Zach Leonhardi
The 2019 season has proven to be quite a learning experience for young Dirt Late Model racer Zach Leonhardi. The Cartersville, GA native has taken on the task of racing with a season-long touring series for the first time in his career and is enjoying success on the Southern All Stars Dirt Racing Series in the process.
Currently, Leonhardi holds the second position in the Southern All Stars overall standings and leads the series Rookie of the Year tally. The 18-year-old rising star has posted a total of five top-5 and ten top-10 results in SAS action along with an additional four top-5 finishes in races not sanctioned by that series.
The driver of the No. 24 machine points out that he has been able to learn a great deal from his veteran competitors during this campaign.
“It’s been really good,” Leonhardi told InsideDirtRacing.com when asked about racing on a full season series. “I followed the Spring Nationals last year and that’s just a couple of months so this year we felt like we ought to follow something for a full year. It’s been really fun. We got rained out a whole lot so it’s been spread out more than we expected. It’s been really fun and I’ve learned a lot. I’ve been racing with David(Breazeale) and Riley(Hickman) for most of it so it’s been a really good experience.”
One part of the experience from this season that Leonhardi has particularly enjoyed has been that of racing on tracks he had not previously visited. He has taken on the challenge of new venues despite multiple early season rain outs.
“For sure,” the driver declared. “I think we’ve been to more new tracks than what I had been to before. I know we didn’t get to go to Oglethorpe and Screven even though we were supposed to but I’ve only been to a few tracks that I had been to before so I’ve had to learn a lot of new ones. It’s helped me a lot as a driver having to pick up new tracks real quick.”
Zach Leonhardi’s No. 24 Rocket Chassis
One minor drawback for Leonhardi in terms of racing full-time on a particular series is that he has had to miss some races that he might have otherwise gone to. Still, the driver wouldn’t trade the experience gained.
“About a month or two ago we went to North Georgia for a $10,000-to-win and we had to be at an SAS race the next day,” Leonhardi explained. “We were going to go to Smoky Mountain the night before but we decided not to because we couldn’t risk hurting the car for that race. But it’s really nice to follow a tour and points race. I’ve been used to doing that in some of the asphalt stuff I did. I’ve enjoyed it.”
Ultimately, the up-and-coming driver has the goals he had set for himself prior to the season within his reach.
“You have to play it one race at a time a little bit, but going in, I at least wanted to win rookie and I think we about have it locked up right now,” he stated. “As far as the full championship goes, we were doing pretty good until we had a motor problem at Thunderhill and we’re still trying to rebound from that. We’ve got three races left and I’m 30 points back but David’s tough. Anything’s possible but we’ve got to get a good night tonight then next week at Smoky Mountain and then at Talladega.”
