Davey Sammons and his race to the top

Davey Sammons lives a double life that most of us couldn’t even dream of; he is a semi-professional race car driver.
The 21-year-old junior entrepreneurship major’s family owns an auto racing publication. Although the business has been in the family quite sometime, Sammons’ brother was the first to start racing.

“My older brother was the first to actually start racing and he was influenced by my dad and I was influenced by him. I started on a go-kart at 5 years old,” Sammons said.

Sammons started to compete at age 13 and by 17, he started to drive sprint cars which are what he still currently drives.

In 2006, the National Sprint Car Museum in Knoxville, Iowa named Sammons as a nominee for National Rookie of the Year, and he came in second. In 2009, Sammons came in second place for the championship in the URC 360 sprint car division, with a total of 19 races in Pa, N.J., N.Y., and D.E.

“Each race is usually 25 laps and we race on dirt,” Sammons said. “The winner is determined by amount of points. I’ve seen anywhere from 20-30 racers all the way up to 70.

“For each race you win you get a certain amount of points. The points are totaled at the end of the year and whoever has the most is the winner.”

He also won two races during the year; one took place in Belmar, Del. and the other in Benchville, Pa.
Sammons will graduate in 2011 and plans to start his own business.

“I plan to work for my father and then start my own business in the auto racing industry building cars and selling to other people,” Sammons said. “I love to build cars and eventually I want to manufacture the parts as well.”

On April 10, he will begin to compete towards the championship in his division which includes 360 sprint cars. This is first race leading up to the championship and is scheduled to be held in Bridgeport, N.J.

“Balancing my life is hard but this is something I am dedicated to. It’s a lifestyle,” Sammons said. “I work on my car about twenty hours per week and that doesn’t include going to races. I have no downtime.

“If something needs to be done on my car it has to get done. So I’m not going out to the bar on Friday nights. I work on my car Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. I have no hobbies because this is what I do.”

For more information or to contact Davey Sammons, visit his Web site at daveysammons.com.