Stars of Tomorrow - Chasing the Spotlight

Kevin Bates

At 20 years old, Bates' talent belies his years. In 2004, the then18-year-old Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania, native raced in the DIRT Sportsmanranks at, among other places, Fulton Speedway in New York. He won twiceand posted 8 Top-5 finishes in just 15 races. In his second year behindthe wheel of the Sportsman, he tore up Fulton, winning six times in 19races en route to the track championship in DIRT Sportsman.

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

Jay Middleton

You might describe him as a college sensation because he's still incollege, preparing himself with a Business Administration degree forwhen 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 makeit 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 SantaFe Community College in Gainesville, where he studies businessadministration. That's when he's not on the track in his family ownedIntrepid, the team colors of which--orange, blue, and black--reflect theUniversity of Florida Gators.

Young Middleton's career highlights so far have included Rookie of theYear behind veteran Dick Anderson and the Florida Pro Late Model Serieschampionship in 2003. He is now in the midst of a successful ASAcampaign. So how 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 heentered Victory Lane at his hometown Columbia Motorsports Park in onlyhis third outing.

Besides ASA competition, where he's already a winner and a pointsleader, his activities primarily center on select races aroundFlorida--where he finished Second in the FASCAR Sunbelt Super Late ModelSeries behind Wayne Anderson in 2003--and in special events about theSoutheast.

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 towatch. --Norm Froscher

Jeff Barkshire

Denny Hamlin and Jeff Barkshire have a lot in common: They are young andpersonable, they show strong promise behind the wheel, and both drivefor FedEx.

Hamlin drives the FedEx Express Chevrolet in Nextel Cup. Barkshiredrives a FedEx truck over the highways of Washington and Oregon.

That could change if the 22-year-old reaches his potential.

"The kid's got the goods," says Garret Evans, a pillar of NASCAR'sNorthwest Series and a three-time series champion. "He's got everythinga team owner could want. All he needs to be is discovered."

Barkshire raced quarter midgets as a kid but put driving aside when hewent to high school. While attending Central Washington State College tobecome a mechanical engineer, he began moonlighting at Evans' race shopand soon abandoned the classroom for an oval. It didn't take long forhim to get into one of Evans' old Late Models.

"The kid really did well," Evans says. "It was an old car and he hadalmost no seat time and he did a phenomenal job. He's just got the knackfor it."

Last season Barkshire moved up to the Northwest Series, where he scoredthree Second-Place finishes on his way to Sixth overall and the seriesrookie title.

He's already working on getting sponsored so that he can move to theAutoZone West Series next year, when NASCAR eliminates its touringdivisions.

He hopes to get noticed by one of the Nextel Cup teams.

"It's just a case of being in the right place at the right time," hesays. "If the right guy sees you when you are doing well, there's alwaysthe chance you can end up in a Craftsman Truck. I need to move up to aseries where I'll be in the right place when it counts." --Jerry F. Boone

Darren Hagen

Hagen, currently a USAC Sprint Car driver, started his racing career atage 11 in BMX bikes. "I knew even then that I wanted to be in afour-wheel race car," the Riverside, California, native says.

Karts came next with 90 career wins and seven track championships. Then,at age 15, he raced the winged 1,200cc Mini-Sprints, winning theMini-Sprint Nationals in 2001. Next came a successful career in the newFord Focus-powered Midget series.

In 2002, the Focus Midgets became his total effort, and he won his thirdtime out at Bakersfield, California. Of the dozen Western Focus racesHagen ran, he won half. If he had been able to compete in all the races,he could have won the title.

The following year brought the spotlight on Hagen as he won the indoorChili Bowl race in convincing fashion. That was followed by aflag-to-flag victory in a big race at Irwindale (California) Speedway.In 2004, he added Sprint Cars to his resume with a win and a number ofTop-5s and Top-10s.

Last season he was the National Rookie of the Year in both USAC SprintCars and Midgets. He is the first driver in USAC's 50-year history toaccomplish that dual honor.

NASCAR racing is the goal with this 20-year-old, make no mistake. He'sbeen to the Buck Baker Driving School, where he excelled.

"I learned that the stock cars are lot different from the lighteropen-wheel cars," he says. "The same fundamentals exist, though, [suchas] avoiding spinning the tires and hitting your marks. In either typeof race car you have to be smart and be aggressive enough, but not toomuch.

"If the opportunity to drive a stock car came along, I would grab it ina minute." --Bill Holder

Chad Simpson

Simpson is a Late Model driver who, at age 27, has driven just abouteverything. He and his brother Chris, who also races, were brought up onan eastern Iowa farm, not far from West Liberty Raceway.

As kids, their dad, Ron Simpson, provided ATVs for the boys to ridearound the farm. "We would run them things 'til they ran out of gas,"Chad says.

Later, their stepdad, Kevin Trca, bought each one a kart. Thateventually led to kart racing all across the United States, from 1993 to2000.

Chad Simpson, who lives in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, and is the married fatherof a new baby daughter, says he and his brother bought a Pro Stock atthe end of the 2000 racing season. They shared driving duties for ashort time and then bought a second car.

The brothers ran Pro Stocks through 2003, dominating the division atWest Liberty that year. They then moved to Late Models in 2004.

Chad, the purchasing manager at Five Star Shop Service, is a regularLate Model winner. In 2005, he won the Yankee Dirt Track Classic and aspecial event at Princeton, Illinois. He was

Second in points at West Liberty and Fourth in points in World DirtRacing League events, where he scored Rookie of the Year honors.

He says he races because "it's fun and I just love to do it."

West Liberty is his home track, but he races at Farley and Dubuque, too.In addition, he's running the entire WDRL circuit this year. Simpsonshares the owner duties with Bud and Denise Brinkman.

Simpson wants to go as far as he can in racing. "In the long run, if Icould do this professionally, I'd love to do it," he says. "But you'vegot to take this one step at a time and see what happens." --Phil Roberts

Michael Colegrove

Arizona is not often thought of as a mecca for aspiring race cardrivers. But in the past 10 years or so, the state has nurtured whatseems like a preponderance of talent blooming in the desert. Someexamples of Arizona's previous bloomers are the IRL's Buddy Rice andNASCAR's J.J. Yeley.

In the open-wheel ranks, Colegrove is doing just that--blooming in thedesert. So far his accomplishments read like a lifelong achievement listat a driver's retirement roast: multiple track championships,championships in karts and Mini-Sprints, Rookie of the Year inMini-Sprints, and 114 feature wins.

This kid has his act together--at the ripe old age of 16. This season, hedrives Elis Racecars' house car, racing 360 Sprints at ManzanitaSpeedway.

Colegrove is another example of a clean-cut, well-mannered kid who foundhis way into racing. He is not only well mannered off the track, but heis also well mannered on the track, rarely, if ever, displaying anytemper or threatening moves toward other competitors. He still wins withgreat regularity and wins without crashing the cars around him to get tothe front. No bump and run--just clean, talented driving. He drives withnot only his right foot, but he also uses his head to get to the frontand bring the car home a winner.

The expectation is that some Sunday afternoon, in the very near future,we will see this young man on TV talking to a reporter after a big raceabout another win or a Top-5 finish. In most circumstances I am not agambling man, but in Michael's case, it is like betting with the house.--John Hill