Upcoming Star – Garrett McDonald
Garrett McDonald, a 9th grader at Central School, is a race car driver in the Bomber Class. Garrett is the son of Chris and Lynne McDonald, and has one brother Shelton all of Chumuckla. He is the grandson of Haynes and Emily Brabham of Jay and the late Elvin McDonald and Becky McDonald.
Garrett “the Kid” McDonald, 23G- the track announcer nicknamed him this cause that is what he was nicknamed by his grandfather when he raced a car at a young age like that. Garrett started racing in June of 2010 at the age of 13 at Flomaton Speedway. His race car is a a LeSabre. The body of the car is white with red, blue and yellow graphics. The graphics is a wrap from Extreme Graphics by JRod, with several sponsors- Calvin Cook Motorsports, FoamSeal Insulation-Jimmy Burgess, Slay Mobile Home Service.
Garrett finished 2nd in two feature races, won 6 heat races and overall finished 4th in points for his first official season. He traveled to Phoenix City, Alabama twice to race in their National 100 race held in November each year and both times he qualified well enough in his heats, 5th place or better, to earn a starting spot in the feature races. Best finish was 13th out of 25 racers. He was the youngest driver racing in his class there. He also finished second in the 8th annual gulf coast dirt track championship last month. At Flomaton, he is the youngest driver there that races consistently.
This year he hopes he can race at some different tracks to gain more experience. Garrett wishes to thank all the drivers at Flomaton that race with him and the track promoters for all they do to make racing an amazing experience and most especially the fans.
His love of racing started with his father, Chris McDonald. Chris raced in the Hobby class from the early 90s to 2006 at Southern and Flomaton racetracks. Garrett remembers, “I loved being with him in his shop and watching him drive. He is so talented in his mechanics of a car and how to set one up. He supports me 150% and is always working on my car to improve it, keep it clean and looking good and ready for the next race. “
Garrett dedicated his racing season this year in memory of Dennis McDonald, Randy Touchton and his grandfather-Elvin McDonald.
Garrett expressed his thanks “to my Mom and Dad, my brother Shelton, Jimmy Burgess, Calvin Cook, my grandparents, Bobby Resmondo, Doc McDaniel, Tim Smith, Bo Bailey, Sean and Jan Goodwin, and Mike Lane. They have helped my racing career develop by either donations of money, parts, and time to make my first driving experience outstanding. And special thanks to my mom who never complains about running to get parts, helping on the car and videoing every single race.”
Photo Gallery: click on the photo below
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