He may have started in fourth, but Logan Watt (4M, background) had to battle his way through the field to win on Saturday. The triumph occurred at Port Royal Speedway during the Short Track Super Series crate 602 sportsman feature.
“Passing 24 cars was a dream come true,” Watt, of Boyertown, Pennsylvania, said. “I watched Matt Sheppard do it. I watched my dad [Ryan Watt] do it. I always wanted to be that guy.”
(For more on Watt’s upbringing, read “Logan Watt: .25 Midgets & Parenting Drive His Success.”)
His opportunity to “be that guy” came as the result of a pileup. While Watt dodged the wreck, ensuing debris from it resulted in him getting a flat right-front tire. He ducked into the pits for two tires and a quick shock adjustment and restarted from the rear of the field. Then, Watt applied what he learned from observing the races preceding the feature.
“I watched the consis,” said Watt. “The cars were running a half lane higher than the inside lane. Then, they watered the track before our feature. When I went out, I saw that some rubber was still there-just up from the inside lane. No one was up there.”
Watt found the path to the front.
“I was able to make the middle work,” Watt said. “I passed a couple of cars in the turns, and then ducked back down to the inside where the rubber was really good.”
Logan Watt has a busy schedule ahead for him in 2024. He’ll move into modifieds at Big Diamond Speedway. Watt will race the full South region schedule for the Short Track Super Series and select North region events. And, he’ll once again return to the sportsman class at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania. Watt, a freshman at Boyertown High School, goes to school with four racers who compete at Grandview Speedway.
“Grandview Speedway has a big influence upon young people in the area,” Watt said. “It’s the hangout spot, where you see young people who don’t race learning about racing and many want to become racers.”
The Outside Groove Director of Photography 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.
