At the moment, Chris DeShong’s 1995 Honda Prelude doesn’t look like a winner. Damage to the front fender and a minor issue with the suspension means that the car’s going to be staying in the garage until it gets repaired.
Looks aren’t everything, though. If this car could talk, it would have some bragging rights to its name right now.
DeShong, just a month into his first season as a sports car racer, has already scored a win and some top-five finishes around Florida while driving the Prelude. The Durant High senior’s recent success has put him on a path he’s wanted to take since he was a pre-teen: the road to the professional circuits.
IN THE FAMILY
At 9 years old, DeShong was brought into the racing world by way of a quarter midget car, which he learned to drive at Ambassador Racing in Wimauma. His father, who has been racing for two decades, is largely responsible for getting the young boy hooked so early on.
DeShong wasn’t a big fan of the oval tracks, however, and wanted to try his hand on road courses.
“I just didn’t really like it,” he says.
That break came on his fifteenth birthday, when his parents surprised him with three days at the prestigious Skip Barber Racing School in Lime Rock Park, Connecticut. Under the tutelage of former Formula Ford champion Bruce MacInnes, DeShong learned how to drive fast. And he used what he learned quickly.
“He told me that I was the second-fastest kid at the school,” DeShong says.
The one ahead of DeShong had about a decade of karting experience. DeShong? Not so much.
“(MacInnes) almost passed out when I told him I had only driven quarter midgets for four years,” DeShong says.
MacInnes suggested that DeShong compete in the school’s IndyCar Shootout, but the teenager declined. The three-day instruction itself cost $3,000, and the money needed for this race simply wasn’t there.
It was then that DeShong decided to break into the Sports Car Club of America scene, and he got his start in his father’s old MG Midget. Though he admits the car was nothing special, because a lack of available funds, it recorded a few wins and solid finishes.
But DeShong knew that that wasn’t the car he really wanted to compete in.
PUMPED-UP CHUMP
When they were invited to run in an SCCA Chump Car race, the right car came up. Although neither DeShong nor his father owned the first Prelude, they were allowed to race in it.
The car was ready to go for the Chump class, in which drivers can spend no more than $500 in upgrades (excluding safety features, on which drivers may spend up to $2,000). In that car’s last Chump race, which was at Sebring International Raceway, DeShong finished 50th out of 80 racers. But he posted the third-fastest lap time of any driver at the event.
The Prelude currently in DeShong’s garage is not the original car: That one was wrecked in a race at Charlotte, North Carolina three years ago.
“We looked at all the safety equipment and said, ‘Yeah, this thing would never pass it,’” DeShong says. “So, the owner bought a new tub and hired us to build the car. We built it to SCCA rules, but it’s still legal for Chump Car. We’d just have to do a few things, like put the stock wheels back on it.”
He entered his first SCCA season in January and almost immediately got out on the track.
The first venue was Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he started with a promising second-place finish in his class on Saturday, Jan. 10. But in Sunday’s big race, DeShong had to settle for a DNF when a tire went rogue on him.
“We were pretty disappointed,” he says. “We’d actually gotten the car faster since the previous race, but there’s nothing we could do about a blown tire.”
The following weekend, DeShong was back in action at Sebring. He caused the car’s front fender injury Friday, Jan. 16, finished in fourth place Saturday and started Sunday’s race in fifth place.
DeShong stayed near the lead for a good portion of the race and, in clutch time, he found himself in third place with a shot at a win. Two drivers were ahead of him, and the Mazda MX-5 in first place spun out allowing DeShong and second-place holder Mike Flynn to move up. The two battled it out until the last lap, when DeShong pulled ahead for good at the last corner.
“I was absolutely excited for that,” DeShong says. “I couldn’t believe I managed to pull out a Majors win in this thing. It’s a Chump Car, for crying out loud!”
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
INVESTORS? POSSIBLY YOU
Chris DeShong’s dream is to go pro. But, that’s a long-term goal. In the short term, his goal is to find enough money to own his Prelude, free and clear, and to be able to participate in SCCA races, especially October’s SCCA Run-Offs in Daytona.
The Durant senior is looking for sponsors. If interested, contact him by email at chrisd5@verizon.net.