West Virginia Motor Speedway
Slider-happy Troutman finds success at WVMS
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
Drake Troutman (22) finished second at WVMS. (Zach Yost)
MINERAL WELLS, W.Va. (June 13) — Anybody who watched Drake Troutman during Saturday’s 60-lap RaceFest Summer Championship feature at West Virginia Motor Speedway on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series could tell the 21-year-old was in his element.
He pushed his Team 22 Inc. machine to its absolute limit, the right-rear planted along the cushion, unafraid to bang the race car off the fence and let loose with a few eyebrow-raising sliders. It culminated in a runner-up finish behind a dominant Tyler Erb, but in reality, it felt like a drive from midpack.| RaceWire
“Yeah, I think I tried hurting myself quite a few times,” the Hyndman, Pa., native said through a laugh. “Hell, I don’t care how the track is, as long as you can race on it. With the way these cars are anymore, that’s about the only time you can race with these things, is whenever the track does have a little bit of character.”
While Troutman didn’t think he had anything for the runaway Erb — “I don’t think so. His stuff was really good,” he said — he still threw everything he had at the leaders. After slipping to sixth by lap six, he charged back to the front, dispatching Bobby Pierce and Hudson O’Neal with a barrage of hellacious slide jobs.
His duel with Pierce for fourth spanned laps 22 and 23 before the lap-23 caution reset the field. That restart helped Troutman climb to third by lap 27, putting O’Neal squarely in his crosshairs.
It took another 24 laps and a pair of restarts before Troutman finally had his chance. When O’Neal got hung on the cushion after the lap-51 restart, the Pennsylvania gasser unleashed a chain reaction of sliders that continued through the next three corners between him and O’Neal. Troutman finally completed the pass on lap 54, nearly driving his car into the outside wall exiting turn four.
His willingness to simply get up on the wheel and make something happen showcased the kind of racing the reconfigured WVMS layout is capable of producing.
“I think a lot of people can agree that this place has a lot of potential,” Troutman said. “Hell, I bet they ain’t raced here all but five or six times. It races pretty damn good for it being (that many) times. I just appreciate those guys reaching out and sticking their neck out for us, giving us a good-paying weekend for us to come race.”
For Troutman, the runner-up capped a productive weekend. He finished eighth Friday after qualifying third in his group, running second in his heat and holding his starting spot in the 40-lap feature. On Saturday, he was fastest in Group B qualifying, won his heat and recorded his third WoO runner-up of the season.
“Wasn’t a bad weekend, that’s for sure,” Troutman said. “It was nice having a little bit of momentum tonight. I felt like last night we would’ve had a solid night, but it didn’t quite work out. Our stuff’s been pretty good.”
That momentum has been brewing now for more than two months.
Since the Illini 100 weekend at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway in early April, Troutman has become one of the tour's most consistent drivers. He's finished outside the top 10 only three times in his last 15 World of Outlaws starts, finishes that aren’t too shabby otherwise — 11th at Bedford (Pa.) Speedway on May 17, 11th at Wayne County Speedway on May 28 and 12th at Mansfield (Ohio) Speedway a day later.
That stretch includes four podium finishes, six top-fives and 12 top-10s, vaulting Troutman to fourth in the series standings behind a resurgent Tyler Erb and ahead of three-time national touring champion Tim McCreadie.
The surge really began the weekend after Farmer City. Following April 30's Dairyland Showdown preliminary at Mississippi Thunder Speedway, where he scored the first of his three series runner-up finishes, Troutman made the 12-hour haul from Wisconsin to Mineral Wells, W.Va., and was rewarded with a $10,000 victory in the Mark Balzano Memorial at West Virginia Motor Speedway.
“Our balance is really good,” Troutman said. “We have an awesome team and it takes a lot of pressure off me, and really makes me be focused on the setup stuff, the race car, the track, and just driving. You know, it’s a lot.”
Much of that improvement traces back to an expanded crew.
For his first two seasons on tour, Troutman largely relied on his longtime right-hand man and close friend Hunter Cornell. This year, however, the team added former Ricky Weiss crewman Tom Schramm and Aidan Glass, giving Troutman a four-man road crew that has tidied up and tightened up nearly every aspect of the operation.
Shock specialist Vinny Giuliani also works closely with the G.R. Smith-owned team, creating a support system Troutman praises for elevating his performance.
“These guys do an awesome job and they made my life really easy,” Troutman said. “So I think that's probably more beneficial than really anything this year. I've had a lot of people come up to me and they're like, 'What do you think the biggest difference is?' I mean, going from just me and Hunter to now having me, Hunter, Aidan and Tom, it just takes the load off everyone.”
After spending much of the past six weeks racing close to home in the Northeast, Troutman is chomping at the bit to return to the Midwest as the WoO tour opens a grueling 10-race stretch in 16 days beginning June 19-20 at 141 Speedway in Francis Creek, Wis.
“Man, I'm so damn excited to go see black dirt, it’s not even funny,” Troutman said. “It’s been nice being around the house here for a couple weeks, and, you know, it's nice being able to come home and work out of your own shop, seeing everyone, hanging out with your friends.
“I'm definitely excited to get out west and get on cushioned-up racetracks and just get after it.”
