This is part one of a two-part story.
CONCORD, N.C. – If you didn’t know better, Bobby Pierce’s credentials and record would make you think he’s been racing at the highest levels of dirt late model racing for decades.
However, those who know better are fans of a millennial generation superstar with a long career ahead.
Ask any driver in the country and they’ll tell you Pierce provides some of the stiffest competition seen all year, night in and night out.
Whether it’s a track around his home state of Illinois or over 1,600 miles away in the heat of Arizona, there’s no question Pierce has already earned his place at the table that seats only the most elite wheelmen in the country. And, keep in mind, he’s just 23 years old.
Pierce, from Oakwood, Ill., is a three-time DIRTcar Late Model national points champion (2014, 2015, 2016); a three-time DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion (2015, 2016, 2017); the 2016 World 100 and North/South 100 winner, and a two-time winner of the prestigious Gateway Dirt Nationals winner.
He’s made multiple starts in NASCAR and even pilots a chassis brand with his last name on it.
But nobody attains that level of success overnight. Ever since he won a handful of quarter midget races before he even turned 10 years old, Pierce has been seeking more.
Pierce’s passion for dirt racing has always been there, starting with his days in quarter midgets on the tiny dirt tracks of Illinois and Indiana.
His father Bob, a National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer himself, has always the head wrench-turner on every dirt ride he’s ever been in.
Through his countless quarter midget, Kids UMP Modified and crate late model feature wins and track championships as a teenager, Pierce was able to develop the skills necessary to compete with the 20- or 30-year veterans of the sport.
Some of those are more than twice his own age.
It wasn’t until 2011 that Pierce jumped into the seat of a perennial dirt super late model full-time, and he immediately began having success, picking up six feature wins at various local shows around Illinois.
Fast forward to 2020, and the now-ten-year veteran has collected more than 100 feature wins in dirt super late model competition at the local, regional and national levels.
Pierce agrees that his early ventures behind the wheel were a direct catalyst to his future success.
“The start that I had was really good,” he said. “I think that starting young is something that helps a lot. I feel like if I started racing asphalt cars when I started racing dirt, which I was about eight, then maybe I would have a lot of success in that.”
One of the most memorable and career-defining victories on that list was his epic climb from 22nd to win the 2016 World 100 at Eldora Speedway.
At just 19 years old, Pierce dethroned Hall-of-Famer Jeff Purvis as the youngest driver ever to win dirt late model racing’s most prestigious event and became the first driver from the state of Illinois to accomplish the feat.
Looking back on that weekend in Western Ohio, Pierce echoes the prestige of the event that he earned and is reminded of why he truly enjoys his full-time job as a race car driver.
“There’s nothing like being able to go to one of the biggest dirt races, whether it’s the World 100 of the Dirt Late Model Dream, or any of those crown jewels, and being able to win those,” he said.
“It’s all humbling. Heck, you can win it one year, and the next year, you can get lapped or something. That’s just how it goes.”
In the seasons since then, Pierce has experienced a bit more pressure to go back to The Big E and replicate that big result. Most drivers that make the trip out to Rossburg often do so twice a year, for the Dirt Late Model Dream in June and the World 100 in September.
Pierce has not visited Eldora Victory Lane in either event since the fall of 2016, but that’s only made him hungrier for his next big Eldora crown jewel win.
“I think, at first, the next year there was a little bit [more pressure] because there’s no improving that unless you get another win,” Pierce said. “We went back with another Joker-themed wrap, and everything that happened the first year [that he won] just magically went right, even with me having to start at the back.”
“Now that I’ve got a World win, I want to win the Dream. But I still want to win the World again just as much as I wanted the first time.”
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