INDIANAPOLIS – Though the results haven’t quite shown up on paper through the first couple months of the season, Karsyn Elledge is settling in nicely with Tucker-Boat Motorsports.
Elledge, who is tackling the full NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midget Series season for the first time, has shown a fair amount of speed with the Chad Boat and Corey Tucker-owned organization, even if she only has finishes of 15th and 16th for her efforts thus far.
The 18-year-old made the feature both nights during the season-opening Winter Dirt Games doubleheader at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla., but struggled during the tour’s most recent stop indoors at the Southern Illinois Center in DuQuoin, Ill.
Elledge went for a wild flip during the C-main of the DuQuoin event that ended her night, but has since been upbeat about her chances going forward into the late spring and early summer with Tucker-Boat.
“I won’t lie, running the midget has been a lot different than what I’ve been used to growing up in my career, but so far I’m having a pretty great time,” noted Elledge. “From my very first race with Tucker-Boat Motorsports, everything just felt like it clicked, you know? It took me some time to get the hang of driving the midget, but we all get along well and I think that makes doing something new pretty easy.
“At DuQuoin, it would have been easy to be disappointed … and don’t get me wrong, I was disappointed and embarrassed,” she added. “But everyone (on the team) surrounded me with a lot of support and that made it a lot easier to move past what happened. It certainly took some of the sting out of it.”
Elledge raced a handful of POWRi events with Tucker-Boat last season that she called “vital” to her early-season growth as she’s continued to get used to running a full-size midget on a regular basis.
“I do think that the experience I had of just getting some laps under my belt last year has helped me,” she explained. “Last year, running the couple of races that I did with POWRi, I feel like got me prepared to tackle the full USAC season for the first time this year. It provides some comfort, just in the fact I was able to get used to the people and the cars … a lot of things I’d be learning on the fly otherwise.
“I think those races last year were valuable and have allowed us to hit the ground running a lot easier this year.”
Prior to making the jump into midgets, Elledge raced several years in outlaw karts at North Carolina’s Millbridge Speedway, a class that provides a vastly-different style of racing compared to midget cars.
“The outlaw karts and the midgets just drive a lot differently; that was the biggest thing I’ve had to adjust to,” Elledge said. “The obvious difference is that the outlaw karts don’t have shocks or power steering, anything like that, so it was a pretty big change for me. They just aren’t like anything I was ever used to (driving) before.”
In addition to her full-time dirt schedule, Elledge is a student at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, majoring in Criminal Justice and minoring in Psychology.
The balance between school and racing is one that Elledge has worked hard at to get right.
“Last year, when I was running some midget races, I was racing from August on and my schedule had started to die down by then,” Elledge explained. “So far this year, my schedule has been pretty crazy. I have to go to class all week and then race on the weekends. Thankfully, the USAC schedule doesn’t get consistently busy until the summer, when I’m out of school, so it hasn’t been too bad just yet.
“There’s still some moments, though, where you want to leave mid-week and you can’t because you have class or things like that,” she added. “It’s a lot to balance, but I’m doing the best I can.”
As for her DuQuoin flip? Elledge has put that behind her and is focused forward on future successes.
“I would be totally fine if I never did anything like that ever again,” Elledge laughed. “Once is definitely enough. I stand by what I said in DuQuoin though, that it was kind of my own fault. I just became a hothead when I went to the back, as I typically do. I drove way over my head. It was my own mistake.
“I’ve learned from that, though, and I’m looking toward the future with these Tucker-Boat guys and I think we’re going to have a lot of fun together as we get into the summer months this year.”