Sweet was just as mentally tough as a young kid, playing t-ball and basketball with his legs in braces while he was treated for a rare hip disease.
“The braced wore blisters on the inside of his legs, and yet he never complained,” recalled his dad.
When it came to racing, Sweet was just as resourceful, selling candy to raise money for tires for the kart he raced at Cycleland, the legendary dirt track near Chico that has nurtured some of Northern California‘s top sprint car talent, including Sweet‘s brother-in-law Kyle Larson and multi-time King of the West champion Kyle Hirst.
The family budget was tight, but Sweet learned to get a lot out of what he had. At the age of eight, he won his first race in a five-horsepower box stock kart.
Later, as barely a teenager and under-sized, he beat adults, even though he had to add more lead on the kart than he weighed to meet the limits for the class.
“I was always a little guy that weighed about 70 or 80 pounds, and people started complaining when I moved up to racing with adults and was winning,” Sweet recalled.
Sweet got his start in sprint cars driving for Dave Vertullo, who has mentored many up and coming drivers, including Kyle Larson. But he quickly concluded that “if I wanted to be a full-time racer, I couldn‘t just race “360s” at Placerville.
“It was great learning,” he added, “but it would have quickly got me in a rut.”
It was with the same confidence he showed in t-ball and wresting that he went out on the road to learn how to race. It was just him and Darin Smith, aka “Heavy D,” in a $500 truck and a $1,000 trailer as the pair set out for Indiana.
“There wasn‘t a lot of money,” said Sweet, who recalled many of those early races paid no more than $1,200 to win. “We needed to win enough on Friday to get us to Saturday and Sunday. We could eat well if we had a good week.”
It was a year, he said, “that taught me a lot.”
In the 14 years since, Sweet‘s path to Knoxville included racing midgets and time in NASCAR‘s Gander Outdoors Truck Series and Xfinity Series. In recent years, he has also turned to promoting races at some of the Northern California tracks where he got his start.
“It‘s what makes me think about the future,” said Sweet, and the time when he will get to spend more time at home with his wife Rachel and 18-month old daughter Savannah.
Looking back on his career, the 34-year old Sweet is just a touch wistful.
“I‘m happy I had the opportunities I did, but I wish I would have focused on winged sprint cars earlier,” he said. “I‘d be further ahead by now.”
When he is at the top of his game and the top of his sport, it‘s hard to know how much further Sweet can go. But this week at Knoxville, his focus is on repeating as the Nationals champion.
One thing is for sure: Sweet has already shown he‘s tough enough to do it.
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