Georgia-Florida Speedweeks
Have race car, will race for busy Drake Troutman
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
Drake Troutman (mrmracing.net)
Drake Troutman will be at a laundromat just as much as he’ll be at a racetrack through Easter weekend.
OK, the ambitious Hyndman, Pa., driver might not actually be washing clothes that often over the next few months, but it may feel that way.
The 21-year-old, who’s been on the road since the first week of January, isn’t planning a return home until the second week of April as 2025’s World of Outlaws Late Model Series top rookie takes full advantage of an expanded Florida-Georgia Speedweeks.
Beginning Friday at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga., Troutman has 20 races scheduled over 30 days, stretching through March 7’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series stop at Golden Isles Speedway near Brunswick, Ga. And with the Outlaws rolling directly into Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn., (March 13), Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn. (March 14), Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Miss. (March 20-21), East Alabama Motor Speedway in Phenix City (March 27) and Senoia (Ga.) Raceway (March 28) over the following three weekends, Troutman and his nomadic G.R. Smith-owned Team 22 Inc. operation figure to race every chance they get.
“I don’t plan on going home until about Easter. That’s when we plan on taking the hauler back,” Troutman said in a recent phone interview. “Yeah, we’ll be down there. It doesn’t make sense to go home. We have races like Magnolia and all that stuff down there, and Bulls Gap, after Speedweeks. So that’s why we’ll be staying down until after Easter.
“We’ll definitely hit a few laundromats along the way. Yeah, we’re ready to go. We’re excited.”
Initially, Troutman had all 28 Georgia-Florida Speedweeks races on his schedule. Wintry weather curtailing Jan. 30-Feb. 3’s South Georgia Showdown at Norman Park's Needmore Speedway and Swainsboro Raceway pumped the brakes on Troutman’s non-stop schedule, but if anything, the unexpected time off keeps him and his crew a little fresher heading into a jam-packed February.
Troutman’s grown to embrace this kind of workload that few drivers are reluctant to pursue. Last year, he logged roughly 130 race nights between his Dirt Late Model and Jerry Foster-owned modified. This year looks much of the same, if not more, for the unceasing driver who’s already competed in six races at Jan. 10-18’s Wild West Shootout, Jan. 11’s Chili Bowl Nationals qualifying night and Jan. 22-24’s Sunshine Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.
“For sure. I don’t know anything else,” Troutman said when asked if he’s learned to embrace life on the road. “Yeah, I mean, I don’t know anything else other than racing. That’s how I get my paycheck at the end of the day, and I love to do it. Like, I have nothing else to do other than let’s go race. Just young and dumb. All my boys are all amped up. They’re excited to go race. That’s all they know, too. It works out for us.”
Based on how he ended last season with three impressive podium finishes at November’s World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, and judging how highly he speaks of his bolstered Team 22 this season, Troutman’s primed for his most fruitful year yet in 2026.
On the crew, Troutman’s brought in Tom Schramm, former wrenchman for Ricky Weiss, to join general mechanic Hunter Cornell whom Troutman considers one of his best friends. Lane Snook, DirtonDirt’s top performer from Pennsylvania last year, tags along the Team 22 race-day crew through Speedweeks as well.
Equipment-wise, car owner G.R. Smith has reloaded Troutman with a fleet of race-ready Longhorn Chassis and plenty of powerplants. Shock specialist Vinny Guliani works hands-on with Troutman’s team, too.
“I just feel like we’re a lot more prepared,” Troutman said. “We have Cornett motors. We have Vic Hill motors. We have three pretty-well, brand-new cars that we put together late last year. We have another one on the way, obviously Longhorns. Bilstein Shocks with Vinny on board. He came on at the end of last year.”
For all those reasons, Troutman raises the standard for himself in 2026.
“I’m excited. We have a lot of pieces of the puzzle that might’ve been missing, you know?” said Troutman, who earned three Super Late Model victories last year, two being on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals and another his first career WoO victory June 21 at I-55 Federated Raceway Park in Pevely, Mo. “From first-year adventures, I feel like we put a team together this year. We have new cars, new motors, new shocks. It’s really up to me to do my job behind the wheel, and make decisions throughout the night.”
Results have been sporadic for Troutman nine races into the season: two top-five finishes, four nights inside the top 10 and three DNFs. He would’ve liked a better opening weekend on the WoO tour other than 19th-, 11th- and fifth-place results in that order, which leaves him seventh in points, 39 markers behind leader Nick Hoffman. But the good news is he took strides forward every time he took the speedy half-mile, boosting his outlook for Feb. 9-14’s DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia.
“Just have to keep heading in the right direction. This car here is a little bit different than the other ones,” Troutman said. “Just have to figure out what it likes. It’s taken us this long to figure out, but we’re headed in the right direction. We have to find what it likes.”
Troutman’s planning to race so much this Speedweeks, he’ll hit Feb. 19’s Lucas Oil opener at All-Tech Raceway in Ellisville, Fla., as he heads toward Hendry County Motorsports Park for Feb. 20-21’s weekend in Clewiston, Fla., in continuing his WoO campaign.
As for Screven’s Southern All Star events this weekend, Troutman’s curious how he’ll fare at the 3/8-mile oval, a place he’d never laid eyes on (weather cancelled Thursday’s program but $10,000- and $25,000-to-win programs are set for Friday and Saturday). It could be another weekend of learning, or his first career Speedweeks victory could be around the corner.
“Ain’t got nothing better to do other than go race,” Troutman said. “We’ll go down there and hit all the races we can and hopefully have a good Speedweeks. Last year, we took a big step from 2024 when we went down. I was that much better. Hopefully this year we can get that much better.
“I feel like we’re definitely getting there. A lot of it comes back to experience and stuff. I’m still growing. I’m still growing a lot as a driver. I learn something every night in the car. Hopefully this year, we have higher expectations than last year, of course. Just have to keep building off that.”
