As Karter Haralson won the first junior sport compact event at Abilene Speedway, his grandfather laid in a hospital bed. Tommy Simons, 62, was battling Covid-19, but still witnessed the special moment, albeit from afar.
“Thanks to FaceTime, I was able to watch him win,” Simons said. “He used his head and didn’t run wild. Last weekend’s race was the first race I couldn’t be at since my grandchildren started racing.”
Haralson wanted to the win for his grandfather.
“He and my dad, Cecil, have been working with me on my cars, teaching me, so I can do it on my own,” Haralson, 11, of Lubbock, Texas, said. “I knew how proud he would be.”
Haralson started racing at 10 years old in the sport compacts. When the track prohibited him from racing with older drivers, Haralson competed for a year in the mini modifieds. However, he longed to race a sport compact again.
Simon, who used to own Abilene Speedway, proposed a new class to the track’s promoter Rob Poor. He suggested a sport compact division for racers 10 to 14 years old. Poor accepted the idea and created the junior sport compact class.
“It’s the perfect class for beginners,” said Simons. “The cars are front-wheel-drive, stock four-cylinder cars. They are great to learn on, cost no more than $2,500 to build, and when it’s time to move up to the IMCA sport compacts, the junior racers have experience and an understanding of how to race.”
Haralson’s older brother, Keagan, is the reigning Abilne Speedway champion in the IMCA sport compacts. Karter Haralson hopes to follow in his footsteps.
“We all work on our cars together,” Haralson said. “My brother and I look at the track, and my brother tells me what tire pressure he thinks I should have. I look up to my brother.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
