Dalton Dalton’s love of racing began as a young child. If there was a NASCAR race on the television, he stopped whatever he was doing to watch the action on the screen. His career began at the age of nine when he began racing go-karts with his father, Bobby.
He was a natural, winning 3 feature races and multiple heat races running a part time schedule at the East Bay Raceway Park dirt track. Dalton eventually progressed to modifieds at Desoto Super Speedway and became known for his hard charging, on the edge, aggressive racing style. In 2009, he won the Flyin’ 4 Rookie of the Year award.
Dalton’s father, Bobby, was known as one of the best Florida Modified drivers in the state. In 2010, he made the decision to step aside and put Dalton in his car. It was a bold move. His son would be moving up from a 100 horsepower car to a 600 horsepower open wheel modified. Much of the racing community thought Dalton was not ready for the transition. They were wrong.
Under his father’s guidance, Dalton was soon racing up front with the veterans. He finished the season third in points and won Rookie of the Year.
He found even more success in 2011. In only the second race, he started on the pole, led every lap and collected his first win. The season ended with an impressive four wins and the Florida Modified Championship at Desoto Super Speedway.
2012 would be a year of transition as the team prepared to move forward into the Modified Touring Series. In August, they drove to North Carolina and bought the necessary car. The remainder of the year was all about gaining experience and soaking up knowledge from more experienced drivers.
This year, Dalton will run a full-time schedule in the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour division. His goals are to win at least one race and to earn the Rookie of the Year award.
“But ultimately,” he says, “I’m really just trying to prove myself to everyone. So, I want to just be competitive and up front, showing that we can compete with these guys.”
Dalton also has another reason for wanting to succeed this season. He’s a proud advocate for the World Motorsports Breast Cancer Foundation and will donate part of his winnings to the organization.
“This is our first season together,” he said, “and I really hope we can make big things happen for the foundation.”
Dalton Baldwin Racing is a family owned and operated business without the resources of many other teams. When asked about the sacrifices his family had to make, Dalton offers a different point of view.
“Well, to us, racing is our lives. So, we don’t have to make many sacrifices, it’s just what we do. We don’t want to do anything else but racing. Anything we put towards this isn’t a sacrifice to us; it’s a way of life.”
What they lack in funds, they make up for with passion and the will to succeed.
“It’s taken a lot to just get here and we’re just scratching the surface,” Dalton told me. “We’re underfunded compared to a lot of these guys, especially the northern tour teams. But we make up for that with determination and integrity. I don’t believe any other team has a will to win as high as we do.”
More information on the UNOH Battle at the Beach can be found at hometracks.nascar.com.
For more information about Dalton Baldwin Racing including driver bio, race schedule, pictures and videos, please visit www.daltonbaldwin.com. You can also find his Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/DaltonBaldwinRacing and Twiiter at https://twitter.com/Dalton_Baldwin.
