By Jessie Burchette
Salisbury Post
This week, Dave Blaney will be roaring around Daytona Speedway trying to get every bit of speed possible out of hisvNo. 22 Caterpillar Toyota.
Last week, Blaney was unloading equipment, running a vacuum cleaner and moving into his new building in Speedway Business Park off Peach Orchard Road.
An Ohio native, Blaney picked the Salisbury site for the building that will house his racing business.
At 45, he’s looking to the future ó beyond NASCAR óand he says it’s going to be in some type of racing.
He moved to North Carolina 10 years ago and plans to stay.
“I felt like this was a good place for a racing business with all the racing in the Charlotte area,” said Blaney. “This area is going to be better and better for racing.”
Blaney was on hand in 2002 when Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman and a host of county officials announced plans to build a quarter-midget race track in Salisbury.
The track, owned by the non-profit N.C. Quarter Midget Racing Association, is adjacent to Blaney’s lot in the business park.
Since the track opened, Blaney has spent a lot of time there with his son, Ryan, and daughter, Emma, both racers.
At 16, Emma has aged out of quarter-midgets and her father admits she’s losing interest in the sport. “She doesn’t see racing in her future.”
But Ryan, 14, is into quarter midgets, Legends and late model cars.
Blaney got his start at dirt tracks, racing sprint cars through Ohio and Pennsylvania. He grew up in racing, helping his father, Lou, a dirt-track racer.
He learned to build cars and plans to build cars ó most likely sprint cars ó in the future after his career with NASCAR is over.
Since he graduated from high school in 1981, he has raced in the Sprint Car Circuit, U.S. Auto Club (USAC) World of Outlaws, and Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). In 1995, he won the World of Outlaws Championship.
With the popularity and success of NASCAR today there are thousands of kids across the country now competing in various types of racing, most hoping to win and end up with a NASCAR ride.
Blaney said the reality is there are only a few dozen rides available.
“There’s a lot of other places to race (other than NASCAR) ó you can make a good living,” said Blaney.
He raced in the Busch series in 1998-1999 before moving up to Winston Cup in 2000. Driving for Bill Davis Racing in High Point, Blaney had the best finish of any Toyota entry in 2007.
Blaney is expecting Toyota to do a lot better this year, especially with the addition of the Gibbs team. “Getting the Gibbs team is huge. So far (in testing) Toyotas are in front,” he said in an interview last week.
Speedway Business Park is a short distance west of Toyota Racing Development’s new facility on Peach Orchard Road.
Blaney expects Toyota’s move to Rowan will bring more racing-related businesses here.
“Charlotte and Mooresville are getting full. Land is more reasonable and more affordable (in Rowan),” said Blaney.
In this case, Toyota is following Blaney. He opted to buy the 5.5-acre tract in the business park before Toyota arrived here.
Only five lots remain for sale in the 12-lot county-owned business park.
When he’s not racing or testing, Blaney will be commuting along I-85 from High Point to Salisbury to get all of the machinery, tools and other “stuff” set up.
He plans to use 12,000 square feet for shop, display and cars.
His collection of equipment and “stuff” has been spread out between a building in High Point and a storage building in Ohio.
The stuff includes a Coke vending machine with Dale Earnhardt Sr. on the front. “That may be the most valuable thing in the building,” joked Blaney.
He plans to rent out two adjacent 4,000 square-foot sections of his building ó one to Talon, a business that builds quarter-midget cars, and the other unit will be leased to a race team.