SAN TAN VALLEY, Ariz. – Corey Day shook as he paced around the pit area after the opening night of the Wild Wing Shootout Jan. 22 at Arizona Speedway.
The 15-year-old sprint car driver had just completed his first heat race in the most thrilling, memorable way — overtaking 10-time World of Outlaws champion Donny Schatz with a jagged slide job to finish third.
“It just didn’t feel real,” Day said. “Then it set in: ‘I just beat Donny Schatz. What the heck?”
The Clovis, Calif., kid introduced himself to the sprint car world in that very moment, sandwiched between Schatz and California role models Carson Macedo and Rico Abreu in the heat race. He finished 12th and eighth in his first two 410 sprint car features.
Day has all the intangibles to set sail on those desires.
First, it’s in his blood. His dad, Ronnie Day, was a stalwart on the California sprint car scene during the 1990s and early 2000s. His mentor and car owner, two-time World of Outlaws champion Jason Meyers, is one of the finest wheelmen to grace the sport.
If you need another good reason, ask Day anything and he’ll articulate himself well beyond his years.
His résumé may be short, but it’s compact and packs a punch. His 410 sprint car debut isn’t the first time Day delivered when facing a tall order with zero familiarity. In just his second year of racing micro sprint, Day won the Restricted A-Class at the Tulsa (Okla.) Shootout in his first attempt.
Not long after that, he landed a deal in the Driven Performance and D1 Chassis house car, one of the most prominent micro sprint rides in California. He also has a pair of Plaza Park track titles and a King of California championship — one of the most prestigious honors in the state.
Prior to the Wild Wing Shootout, Day had only six 360 sprint car races under his belt, with all of them coming late last season.
The inaugural winged sprint car weekend in the desert provided Day a taste of his desires, racing with the likes of Schatz, Macedo, Abreu and Aaron Reutzel.
“Being able to race with Donny like that — it’s surreal,” Day said. “I always watched him. That’s where I want to be — the World of Outlaws.”
Day may have a goal for his future, but for now school is taking much of his time. He missed the final night of the Wild Wing Shootout to get back home.
His weekdays are prioritized with online schooling since COVID-19 has forced education to be done through Zoom calls and message boards.
“I hate that,” Day said. “I’m always thinking about racing. And then I see all my friends [on Zoom], but you can’t talk to them. You can’t interact with them at all.”
Daryn Pittman, the 2013 World of Outlaws champion, is expected to driver Meyers’ No. 14 during the sanctioning body’s annual West Coast swing, but Day hopes to be back behind the wheel of the Meyers entry later in the season.
He hopes to race his family-owned car when the World of Outlaws is scheduled to visit California for six races beginning March 20 at Perris Auto Speedway.
Day has two goals for this year — land some kind of job when he turns 16 and create the kind of future he’s always desired.
“Hopefully by 2022, if not ’23, I hope to be running the All Stars, the Outlaws or something,” Day said. “Honestly, if I got an Outlaw ride right now, I’d take it. I eat, sleep and breathe racing. As soon as it can happen, that’s what I’ll do, and I’ll jump on that. … If everything is good about it.
“That’s my dream,” Day said. “But if it’s not going to work out, it’s not going to work out. Time will tell, for sure.”