Union, S.C.’s Trent Ivey Makes The Dream 100 at Eldora Speedway, Finishes 16th

By Rhonda Beck, WISNC Creations/BeckRacingMedia

6-13-2024

Union, S.C.’s Trent Ivey knows it takes a lot to make the trip to Eldora Speedway each year for big races like The Dream 100 and The World 100. But it’s something he and his family have enjoyed and plan to keep doing. On Saturday, June 8, 2024, he finished third in his heat race to make the grid for the 30th running of The Dream 100. He finished 16th in the feature which was won by Jonathan Davenport for the third time in his career. Ivey also won his heat race on Friday and finished sixteenth in that day’s preliminary feature. The following Tuesday he talked about the week and the progression of his racing program over the past couple of years.

RB: Congratulations on making the Dream 100 after getting third in your heat race, and then finishing16th.  I was there when you made the Million a couple of years ago and got 20th. But was making the Dream special to you?

TI: Yes, it is special. I guess it’s special because I can finally just knock it off my list. Coming up through all the different racing every year, obviously, you just want to win. But you try to knock certain things off your list. Like when I was running crates, it was trying to get that first check, put your big check up on the wall. And we got that and then we went on from winning $800 to win races to $1500 to win to $2000, $3000, $4000 and then finally we got that $5000 and we were like, “Damn, you know. What’s next?” So we moved up to super and then won $10,000 and a couple $5000s and another $10,000 and this year we got to knock off a $20,000. So it’s something that I look forward to in racing every year, because I see us get a little bit better every year and we get to go do something that not a lot of people get to do. I kind of got bummed out a little bit running 16th, even though that’s where we started. But I got to thinking about it and actually Bayley brought it up to me. She said, “You know, you were 16th out of 100 cars at the end of the day.”

RB: That’s true. And it was $6000 to start.

TI: Sure was.

RB: You also won the heat race the previous day. I know you were 16th in that too, but you made both of the features and not everybody can say they did that.

TI: Yeah, and that was another thing. We made ‘em, I don’t want to say with ease, because nothing’s easy about that. But we made them without any struggles, going through the B-main or having to knock the rear end out of it, trying to run the top. We were good enough to be sustainable and not have to really push ourselves or tear nothing up or be hard on equipment. I was a little hard on it on Friday because I didn’t know where everybody was. We get better every time we go up there and it takes a lot to go up there. I do say it every time I get home, or before I leave, I say, “This is probably it; I ain’t going to be able to make the trip because it’s going to cost too much.” But damn, here we go. We already talk about how we’re going to go to The World.

RB: That’s great. I wondered if you made any changes from Friday to Saturday or if you kept things the same. You didn’t wreck anything.

TI: I had to make one small change that I kind of figured out I was going to have to sooner or later with the car, but I was a day behind. I’d never been up there with that Rocket, so I needed Wednesday to get an idea of where I was, and I could have used Friday to get better. Then I could have hopefully made a huge gain on it on Saturday. But I was just a day behind. I needed that Wednesday to get another run on that car to really see where I was at.

RB: When they were talking with Jonathan and Brandon they said they were used to racing everyday but also liked some things about the off day. What did you feel about that format?

TI: I liked it. We got to go play golf on Tuesday and we had a good time Wednesday after it rained out, of course. I believe everybody’s just kind harping on the whole deal because it was rained out. I believe if everybody had gotten to race Wednesday, you wouldn’t have heard anything, anybody talking about the format.

RB: I also watched the one lap one beer segment Derek Kessinger did on FloRacing the day before with Devin Moran talking about being able to watch a race up in the stands on an off day as a different experience one usually didn’t have. But I understand you may have all needed one more day of racing to fine tune things. In the post-race press conference, it was also interesting to hear both JD and Brandon talk about running 100 lappers at Cherokee Speedway. You’ve run there with them and Madden and others. Did you listen to that?

TI: Yeah, I did. I got to watch it. I was actually in the truck after the race when they were talking about it when we were hanging out for a bit. I got to hear them when they said “Cherokee.” Yeah, they were talking about it, and they were right. Like long races—you don’t get to run many 100 lappers anymore ‘cause for one, most places don’t pay enough to run 100 lappers because there’s so much wear and tear on the car. Gaffney still does it and I think it’s definitely not the same, but in some ways it can help you for adjusting for long runs. And that’s something that we done. Like I never got no better and never got no worse, and I think a lot of that was caused by me racing at Gaffney, S.C.

RB: True. And maybe it’s on a different kind of dirt, but it helps you plan the race out. Like JD said, you had to think through the race, be smart about things and not go wide-open. I also wondered about what Devin said about going into turn one running the bottom, watching out for the yellow down low and then seeing the big screen going into two. Were you aware of that? I believe you mainly ran the bottom, correct?

TI: Yeah, I stayed on the bottom and the reason being I just wasn’t comfortable in that car to really go up there yet, because I haven’t had many laps. But yeah–that screen will mess you up. I was leading a heat for The World last year and JD was behind me, and I was leading and no problems at all for The World. And I got to watching that damn screen and sure enough, I slipped up going into three and just hammered the wall. He and two others got by me and I ended up having to run a B-main, didn’t make it, something stupid like that. Yeah, that screen is a good thing and a really bad thing.

RB: I was talking to Barry Wright a little bit at Eldora and he brought up your name along with Carson Ferguson and then Ethan Dotson, who he’s working with now. But he talked about your talent and how he was impressed. You have a little history knowing him and with JD through the years. Anything to say about having those guys at the races?

TI: Oh yeah. Me and JD–we talk a good bit. He lives actually like an hour from me now, so I see him a little bit here and there. And then Barry, a guy whose helping me now—Tim–he works at Barry’s here and there to help Barry out. And it’s funny. We were testing and Barry was at Gaffney with another car testing and me and him, honestly got together and talked about a lot of stuff and he helped me out. He’s always tried to help me out at the races and stuff. Barry’s a good guy. If there was more Barry Wright’s, this sport would be a lot better.

RB: And with Eldora Speedway, their tradition goes back to Earl Baltes and then Tony Stewart bought the track. But the past two years when we were there, we got to meet Jerry Gappens. So that was just a shocking loss to hear that he had passed away. He seemed like a super guy and everybody was saddened by that and you guys did the missing man formation tribute to him. But did you get to engage with him at all the last couple years?

TI: Yeah, I did. Yeah, Jerry actually spoke to me one time we were there, like I think it was my first time being there. He was real professional and real nice. I think he had something to do with the drivers meeting or something that day. But you always hate to see, especially I feel like he —I didn’t know him personally, but I feel like he was probably Tony’s right-hand man when it come to Eldora. And that’s terrible. And I guess you know about Cla’s dad, Ken (Knight) passed away too. It’s devasting, man.

RB: Do you know what happened to him?

TI: All I know is that it was unexpected. I actually heard it coming out of the truck—Tim had told me when I was coming out of the truck, putting my suit on to go race and I was just like—that is one that will hit you in the chest.

RB: As far as the people there helping you, you had some of the same guys. Anybody specific with your team G4?

TI: It was just the same old crew like me and mom (Jeri Ivey) and daddy (Pete Ivey), and Bayley (Hinson) and Tim (Brock), Eddie (Edwards), and Noah (Garner). That’s pretty much our Eldora crew now. We had a good time–we had a really good time.

RB: This weekend is Father’s Day weekend. There’s a lot of different races everywhere. Anything you’re planning in the next couple of weeks?

TI: We’re taking this week off, going to hang out. We had to get really busy back at work this week since we took last week off. We may do Lancaster. We’re definitely going to do Gaffney next week. And after that, I think, Gary’s wanting to put the crate car back together—that car, you know, put the crate motor back in his car. So that’s going to sideline us for a little while because I don’t have my car ready yet. So Gaffney is going to be like a little mid-season finale for us for a little bit, unfortunately.

RB: Yeah, many people have been racing many days during the week too. Like they went to Kokomo after Eldora and the Summer Nationals Hell Tour is going on and guys are going to Smoky Mountain, Ultimate Motorsports Park and other places. It used to be that ten years ago you had the week to work and prepare the car and the weekend was when you raced. Now there are so many choices, which in a way is good but sometimes it seems a bit overwhelming. Do you, as a younger person, feel that too?

TI: Yeah, I think five years ago I was like, “Hell yeah, this is awesome racing every day.” But now, being a little bit older, it seems a little bit exhausting to me. And that just may be my opinion having a business and all this stuff now. I’m not going to say I don’t care about racing as much, but it had to be put to the side slightly. I don’t know. I think they should probably ease up on the racing. My dad has a favorite saying—“You can get too much banana pudding.”

RB: I talked to Heather Lyne a little bit about that last year. Even she said that when you’re a smaller team and you’re trying to get parts and equipment during the week, it can be a challenge.

TI: Yeah, I think so. I think maybe a mid-week race a month or something would be okay. And leave Thursdays and Fridays to racing. But that leaving on Monday and not getting home ‘til that Sunday, it was a bit much.

RB: That makes sense. But Eldora is certainly a special place. It’s always exciting and it was neat to see the comments when you did well, like from fellow racers like Anthony Sanders and others. They were like, “Hell, yeah, Trent Ivey made the Dream!” That must be fun for you to see that too-everybody back home happy about it.

TI: It makes you feel good, because sometimes we as racers get a little ugly towards each other. Everybody wants to be the best and maybe people might not pull for you. But even the people you think wouldn’t still did, so it’s good to see stuff like that. It’s a little uplifting when you come back home and maybe don’t have such a sour attitude towards some people, you know what I mean.