Heat Win Highlights Otteau’s Granite City QM Run
GRANITE CITY, Ill. – Clayton Otteau picked up a heat-race win and gained significant confidence during the NASCAR Youth Series weekend on the dirt at Tri-City Speedway.
Otteau competed in the Senior Honda, Senior Animal, Light 160, and Light World Formula divisions, making for a busy slate of racing at the quarter midget oval built inside the three-eighths-mile dirt track.
His highlight class was Senior Honda, where the 10-year-old from Bernardsville, N.J., picked up his first heat victory of the year and locked directly into the A-main by virtue of that performance.
Otteau ran as high as fourth in the Senior Honda feature, but was pushed out of the groove following a restart with six laps left and lost ground on the outside lane. He ultimately finished 10th in the end.
Senior Animal saw Otteau advance from seventh to third in his heat, lining him up sixth in the B-main as a result. A motor stumble left Otteau 10th in the B, but still with the knowledge that his cars are heading in the right direction.
Light 160 and Light World Formula were more of a challenge, with a sixth-to-fourth heat effort in Light 160 leading to a 10th-place D-main finish, and a fifth-to-eighth heat effort in Light World Formula ending in a DNF in the E-main after a chain issue left Otteau with no power several times during that race.
While the results on paper were a mixed bag, Otteau still believes that with the right adjustments and tweaks, he can be competitive in all four classes in a short period of time.
“Overall, I’m really happy that we were able to pick up more [NASCAR Youth Series] points after the Keystone weekend; that’s always a plus,” Otteau said. “We’re pretty excited about the Honda class, but we do need to do some more work on the cars to have them competitive in every race.
“We will keep pushing. I know we’ll get there and can be running for wins before too long.”
Otteau will return to action in the Senior Honda and Light 160 classes on Friday, June 7 at Pocono Raceway’s Mini Tricky Triangle with the Lehigh Valley Quarter Midget Association.
His next races in the Senior Animal and Light World Formula divisions will be Sunday, June 9 with the Keystone State Quarter Midget Racing Club in Schnecksville, Pa.
Otteau would like to thank Race Face Brand Development, the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, Otteau Group Real Estate, Landstone Finance, Level 10 Development, Esposito Construction, King Willy Studios, Hoffman Pediatric Dentistry, and Laci Photography for their continued support of his racing endeavors.
About Clayton Otteau
Clayton Otteau is a 10-year-old dirt quarter midget racer from Bernardsville, N.J., and first-generation driver with aspirations of climbing the motorsports ladder toward NASCAR competition. After he began in quarter midgets, he learned that his grandfather drag raced and his great-grandfather competed in a Ford race car on dirt in Pennsylvania, further cementing his love for being behind a steering wheel.
At three years old, Otteau began off-roading in a Power Wheels machine, eventually moving into go-karts by the age of seven. He won his first-ever go-kart race and posted the fastest lap that day, to boot.
He turned eight during his rookie year of quarter midget racing in 2021, graduating to the senior classes the next year in both the Northeast Dirt Series and the USAC.25 Series (now the NASCAR Youth Series).
Otteau is currently competing in four quarter midget classes – Senior Honda, Senior Animal, Light 160, and Light World Formula – and away from the racetrack is a supporter of the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation and its battle against pediatric cancer.
