Brandon Overton
After a successful campaign together that resulted in numerous feature wins and a Southern Nationals championship, driver Brandon Overton and owner/builder Randy Weaver ended their relationship earlier this season. It was at that time when the Evans, GA pilot paired with fellow racer and car owner Billy Franklin to continue with his 2018 season.
The Billy Franklin Enterprises organization had fielded Rocket XR1 chassis for World of Outlaws Late Model Series Rookie of the Year contender David Breazeale and Franklin himself. However, work responsibilities have kept Franklin out of the driver’s seat and that’s when Overton stepped in.
“Billy Franklin is one of my buddies from Alabama,” Overton explained in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “When that deal I had with Weaver split up I just needed something to drive and he called me up and told me I was more than welcome to come up and drive some of his stuff. He’s really busy with work right now so he ain’t driving.”
The deal proved to be a right time and right place situation for both driver and owner.
“It kind of worked out good since he has all that equipment sitting there and he can’t race,” Overton continued. “I just went and picked it up. We’re housing it down at my house and keeping it up. We’ll see what we can do. We’re going to run this whole Southern Nationals deal. We’ll go to Eldora and a couple more of the crown jewels by the end of the year and see what we’ve got.”
Overton placed fourth in a Southern Nationals feature on Tuesday night at 411 Motor Speedway. That result came after the No. 76 car had set fast time in its time-trials group, won a heat race, and was running second in the feature before suffering mechanical issues that ended the night prematurely. A runner-up effort in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series race held at Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, SC proved that the new team certainly has the potential to be a formidable one.
Brandon Overton now drives the No. 76 for Billy Franklin Enterprises
“We’ve worked on it,” Overton said of his new ride. “It was brand new when we got it and we had to finish putting it all together. We spent two or three days fine tuning everything and going over everything. Right out of the box at Gaffney it showed it was really fast. We ain’t got nothing to complain about, we’ve just been working.”
Overton’s run with Weaver came to an end just after the Dirt Late Model Dream at Eldora Speedway back in June.
“It is what it is, I guess,” the racer declared. “Everything comes to an end so I’m just looking forward to the future and we’ll see what me and Billy can do together. One good thing about Billy is that he don’t really have no expectations right now. We’re just going to go race when and where we can and see what it turns into.”
After driving other chassis brands, the 2015 WoO Late Models Rookie of the Year believes he can find success in his new team’s Rockets.
“I used to drive Rockets back when I drove a crate car so I’m kind of familiar. I know Mark(Richards) from when I ran that World of Outlaws deal. Obviously it’s pretty good.”
