During the first race of the season last summer at Virginia’s Langley Speedway, Hunter Waltrip was involved in a wreck that tore half of the side off his truck.
After working tirelessly to fix the damage and get back on the track the next week, a few months later, adversity struck again. Waltrip was involved in another crash in which he hit the wall head-on, doing damage both to the car and himself.
“I thought my season was done after that,” Waltrip said. “But the crew, the family, we all came together and rebuilt the whole front end and we got it done just in time for the next race.”
For any other driver, two major wrecks in one season would have been enough to make them give up. But it was the work of Waltrip’s team, and the belief that no setback is too big, that pushed him to keep going.
“You never want to give up and I never wanted the mentality of, ‘Well this is how our season’s going to end so let’s just be Debbie Downers the whole season,'” Waltrip said. “Instead it was more of, if we can recover from this, then we can do anything. And sure enough, that was the mentality we had all season long. Every time we hit a speed bump or something came up, we always reverted back to, look what we came from the first wreck. If we can get through that, we can get through anything. So we saw it as more of an uplifting momentum and inspiration to do better.”
Despite two DNFs, Waltrip finished the season with four wins on his way to a Super Trucks division championship at Langley Speedway, a NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series track in Hampton, Virginia.
After the first wreck, Waltrip’s season calmed down as he battled in the points with Chris Roberts, who finished with five wins and was fifth the final point standings.
When the second crash happened, Waltrip was “ready to just take a break.”
He was hesitant to put the work in to fix the truck, and on top of that he was injured. There was also the thought that the accidents were signs a second championship just wasn’t in the cards for him. Waltrip won his first truck title at Langley in 2023.
Despite his hesitations, Waltrip’s team had the truck in the shop the day after his wreck and began putting it back together.
“Even when I was down, thinking the worst of the worst, my crew did such a good job uplifting me, telling me we got this,” he said.
Waltrip led the division by a couple points heading into the championship race. He made sure to coast that night, staying out of trouble as much as possible. He finished the night fifth and won the title by four points.
“I was confident as long as everything held together and we stayed out of trouble,” he said. “I didn’t want the demons and the gremlins to kind of wear on me thinking, ‘What if this happens? What if this happens?’ It was just, let’s take a deep breath. Let’s go out there for 25 laps and let’s get it done.”
Waltrip called his second championship “a humbling experience this year.” He can’t say which of the two titles were easier or harder to get, but said, “We definitely had to earn it this year.”
Hunter Waltrip Racing is a close-knit team that includes Waltrip’s dad, Brian, family, friends, and young crew members who are interested in learning more about the sport.
Racing has brought much of Waltrip’s family closer together. There are cousins he never saw much who now come to the shop twice a week and cheer from the stands and infield every weekend. Waltrip’s mom and sister also recently moved back to Eastern Virginia, giving them the opportunity to watch his races, too.
One of Waltrip’s high school friends came to a race last year, and now helps out in the shop, bringing his two young children along.
“They’re 2 and 4 and they’re running around the shop holding tools and wrenches and stuff, and they’re just loving it,” Waltrip said. “And that makes me feel good because it’s a family oriented environment and that makes me feel really happy that my friends and crew can bring their personal lives along with them and we’re welcoming them with open arms. That makes me feel really good.”
“There’s a passion in this team and an ambition not only to win, but just to race,” said team member Aiden Coleman. “At the end of the day, that’s what we’re here to do. We’re here to race, and winning is just something that fuels that passion and ambition. We’re always working together, we’re always around each other. We’re always open to ideas because that’s what you have to do to get it done.
“You have to be creative, you have to be innovative when you race or else you’re just not going to make it. You’re not going to be able to come back from hitting the wall or the opening night crash. You have to have that passion to be on that track.”
The 2024 season will bring new challenges to the Waltrip team. One of the sponsors told Waltrip if he won a second championship they would help him move up to the limited late model division. The sponsors stayed true to their word, and the team is now waiting for a new motor and looking for a transmission to build a new limited late model car this winter.
Waltrip has never driven a limited late model, so he bought an iRacing rig and is spending time racing on that before they can test their own car.
He knows racing in a new division will take time to get accustomed to, but Waltrip is confident he has the team behind him to make for an easy transition.
At the end of the day, the team will have fun no matter what comes their way on the track.
“I tell all the guys, don’t think of it as a job. We’re here to have fun,” Waltrip said. “As long as we keep that and we have fun, we can do almost anything. Because there are race teams, I’ve seen them and I’ve been a part of them, where it’s just like a job to them and they don’t have fun. They’re so stressed out and if they don’t win, they’re upset. That’s not us. We just do it for the fun. And the fact that we are successful somehow is just … that makes it so much more sweet.”