CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Coastal bend teen raced his way to the top of the South Texas dirt racing charts.
16-year-old Tryton Temple from Calallen has been racing stock cars for just a year but has already taken home more top three prizes than his older competitors.
While most kids might be playing video games or other sports Temple is behind the wheel and racing against the top competitors in Texas.
"It's like my happy place. I get relaxed, and you gotta go to work and do what you gotta do to get up to the front," Temple said.
Temple started speeding down the raceway before he was even old enough to get a driver's license.
"My dad's raced all his life so I guess you could say it's in the genetics," Temple said.
Temple is gaining traction in the South Texas dirt racing world by taking on five wins and placing in the top three 18 times.
"I think we got something special here," his dad Tommy Temple said. "We average about 30 cars a night and sometimes heck sometimes they'll be 40."
Sometimes reaching speeds of 100 miles per hour, Temple has to keep up his factory stock car.
"We do all kinds of work. We change tires. We put the body on here. From shocks to springs, we change everything to go to each track every weekend," Temple said.
Before buckling in, Temple has to put on a fire retardant suit, gloves, a helmet plus head and neck restraints.
According to Temple, his dad still gets nervous.
"Going down the straightaway at Texas Motor Speedway two weeks ago was toes curling as, you know, my baby rolls down the back straight away there," Tommy Temple said.
Temple will continue to hit the dirt hard and leave his competitors in the dust.
"We've won five races. We won a championship last week, and we are going to get another championship this weekend," Temple said.
Temple's next race is Saturday. Oct. 5 in Pleasanton.
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