Doug Horton Has Found A Home At East Bay Raceway
Doug Horton Has Found A Home At East Bay Raceway
Doug Horton is not a native Floridian, but once he moved south to race at East Bay, he found a new home.
Doug Horton is not a native Floridian, but once he moved south to race at East Bay, he found a new home.
Four years into his full-time residence in the Sunshine State, he still loves every Saturday night. That is because he gets the chance to race at East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, FL. On Saturday, Dec. 16, FloRacing subscribers will get a chance to see him do it LIVE at the second annual Dalton Myers 54.
Horton relocated to Florida from West Virginia in 2013 but has been racing in the area since the mid-2000s. Once he got to Florida, he found the connection that would allow him to race competitively and as often as he wanted.
“Kenny (Nosbisch) was the first of the three brothers to retire from racing and he quit driving in ‘06,” Horton said. “We’ve been good friends for 25 years. I knew him when I lived back in West Virginia and we would come down here. He started having me come down to drive his car during the bigger winter races when there was snow on the ground where I was at and it was cold and there was no racing going on. I started driving for him back in 2008 here and there. Then I moved down here in 2013 and we just do it for fun. He has a business to run and he still works it every day. We don’t do much traveling racing, just race around home trying to have a little fun.”
While Horton is not a regular, weekly racer, he enjoys hitting the track whenever he gets the chance and has embraced the uniqueness of East Bay, a course that can’t be compared to others he’s raced in the region or beyond. While Horton loves East Bay and has figured out how to tame it a few times, he realizes that not all racers can get behind the track.
“East Bay is one of those places that when you race it you either love it or you hate it,” Horton said. “It’s just one of those race tracks. It’s a pretty physical race track where you need to be up on the wheel and get after it at times, and when it gets slick it’s even more difficult to get around than a lot of other places I’ve been.”
Last weekend in his 11th start of the season, Horton showed the hometown competitors how to navigate the track for a win when he knocked off Stevie Mathis Jr. in the Mathis Farms Dash 4 Cash 30-lap Late Models feature.
Next up for Horton is the Dalton Myers Memorial 54 on Saturday, Dec. 16, to close out the year — and this one will be a topless Late Model feature. As racing has slowed down in other areas of the country, East Bay locals are hoping for and excited to see invaders come in and fight for the win.
“It’s going to be topless,” Horton said. “When you take the tops of the cars it makes them handle a little bit different. It makes the effect of the spoiler a little greater. It’s neat for the fans because they can more or less see down into the cockpit of the car. It’s always nice for them. Hopefully there will be some guys from out of town coming in. Hopefully we’ll have good weather and a high car count.”
While Horton’s passion toward the sport hasn’t wavered since he was a child, he’s worried about what he’s been seeing from week to week in the region. Car counts and fan involvement has dropped. He urges the younger generation to get into dirt racing both as racers and fans.
“I know the promoters have their hands full trying to get people into the stands,” Horton said. “It seems like there are just so many other things to do and people are pulled in so many directions. Dirt racing has really fell off. It’s all I’ve known my entire life. My dad was an assistant flag man at a speedway that was close to our home. I was one of those kids under the grandstands playing with matchbox cars every Saturday night. It was the way of life.
"You don’t see as many young people at the tracks anymore. I don’t know if it’s because of technology but it’s sad to see. It seems like it’s just middle-age fans and older people still coming out and I don’t know how long it’s going to last without our younger people getting involved.”