IMPERIAL, Calif. — Dyer Motorsports has announced that beginning with this weekend’s races at the Imperial Valley Raceway, teenager Drake Cardey will be joining the team.
Cardey, who will compete on the SoCal Lightning Sprint Car portion of this week’s races, will run for Rookie of the Year with the California Lightning Sprint Car Series in 2025. His teammate, Jeff Dyer, will be competing with Cardey on the SCLS portion of this week’s programs.
In addition, Dyer will also be racing his 410 sprint car on the Avanti Windows and Doors USAC/CRA side of the shows.
Cardey, 16, is the son of 2003 California Lightning Sprint Car Series champion and retired USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series star “Dynamite” David Cardey. The personable teen, who recently received his first driver’s license, has raced dirt and pavement karts in the past as well as Speedway Sprints (small cars powered by 500cc Speedway Motorcycle engines) at Wheel2Wheel Raceway in Victorville, California.
In addition, he is an accomplished iRacer, piano player, and Rubik’s Cube solver, etc. etc. In other words, he is very smart.
“A couple of weeks ago I was approached about the possibility of having a new kid drive my car,” Dyer recalled. “I really wasn’t going to do it because I am like a one man show working on the cars in the shop at my house. Two lightning sprints were just going to be too much for me. They offered that Drake wanted to run for Rookie of the Year in the California Lightning Sprints. I told them the only way I wanted to do that was if they would take care of the car at their house and tow it to the races. They were willing to do that and we came to a good deal for both of us. It will support the club.”
While he never raced 410 sprint cars against David Cardey, Dyer has raced against him a couple of times in lightning sprints. They talked in passing but never got to know each other too much. Thus, he did not know Drake. That all changed Sunday when father and son went to Dyer’s house for the first time and the kid made a big impression on his new teammate.
“He is a very well-mannered kid,” Dyer said. “David and Drake came up Sunday and we worked on the car most of the day. He is very eager to learn. It was cool to have him here because most kids’ kind of rely on their parents to work on their stuff for them. He was here with wrenches in hand. He was not on his phone. He is willing to learn and he is very excited. I think that is what David’s big thing was, he wanted Drake to show that he wanted to be into it. I think he is going to do very well. He has raced those Jawa Speedway Sprints at Victorville. I have driven those cars, too. Those things are pretty fast. I think they are a little more difficult to drive than a lightning sprint. I think he will fit in really well.”
“I watched Drake’s dad run sprint cars,” Dyer continued while talking on the phone Tuesday night. “They are a great family. It was pretty good getting to know them. Really good people and I am looking forward to this year with them. It is good to bring new blood into the sport.”
Dyer, a California Highway Patrol officer who lives in Yucca Valley, California, was slated to head to Huntington Beach to pick up his 410 engine from Van Dyne Engineering on Wednesday or Thursday. Through the first two races, the veteran driver and his crew have been chasing some pesky engine concerns. The thought is it has been a combination of timing and fueling issues that will hopefully be solved for the two races at Imperial.
Dyer had two sessions in his lightning car at Perris Auto Speedway to test out his new Engler fuel system. He was in the garage working on that car on Tuesday night when he took time to chat.
“Just about,” Dyer answered when asked if his lightning sprint was ready. “I am out here working on it right now. The lightning sprint stuff has kind of been on the back burner. I had to get my other car (the 410) together, so I worked on that last week and over the weekend. Yesterday evening was actually the first time I was able to get in here and work on the lightning sprint.”
