Gaines enters season with confidence

(Jack Kessler photo)

By Ken de la Bastide

Entering the new Kenyon Midget Series season, long-time series competitor Clayton Gaines comes in with lots of confidence. Gaines returned to full-time competition in 2022 and finished fourth in the point standings and scored seven top-ten showings in his return. The Alexandria, IN driver scored one KRJ Race Products heat wins last season and earned Advanced Racing Suspension Hard Charger awards twice.

The 2013 rookie of the year ran only a limited schedule in 2021 trying his hand in several other forms of racing. He has seven career wins with USSA.

“For coming back last year we were looking to have a lot of fun,” Gaines said. “We were able to be competitive and able to run with the leaders.”

Gaines said he was third in the point standings for most of the year and only dropped to fourth after a bad effort at the US 24 Speedway ending race.

“I've never felt this confident before going into a season,” he said. “We've been working on the car all winter. We're ready to go racing.”

Gaines said he loves racing at the high-banked Anderson Speedway where he recorded four top five finishes in 2022.

He is looking forward to racing on the dirt oval at Paragon Speedway, noting one year he won three dirt races in the past. “I've had good experiences on dirt,” Gaines said.

He is looking forward to the pavement races at Berlin Raceway and Lorain Speedway. “I really like racing on the bigger tracks,” Gaines said.

The team has sponsorship help from Gaines Racing, Sizelove Hearing Aids and Dairy Queen for the year.

With the support and encouragement of his grandfather, Ed, Clayton started racing Quarter-Midgets at the age of 10 at the Kokomo facility.

Gaines works full-time as a welder.