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CHIAPPELLI: Sergeant Sprinter
Written by: Jim Chiappelli   
07/02/2009
Mooresville, NC
 
A small display of fireworks disrupts the darkness outside of turn three during intermission at Lincoln Speedway while sprint car driver Doug Dodson stands at ease with perfect posture and his arms crossed behind him at belt-level.
Two days before his birthday, Dodson put the icing on the cake with his first career feature victory, topping a stellar field of 410 sprinters at Lincoln Speedway. (WRT SpeedWerx-Warner) ยป More Photos
One of the home tracks to the famed Pennsylvania Posse, Lincoln is just west of the Civil War Battlefield at Gettysburg. It is an appropriate setting as I meet Dodson for the first time.

On the ramp to his hauler and alongside his number 43 sprinter, he greets me with a firm handshake and looks me straight in the eyes, prepared to answer a barrage of questions.

It does not take long for me to realize that before me stands a composed young man who sets himself apart from any other driver I have interviewed.

U.S. Army Reserve Staff Sergeant Doug Dodson is special—not just for his driving ability, but for his devotion and service to his country.

“It was just the right thing to do,” Dodson replied when asked why he enlisted as a 17-year old high school senior in January 2002.

“It was right after 9/11, which motivated me to take action,” he explained.

Doug, who honed his racing skills in go-karts and micro-sprints, committed to being a civilian-solider, serving one weekend per month and two full weeks a year.

A budding racing career was put on hold, however, when Dodson and his unit were deployed to Baghdad in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005. Instead of wheeling a racecar, Doug operated heavy machinery and construction equipment.

“It was unreal,” he said of his time in the desert country. “But there were people who really needed our help.”

His overseas tour of duty ended in time for him to run in the 358 sprint car division in 2006. A year later, he graduated to the powerful 410s, where he paid his dues in the school of hard knocks for a couple of seasons, earning fifth-place finishes at both Lincoln Speedway and Williams Grove Speedway.

Entering 2009, the responsibilities of maintaining a race team, attending college and holding down a job while fulfilling his patriotic duties began to overwhelm Dodson a bit.

“My promotion
to Staff Sergeant meant a lot more responsibility,” he admitted. “Some of the administrative duties require a lot of my time to get things ready for my unit.”

However, his exhaustive efforts to succeed in racing paid off one Saturday evening in April.

Two days before his birthday, Dodson put the icing on the cake with his first career feature victory, topping a stellar field of 410 sprinters at Lincoln Speedway.

Now 25, Dodson is an engineering student at Penn State-Harrisburg and works as a fuel injection technician for a central Pennsylvania chassis builder.

He hopes to be able to turn his education into full-time employment in the racing industry while still being able to drive.

“This is where I want to be,” he says, scanning the pits.

As a soldier, Staff Sergeant Doug Dodson’s eight-year military service obligation ends in January.

As a sprint car driver, that is when his career will likely reach the next level.

“It will be nice to not have to miss so many weekends of racing,” he admits. “But I have no regrets,” he adds when addressing the commitment he made as a teenager.

Armed with the poise and determination gained from his experience with the U.S. Army Reserve, Dodson looks to someday become the five-star general of the Pennsylvania Posse.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, SPEED, FOX, or NewsCorp.

Jim Chiappelli is SPEED’s News Director. He has worked in broadcast journalism since 1986, producing or overseeing the production of more than 6,000 newscasts and sportscasts in a career that began at network affiliates in Johnstown and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania before shifting to the NBC affiliate in Pittsburgh, where he spent 11 years, leaving as Executive Producer in 2001.

Before graduating from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Jim briefly competed in the limited late model division in Western Pennsylvania for his family, which has been involved in racing for nearly 35 years and continues to campaign a 410 sprint car team.



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