Older, wiser Barton earns Super Late Models victory
When Taylor Barton won his first Legends Cars race around five years ago, he was a teenager reveling when allowed to address the crowd at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring.
“I want to give a shout-out to all my peeps,” the street savvy Las Vegan proclaimed.
When Barton, now 22, won his first Super Late Models title Saturday night he gave the crowd of around 2,000 a much different “shout-out.”
Once he climbed from his No. 21 stock-car he first thanked God after the night’s opening 30-lap feature in the track’s premier class.
“It was all about me back then,” he said. “As you grow older you grow smarter.”
Barton finished six-tenths of a second ahead of Dustin Ash, whose streak of two straight Super Late victories came to an end. Ash, however, finished the night by winning the finale of the annual Chris Trickle Father’s Day Special.
Barton was moved from third to second in the nightcap after runner-up Alex Haase was disqualified in post-race inspection for a technical violation from using a spare tire and wheel that made his car too wide.
Barton, who graduated from Cimarron High, hasn’t shed his hip-hop image and now uses that edge to help teenagers find direction.
“I had a spiritual awakening about four or five years ago,” he said. He speaks to at-risk youth groups and is planning to conduct seminars where he will share his life’s plan for success.
“I can have a conversation with a kid – kid to kid. They like to listen to me and I’m a racer.”
One of Barton’s fellow racers and his wife could have used an intervention during the last race of the night.
After a crash by Nick Parmelee seven laps into the Super Late Models race, a red flag condition called for all drivers to stop immediately so rescue workers could tend to Parmelee, who was not seriously injured.
David Quartero, who had been suspended from racing at the Bullring a few years ago, passed seven or eight cars before he stopped. He was immediately black-flagged and sent to the pits.
When many in the crowd applauded the official’s ruling, Quartero’s wife, who was sitting in the grandstand unleashed a vulgar attack. She was escorted to the parking lot by security.
Chris Blair, LVMS vice president of racing operations who oversees the Bullring, said Sunday the incident will be reviewed and the status of the Quarteros at the track will be determined my midweek.