Sharon Speedway
Young New Yorker's sophomore struggles
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
Brock Pinkerous (heathlawsonphotos.com)
HARTFORD, Ohio (July 11) — Brock Pinkerous didn't make excuses or try to deflect blame after what had been a promising Saturday at Sharon Speedway with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series.
Running second in his heat race, the 16-year-old from Ellenville, N.Y., pushed his No. 555 machine a little too hard around the bottom and clipped an infield tractor tire. The impact tore away the left side of his nosepiece and, two laps later, his car went up in smoke.
"I just made a mistake. I don't know, I'm just very mad at myself. We hit a tire, collapsed the nose and sent a hole through our radiator, I believe," a visibly dejected Pinkerous said. "So, I mean, I can't be mad at anyone other than myself. It's not my team's fault. You know, I gotta work on myself as a driver and just get better.
"I can't blame anyone else but myself, so hopefully we come back stronger, I'm better because of this, and I can learn from it.”
The mistake stung even more because, according to Pinkerous, his sophomore Super Late Model season has felt like one disappointment after another.
"Basically what just happened tonight: A lot of heartbreaks," Pinkerous said when asked to summarize his season. "I gotta get better."
Pinkerous has experienced far more growing pains in the Super Late Model ranks than he ever did racing Crate Late Model racing, where success came quickly. As a 13-year-old in 2024, he finished fourth in RUSH Series points and became the youngest feature winner in Stateline Speedway history with a weekly victory at the Busti, N.Y., oval.
Later that season, he became the youngest champion in RUSH tour history while collecting six overall victories. He also began dipping his toes into Super Late Model competition. Last year, he made the full-time jump to open-competition Late Models, recording eight podium finishes, earning his first Super victory at Stateline in August and placing seventh in United Late Model Series points.
This season, however, has produced a single top-five finish — a runner-up effort April 25 at Muskingum County Speedway to Caiden Black. His highlight of the season so far is qualifying for the Firecracker 100 finale with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. — a track he knows well through his journey from Crates — when he completed all 100 laps in finishing 17th.
“I couldn't ask for more — to complete all 100 laps,” Pinkerous said. “We set the record, which is good, too, as the youngest driver to make the race and finish it. So, yeah, proud of that. And I was just happy to make all underlaps and not destroy my equipment.”
While his determination to improve is obvious — he was searching for every ounce of traction around Sharon's technical surface before clipping the infield tractor tire — Pinkerous also realizes patience is part of becoming a better driver.
"Maybe just calm down next time," Pinkerous said of what could have prevented Saturday's night-ending incident. "We were in a redraw spot already. ... I definitely was trying to get past them. But like I said before, I gotta calm down. That's the end of the story.
"I just gotta get better, calm down, take what we have and save our equipment. Right now I'm just making more work for my guys. I know I keep making these dumb mistakes and costing us races. I hope that doesn't continue and I can get better."
Pinkerous and his Russ King-led team considered competing in Sunday's DIRTcar Summer Nationals finale at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio, just down the road from Sharon. But after Saturday's setback, they'll instead head home and spend the next few weeks regrouping.
"We'll probably just pack up tonight, go home and restart," Pinkerous said. "We got our new car, so we're gonna put that together and get this deal rolling again. So we'll be back in two weeks."
Pinkerous is eager to debut a brand-new XR2 Rocket Chassis when he returns. He has campaigned Rocket's XR1.2 platform since its debut in August 2024 and didn't get his hands on the Shinnston, W.Va.-based manufacturer's latest chassis until Tuesday, when he picked up the bare XR2 frame.
With fellow Rocket drivers Brandon Sheppard and Tyler Erb especially finding success in the XR2 this season, Pinkerous hopes the new chassis provides a similar boost to his program.
“One hundred percent," Pinkerous said when asked if he's seen the XR2 elevate Rocket's national touring teams. "You know, racing Dennis (Erb Jr.) there, he's in an XR2, too. I'd say I have a pretty close relationship with (Rocket co-owner) Mark (Richards) and Terbo. So, you know, we have those relationships and we can bounce corners off each other. It's good to have them in our little piggy bank to lean on them as some help for our team."
