Garrett Alberson
Admittedly, the follow up to Garrett Alberson’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 2022 campaign which saw him finish 7th in the final standings and earn Rookie of the Year honors has not been what was originally hoped for. There have been bright spots such as a win in the Comp Cams Ronny Adams Memorial at Boothill Speedway earlier this season which netted a $10,000 payday, but there have been some low spots as well.
Alberson currently ranks 13th in the LOLMDS standings but a recent change to the Las Cruces, New Mexico native’s program has begun to show promising results. The No. 58 team owned by Ken and Beth Roberts switched from longtime chassis supplier Black Diamond to Longhorn Chassis. A pair of top-10 efforts in the preliminary races held prior to the Firecracker 100 presented by Big River Steel at Lernerville Speedway are indicative of that progress.
“I feel like we’ve been a little bit hit or miss,” Alberson told InsideDirtRacing.com in a recent interview at Smoky Mountain Speedway. “We’ve been in the middle of a transition. This is only our second week in this Longhorn and it’s a big time change for me. I’ve been racing with Ronnie(Stuckey) since 2014 so it’s a whole new world for me. We’ve still got a lot to learn but I’m hoping it will make us more consistent in the long run. It seems like the balance is good and I think it’s going to fit my style once I get used to it.”
Early in the going, Alberson has found that transition from one chassis brand to another to be a relatively smooth one.
“So far, everyone has been really good to work with,” he declared. “The same old thing happens in racing, if you get going really good everyone wants to talk to you and nobody wants to share as much. Everyone has seemed really welcoming. I already had some allies in the Longhorn camp, some people I have known for a while so that part has worked out well for us.”
The winner of a Wild West Shootout feature at Vado Speedway Park in 2022 believes his new partnership will flourish over time.
“Hopefully we can keep building that community up and keep being a part of it,” Alberson said. “I think that will go a long way in our program. It’s kind of like a double edged sword in that now you’ve got the same car as a lot of other guys so you’re not on an island. When the island is good, it’s real good but when it’s bad, it’s real bad. That was kind of the idea, to stay in the loop and not get so far off.”
Knowing that different cars have different needs, Alberson is will to explore options and try different ideas with his new ride.
“I’m definitely trying to be open-minded,” he explained. “For the most part, it’s still a race car and a lot of the same theories apply. There are definitely some different numbers here and there and some things I’ve got to get used to. I don’t know if there’s such a thing as a perfect race car, everybody’s got to do their own thing to a certain degree.”
Garrett Alberson in his new Longhorn
Creating a car that will suit his style is the primary focus right now.
“That’s what we hoping to learn here in the next month or two, where we fall out in this group and with this particular car and see if we can make it our own,” Alberson said. “There’s different parts and you’ve got to keep all of those little things in mind. It’s all just slightly different but it all makes a big difference.”
One thing aiding that transition is the fact that Alberson has a particularly close relationship with one crew member. His wife, Dani(Danielle), works alongside her husband along with offering encouragement.
“I feel extremely fortunate, more than anything, because my wife and I have a good relationship and we enjoy being around each other a lot. And for me, as a driver, it helps a ton because I’m probably kind of an odd driver. I’m not naturally self confident, I think a lot of drivers don’t really struggle with that, so sometimes I need the people around me to build me up and my wife has always been really good about being realistic and telling me hard truths, things that I need to hear, and she’s always been really good in that way.”
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