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Caleb Sanford waited for a long time to have an opportunity to race at South Boston Speedway. That opportunity came this season, and Sanford is taking good advantage of his opportunity to compete in South Boston Speedway’s Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division.

“My family has always been involved in racing,” remarked the 20-year-old South Boston resident. “I’ve watched racing all my life. My cousin, Bruce Anderson, has raced for several years. I’m kind of taking after his footsteps and seeing where it goes. I finally got in a racecar, and my racing has taken off way faster than I thought.”

The first-year racer has done well in the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division, posting four Top-5 finishes and five top-10 finishes in his six starts. His best effort thus far is a runner-up finish on June 3.

Despite having competed in two less races than the division leaders, Sanford has accomplished enough to get himself to ninth place in the division point standings. His performance shows he made the right choice in starting his racing career in the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division.

“I wanted to start off small to see how good my talent was before I put all of my money into something big,” Sanford explained. “We’re starting off small and working from there.”

Overall, the season has been a good one for Sanford. He worked his way through a couple of early hurdles and now is considered as a serious threat to be in the top five each time he competes.

“It’s definitely been a test,” Sanford said of his initial season of racing. “We had brake issues the first two races and didn’t show our potential. I’ve been humbled a couple of times over here. I just try to keep my car together and be better the next week.”

Sanford is encouraged by how quickly everything has come together for him.

“Everything is finally starting to click with me, and things are going well,” he remarked. “Things have come together way faster than I expected. I thought there was going to be more of a learning process. I was comfortable with driving when I got on the track. It hasn’t been as difficult as I thought.”

Sanford’s goal for this season is simply to learn as much as possible with the hope of competing for the championship in the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division in 2024.

“I just want to be out here and get my talent down for next year and hopefully be able to run for the championship,” Sanford said.

In addition to racing at South Boston Speedway, Sanford is preparing himself for a future in racing by working in the race shop at R&S Race Cars based in the Cluster Springs community in Halifax County, Virginia. Sanford is part of the crew that works on the car driven by Bobby McCarty on the CARS Late Model Stock Car Tour.

With that commitment Sanford was not sure how many times he would get to race this season, but the experience of working in the race shop and working with the R&S Race Cars team at the track has proven to be valuable and has served him well.

“I think working at R&S is a good start for me,” Sanford said. “The people there are easy to get along with and they teach you a lot. Marcus Richmond is a very good teacher and role model. I want to get more into racing, so I want to learn and go from there. Maybe one day I’ll get to move to Late Model and have Marcus Richmond tune on my car.”

South Boston Speedway’s next event is the Davenport Energy Night Race on Saturday night, August 5. Twin 75-lap races for the Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division will highlight the six-race event. Also scheduled are a 50-lap race for the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division, twin 15-lap races for the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division and a 20-lap race for the Virginia State Police HEAT Hornets Division.

The event schedule for the August 5 Davenport Energy Night Race has registration and pit gates opening at 2 p.m. Frontstretch spectator gates will open at 3:20 p.m. and practice will start at 3:30 p.m. Backstretch spectator and tailgate section gates will open at 5:30 P.M. Qualifying starts at 6 p.m. and the first race will get the green flag at 7 p.m.

Advance adult general admission tickets are priced at $12 each and may be purchased online on South Boston Speedway’s website, www.southbostonspeedway.com or by calling the speedway office at 434-572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540 during regular business hours.

Tickets at the gate on race day will be $15 each. Seniors ages 65 and older, military, healthcare workers, and students (with ID) can purchase tickets for $12 each at the gate on race day.