It`s among the oldest surviving kart tracks in the state of South

It's among the oldest surviving kart tracks in
the state of South Carolina. He's one of the "favorite
sons" of karting on the east coast. Foothills Raceway
in Dacusville SC, and Lake Lure NC's Stacy Beam
share a connection via promoter Brad Bracken. Brack-
en, another favorite son of the south, saved Foothills
from demise a few years ago, and has overseen the
development of an outstanding program at the upstate
SC facility.
Beam and Bracken have won at all levels of
karting, from Dacusville to Daytona, and everywhere
in between. Beam even won a Legends Car World
Championship. They came through the ranks together, as competitors, and as friends. Beam was the original architect of the "team concept" in karting with the
Beam Team, anchored by Jamie Knopf, and buoyed
by tire guru Dennis Lambert. Then, one ill fated evening, everything changed. The car Beam was riding
in was rear-ended at a stop light, knocked into the intersection where it was struck by a semi. Beam has
defied the odds, and many doctors original prognosis.
He may be scarred, but he's alive, and getting stronger every day. His girlfriend at the time of his accident,
Sherrie, is now Mrs Beam, and they have a beautiful
little girl, Stella! If you ever need inspiration to make it
through the day, look Stacy up.
Upon proving the doctors wrong, and Bracken
entering the track promoting game, the duo came up
with the idea of an annual celebration race. Both ad-
mit, at one time, this could very well have
been a memorial race. But this past weekend, area racers came to Dacusville to do
a lil racing, win a lil money, but most of all,
to celebrate the fact that Beam is still with
us.
The sixth annual Stacy Beam
Birthday Bash didn't draw as many as
anyone had hoped for, thanks to the leading edge of an arctic blast, but that didn't
slow the show at all. There were still
plenty of heavy hitters in the house, and
the competition would be fierce in the 48
(Beams karting number) lap Pro Clone
feature coming up at the end of the night.
In a lil warm up action, Andrew
"The Royston Rocket" Dove put the Kenneth Bray Motorsports Millenium Faktor
out front and held on for the win in Clone
325 over Jason Scruggs, and Blackshear
GA's Austin Yarbrough.
Yarbrough returned the favor in the Clone 350
main. Jockeying his Onyx Racing Chassis to the checkers
ahead of Austin and Andrew Dove.
the
"Royston
Rocket" at the head
of the field. Dove set fast qualifying time with a lap of 11.278. AJ Pace
turned in a quick lap of 11.421 aboard a
KSR powered Ultramax Xceed to earn the
outside pole for the start. Dove quickly asserted that he was the man to beat, while
the rest of the field wrestled for position.
Third qualifier, Grant Bowers, grabbed
the second spot early and held on until lap eight. That's
when Scruggs and Yarbrough slipped by, dropping him to
fourth. It only took a couple laps for Yarbrough to work his
way into the second spot, rallying from his eighth starting
spot. On lap ten, Yarbrough set his sights on Dove. Once
on the bumper of the #4 machine, the pair sailed away from
the field, nose-to-tail. Just before halfway, it appeared that
Dove just flat missed his line getting into turn three, but we
all know that didn't happen. Dove admitted later that he in-
Shaun Pittman, piloting an Ultramax xceed, captured the Clone 425 checkers ahead of Simmons Bryant,
while David Alewine took the top prize in the Clone 450
feature.
The Pro Clone 48 lap feature rolled off the grid with
tentionally moved up to give Yarbrough the line. The move
would prove to be the only mistake "The Rocket" made all
night, as Yarbrough managed to fend off all advances on
the way to the checkers. Dove settled for second. Nearly
five seconds back in third at the stripe was Bowers, followed by Donnie Bryant, Pace, Travis Wiggins, and Nick
Schlager.
Earlier in the evening, others capturing feature
wins included Wiggins in Flathead 350, Bradley Gillespie
in Predator 350, and Tyler Abernathy claimed the Predator
375 win in another 48 lap tilt.
In Champ action, Donnie Bryant and Jason Moates
traded wins, with Bryant taking Lite over Moates, then chasing Moated under the checkers in the Heavy main. Domi-
nique Rapien scored the Jr Champ win over Hartlee
Hoyle and Bailey Tumblin, while Hoyle claimed the Jr
Sportsman Champ win, and Finley Allen was the Pee
Wee Champ winner.
The junior divisions provided some fierce
competition and a whole lot of excitement. The twin
brother duo of Walker and Jackson Silvers proved
too tough for the competition in Jr 1. The Ultramax
jockeys claimed both Jr 1 offerings, with Walker taking Jr 1, and Jackson claiming the Pro Jr 1 checkers.
Logan Tucker scored the Jr 2 feature win,
but fell one spot shy in the Pro main, chasing Hunter
Brewington to the stripe. Josh Hellams got the best of
Devon Morgan in both Jr 3 features.
When you say "Run What Ya Brung" in these
parts, there's no telling what will roll through the
gates. But the one given
is that the high banks of Foothills
and the high horsepower will draw a crowd
to the fence for an exciting race. Aaron Moore topped
Daniel Jordan and Chris Cooper to claim the feature
on this night.
It has been a long time since we've seen
more than a handful of young racers in the Chase'n
Race'n Kids division at any event, let alone a small
Saturday night program. Bracken has fostered a
fantastic group of kids in this age group, drawing a
dozen to the Birthday Bash!! The lil racers included
Dylan Bell, Shelby Daughtery, Cole Palmer, Caroline Bayne, Kaydence Campbell, Bryce Muchow,
Cody Palmer, Jaxson Black, Cole Daughtery, Cooper
Brawn, John Wilson, and Elijah Grigg.
Although it was the coldest night of the year
so far, it was really nice to finally get in a visit to a
track in our home state, and see some great "grass
roots" karting action.