Kyle Courtney
Young Kyle Courtney has turned more than a few heads with his talent on the race track over the course of his driving career. The Gibbs High School sophomore has found his way to the Victory Lane area of tracks around east Tennessee on multiple occasions, including once this past season after he stepped up in class. But even with an impressive record, 2015 proved to be a somewhat frustrating venture for the second generation wheel man until he ended the season with a dream win.
“This past year we started out at the Ice Bowl,” Courtney explained in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “We started 20th and finished seventh in the Four Cylinder feature down there. After that, we got the car back together and started running locally here at 411 and I-75. We had a lot of motor trouble this year and I only started ten races, but out of those ten, I won seven of my Four Cylinder races. Then here in October, I started running a Late Model at 411. I started five races, and by the fourth race, I won my first (Late Model)Sportsman feature. I was real excited about that. My goal to start this season was to be competitive and maybe even win my first race in a Late Model and I believe I accomplished that goal.”
For a driver who won 70% of his starts in the Four Cylinder class to have to sit on the sidelines for much of the season due to mechanical troubles was an extremely trying situation. But Courtney’s late season win in the Sportsman class made up for the disappointments of earlier. As a matter of fact, the 15-year-old pilot may very well be set to build on his success in the Late Model ride.
“It was frustrating, and a lot of money,” Courtney said of his engine woes. “We blew up three motors back-to-back-to-back. I was on a three win streak before that but then it felt like we had a monkey jump on our backs. Maybe we got it off when I got that win in the Late Model. We worked some stuff out with the guy that fixes our motors and we think we’ve figured out what was going wrong with them. We’ve got us another motor together and we’re actually trying to sell the Four Cylinder.”
Kyle Courtney wheeling his Four Cylinder car around 411 Motor Speedway
Winning that Sportsman event at 411 was the realization of a dream for the youngster.
“It felt great,” he declared. “I felt like I had really accomplished something in racing. I feel like I got more respect from people after they saw I could do it. My dad didn’t think I could catch on that quick but it really surprised him when I did. There was a tear in his eye when I was in Victory Lane. He was very proud.”
The rising star doesn’t limit himself to just racing. He is also applying himself to master the art of working on the machines he drives.
“Each Sunday my buddy Hunter Webb helps me and we wash the car and then on Monday we go over and do a nut and bolt check,” he pointed out. “On Tuesday and Thursday we have tutoring for geometry so we both go to that and Wednesday and Friday we scale the car and get the trailer ready. Then on Saturday I spend time with my mom and my sister before we go to the track and try to pick up another W.”
Courtney was raised to be a racer. His father Brian drives a Late Model on the tracks around the east Tennessee region and his uncle Michael Courtney is a very accomplished Four Cylinder champion. So for Kyle Courtney, racing was a natural step to take in his life as well.
“I started going to races even before I was born. But I was born premature so my first four years that I was alive I didn’t get to go much because I was in the hospital and going to the doctor a lot. But I’ve been going now for ten years and I’ve really got a strong bond with my dad and my uncle because of that. I think I’ve got a stronger bond with my family than any other normal kid does.”
Kyle Courtney in Victory Lane at I-75(photo from Courtney’s Facebook page)
