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By Al Camp
Okanogan County Chronicle
Okanogan’s Cole Tupling should
earn rookie of the year honors by driving a sprint car to third
place in the final standings of the Inland Northwest Spring Car
Association. What’s remarkable is that Tupling, a
16-year-old sophomore in high school, battled drivers at least
twice as old and on up while going around 140 mph on straight-aways.
He might have finished higher in the standings but missed the
first two races by not having a car ready. In all, he competed
in nine races this year.
Tupling grew up around cars, so it
seemed natural to him to plant himself behind a bored-out,
355-cubic inch Chevrolet small block and take to the asphalt
when he turned 16. In his first year of racing, he finished
second in one race at Spokane Raceway Park. “SRP is a lot
of a fun because of the high speeds and it’s kind of
disappointing that the season is coming to an end right now
because we’re really starting to run well,” said Tupling on
the INSCA Web site. “For our first year of racing, our family
race team couldn’t be any happier with our performance.”
His father, Mike, said he took to
the sport only a couple years ago after competing in drag racing
earlier. This year he stepped aside so that his son could drive
the car. The father worked the pits, keeping the car ready for
races. “He just fell into it. He took off like he was born to
do it,” said his father. “I’m more than happy to help him
to keep his car going. We had a good season.”
“I just always wanted to
drive,” said Cole Tupling. “Dad checks the air pressure,
does the set up.” Cole - whose brother Connor is a freshman on
Okanogan’s football team - didn’t hit the throttle without
some experience. “I sat in my first race car of my cousin’s
(Henry Tupling of Chelan) when I was 4 years old,” said the
young racer. “He had just got it painted and brought it by to
show my dad, and I sat in it and didn’t want him to take it
home. “As soon as the track would let me, I was in the pits
helping my dad on the crew for our cousin, Henry. I also spent
many late nights working in the shop.”
The young Tupling got his first
taste at being around mini sprints when he was about 8. He also
works on the engines that his family builds. He's since raced at
Spokane, at Stateline in Idaho and Pablo, Mont. At Spokane, he
finished second in the main (to the legend Rick Brown, a
multi-time sprint car champion) and won a heat race. He won a
trophy dash at Stateline in August. During the season, which
runs from spring to September, Tupling competed on tracks of a
quarter to a half mile.
Next year the team could have as
many as three cars - one for Cole Tupling, one for his dad, Mike
Tupling, and one for cousin Henry Tupling.
The youngest Tupling acknowledged his parents (mom is Linda),
his crew and sponsor - Lloyd Logging of Twisp - for making the
racing possible.
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