Layne Riggs, the 12-year-old son of former NASCAR driver Scott Riggs, has already scored a Limited Late Model victory at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, North Carolina, the first of what could be many to come.

Because of NASCAR’s guidelines, many drivers in NASCAR Late Model racing are not able to occupy the seat of a Late Model until they’re 14.  Orange County, however, is not NASCAR sectioned and that gives the younger Riggs, who just wants to have fun, an opportunity to advance at a young age.

“It’s always just about having fun and having everybody around and going up there every Saturday night and putting on a show,” Riggs said.  “I was racing in lower divisions then I moved up to Limited Late Model.  I’ve got some pretty good luck and won a race… It boosted my confidence a lot.  I’m not racing anybody my age.  I’ve always watched the races [at Orange County] and always wanted to be in a Late Model.  Finally, I’m here.”

Most impressive is the competition Riggs has beaten out at Orange County, which is a track that has seen a dramatic surge in car counts in the 2015 season.  Scott Riggs raced at Orange County prior to winning two championships at Southern National Motorsports Park driving for the late Jerry Moody.  The elder Riggs praised Orange County for their efforts.

“They have had a lot of growth.  They’ve had a lot of good car counts.  I think that putting more money up for the purse and having good cars come and put on a good show is attracting other drivers to want to come and see if they can be the king of the hill that night.  I know they had the CARS Tour series which travels around… That’s something we’re looking forward to maybe one day in the near future maybe getting Layne in one of those CARS events at Southern National or Orange County.”

Layne hopes he can one day make it up into the ranks of NASCAR like his father.  For both Layne and Scott, it’s still about having fun, regardless of future aspirations.

“We all have these dreams.  The biggest thing is we want to make sure we all have a good time and have fun.  I tell him every time we go to the racetrack that the only way he can fail is if he doesn’t have fun.  The people in the stands, the people who work on his car, friends and family that are all there with him, they want to make sure that he’s having fun.”

“When we get to the racetrack, I never have to push him in the car.  His talent comes out.  All myself and my crew have to do is make sure we keep a good racecar under him.  He always seems to get 100 percent out of the car all the time.  If he has an opportunity in the future to move on and make a career of it, that would be great.”

Despite not competing in NASCAR racing anymore, Scott Riggs still follows Late Model Stock Car racing.  He said he had hoped to attend the Jerry Moody Memorial race at Southern National Motorsports Park.

“I wasn’t able to be at the Jerry Moody Memorial.  It got rained out the first scheduled date and I was planning on being there and it got rained out.  I wasn’t able to make it.  I keep up with Haley Moody, Jerry’s daughter, who’s racing.  I think she’s doing a pretty good job with her Limited series.  A lot of guys that I was racing against back in the day are still racing Late Models and being very competitive and successful and I know those are the kind of people I want my son racing against and learning from those guys.”