Amateur Race Car Drivers - Chasing the Spotlight

Yontz admits that if and when the phone call ever comes from a top NASCAR team, it will be a dream come true.

"I don't know what I'd do," Yontz says. "If I ever got that phone call, I don't know if I could even speak for a few minutes. That's been my dream since I started, and I'm not giving up on my dream just yet."

Myers says it would be vindication for all the hard work and time he's spent trying to make it to the next level of his racing career.

"It would be a dream come true to let me know that all my hard work has paid off," Myers says.

Yontz and Myers are also aware of the harsh realities of life and know there's a chance the phone call from one of the top NASCAR teams might never come. Despite that fact, both drivers admit they will still stay involved in racing.

"If I don't get a ride in 5 or 10 years, I think I'll still have the same passion for racing and still be involved in some shape or form," Myers says.

Yontz agrees with Myers in that he's got racing in his blood and will always be involved in the sport, though he hopes that is a problem he doesn't have to deal with.

"I'll still be racing. I couldn't do without it," Yontz says. "I'm happy right now running just the Late Models, but of course I'd like to move up the racing ladder. I think that I'll still be in racing a few years down the road if I don't get the chance to move up."

The following are also drivers who-like Myers and Yontz-are hoping to reach the highest levels of the sport.

Kevin Bates
At 20 years old, Bates' talent belies his years. In 2004, the then 18-year-old Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania, native raced in the DIRT Sportsman ranks at, among other places, Fulton Speedway in New York. He won twice and posted 8 Top-5 finishes in just 15 races. In his second year behind the wheel of the Sportsman, he tore up Fulton, winning six times in 19 races en route to the track championship in DIRT Sportsman.

In 2006, Bates moved up to the Big-Block Modifieds of the Advance Auto Parts Super DIRT Series, where he races against the likes of Tim McCreadie, Gary Tomkins, Brett Hearn, and others. In his first race in a DIRT Big-Block, he started 19th and burned through the field to finish Fourth. After just a couple of months of racing, he ranks Seventh in points at Fulton and Ninth at Brewerton Speedway. In a total of seven races run at the two tracks, he has four Top-10 finishes. Bates is a quick study and has moved up in class each time he establishes a winning pattern. Most people who watch Kevin Bates agree that he'll keep winning and keep moving up until he hits the top.
-Rob Fisher

Jay Middleton
You might describe him as a college sensation because he's still in college, preparing himself with a Business Administration degree for when his racing days-likely a long way down the line-are over.

For Middleton, 21, of Lake City, Florida, two of his goals are to make it to NASCAR's top ranks and then be all he can be at that level.

"My first goal is to get my college degree," says the student at Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, where he studies business administration. That's when he's not on the track in his family owned Intrepid, the team colors of which-orange, blue, and black-reflect the University of Florida Gators.

Young Middleton's career highlights so far have included Rookie of the Year behind veteran Dick Anderson and the Florida Pro Late Model Series championship in 2003. He is now in the midst of a successful ASA campaign. So ow did this all come about?

"It started when I was 14 in a Legends Car, at the suggestion of my dad, Scott," Middleton says.

He stayed there two years and then moved up to Late Models, where he entered Victory Lane at his hometown Columbia Motorsports Park in only his third outing.

Besides ASA competition, where he's already a winner and a points leader, his activities primarily center on select races around Florida-where he finished Second in the FASCAR Sunbelt Super Late Model Series behind Wayne Anderson in 2003-and in special events about the Southeast.

Single, 6 feet tall, and 195 pounds, Middleton has a steady girlfriend, Christy, but his priorities are still the same. Mark him down as one to watch.
-Norm Froscher