Bettis Set For Partial Must See Racing Schedule

Colton Bettis will run a partial Must See Racing Sprint Car Series schedule this summer. (Jacob Seelman photo)

INDIANAPOLIS – Florida native and fourteen-year-old sprint car phenom Colton Bettis is headed north for a new pavement sprint car challenge this summer.

Bettis, nicknamed “The Bolt” for his fierce driving style at a young age, will contest select Must See Racing Sprint Car Series presented by Perfit throughout the Midwest for Sam Pierce Racing.

The opportunity for Bettis comes as part of team principal Aaron Pierce’s AP Driver Development program.

“Colton is wise and mature well beyond his years. He has an extremely bright future in motorsports,” said Pierce, who won eight times with Must See Racing as a driver between 2010 and 2018. “We’re happy to have him on board and hope to have him with us for quite some time. I appreciate Must See Racing’s careful consideration of Colton’s unique skillset and situation in approving his competition license.

“I ran a ton of races with that group in the past and look forward to racing with them once again.”

From Lutz, Fla., Bettis has already had a sensational start to his sprint car season, winning the BG Products Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series opener on Jan. 13 at Auburndale (Fla.) Speedway in a 360 sprint car and following that up by securing the Dave Steele Cup at Showtime Speedway.

Bettis was awarded the Dave Steele Cup by virtue of his combined performance over two weekends at Showtime, earning a win and a runner-up in a pair of 35-lap winged sprint car features on Feb. 3 and following that with another runner-up in the Dave Steele Non-Winged Championship 125 on Feb. 10.

The talented teenager finished second to veteran Joe Liguori in last weekend’s $10,000-to-win Children’s Dream Fund 50 at Citrus County Speedway in Inverness, Fla., outperforming the likes of Bobby Santos III, two-time Must See Racing champion Brian Gerster, and Davey Hamilton Jr., among others.

That event was co-sanctioned between Must See Racing and the BG Products Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series.

Colton Bettis (Jacob Seelman photo)

Five races into the year, Bettis’ average finish is an astonishing 1.6, with no finishes worse than second thus far.

In his Midwest debut last summer, Bettis visited historic Anderson (Ind.) Speedway having never seen the track and proceeded to win the USSA Kenyon Midget Series race at the quarter-mile, high-banked oval in dominating fashion.

Described by many as a sprint car “prodigy,” Bettis earned the non-winged sprint car title at Showtime Speedway at the age of 12, becoming the youngest recorded sprint car champion in history in the process.

Bettis joins Kaylee Bryson, the reigning USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series rookie-of-the-year and a Silver Crown and Trans-Am Series regular, on the AP Driver Development roster for this season.

The Must See Racing Sprint Car Series presented by Perfit kicks off its points season at Sandusky (Ohio) Speedway on April 27. Michigan’s Jason Blonde enters the year as the defending series champion.