Daulton Wilson
The Dirt Late Model career of 24-year-old Daulton Wilson has been one of a steady upward progression. To illustrate that, the Fayetteville, NC native has made headlines over the past couple of years or so by accomplishing some noteworthy feats. And in doing so, the talented driver has garnered the attention of many within this form of motorsports.
Wilson was crowned as the Ultimate Super Late Model Series(Southeast) Rookie of the Year in 2019. He then followed that up with other impressive achievements in the winter months that followed.
In December of 2020, while competing on the 2020-21 Drydene Xtreme DIRTcar Series, Wilson lowered the track qualifying record at the historic Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tennessee which was a place where he had very little experience before that day. He ultimately finished third in the series standings that winter.
Wilson scored some impressive victories in 2021 to continue his progression. In April, his No. 18D Longhorn by Wells beat the pack to the finish line in a Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series feature at the Friendship Motor Speedway in Elkin, NC. In October he added a $10,000 Steal Block Bandits win at Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, SC then perhaps his most impressive effort of last season came on that same track in November when he outran red hot Brandon Overton to the checkered flag in the ‘Prelude to the Finals’ Super Late Model race in November.
Wilson now has an opportunity to continue that upward progression in a new ride. To start 2022, Wilson has teamed with fellow racer Jason Ratliff to drive the Kentucky native’s Longhorn by Wells machine. The new pairing began their season by taking on the top drivers and teams the sport has to offer during Georgia-Florida SpeedWeeks.
“We got to racing a little bit last year and I just got a phone call one day and we got to talking about it for a couple of months and finally decided we were going to put something together,” Wilson explained of his relationship with Ratliff’s team in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “They want to do some more racing and I want to do some more racing so it worked out good for everybody.”
Even though Ratliff is from Kentucky and Wilson resides in North Carolina, there was a mutual tie that brought the pairing together.
“I’ve been running Wells race cars for a couple of years now and they’re(Ratliff’s team) not very far from Eric Wells and them,” Wilson pointed out. “That’s really what got us put together is that we’re all running the same cars and the same stuff. We’re all pulling from the same circles. That got us together and so far it seems to be working out pretty good.”
Wilson plans to enter the No. 18D machine in all of the races held in Georgia and Florida during January and February then determine where to go from there.
“We’re going to do all of SpeedWeeks and just race as much as possible then assess where everything is at when we get done,” he said. “I think we’re going to stick with this Lucas deal if we can but this year is just going to be about getting out and racing as much as we can. Whatever seems like the most logistical fit for us is what we’re going to do.”
Results for the newly formed team have been mixed so far. After just missing the feature in the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series opener at Volusia Speedway Park in Florida, Wilson and crew moved on to Georgia’s Golden Isles Speedway. The team was strong out of the gate with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series as Wilson qualified third in his group on Thursday night then drove to a win in his heat race. After starting fifth in the feature, a 12th place finish was the end result.
Wilson again transferred to the feature via his heat race on Friday night at Golden Isles but a DNF would be the end result of that race. A provisional was required to make Saturday’s finale at GIS and in the first of two races at Florida’s Bubba Raceway Park on Monday with a pair of DNF’s resulting.
Tuesday evening at Bubba Raceway Park provided the team’s best finish to date. After winning his B-main, Wilson steered to a 10th place effort in the final race to be held at the Ocala, Florida facility.
Daulton Wilson in the Jason Ratliff-owned Longhorn by Wells
Following SpeedWeeks, Wilson says his team cannot make solid plans due to multiple circumstances. A number of high paying races along with trouble getting the supplies needed to race have made it difficult to nail down a specific schedule.
“The big money races along with the situation where everybody is struggling to get parts and race cars and motors makes it really hard to commit to a big series when you don’t know what you’re going to have to race with down the road,” the driver commented. “That’s just not something you can commit to when you don’t know. That part is making it tough. And Brandon(Overton)- and everybody can’t be as successful as Brandon- but he’s had a pretty good approach with it. He’s been successful with that approach. Instead of going because you have to go, you go when you’re ready to go. I see it both ways so we’ll just play it out and see how it works out and roll from there.”
Having his racing career advance on an upward trend has always been part of this competitor’s plans.
“Obviously, that’s the goal,” he declared. “Racing and doing as much as possible with our own stuff is to try to get noticed for an opportunity like this. We’ve been fortunate enough that the timing was right. The timing wouldn’t have been right three or four years ago. Right now, we’re running good and we’re confident. I’ve gotten to race quite a bit and so far it’s going really good.”
So with that said, where does Daulton Wilson hope to be a few years from now?
“I want to be Brandon Overton. We’re just steady progressing. We don’t want to back up. We just want to continue to work hard and keep your head down and not forget about where we come from. The end goal at the end of the day is to do this successfully and make a living at it. This is a step along the way and I think this could be a long term deal here. We’re just going to keep working with it and working at it and see where it goes.”
Modified ace Jake O’Neil set to tackle Georgia-Florida SpeedWeeks in new Late Model ride
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