Up-and-Coming Driver Jordan Anderson Moves to Asphalt in Pursuit of Pay Dirt

It was slightly less than a year ago when I got to experience my first night at a North Carolina dirt track event—something I never got the chance to see from my limited racing experience. I had seen a dirt race before, but nothing like a Carolina Friday night.

I knew I was in for something special as I walked down a dozen overly graded concrete steps. The Carolinas are where American stock car racing was born, and it all began on the dirt.

I heard that a schoolmate of mine was running dirt late models that night, and that gave me more of a reason to be excited about this particular night. Watching races is a lot more fun when you have someone to cheer for, so I began yelling my support for a kid named Jordan Anderson.

Anderson put on a great show, winning the Late Model feature race. I could hear the excitement in his voice as he was handed a huge trophy and pointed the top of the trophy towards the cheerful crowd. I shook the chain-link fence to show my approval. I had never met the guy, but it was obvious that he could drive a race car.

One year later, Anderson has moved back to his asphalt racing roots. This year, he has big plans to drive super late models, alongside a few other types of full-bodied stock cars. Car control is one of the major factors in all types of racing, and when Anderson hits the pavement this season, he will know how to compensate for a car that is practically out of control.

Dirt racing is about controlling a car that runs nearly sideways into a turn, while avoiding the potential mayhem that could result from wild race cars pitching their wheels left and right. Anderson has now significantly sharpened his skill at recognizing unpredictability on a race track. He also realizes that he has been an asphalt driver nearly all of his life, but the heart of racing beats strongly on the clay ovals of the Southeast.

It was not just car control that Anderson was supposed to learn on the dirt. The culture of the dirt track is full of fiery enthusiasm. Anderson has met fans and drivers that don’t like him, simply because he is a competitor. Fistfights can occur in the pits of a dirt track, but they also erupt in the grandstands.

There are kids in the grandstands who have no interest in watching racing on Sunday television, but they yell “Daddy!” every time their father crosses the finish line. A man will tell his new friend, “That’s my neighbor!” as the cars run pace laps. It’s racing at its core.

As Anderson takes his experience onto a regional and national level, I will miss seeing him race on my Friday nights. I’ll still be at the track because he is one of the reasons I am now hooked on dirt racing for life.

If you have followed Anderson’s career, you know that he is full of talent no matter where he takes a race car. He never wants to leave us, the dirt fans. He hopes to take us with him as he approaches stardom. I know he’s got it in him—I have seen him drive a dirt late model like nobody’s business.