MEYERSDALE, Pa. – The time had trickled past 1 a.m. on Aug. 21 and Drake Troutman pulled up two chairs inside his spacious race shop.
One for himself, the other for his good friend, Aiden.
Troutman wasn’t hastily cleaning up shop after a long race night and dashing off to bed, even if the wee hours of morning meant another work day dawned soon.
“We had stories to tell,” said Troutman, who had to properly channel the emotions from the most significant victory of his life at Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex in Markleysburg, Pa., two Saturdays ago.
On Aug. 12, Troutman’s father, D.J., died from COVID-19 pneumonia. He was 39.
The whole Troutman family contracted the beastly virus in early August, and while D.J. suffered the worst of it in a local hospital, he sent his 16-year-old son on a mission.
“He wanted us back racing, ASAP,” Drake Troutman said. “So we followed his wishes.”
Troutman won on his team’s return, eight days after his father’s death.
The finish was everything that makes an enduring memory: a spirited battle between first and second in the Renegades of Dirt Modified Tour standings, the maze of traffic making it so intense that nothing seemed certain until the checkered flag.
“No, you’re in the car and have 8,400 RPMs, and Eddie Carrier Jr. trying to pass you on the top and on the bottom, and we’re in lapped traffic,” Troutman said if he got emotional during the course of action. “It was stressful honestly.
“No matter what, we wanted to win that,” he continued. “We all wanted to make sure we won that race. It was kind of like the Daytona 500.”
D.J. Troutman poured his all into his son and the family truck operation, D&R Trucking. He owned 27 trucks for interstate transportation. He worked abnormal hours most days, all to provide for his family and keep the dream tangible.
“Racing was his life,” Troutman said. “That’s really the only thing he talked about. That’s our life. We live to race.”
He attended to the ever-growing stack of bills. He facilitated meetings with influencers in the sport, from potential sponsors to championship-winning ARCA Menards Series program Venturini Motorsports. Occasionally, they’d partake in common father-son adventures like fishing and hunting.
“We did everything together,” Troutman said.
The victory lane scene was everything associated with a son winning his first race back without his father on Earth.
It was reminiscent of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Pepsi 400 win at Daytona Int’l Speedway in 2001, the first race at the track since Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s death in that year’s Daytona 500.
Troutman wasn’t born then, but as he stood on the roof of his race machine, pumping his fists toward the crowd that had joined him in great celebration, he could relate with one of the most iconic moments in auto racing history.
“That was the only time I got choked up in victory lane,” Troutman said.
He cried, laughed, and mourned all together with family and many friends. When Troutman got back to the shop at 1 a.m., he regaled his good friend, Aiden, with more of his father’s wishes.
Next year, Troutman is taking the ultimate step of racing a late model full-time. He plans to race in the World 100 and the Dirt Late Model Dream, the two biggest late model races, at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
D.J. Troutman helped cast those many visions, and his son remembers one moment better than the rest.
Last year, Drake Troutman led every lap from the pole to win in a late model at Potomac Speedway in Budds Creek, Md.
His greatest supporter never held back.
“He screamed so much,” Troutman said. “He told me, ‘About the only thing that would make me more excited is if you won the World 100.’ I guess we have some pretty big shoes to fill if we’re going to get that excited again.”