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May 16, 2006
Section: features
Edition: BRADENTON
Page: 30E
YODER RULES NEW CLASS AT DESOTO SPEEDWAY
Scott Lockwood, Special to The Herald
BRADENTON --- Like most 12-year-olds, Shane Yoder has tried his hand at
several different sports.
The first one he tried ended up being the one he loves the most --- driving a race
car.
Yoder, a fifth-grader at Ashton Elementary School in Sarasota, got his start in
racing by helping work on his father Brent's race cars. He then showed some
interest in driving on his own, so he and his father put a couple go-karts together
to race in DeSoto Speedway's kart league. Despite not knowing much about the
smaller racing machines, Shane Yoder worked on improving and eventually won a
track championship.
After taking a couple years off to try other sports such as baseball and bowling,
Yoder got a chance to race again when DeSoto added the Magic 4's division. The
new class consists of racers ages 12-17 competing in smaller 4-cylinder cars on
the track's quarter-mile oval.
"I just decided I wanted to race bigger cars," Shane Yoder said. "So my dad
thought of signing me up for this new class when they brought it in."
Within a week of the addition of the Magic 4's class, the Yoders bought an old
Honda CRX for $600 to race. And with the help of some friends, the car was ready
for action when the season opened, complete with a paint scheme identical to Dale
Earnhardt Jr.'s Nextel Cup car. An excited Shane Yoder was eager to hit the track
for the first time earlier this season after his long layoff.
"I was nervous . . . really nervous," he said about his first race in a full-bodied car.
"The first time, I overdrove the car, but now I am used to it and have the (gear)
shifting part down.
"And now, I'm winning."
The winning part is something Yoder certainly hasn't had a problem with this
season.
He has five feature wins at two different tracks. Yoder has won all the points races
at DeSoto and won on his first start on a full-size oval at Charlotte County
Speedway, using a pass on the final lap to pick up the victory.
In his most recent start at DeSoto, he charged from midpack to the lead in four laps.
"It's so fun just winning," he said.
Brent Yoder credits his son's fast start to his experience in the go-karts on the
same track.
"He's very fast in this car, but the times he is running in this car are slower on the
same track than what he ran in the go-karts," Brent Yoder said.
"It's definitely had a big effect on his ability to just jump in and be immediately fast."
Shane Yoder's fast start has caught the attention of several veteran observers,
including Tom Sherrill, who is in charge of the Florida Short Track Report, an
organization that supports Florida's smaller race tracks and hosts a weekly radio
show about them on floridashorttrackreport.com.
"He's got a lot of talent for as young as he is, and he's definitely not afraid to get
up on the wheel and drive," Sherrill said. "The kid has a lot of potential and a lot of
natural ability. At 12 years old and to drive like that, you've got to have something
natural."
Yoder's goal is to advance to one of the 8-cylinder classes in the next couple
years. His current car will be saved for his younger brother Daniel, who at the
tender age of 5 already wants to follow in dad's and big brother's footsteps. If
Shane Yoder keeps winning races and eventually wins the championship this
season, it would be a dream come true for the Yoder racing clan.
"If I win the points championship, my dad --- oh, he'll go ballistic," Yoder said of his
biggest supporter. "I'll try and see how far I can get in my career, but other than
that, I'm having fun."
PHOTO/PHOTO PROVIDED
Shane Yoder, left, with brother Daniel, has five feature wins at two different tracks
this season, DeSoto Speedway and Charlotte County Speedway.
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