Clay Simpson, a junior at Mount Vernon High School enjoys hanging out with friends, playing golf, basketball, and especially dirt car racing. Simpson got into racing because of his father. His father has been racing for 26 years, and introduced Simpson to it about three years ago. “I love the competition, and I wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps,” said Simpson.

Simpson and his father stay up late each night working and perfecting their car.  “It’s great bonding time when we are out late in the garage working on the car,” said Simpson.  One of his favorite things is having to figure out what is exactly wrong and trying different things to fix it. The most recent thing he has put on was a new nose to his car. Simpson had to do this because in his last race he got wrecked. Luckily Simpson’s wreck wasn’t bad, but he has seen wrecks where cars have flipped before.

A full race has 20 cars and each pays an entry fee of 50 dollars and a pit pass which is 40 dollars. The pit pass allows you to get into where your car is parked. Depending on what place you get in the race you can win money.  Simpson races throughout the summer at places like Dubuque, Maquoketa, and his favorite, Davenport.  

Simpson also loves to practice his racing and continue to get better at it. Simpson practices by going to tracks on weeknights. He also likes to race on a simulator at his house when he can’t go to the track in Dubuque to practice. The simulator Simpson practices on has two monitors, a steering wheel, and pedals.

Simpson can get up to about 90 mph in his car during the races. This is one of Simpson’s favorite parts of racing because he enjoys the adrenaline rush he gets from going that fast. At the more elite levels of racing Simpson’s father can get up to 115-120 miles per hour going into the corners.

Simpson won his first race July 13, 2025 at the track in Dubuque and got $3,000 for winning. This is by far his favorite moment he has ever had racing because it is the only race he has won so far.

Simpson has met many people from racing and some of them sponsor him. His sponsor is Randy Davidson Trucking, Dirt Pro Inc, and Klein Custom Homes. Simpson has these sponsors on his car, and his car number is 25. 

Racing is by far Simpson’s favorite sport. He loves all the parts of racing  to the struggle and late nights to the triumph of winning.