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Teen title

World Series • New Smyrna Speedway
Title for teen preserves Rackley’s roll
From staff and team reports
SAMSULA, Fla. —
The 60th annual
World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Rac
ing
could have been an intimidating
scene for Vito Cancilla. This was his first
time seeing New Smyrna Speedway in
person, and he was on a Pro Late Model
entry list with some accomplished vet
eran
racers and some other youngsters
on proven driver development teams.
The 14-year-old Cancilla’s ride took
a back seat to no one. He’s entering his
second season with Rackley WAR Rac
ing,
which has won numerous special
events with Dawson Sutton, Kevin and
Keelan Harvick and others behind the
wheel in the last few years. And Can
cilla
had put together an impressive
record in his own right, driving Pro and
Junior Late Models with Nascimento
Motorsports on the West Coast.
On the February 5 practice day,
Cancilla began to feel comfortable at the
historic half-mile in Samsula, Fla. One
week later, he grasped the Speedweeks
championship trophy for the crate-en
gine
Late Model division.
“The track is pretty cool; it defi
nitely
has some character to it,” said
Cancilla, from Martinez, Calif. “Right on
the first day I felt all right. I was able to
follow some people around and get an
understanding of the track. It’s real
smooth, and going into turn one there’s
a bump on the bottom; that part’s like
Hickory, where you have to avoid that
bump and then get to the bottom. Three
and four is a pretty straightforward turn
… One and two was initially harder for
us. After the first practice I got some
words from our crew chief James, and
we went right back out and we were
pretty fast after that … I don’t know ex
actly
where, but it was somewhere near
the top of the board.”
James Edwards guided the kid nick
named
“Torpedo” to podium finishes in
the first three nights of Pro racing, then
a victory on the Tuesday card solidified
his spot at the top of the points. Minne
sota
native Edwards joined the Rackley
roster last October, following a stint at
Donnie Wilson Motorsports and a
longer time in the NASCAR world at
Hendrick Motorsports.
“My crew chief is really good at
predicting what the track is gonna do
later in the night, after certain other cars
run on the track,” Cancilla said. “It was
different pretty much every day because
we were running different schedules,
and the modifieds were putting differ
ent
rubber down each time. After the
mods ran, our car felt really loose, and
we were having to tighten up the car
more during the day. We’ll be even
faster the next time we go there.”
The speed in the #27, a Hamke Race
Car supported by family business Im
pact
Transportation, Advanced Inte
grated
Pest Management, Shield
Firesuits, and the Race for Research non
profit,
was also there in the final Pro
race of the week, the Hart to Heart 100.
Cancilla was third in time trials, but that
and the fact that his points lead was al
most
insurmountable were the high
lights
of his Thursday.
“I was hanging back, trying to keep
the car clean, especially after (nearest
points challenger and opening-night
race winner) Cole Robie had his little in
cident,”
Cancilla said. “I got my nose
caved in over the air box, and the temp
went up to 240 so we had to pull in or
else the motor was gonna blow up. After
going back out, there was another inci
dent.
You’re always bunched up back
there, and this one hurt my right front
upper control arm. Then I got in the last
wreck; I’m pretty sure this car will have
to be reclipped.”
The Rackley crew has another car
ready for Cancilla’s next outing, this
weekend in a Spears CARS Tour West
Super Late Model race at the Bullring at
Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He’ll have a
full schedule in that circuit, but that will
leave plenty of chances to race back east
with the Rackley group. He’ll likely mix
in some Pro Late Model starts with the
Nascimento team, mostly at the bullring
where he has the most experience, Mad
era
Speedway.
There’s some unfinished business
east of the Mississippi River for the new
Speedweeks champion. He has raced
full-sized cars at six other racetracks in
the Southeast, doing well in two 2024
Carolina Pro Late Model Series races.
But since then, he has yet to finish on
the lead lap in a high-profile show such
as the Snowflake 100 at Five Flags
Speedway or one in the zMax CARS Pro
Late Model Tour. With his New Smyrna
success, that seems like a streak that’ll
soon be broken.
The team, co-owned by Rackley
Roofing boss Curtis Sutton and former
star driver and current shock specialist
Willie Allen, is also excited about its
young pilot. Cancilla gave the team its
first Speedweeks victories since Curtis’
son Dawson pulled off three in the 2024
World Series.
Liz McFarland Photography
Vito Cancilla gets a hug from his crew chief James Edwards
during a championship
week-long run at the 60th annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing presented
by Orlando Longwood Auto Auction.
Liz McFarland Photography
Vito Cancilla scored one Pro Late Model victory
and didn’t finish lower than fourth until
the division’s final night at New Smyrna Speedway.

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