The Story of Austin Edwards' Racing Career

Austin Edwards first began his racing career at Adams Track in Riverside from age 5 to age 8, scoring many wins and championship titles. From age 8 to 11 he began competing at circle tracks throughout the southwest, and became the 2015 California INEX Bandolero champion. He scored multiple track championships at places such as The LVMS Bullring, Irwindale Speedway, Havasu 95 Speedway and his home track, the Orange Show Speedway. He became the youngest ever track champion at the Ledgendary OSS quarter-mile and would soon take down even more records at that track and many others.

Austin began his first South West Tour Truck race at age 9, competing in the full size race truck at tracks located in Blythe and Madera, undoubtably becoming the youngest to ever race in the series. 2016 brought a completely new level of racing to his team run by family & friends, as he competed in the first ever Jr. Late Model racing season, located at the Madera Speedway in California, televised on MAVTV.  Austin achieved a third place season point standings in the first two seasons of this up and coming national class by winning race number 2 of the first 8 race season and obtaining several poduim finishes throughout both years.  

 

In 2017 Austin proved to be succesful in the Mini stock division at the Orange Show Speedway, becoming the youngest driver to ever qualify on the pole and win a race in the division. He pulled of many more impressive finishes in the aggressive, humbling class in the next couple years. At just 11 years old, he became the youngest to ever start in the Open Late Model class at Orange show, finishing 5th. The following year, he entered the eventful 100 lap finale race with a five-thousand dollar paycheck waiting at the end for the winner. He was in position to win it and make even more history until a final corner aggressive move pushed him back to the third spot.

 

Meanwhile in the Jr. Late Model division at Madera Speedway, Austin had struggles begginning to surface. His team struggled to fine tune his car's setup like other teams had pinned down, all while facing an incredible amount of bad luck and mechanical failures throughout his final 2 years in the series. Despite a shortage of podium finishes and championship results, Austin continued showing his impressive driving ability by driving through any issue his car may have had, and keeping his stock car in an incredibly clean state despite the eventful, aggressive, wreck filled races that took place at the challenging 1/3 mile oval. Despite extensive struggles at Madera, Austin pulled off thrilling wins at the LVMS Bullring and Irwindale Speedway that same year.

 

2019 was a diversifying year. Austin continued racing the Jr. Late Model division at Madera in a rebuilt chassis with the new preffered engine combination for the series. He began regaining speed and turned back into a driver with a shot at a podium spot, but bad luck struck him any time he got close. He got the chance to race a car for the very successful Herzog Motorsports team in the middle of the year and had a very clear chance at winning until he was sent to the rear after being chopped off by another car near the end of the race. He finished off the year far out in the point standings but continuosly kept any car he drove in one piece, proving his driving ability in other ways. Austin made his way to All American Speedway in Roseville for the first time near the end of the 2019 season, setting fast time, breaking the track record, and finishing on the podium despite a full field invert at the unique track. 

 

Austin made a first glance at competitive road course racing in 2019, racing in the SoCal Spec Miata class with Robert Davis Racing in the National Auto Sport Association. He pulled off multiple top 10's in his rookie season with a car needing some serious work to become a front runner with the other talented drivers. While running his qualifying session in his first race at the Auto Club Speedway, a fuel line burst on his Mazda and sent it ablaze. Through an exhausting off season of hard work, the car was rebuilt well and gained several more hard charger awards and placed it's first top 3 finish at Chuckwalla Raceway.

 

Austin made his first start at the half-mile outer oval at Irwindale Speedway in 2019 with a return to the South West Tour Truck series, and placed second in the 50 lap main event, barely a fender back from the veteran driver he was chasing down. Austin made his first start in dirt at Wheel2wheel raceway in a Jawa 500cc speedway sprint car at the end of 2019, placing fifth with plenty of room for improvement that he immediately saw. To wrap up the 2019 season he made a return to the mini stock division at Orange Show Speedway and Havasu 95 Speedway, scoring two top ten's and another win at the Orange Show. 

 

In 2020, Austin made a massive attempt to diversify his driving skills. While having to step away from the ever expensive Late Model Series, he made a return for several races in the Spec Miata division, SouthWest Tour Trucks, and JAWA 500 sprints. In this cluster of divisions, Austin earned several race wins in the Tour Truck, a single podium and several hard charger awards in the Spec Miata, and a big improvement in his dirt racing skills. 

 

Quite possibly the biggest highlight of 2020 was Austin's journey into the Ford Focus Midget division. Housed by Creevan Racing, the incredible oppurtunity was a venture Austin improved his car control in greatly. Despite unfortunate engine issues cutting his season down to just two weekends, Edwards still managed a single pole, track record, and podium finish in this new experience.