By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent

NEW CASTLE, Ind. — A fourth-generation Hoosier farmer is living his dream to go racing in NASCAR: With two recent starts in the Camping World Truck series – often a stepping-stone to the Sprint Cup series, the top one in stock car racing – Dakoda Armstrong has reached a goal he’s had for several years.
Armstrong, 20, was raised on a farm near New Castle, in Henry County. As a kid, he did chores on the farm while racing everything from go-karts to Quarter Midgets and watching NASCAR (the National Assoc. for Stock Car Auto Racing) drivers run on Sundays.

“I grew up watching the Cup series,” he explained. “It’s something I wanted to go for. You always think about it. It’s been great.”

Armstrong’s first truck race was July 16, his 20th birthday, at Iowa Speedway, where he finished 21st. In his second truck race, he finished 21st Friday at the Lucas Oil Speedway in Indianapolis. He also raced in the ARCA (Automobile Racing Club of America) series at Lucas Oil Speedway, finishing fourth last Thursday.

The past couple of seasons, Armstrong has run in the ARCA series, winning three times, including in June at the track in Winchester, Ind. He was named Rookie of the Year in the series last season.

Armstrong’s brother Dalton, 16, and his cousin Caleb, a year younger than Dakoda, are also interested in racing. “It’s really just our generation in the family,” Dakoda Armstrong noted. “My dad raced motocross, but he wanted to keep us on four wheels.”

When he was nearly six, Armstrong began racing go-karts for fun. He moved to Quarter Midgets, Micro/Mini Sprints and Midgets. In 2004, at 13, he became the youngest driver to win a USAC (United States Auto Club) national championship. In his racing career, Armstrong has more than 200 feature wins.
“I was getting a little more experience all the time,” he explained. “Then you start thinking you’re going to try to go for it (racing in NASCAR). Once we really started winning, you say ‘let’s give it a shot.’”

In 2009, Armstrong signed a driver development deal with Penske Racing. His first two ARCA wins came last season, when he won at the Salem Speedway in Indiana and at the famed Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.
Dakoda’s parents, Craig and Marti Armstrong, try to be at their son’s races, but Craig couldn’t be at the track when Dakoda won at Talladega in April 2010 because he was busy at home planting corn.

Talladega and the Daytona International Speedway are difficult tracks to drive, Dakoda Armstrong said.

“When you’re out there by yourself, they are the easiest to drive, but when you’re with other drivers, they’re the two hardest tracks you ever do. Any track is nerve-wracking, but these are a little bit more scary,” he explained. “You depend a lot on other people when you race there. There’s a lot of trust in those two tracks.”

Running for the first time at Daytona was a special moment. “When I pulled into the track at Daytona, I realized, ‘wow, I’m really here, I made the big show.’ It comes at you fast.” Craig admittedly didn’t take his son terribly seriously when he first mentioned wanting to race in NASCAR. “As a parent, when your 12-year-old kid says he wants to run in NASCAR, you kind of giggle and laugh. But my dad said don’t laugh, because when I was 12, I told him there were four farms I wanted to farm someday,” he said.

“We rented and eventually bought those farms. Every kid has some kind of dream he wants to do. (Dakoda’s) been successful at every level. I’m so excited he’s finally in NASCAR.”

Craig and his younger brother, Neil, farm land their grandfather purchased in 1941. Today, the brothers farm about 7,500 acres, and grow corn for the ethanol industry. They also raise soybeans.

The Armstrong farm provides about 700,000 bushels of corn annually to Cardinal Ethanol and Anderson Ethanol, and is responsible for about 1.9 million gallons of ethanol each year. Cardinal, a 100 million-gallon fuel grade ethanol facility in Union City, Ind., sponsored Armstrong’s car for the June race in Winchester.

“He’s the son of a very good customer and we were interested in trying to work with him,” said Jeff Painter, Cardinal’s CEO and president. “It was a neat experience for us and for him. It was at a local track and he ended up winning. We were trying to do something to help him out.”

NASCAR began using E15, a blend of gasoline and 15 percent ethanol, in its top three series this season, and that leads to a natural connection with agriculture, Painter noted.

“We’re trying to tie in the farmer and producing ethanol with the racing industry,” he explained. “The three series will be running E15 for years to come. And we can promote the son of a local farmer raising corn that’s turned into fuel.”

The large NASCAR audience is also important to the ethanol industry, he added. “What better platform to show corn being raised and produced in the United States for American cars? We can produce fuel in the United States and don’t have to rely on foreign oil. What better way to show that E15 is a good thing?

“Look at the performance and power it’s showing on the track. If it can do that on the track, imagine what it can do in your car,” Painter said.
In the truck series, Armstrong races for ThorSport Racing, based in Sandusky, Ohio. Ferrellgas and Agrisure Viptera 3111, a Syngenta product, are the primary sponsors for his truck.

Armstrong and his father would like him to have the opportunity to promote ethanol during his time in the racing spotlight.

“Would I like my kid to be the poster boy for ethanol? Of course I would. Would I like my kid to be backed by ethanol? Of course I would,” Craig said.
“It’s a good chance to educate people that the corn we grow, yellow number two corn, isn’t the corn you eat.”

Armstrong said he isn’t aware of any other NASCAR drivers who have as much of a farming background as he does. “It’ll be really cool to talk about ethanol and how 70 percent of the corn still goes back into feed. The industry is creating so many jobs, it’s a great deal. I think more agriculture-related sponsors are going to want to jump on this.”

He plans to run five more truck races this season and will race a full season next year while competing for the Rookie of the Year title. If all goes according to plan, racing in the Nationwide Series, one step below the Cup series, could come soon after that.

“You have to be prepared. You only get one chance to make a good first impression. This (truck series) is just the first step in NASCAR. You have to make everything count, because everything changes so fast,” he added.