SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Chelby Hinton plans to chase after USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship MPI Rookie of the Year honors in 2026 with 2B Racing.
Hinton, who hails from Dubberly, Louisiana, made eight starts on the USAC National Sprint Car tour in 2025. Preserving his rookie eligibility for the 2026 campaign, the 20-year-old Hinton will now compete for Scott Benic’s 2B Racing team, which features a pair of past USAC Chief Mechanics of the Year in Benic (2005 & 2009) plus Derek Claxton (2017).
“I’m pumped,” Hinton exclaimed. “I’m beyond excited to work with Scott, Derek and the whole 2B crew. On top of that, getting to run for Rookie of the Year. I’ve talked to Scott a lot over the past year while running sprint cars in the Midwest. I got to race with him late this year and everything went pretty well and smooth. They’re a fun group to be around and I’m really looking forward to this year and seeing what we can do on the USAC trail.”
Hinton’s initial USAC Sprint Car experiences came in the Phillips No. 71p throughout the 2025 season with Hinton winning his first heat race with the series on the final night of Sprint Car Smackdown at Indiana’s Kokomo Speedway in August. Steve passed away in October of this past year, and Hinton is forever grateful to them for providing him with his start in the USAC Sprint Car ranks.
“None of this would be possible without Steve and Carla and what they did with me this year,” Hinton said. “I’m greatly appreciative of it and I wouldn’t be here if it wouldn’t for them.”
Hinton’s first foray with the 2B Racing team came on November 1 at Red Hill Raceway in Sumner, Illinois with the Midwest Thunder Sprint Car series. Hinton won his heat and finished third in the feature.
Louisiana natives in USAC National Sprint Car racing are far from a common sight. In fact, in the 70-year history of the series, Hinton is the first and only Pelican State racer to appear in the point standings. During the last week of February in 2025, Hinton and his family made the move the Lafayette, Indiana to further pursue his racing dreams.
Hinton’s racing background began in modifieds down in Bayou Country. But after traveling to Tulsa, Oklahoma to attend the Chili Bowl Nationals in 2015, he fell in love with open wheel racing. In 2018, he took the next step after spectating at the Tulsa Shootout in Tulsa. Soon after, Hinton was racing micro sprints around his home state, over in Texas and at one of the hot beds of the sport at Tulsa’s Port City Raceway. In 2021, he ran the full NOW600 tour, and by 2023, he was behind the wheel of a USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget for Bob East and Klatt Enterprises.
By day, Hinton works with his father laying tile for floors, showers and backsplashes, etc. As for his racing career, he couldn’t be more thrilled to what he has cooking for 2026.
“I’ve never been so excited to start a year. I’ve had some big stuff in my career but I’ve never had something this big,” Hinton stated. “I’m really looking forward to getting with the team and actually getting to run the full tour. I haven’t been on a tour before. I haven’t really run more than 20-30 races in the last few years. Getting to run a consistent schedule with a great car and crew, I’m just excited to race.”
Benic believes that Hinton’s attributes align with 2B Racing and feels that he showed great composure in his first outing with the team.
“From what I’ve seen in Chelby, he’s a good listener, he pays attention and he did the things on the track we asked him to do, and I felt like he did a really good job,” Benic said.
Benic particularly admires Hinton’s abilities to achieve despite not always having the biggest budget behind him.
“What we saw with Chelby over the course of last year, he seems to do a lot with a little,” Benic praised. “He comes across as an underdog. He’s run a very limited budget midget and had some success. Even his micro career was shortly funded compared to the guys they raced against and he still won a lot of races. I feel like we’re kind of the same way. I’m not trying to say that we have the most underfunded team in the world, but compared to the best teams of USAC, we’re certainly a few dollars and cents behind them.
“Chelby has kind of come from that,” Benic continued. “He’s learned to do more with less and tries to have good quality stuff and not necessarily a quantity of stuff. I think once a young kid like that learns how to win, they can learn how to win in anything, and I think Chelby is capable of that.”
