When Dalton Adkins goes to work, he’s reminded of who’s he racing for, the 29 miners lost in the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster. Dalton will honor their memory with a special wrap when he runs the $10,000-to-win Save A Lot American All-Star Series by PPM Racing Products race at West Virginia Motor Speedway this Saturday, August 8.
“At work, we have a locker room, and one of the lockers in front of me has a Friends of Coal sticker and a UBB sticker for the mining disaster,” Dalton, who works as a toolmaker at Gestamp, a parts manufacturer for the automotive industry. “I look at it every day.”
It’s not lost on Dalton, a West Virginia native, on how much the coal mining industry means to those who live in the Mountain State.
“In West Virginia, everybody’s connected to coal miners,” Dalton said. “They’re the backbone of the state. It means a lot to be representing the families of the brave guys who lost their lives in there. It’s the biggest honor I’ve had in two years of racing late models.”
Prior to late models, Dalton raced sport mods and spent his childhood competing in go-karts. He made a splash with his late model debut, though. He won his heat race on his first night in the division.
“I went from fifth to first on the first lap,” Dalton said. “I was like, ‘Oh, okay, yeah, here we go,’ but that’s not how it ended up going. We’ve had a lot of chances to win, but we’ve had bad luck.
“We’re looking to put a whole night together,” he continued. “When I qualify good, I don’t race good. When I race good, I don’t qualify good.”
Dalton Adkins has a little more incentive this weekend to earn his first win. He hopes to give the highest honor a racer can provide to the families of those lost in the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster — a trip to victory lane. With $10,000 to the victor, too, he’ll be competing against some of the best of the best when the Save A Lot American All-Star Series Presented by PPM Racing Products rolls into West Virginia Motor Speedway on Saturday, August 8.
Outside Groove Note of Transparency: Outside Groove is a sponsor of the American All-Star Series. The American All-Star Series paid for the production of this article. The content is not subject to the approval of the American All-Star Series.
The Outside Groove Executive Editor has covered motorsports since 2000. His many awards include the 2019 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Jim Hunter Writer of the Year and the 2013 Russ Catlin Award for Excellence in Motorsports Journalism.
