Tyler Reed: Cape's "Speed Racer"

Tyler Reed is a 17-year old senior at Cape who circles the hallway tracks in virtual anonymity. Tyler is a cultural throwback, a hunter of ducks and geese, along with his crew Clint Chalabala, Jerry Blakeslee, Jay Clark and Colby Reynolds. They all drive pickup trucks.  Tyler’s is a lifted-up 2004 Chevy Silverado.

Tyler is a race car driver of crate model stock cars. “Crate” means the motor is sealed up. “Can’t do anything to it,” as Tyler describes it. Speed in crate model races averages about 85 miles per hour. The Delaware International Speedway “down to Delmar” is a half-mile track of hard clay. Crate races run 15 laps and average about 25 cars.

“They grade and moisten the track before races in the summer because it gets dry and slick,” Tyler said. “The stands hold thousands of people. Sometimes it is packed and sometimes there are less people.”

Last season Tyler was honored with the Kyle Dixon Memorial Youth Achievement Award for earning the highest overall points of anyone 18 and under.

In writing for the Delaware International Speedway website, Charles Brown described the achievement. "Milton, Del.’s Tyler Reed etched his name in the Delaware International record books as he became the youngest Crate Model champion at age 17. Reed scored two wins early in the season and more impressively completed every lap of every race during the season to garner the crown and earn $1,700.”

Tyler doesn’t waste words or motion when talking about his racing. He is self-assured and confident. As a student at Cape, he doesn’t advertise his racing life.  “I always keep it private and don’t really put anything out there about racing. It’s just hard to explain. A few teachers know and ask me about it, but mostly I just go to school, work at Reed Trucking after school, work on my race car at night, then race on the weekends. My stepbrother Zac West and I do all the maintenance and adjustments on the car.”

The race season starts in April and runs through November with races every Saturday night. Tyler is sponsored by the Greene Turtle, Reed Trucking, Quillen Signs, Sposato Landscaping, Puttin' on the Ritz Hair Salon and Paul Vickers Snap-On Tools. There is still space available on the car for advertising, a small price to get way inside the culture of old-school Milton.

Racing fuel at the track runs $30 for five gallons because of the additives in the mixture. Tyler said he always drives his truck at the speed limit, and there is nothing to the race-car-drivers-always-drive-fast image.

“I can’t afford the gas to go too fast,” Tyler said. What strikes a person after talking with high school senior and race car driver Tyler is his quiet understanding of work as it relates to play.

Tyler started racing go-karts when he was 7 years old and has been on the speedway in Delmar since 2007.

The racing season opens Saturday, April 2, at Georgetown Speedway, which is back on the circuit running a part-time schedule.

Tyler said after high school he will just keep working and racing. “If I went somewhere, I wouldn’t be able to race,” Tyler said. “Maybe I’ll take some classes at Del Tech.”