It’s been five years since Sam Hafertepe Jr.’s last American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) championship. This one — the sixth of his career — may have shown him the most about his veteran status.
Achievement. History. Status. Passion. Longevity. Outlook.
All were themes he reflected on after a season of 11 wins, 22 top-fives and 27 top-10s earned in his eighth consecutive year with Ontario-based Hill’s Racing Team.
Achievement & History
Hafertepe, a native of Sunnyvale, TX, hoisted the Emmett Hahn Trophy for the first time on the team’s behalf one year ago as owner’s champions of the national 360 Sprint Car circuit. In 2025, he claimed the coveted statue of the Series founder for the first time as a driver — a symbol of his historic achievement, becoming the first driver in 34 years to win six national ASCS championships.
“I’ve always thought winning was the only answer,” Hafertepe said. “I’ve never really wanted to settle for less with ASCS. I’ve always thought that’s what we were capable of doing.”
In clinching the title, Hafertepe breaks the tie between he and the late Jason Johnson for most national Series championships all-time. Johnson won his first in 2008 and a second in 2010 before stacking three straight from 2012–2014. Hafertepe won all five of his previous titles consecutively from 2016–2020.
Like many veterans of the sport, Hafertepe observes history. His Sprint Car hero, Gary Wright, won each of his four championships consecutively from 2004–2007. The names and faces change, but the best talent always finds a way to the top.
“Every guy is an established, very successful racer in their own right,” Hafertepe said. “To be able to break the record of five… You’ve got to have longevity to do that, you’ve got to have really good people behind you.
“All these guys that have been able to win multiple championships — like Gary Wright, Jason Johnson, Terry Gray — they’ve all had really good people behind them. They’ve all been able to have the longevity that it takes. To be able to do that, it’s very humbling to be amongst those names, for sure.”
Status
Looking back on the record books, Hafertepe’s path to six ASCS titles was not one done traditionally. Following his Sprint Car debut in 2001, he spent much of the late 2000s and early 2010s in the 410 ranks with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series before coming back home to start a 360 program in 2014.
Two years later, he had his first ASCS title in-hand. But the Sprint Car world, and Hafertepe’s status within, was much different.
“When I won my first one, there was nothing expected of me,” Hafertepe said. “The only person that expected anything of me was myself. I knew I wanted to win, I knew we should be the people that were winning these races, in my mind, and I should be the champion. That’s the way I felt at that time.
“Now, everybody that we race in our series against feels that way. They feel like, ‘He’s the guy to beat.’ It’s kind of like you’ve got a bounty on you.”
After winning four more championships to complete the five-peat, Hafertepe had taken his place amongst the best in 360 Sprint Car racing history. He admits while the reputation for success is welcomed, it’s also a weight he still bears at the track today.
“It’s a bigger pressure than it’s ever been for me,” Hafertepe said. “When you go and you win all these races, you’re not expected to lose. It gets to a point where it’s very hard to, the older you get, maintain that same pressure of, ‘Hey, you’re expected to win, your owner expects you to win.’ You’ve not shown these people anything other than, ‘What we do is we go and win.’
“When that’s expected of you all the time, it’s very draining, it’s hard and it makes you have to work really, really hard in the off-season because Sprint Car racing is a young man’s sport. The older you get, (the more) challenges that come with this game. We’ve got newer, younger talent coming in way younger than they’ve ever come in before, and these young kids are getting faster at a way more rapid pace.”
Passion
Few drivers on the present-day ASCS roster can match Hafertepe’s experience and passion for the sport. Since laying the foundation for his own team to race with ASCS over a decade ago, he’s been at the forefront of his operation from top to bottom.
Crew members, car setups, equipment needs, even decisions on where and when to race are all at Hafertepe’s discretion. And he’d have it no other way.
“I’m the kind of guy that likes to earn a lot of stuff,” Hafertepe said. “I don’t want to be just given a ride and just drive. It’s not a lot for me to do that. It doesn’t mean a lot for me to just jump in a guy’s car and drive it; I want to be connected in a lot of ways.
“I knew to race successfully on the World of Outlaws tour, I couldn’t be my crew chief, I couldn’t be my team manager, I couldn’t be the driver, I couldn’t do everything that I do now. I do like to control the situation, I do like to be the crew chief, I do like the fact of being so involved because, at the end of the day, it’s more rewarding for me to accomplish something after I put in all this time. If I was just a driver and I won the races, I don’t feel like I get as much accomplishment out of it.”
Hafertepe’s decision to come back to the Southwest and start a full-time 360 Sprint Car career with ASCS in the mid-2010s was a conscious decision. But after his return to the circuit in 2024, following three seasons back in the national 410 ranks, his passion for ASCS and desire for its prosperity has reignited.
He’s made it clear — he’s here to stay, and many others should do the same.
“I think you have good, quality guys here, and I think that these young guys can learn a lot,” Hafertepe said. “I think racing with guys like us gets these guys up to speed a lot faster and you’re not just jumping into the World of Outlaws deal, and it’s super expensive compared to running with ASCS. I think it’s a really good spot for these guys to start.
“I think, for these young guys, to start on something that’s 30-something races — maybe looking at 40-something this year — it does tell them, ‘Okay, do I really want to be out on the road with the World of Outlaws one day?’ It gives them that taste and it gives them the sample size of what they might want in the future.”
Longevity & Outlook
2025 was a year of several milestones for Hafertepe, celebrating 30 years of his driving career and turning 40 in November.
The veteran looks back fondly on the times he spent as a 20-something, still trying to find his footing in the Sprint Car world. It was in those trying times where he forged the grit and determination that has fueled his lengthy career.
“I would always ask these older guys — you’re always looking for the magic answer, like there’s this magic answer out there that (says) the only reason you’re not winning is because you don’t know exactly what these other guys are doing, and if you knew what they were doing, you would just win,” Hafertepe said. “When you’re in your 20s, that’s what you think. You think that’s the answer. You think that you know that there’s this little piece of magic that, if we had that, we would just be winning all the time. And it’s not true. In your 20s, that’s what you think, and there’s no truth in that.
“It takes so much time to learn about a Sprint Car.”
Father Time eventually catches up to everyone, but Hafertepe has found a way to run faster. This year, he’s been more in touch with his personal health and conditioning to supplement his efforts in the race shop.
“You hit 40 and then you realize that you’re not a young kid anymore and you can’t physically do some of the things that you used to be able to do that used to seem so second nature to you in the car,” Hafertepe said. “You honestly have to ramp your intensity up as much as you can the older you get.
“I know I physically still can do those things. I think some of the older guys choose not to because they know the consequences. So, I think, when you hit the 40 range, I think that’s where you go. My biggest thing that I try to do is find ways to make my car so good that I don’t have to do those things, and I can rely on my race car to do a lot of the work for me. It’s just an old guy thing.”
As he continues to defy age, Hafertepe is not ignoring the inevitable. A sixth championship has reminded him of what was and what is, but only time will tell what will be.
“I feel like if I stay in my prime — and I don’t know how long that will last nowadays — but if I stay in my prime, I think I can stay on top of it for a while. Honestly, when I lose that prime — how do you ever know when that’s gonna be — I think that’ll be the time that I bow out to going full-time anymore.”
