Ted Midgett has always been a motorhead

By Jeff Zeigler

Weekend racers on small dirt tracks are sometimes referred to as "weekend warriors." But when you've been doing it for some 22 years and have to drive almost three hours and more than 125 miles to get to the track, it consumes more than weekends.

Ted Midgett, a resident of Hatteras Island, has had racing in his blood since his youth and still bleeds the oil and dirt of the Dixieland Speedway track outside Elizabeth City.

"Ever since I was a kid, even when we were riding bicycles, we'd put numbers on them. I had car steering wheels on my bikes. I've always been a motor-head," he said before the July 18 Budweiser All-Stars race. "Years ago, my dad had beach buggy races, so I kind of grew up around that."

Midgett, who will turn 58 this October, was leading the points standings at Dixieland Speedway in the Budweiser All-Stars

Division a few weeks ago. Before last week's race, he was tied for second, just two points behind the leader. Last Friday was not Midgett's night. Spinning out his red No. 1 car twice in the 35-lap event, Midgett took a fifth-place finish. He now trails Rodney Brickhouse of Chesapeake by four points. Steve Steeley of South Mills won the race.

In his years on the 3/8-mile dirt track, Midgett, who is part-owner of Midgett Realty, has seen his share of good nights and bad. The racing, though, is all in good fun. His partner is Bill Ballance.

"Basically, we enjoy it. We build the cars and just enjoy coming out here," Midgett said. "Over the years, you meet a lot of friends. A lot of those friendships I made 15, 20 years ago."

Besides the fun, there is work involved in putting together a small racing team.

"We travel so far. I left home today at 12:30 and left the shop at 2. We won't get home until 2:30 tonight," he said. "Most of the time we take Saturdays off. Sunday morning we spend about three hours getting the car back in shape. We clean it, wash the tires and get everything put back together."

During the week, Midgett and Ballance spend two to three hours two nights going through a checklist to set the car up for the upcoming race.

"If it wasn't for my partner, I probably would have quit a few years ago. We both enjoy working on the car," Midgett said.

As the Friday night crowd began to file into the stands in time for practice and then time trials, Midgett recalled a time when he gave the sport up in the early '90s. He sold everything and quit for three years.

He said it had become too much like a job and thought he could ease off and race when he wanted to.

"I was miserable," he said. "We had won championships and it got to the point when I really wasn't competitive, and so I was footing the bills instead of having sponsors. My wife told me to get in or get out."

Midgett came back.

"He's one of the best," said a flagman in Turn 3 during time trials, as Midgett's car plowed through the turn, spewing clumps of the track.

Before sliding into the tight quarters of the driver's seat of the multi-sponsored car, Midgett recalled the earlier days of racing at Dixieland.

"There's not too many of us left that were here when the track started. There used to be five of us that were coming from Hatteras Island. Now I'm the only one," he said. "I guess I'm the only one who hasn't smartened up yet, or grown up yet."