Local racer advancing career

For The Madison Press

BRISTOL, Tenn. — More than 600 junior dragster racers recently came to the National Championship race held at Bristol Dragway in Tennessee.

There were more than 60 teams from tracks all over the eastern United States and Canada.

London’s Shawn Pitts represented National Trail Raceway as his home track. His racing team finished second in the nation. The National Trail team of 10 racers scored 29 points, falling short by two points shy of winning the national championship.

Pitts currently races in the fastest class and can run the eighth-of-a-mile in 7.9 seconds at 84 miles per hour. He has traveled to 13 states so far this year and spends every weekend from April to November racing.

He had just returned from Maryland where he raced at Maryland International Raceway in the IHRA National Championships and represented team Las Vegas.

Pitts recently graduated from K12 Ohio Virtual Academy and plans to attend Frank Hawley School of Drag Racing in California this winter to get his license to race in the Pro Mod class or possibly the Pro Stock class.

He has been racing since 2004 at 9 years old and is in his last year of competition in the Junior Dragster Class. He has several track championships in the NHRA and the IHRA and was the 2009 NHRA Division 3 Champion in the 13 and up class.

He has several trophies for achievements in the national championships at the Eastern Conference Finals that are held once a year.

He has just short of 4,000 passes down the track so far in his career and has won more than 200 races and has won better than 1,600 rounds of racing.

He is also currently racing his 2000 Camaro in the Jeg’s Points Series at National Trail Raceway, where he races in the High School Class, Sportsman Class and Pro Class.

He races Wednesday nights in the Street Class and the Big Dawg Class.

National Trail Raceway is located in Columbus and is where he races in the Jeg’s points series.