Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Casey Pierce feature from 2014


(NOTE: This story was featured in the Hickory Daily Record in 2014.)

Pierce is learning as he goes

By Tom Gillispie

Casey Pierce has had a steep learning curve at Hickory Motor Speedway, but Pierce says he loves to learn.

This is Pierce’s fifth year at Hickory. He started in Hobby Stocks, a division that no longer exists, in 2010.

“I ran really well in that, won one race and finished third in points,” the 19-year-old resident of Lenoir said. “I finished second all the time and I ended up winning the last race of the year. I was DQed (disqualified) one race, the third to last race of the year. For some reason, the air filter was out of the car.”
In 2011, Pierce moved up to Limited Late Model.

“I ran horrible that year. The first few races, I finished a lap down,” he said. “That was because of not knowing what I was doing. I did not run well at all first two years. We had no crew chief and were doing everything on our own. We had to learn everything, and (Limiteds) were a lot more competitive than Hobby Stocks. I got caught the headlights.”

Pierce says he posted his first top-five finish in Limiteds in 2012.

“We were running an old car, a '98 or '99. Then in 2013, we got a new car, with a 2013 chassis,” Pierce said. “And we started figuring it out. Nobody in the family had raced a stock car, and I had a lot of learning to do in a short time.”

He says he needed to learn a lot about setups, and he spent time studying books and making adjustments.

“I ended up winning my first race in May of 2013,” he said. “It was a tough race, and battled for the lead. That June, I won my second race. I had some top fives the rest of the year, but I was lacking motor at the end of the year.”

He says he rebuilt his shocks in the offseason and changed from a built motor to a crate motor.

Pierce hasn’t won this season, but he’s in fifth place in points, 34 points out of the fourth-place tie between Jeremy Pelfrey and Travis Byrd.

Pierce, a home-schooled student, says he’s currently going to community college, but “I want to go to UNC Charlotte and major in engineering,” he said. “I’ve always been interested in science and math, and the racing stuff has made me even more interested.

“I’ve learned a lot from racing.”

Like most young racers, Pierce says he’d like to race at a higher level.

“I don't have one set goal; I guess there are multiple ways I can go,” he said. “But if I don't get move up, and everybody's goal is to move up, I’d like to do some engineering-type thing in the higher levels of the sport. My main thing is to drive, but I want to be involved in the sport.”

Right now, he’s just enjoying racing at HMS.

“I have a lot of friends, actually,” he said. “(Late Model driver) Landon (Huffman) and I are good friends, and I’m friends with (Limited driver) Dylon Wilson and (Late Model driver) Josh Berry has helped me a lot with my race car.”

Matt Elledge feature from 2014


(NOTE: This was featured in the Hickory Daily Record in 2014.)


Elledge is making up for lost time



By Tom Gillispie

You might call 4-Cylinder racer Matt Elledge a late bloomer. A lot of drivers nowadays started in go-karts when they were six or seven, but Elledge, started “I guess when I was 17 or 18.”

He was still at North Wilkesboro High School then; he graduated in 1996.

Elledge, 36, says his dad, David Elledge, was a crew chief for NASCAR Dash Series racer Gary Staley. Around “2004 or 2005,” the Elledges decided to build a 4-cylinder racecar for Matt.

“I raced at Hickory on and off for five years, but I took off two and a half years when my daughter Libby was born,” said Elledge, who lives in Statesville but keeps his shop in North Wilkesboro.

Last season was Elledge’s first year back, and he finished fifth in points despite starting his season late.

“My first race back I won, and that was exciting,” he said, “and I won two or three more the rest of the year.”

Elledge has won two of three races this year and is leading 4-Cylinder points with 148, followed by Curtis Pardue of Hickory with 130, and Eddie Gilbert of Newton with 128.

Chase Pollard, the defending division champion, won the season opener, with Elledge second.

Elledge beat out Pollard on April 12.

And Elledge won on May 10, with Larry Pollard (Chase’s dad) second.

“This year, my main focus is the points championship (in the 4-Cylinder division) and to win as many races as possible,” Elledge said.

Asked if it would bother him if he didn’t win the title, he said, “It would bother me a little bit; I won’t lie. My goal has always been to win races, but this year part of my goal is to win the championship.”

Elledge says he’d like to try a Limited Late Model car — even to practice it — if someone has one available.

“I want to run Limited Late Model, but that’s probably year after

Elledge says he’s a field technician in audio-visuals for an electronics company that services homes.

 “What I do for a living is different from what I do for fun,” he said.

Elledge says that, as a kid, his favorite driver was Bill Elliott, who was recently voted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Unlike Elliott, Elledge doesn’t drive Fords. He says his engine is Nissan, and the rest is a generic fabricated car.

Elledge says he checks his car over carefully after each race; this time, he found a broken oil pan.