Denton Collects Semi-Pro Spring Nationals Championship

Cole Denton poses with the INEX Spring Nationals Semi-Pro championship trophy. (Tina Denton photo)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A week’s worth of racing in Tennessee may not have yielded any victory lane visits for Cole Denton, but it yielded an even bigger prize when all was said and done.

Denton earned the points championship in the Legend car Semi-Pro division for the April 15-19 INEX Spring Nationals, a five-day racing extravaganza split between two tracks – Veteran’s Motorplex at Highland Rim and historic Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.

Though he didn’t win any of the five individual features, the 14-year-old standout from Pascagoula, Miss., compiled two pole qualifying efforts and never finished outside the top five en route to the week-long title and unique guitar trophy.

It marked the second career INEX Spring Nationals crown for Denton, who previously captured the title in 2022 when he was still competing in Bandoleros.

“Winning a race would have been great if we’d been able to, but winning a championship against all of those drivers across two different tracks … where you have to basically learn the first track and relearn the second track, is a big deal to me,” Denton explained. “In my mind, I would rather win the championship than win a race or two.

It just feels so much better to be able to, in the long run, beat all of the top competition over a sustained period the way that we were able to.”

Denton’s pair of poles came during the first two races of the week at Veteran’s Motorplex, and he converted those two starts into finishes of fifth and second, respectively.

Upon moving to the Nashville Fairgrounds infield quarter mile, however, qualifying became a bit finicky – but Denton’s finishes couldn’t have been more consistent.

He started eighth, sixth, and second across the final three races of the week but finished third in all three, giving him enough points across the board to collect the championship comfortably.

“What was wild to me (about Nashville) was that we got there, and it seemed like the lines were different compared to what I remembered from the year before,” Denton explained. “That’s one thing that was really crazy about the whole week. And in Semi-Pro, yes, there are a lot of cars, but it’s still like the frontrunners that are the competition. There are a lot of them, just like in Young Lions, and the risk is getting sent to the back for a caution or something and having to (re)start 30th.

“But it didn’t really feel like there were many more cars because you can’t really see them all. You’re just battling the people up front,” Denton added. “But going back there, it seemed like different lines were faster than the ones that were fast the year before. So that was one thing that was really hard to learn while racing 30 cars in a short period of time. But it was all fun. It was a really enjoyable week.”

Denton would like to thank 77 Speed Shop, Matt Jones Motorsports, Race Face Brand Development, the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, Myers Construction Co., and City Chevrolet for their continued partnership and support of his racing efforts.

The next planned race on Denton’s schedule is Saturday, May 10, at Cordele (Ga.) Motor Speedway in his familiar No. 46 Legend car.

About Cole Denton Racing

Nicolas “Cole” Denton is a 14-year-old Gulf South racer with dreams of racing at the top level of stock car racing. From Pascagoula, Miss., Denton began racing go-karts at the age of four and advanced into Bandoleros by the time he was eight years old, where his racing brand and nickname were born.

It was in Bandoleros where Denton, a fan of the iconic racing movie Days of Thunder, adopted the No. 46 as his car number and stylized his Bandolero scheme in black and neon green – akin to the same Mello Yello colors that Tom Cruise’s character Cole Trickle campaigned in the 1990 film.

Denton quickly picked up the nickname “Cole Trickle” at his races, and the persona stuck as his racing stock climbed, leading him to continue racing under the name Cole as he advanced and found success.

His breakout season came in 2022, when Denton accrued 40 wins and 59 podium finishes in 62 starts en route to the INEX Bandolero national championship, leading him into his first year in Legend cars last season.

Away from the driver’s seat, Denton is an avid iRacer, cyclist, and push scooter racer. He also practices flying on a flight simulator and attends both local and NASCAR races as his schedule permits.

For more information on Cole Denton, visit his website at https://coledentonracing.com/.