About colton
Officially the youngest driver in the world with an asphalt pavement
sprint car championship.
Colton Bettis was born on September 08, 2009 and lives in Lutz, Florida. At the age of three, Colton received his first go kart. His papa built him a small, tiny clay oval track in the back of his property and started pulling him around with a rope attached to the back of the golf cart until he got familiar with using the brake and steering. He mastered that in two days, and it’s only been uphill since.
He started racing competitively at the age of 4. He picked the number 61 idolizing his grandfather’s old race number. He was in a go kart for six months before his papa purchased an additional go kart with a roll cage, also known as a champ kart.
Running competitively in so many classes required Colton to be in good physical shape. The family built an asphalt go kart track in the back yard. This helps build strength and neck muscles to condition for longer hot Florida Saturdays in the sun. He continues to condition in a go kart running anywhere from 200 to 300 laps every week as well as a personal trainer twice a week. He loves to help little kids just getting started in go karts, and he also enjoys having friends he raced with for years have back yard digs “I love to see how far the little kids come in just a few short months but it’s also fun to have some competition with the older kids. It helps us all be a little better at what we do. We're all friends on and off the track.” From the age of 4 until the age of 9, Colton raced competitively in many dirt series across Florida winning championships, trophies and leather jackets. At the age of 9, Colton’s grandfather purchased a super mini late model, some tracks refer to them as a Mod Mini.
It’s a stealth made chassis has a 4 speed, 2300 4-cylinder Ford Motor. He learned to shift gears and use a clutch with an old S-10, and to the track he went. He practiced this car for about a month under the supervision of some super mini late model experts until they felt he was prepared enough to enter a race. The first time Colton ran the car it was during intermission of the racetrack. The second time he ran the car he qualified with the entire field of 14 cars running a 15.784 putting him 8th. He opted to start in the rear of the race. He wanted to get the feel of the car and being on a track with other competitors. To everyone’s surprise he finished 5th. He’s raced an entire year finishing in second and third place numerous times before he conquered his first win!
He didn’t stop there. At the age of 10, Papa then purchased a Sprint Car. It’s a hurricane chassis with a 700 horsepower 360 fuel injected motor powered by Jim’s racing engines. This car can be ran with a wing or without a wing. He’s equipped with top notch safety equipment and crew members that review every spec of the car before its fired. He practiced the sprint car for about 2 months before he entered the track for the first time. Again, he has qualified numerous times and opted to always start in the back before he felt comfortable enough to start in the front of a race.
2021 was Colton’s first year competing competitively in a sprint car championship and he was able to secure the win. He is officially the youngest driver in the world with a pavement sprint car championship at the age of 12.
2022 Colton was also given the opportunity to race a super late model. His first debut race was a $10,000 to win race where he started in the rear of the field and impressively finished 5th place. His second debut in super late model landed him a podium finish!
On weekends Colton isn’t racing or conditioning he enjoys fresh water and salt water fishing.
