Full Throttle

Trey Poole races cars on ovals and street courses, but a crossroads ahead may determine his future as a driver.

Auto racing requires speed. That takes money to keep the cars in top condition. Race teams spend a lot of their own money — prize money if they’re good — but also turn to selling sponsorships on the cars and driver uniforms to fund the expensive sport. Sponsors want success on the track and a marketable personality for their investment.

The combination of a struggling economy and the vast number of drivers trying to make it to the next level or just hang onto their ride has made the quest for sponsorship money very competitive.

All of NASCAR’s top three series have been affected by the shrinking pool of sponsor dollars. Grassroots racing, where the next generation of drivers are being groomed, likewise.

Poole is racing for Bill Elliott Driver Development, founded by his famous uncle as a way to pay forward his experience and success as a NASCAR driver. He started the program with his nephew and his son, Chase, and now is assisting five drivers with their careers.

Elliott’s plan for his young drivers is to let them have fun but also learn how to race different cars, learn car control and how to run close competitively. As they progress through the racing ranks, Elliott said his involvement will increase to teach them about being a driver at the top level of the sport and what to expect, including public relations skills and marketing.

After a knee injury ended Trey’s baseball season in his junior year of high school, he approached his father, Randy, and uncle during a family get-together around Christmas 2005 and said he’d like to try racing.

Trey started his racing career the following summer, racing go-karts in the Colorado Sprint Championship Series. In nine races, Trey posted one win and three seconds and placed second in the state in his division.

“I had hoped against hope that it was just a summer fantasy — just a summer of fun with his cousin,” Trey’s mother, Mitzi Young, said. “By about the second race, I knew it was something he was going to want to do.”

Of course, he was hooked and now wants to see how far his racing career can go. The goal, naturally, is Sprint Cup.

“They key thing isn’t what I want … but what does Trey want?” Elliott said. “I have only given him the tools and opportunity at a point in time and he needs to make the most of it.”

Trey is running in the Legends Georgia Winter Series and has two summer seasons under his belt. His three years of racing also has included “touch-and-go” and shifter karts, and late model dirt cars.

“That was a neat experience,” Trey said about racing a late model car on dirt tracks. “For me, it was about learning to drive a loose race car.”

Trey has been piling up competitive finishes, peaking at the right time to win the Georgia State Championship in a Legends car in September.