Stock Car start at Kingsport Speedway in a non-winners special and finished third.
He was expected to compete full-time this season in a Late Model Stock Car likely at Kingsport Speedway. With his resume as he’s come up, he was anticipated to be a contender right from the start. However, with his announcement of selling out, he likely won’t be racing anywhere in the upcoming season.
We caught up with Davison after his announcement to find out more details about him. In his announcement, he said that the “cost is just prohibitive for us to continue”. He expanded on that stating that the rule changes and having to upgrade his engine to compete are the biggest reasons his family decided to sell out.
“The cost,” Davison told RACE22.com “When we bought a 2014 Hedgecock with a four-race old Robbie White Ford last December, we thought we had a competing package for a few seasons then the engine packages changed and the Ford for last season was not competitive.”
Davison said that even if he wanted to stay in Limiteds that he would have to upgrade his engine. He said the upgrade would have cost him between $2100 and $5,000 to have done before the season started.
“Even to run Limiteds at Hickory we would need the upgrade,” continued Davison. “Plus we were actually renting a truck to pull the trailer to the track. Plus our crew chief and weekly expenses. It seemed each week there were unexpected expenses.”
When asked if he was planning to do any racing in the upcoming season outside of Late Models, he admitted that he’d love to have a sponsor or a ride but doesn’t expect it and is prepared to keep working and playing basketball.
“Well, it would be great for someone to come out of the woodwork for a ride or sponsorship. At age 14 we could possibly still go somewhere. If not, I play basketball and I will continue to work hard at that sport. My dad was a missionary bush pilot in Alaska for a few years and I may begin to work on my pilot’s license. I will work again this summer at B Terry’s Vintage Cars. I worked there last summer and put the money toward my weekly Racing expenses.”
Davison story isn’t unique. There are more and more racers finding the barrier to entry to be too high to continue to compete despite success at the lower levels of racing. Davison is thankful to the people he’s worked with and for the success, he’s had but he wants to continue and finds himself in a sport where money means more than talent.
