Dalton Rombough is on the fast track to success behind the wheel of a sprint car.
In only his sophomore season, Rombough notched his first career victory and it may eventually end up being the biggest win of his career.
He was victorious in the June 17 Kevin Ward Jr. Memorial Asphalt Spectacular at Evans Mills (N.Y.) Raceway Park. Winning the Empire Super Sprints event was big for several reasons. It came at Rombough’s home track, which only hosts sprint cars once a year. It was the series’ only appearance of the year on asphalt, and it was a race run in honor of Kevin Ward Jr. who died in 2018.
It was also worth $4,000 and came in front of a near-capacity crowd.
The 27-year-old Rombough didn’t take the traditional path to sprint cars. After racing karts, he purchased a Legend Car and raced on the asphalt at Evans Mils Raceway Park. He eventually moved to dirt sportsmen cars for four years.
“I decided after Super DIRT Week in 2021, since I did so well, I wanted to do something different,” related Rombough. “A guy had a sprint car for sale and I bought it. Another guy had an engine for sale and I bought that, too. A couple of my friends had sprint cars and I knew Kevin Ward Jr. so I always wanted to get one. It was always in the back of my mind. I just never had the opportunity to get one until then I guess.”
After his first night behind the wheel of a winged sprint car, Rombough felt right at home. He instantly knew it was something he wanted to pursue.
“We went to our first race at Outlaw Speedway. I ended up running fourth my first night out. I was surprised how well I did. Obviously, everyone else was shocked,” Rombough said with a laugh. “I wasn’t afraid to drive the car. I just didn’t have any laps.”
In 2022, Rombough ran the 11-race Patriot Sprint Tour and garnered rookie-of-the-year honors after finishing third in points despite not winning a feature. It was a successful first year in sprint cars.
His most impressive start came in last year’s World of Outlaws event at Weedsport (N.Y.) Speedway. He made the feature using a 360 engine against the 410s by racing his way through the B main.
“They took six cars out of the B main. I started ninth and finished sixth,” Rombough recalled. “After the race all these fans were coming down and wanting T-shirts and I didn’t even have T-shirts. I was pumped. I even passed a couple of 410 cars. I knew the track would be slick because I had raced my sportsman there. I had a pretty good feel for the track. I knew I had to keep it on the bottom, but it worked out well actually. I just thought it would be fun to try and race with the Outlaws.”
Rombough acknowledged the importance of winning the Kevin Ward Jr. Memorial Asphalt Spectacular.
“I used to race karts with Kevin and we used to hang out together,” Rombough said. “We didn’t live too far from each other.”
It was far from easy that night and he battled several issues, including a crash during practice.
“On the first lap, another guy drove the car too hard on the first lap of practice. I think the tires were cold and he didn’t lift. He tried to overdrive the corner on the first lap. I was trying to avoid him and slid into him. It ripped my center wing right out on the top wing,” Rombough explained. “The engine refired when I rolled backward. It bent all my butterflies in my engine. I couldn’t get the butterflies all fixed so the idle was turned up on the car. I thought I had a good shot to win the feature even with the car idled up because I started on the front row. I was excited. I finally got the car working well, and it was a pretty good payday.”
When Rombough was asked what more he would like to do in the sprint cars, he had one answer.
“I really want to travel and do some bigger races. We haven’t traveled much yet,” he said. “That’s something I’d like to do. Just run more new tracks. I really want to go down to Pennsylvania and run places like Port Royal. I really love the sprint car. It’s different and it’s something I really love to drive. You can drive the sprint car so hard because the air holds you down. We’ve been running ESS because it’s close to home, but traveling is something I want to do.”
FAST FACTS
Birthday: Nov. 12, 1995
Hometown: Lowville, New York
Series: Empire Super Sprints
Sponsors: Roof to Rails Home inspections, FX Caprara Honda, East Road Concrete, Henry’s Construction,
Van Tassel Towing, Otter Creek Winery, Westward Painting Co.
This story appeared in the August 23, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
