5/12/2021
Five Flags Speedway
Sutton Eyes Big Goals for Outlaws SeasonÂ
With Guidance and Support from Grandfather, Sutton Eyes Big Goals for Outlaws Season
By Chuck Corder
Role models are a dime a dozen. Heroes last forever.
Heroes weigh down the bed of their beat-up pickup truck and drive you all over the southeast – through the Georgia pines and up and down the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Carolinas – competing for go-kart checkereds.
Most importantly, heroes find ways to maintain their passion even when you can’t remember why you loved something in the first place.
Terry Sutton continues to keep the dream alive and breathing for his grandson, Conner, who sits second in the Faith Chapel Outlaws points standings thanks to a pair of top-five finishes to begin the season at Five Flags Speedway.
“It’s always just been me and him. It’s our gig,� said Conner Sutton, 18 and a senior at Escambia High School. “He’s been the father figure I never had. I strive to be like him every day. I couldn’t do any of this without Grandpa.�
The Sutton men go for that ever-elusive first victory when the Faith Chapel Outlaws return for a 35-lap feature Friday night at Five Flags. The Proxy Equipment Pro Trucks (30 laps), The Dock on Pensacola Beach Sportsmen (25) and Lloyd’s Glass Pure Stocks (20) share the Friday night marquee at the famed half-mile asphalt oval.
Gates open at 5 p.m. Friday and admission is $15 for adults; $12 for seniors, military members, and students; free for children ages 11-and-under. Qualifying is set for 7 p.m. Friday with racing slated for 8 approximately.
Conner Sutton grew up like most kids, swinging at and chasing down baseballs all summer long and then year-round when he joined travel teams. At a young age, he began the artful attempt of multitasking, trying to balance baseball with go-kart racing until “Grandpa� Terry had a proposition for young Conner.
“He came to me, after a trip to Pennsylvania, and asked if I wanted to try racing full-time,� Conner Sutton recalled. “He loaded up a U-Haul truck and bought all six of ’em. Turns out it was a bunch of junk.�
Before Conner Sutton could give his answer, Terry had to discuss it with his daughter and Conner’s mother, Heather Sutton. Once mom gave her blessing, grandfather and grandson began navigating the growing pains of racing.
With racing and baseball falling on the same weekends, Conner Sutton made the tough choice to give up bat-and-ball and trade them for a helmet and a fire suit.
“For the first two years, we’d go to these (go-kart) races stacking stuff up in Grandpa’s truck,� Conner Sutton said. “Anything we need, anything we might need, we threw it in there. We had enough extra stuff to build another whole go-kart.
“Our whole family loves racing. Some people buy boats. Some people golf. We go racing.�
Year after year, it has been just the two of them.
When Terry Sutton is occasionally on the road for his job at Trico Mechanical Contractors, Conner Sutton gets his buddies to help until race day when Terry returns from wherever work takes him and puts the finishing touches on the car’s setup.
Conner Sutton’s favorite part of each day is at the end when he and “Grandpa� Terry come together to work on the car at their west Pensacola shop.
“There isn’t a day we don’t miss a chance to get to the shop,� Conner Sutton said. “I took a break from working (a job) to have more time with him working on the car and getting it ready for the weekend.�
Conner Sutton has been an Outlaws staple since he was about 14. While his first career victory hasn’t come yet, Sutton has racked up a trunk-load of runner-up and podium finishes.
He finished second to Bubba Winslow for the Outlaws track championship last year and fifth a few years ago.
“We’re right there,� Conner Sutton said. “My goal is to always get the car home in one piece. Being such a small team, we’re limited with our equipment. But we still have more speed to find. We’re always there at the end of the race, but we gotta figure something out in qualifying.
“(My grandfather) hasn’t given up on me, and there’s no shot I’m giving up on him. It’ll come. We won’t give up.�
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