RPW Exclusive: DIRTcar’s Brian Carter Is Wearing Two Hats At The World Short Track Championships; Official & Racer

Column By: TREVOR GAVIN / RPW – CONCORD, NC – Brian Carter, Chief Executive Officer /Chief Financial Officer of World Racing Group which runs DIRTcar, is getting dirty this weekend at the Dirt Track At Charlotte. He is behind the wheel of a DIRTcar Pro Stock and racing as part of the third annual DRIVEN World Short Track Championship.

This will be Carter’s first weekend behind the wheel of a Pro Stock but the Texas native has experience in the driver’s seat.

Carter grew up in Frisco, TX and graduated from Texas A&M in 1990 with degrees in Finance and Accounting. He became as race fan at the young age of four and then got started racing for the first time in the local Renegades class with a 1984 Cutlass just after graduating from college. From there, Carter went on to race IMCA Stock Cars, 305 and 360 Sprint Cars around the state. He even attempted to qualify for the Chili Bowl in 2007 and 2008.

On the business side of the sport, Carter was named CFO at World Racing Group in 2005 and went on to add CEO to his title in November of 2007. The new job title and move to North Carolina is when his racing had to take a backseat to his career.

“I gave up racing about six or seven years ago when I was racing less and less,” Carter said in an interview after his hot lap session Saturday night. “I have always loved the Pro Stock class and have been working on getting this car together all year.”

The search for a Pro Stock started in April of this year with several phone calls and talking to other drivers. Carter knew he wanted to get back into racing and knew he wanted to run this class.

“I’ve always loved the Pro Stock class,” he said. “They are just such great cars and not a lot of people around here (North Carolina) know about them.”

He finally found the right car in September and while he was in Oswego for Super DIRT Week, he picked it up. They drove the car back to Charlotte and had a little over two weeks to get the car ready for the World Short Track Championship.

Getting the car was half the battle but Carter still needed a way to get it to the track.

“I had always loved the ramp truck setups,” he said. “We created a ramp truck for our World of Outlaws show car and I always wanted to have one.”

This past Wednesday, two days before the opening day of the Short Track Championships, his ramp truck hauler arrived and came with some history as well.

“This ramp truck used to be Dick Trickle’s that he used in ASA,” he said. “It’s pretty cool to have the one that the ‘White Knight’ had.”

Carter is learning on the job and every lap is another to file put away to learn from.

“I’m out here learning the car and it is a lot of fun to learn it too,” he said. “The car was ‘tight to free’ (pushing to loose) during the hot laps so we are working on that.”

Carter is getting some help from driver of the #55 Pro Late Model, Matt Long, who is originally from Cambridge, OH but now resides in Concord, NC. David Stremme, who is racing with the UMP Modifieds this weekend, has also stopped by Carter’s pit to talk car set-ups.

“I love being down here in the pit area with the drivers,” he said while waiting out the rain delay Saturday night. “I always try to stay connected to the drivers and teams. It’s a balancing act but I enjoy being down here when I can.”

Speaking about his outlook for the weekend, Carter had modest expectations.

“A good weekend would be continuing to have fun and learn the car,” he said. “I just want my fastest lap to be my last”.

Look for Brian Carter to make a few trips to the northeast as well in 2019.

“I would like to run four to five races a year with the car,” he said. “I want to hit some of the tour races and definitely try Super DIRT Week.”