For The Tribune
Seymour’s Tyler Cain has spent the past 15 years behind the wheel of a racecar.
In that span, he has 80 feature wins and two national championships.
Now, he’s talking titles in a new series.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Cain has found his most recent success in the Late Model ranks as he picked up his first career win in his rookie season with the P3 Graphix Indiana Pro Late Model Series. Cain took the win Aug. 26 at Bloomington Speedway.
Like many other drivers, the Seymour native credits his family’s ties to the sport of racing as the reason he got the “itch” to compete.
Cain’s father, Alan, along with his uncles John and Alex, were involved with racing go-karts.
They also were part of the Terry Shirley racing team that fielded an ARCA car, most notably with Frank Kimmel as the driver.
Cain said he started racing at age 14 in 2002.
Working his way through the ranks, he posted 19 wins in the Mini-Stock division. From there, he jumped into the Super Stock division and raced at several different tracks in the region.
Brownstown Speedway has served as a staple to Cain’s racing career.
“When I started racing they said that if you can win at Brownstown, you can win anywhere, so I feel like if I can accomplish a lot there that I’ve done something,” said Cain, who has three track championships at Brownstown.
Arguably his biggest accomplishment thus far has been winning two UMP Sportsman National Points Championships: back-to-back.
In his decorated Super Stock career, Cain has posted 60 feature wins.
Tyler and his father made the decision to pursue a new Late Model venture in 2016.
“When we started out the year I had expectations that I wanted to win a feature in my first year, and I knew it was going to be really hard. The competition is really tough,” Cain said. “Some weekends we’ve ran good and some weekends we’ve ran bad.”
Cain backed up his claim of running well this past Friday night at Bloomington Speedway.
“At the halfway point of the race I was like ‘Wow, I think we can win this race,’” Cain said. “I was ecstatic as I took the white flag and came around to get the checkered. I’m not really and emotional guy, but it shook me up a little bit.”
Cain recalled sitting in the stands as a kid, dreaming about one day being able to drive a dirt Late Model.
It would be unfair to not mention that Cain is not the only racer in the household.
Tyler’s wife, Carrie, also competes in the Staff Management Pure Stock division on Saturday nights and competes at Brownstown Speedway, furthermore proving that racing truly is a family sport.
Looking ahead at his future involvement in racing, Cain is quick to comment that the Late Model division is his newfound home.
“I would to eventually like to move up to the Super Late Models and be a competitive regional driver.”
Cain is scheduled to compete Saturday at Brownstown Speedway in the 12th “Hall of Fame Classic”/Fan Appreciation Night race. Hot laps are scheduled for 6 p.m.