At 15 years old, Garrett Benson knows he’s not lived the typical life of a kid his age. But that was never his plan.
Benson, of Concordia, MO, took on the challenge of following the entire American Sprint Car Series schedule this year with only two previous years of full-size Sprint Car experience. Heading into the home stretch of the season, he’s collected two podium finishes and is the leading contender for Brodix Rookie of the Year honors.
Instead of having typical childhood experiences, he’s getting an education in the morning, working in the shop during the weekdays, and competing wheel-to-wheel with the nation’s best 360 Sprint Car racers on the weekend.
“I’m proud of it, and I feel like I made the right choice,” Benson said, looking back on his decision to pursue his passion for Sprint Car racing. “I second-guess myself a lot. You’ll have a bad night on the racetrack, or stuff will happen, and you’ll question yourself, ‘Is it really worth it?’ But in the end, you meet so many great people, and it’s a great sport.”
It’s rare to find young talent like Benson who are willing to work so hard so early on in their careers to achieve their goals. But it was settled in his heart a long time ago — behind the wheel is where he wants to be, and he’ll stop at nothing to build a career in it.
“That’s what I truly love. It’s great to drive a Sprint Car and get to work on them, but in the end, it’s the people that you meet and the memories that you make,” Benson said. “I do look back and sometimes wonder, ‘What if I was doing this or that?’ But this is truly what I love to do.
“Every day, there’s obstacles in the road. But in the end, once you get through them, it just truly feels special. I feel blessed to get to do what I do, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
As the racing calendar begins to wrap-up, Benson’s duties outside the shop begin to demand more of his attention. But he’s established a daily routine that allows him to cover both being a kid and a professional every day of the week.
“It’s tough to balance all the different things I have going on,” Benson said. “Typically, I do the online schooling all morning long, for about four to five hours, and knock that out. Then, the rest of the day, I’m in the shop with my dad working on the cars. Just trying to use my time wisely. That’s the biggest thing — maximizing every minute that I get throughout the day.”
Benson’s commitment to putting in the time at the shop has helped to produce the positive results he’s seen on the track. In his first six races of the season, he logged only one top-10 finish with an average finish of 14.3 before going on a streak of five-straight top-five finishes before the 360 Knoxville Nationals, which included his first career podium finish of third at Benton Speedway on July 26.
After the Knoxville break, Benson took only five races to bag another third-place finish at Electric City Speedway in Montana on Aug. 30. Combined with 14 top-10 finishes, Benson currently sits sixth in the overall championship standings and leads the rookie standings by 100 points over Brady Baker.
“I would say it’s exceeded our expectations,” Benson said of his season thus far. “We didn’t really know what to expect going into the first part of the year; lot of new racetracks, and pretty much all the tracks are new. Just going across the country and throughout the Midwest has definitely been a challenge, but there’s a lot of great people that have been behind us and supporting us.
“We’ve learned a lot, and I feel like the finishes we’ve had in recent months and weeks have been really good, and it’s boosted our confidence, and we’ve kinda built some momentum going into the final part of the season.”
To begin the home stretch of his first national Sprint Car season, Benson is off to Paducah International Raceway and I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park, Friday–Saturday, Sept. 19–20. It won’t be his first race at Paducah, but Benson is most excited about his debut at the high banks of I-55 as he chases his first career national Sprint Car series Feature win.
“I’ve been there a few times, so I guess that maybe helps a little bit, but I’m kinda going into it blind, like a lot of these other tracks,” Benson said. “I think that if there was a track that I felt the most confidence going into, [I-55] would have to be at the top of the list — just the way it looks like it races and how our package fits those types of tracks.
“I’m really looking forward to that one. I’ve got a lot of friends and family that will be there, so that’s important to me as well.”
Benson and the rest of the American Sprint Car Series drivers are back in action next Friday–Saturday, Sept. 19–20 at Paducah International Raceway and I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park.
Tickets for both events will be sold at the track on race day. If you can’t be there to watch in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
