Billy Moyer Jr: Emerging From The Shadow

By Ben Shelton

Many times in our sport we see siblings, children, and other relatives of famous drivers battling the shadows cast by the accomplishments of their relatives. Of course, most prominently in the motorsports world is NASCAR racer Dale Earnhardt Jr., who every day of his life is measured against the accomplishments of his legendary father. Just like it’s not fair to compare Earnhardt Jr. to Senior, the same applies for other drivers throughout the sport, including Batesville, Arkansas Dirt Late Model competitor Billy Moyer Jr.

The 21JR team prepares for the COMP Cams Topless 100 at Batesville Motor Speedway.

The charismatic 24-year-old driver is the son of National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer, Billy Moyer. Moyer, 54, is arguably the greatest driver to ever strap into one of the machines, and his list of accomplishments includes over 700 feature wins, multiple national championships and an array of crown jewel triumphs. For Billy Moyer Jr., this list of accolades spells non-stop pressure to succeed.

“Because I have the same name as my dad, people expect me to immediately win, and it just doesn’t work that way,” says Moyer Jr., who has been racing for six years. “The chances of anybody, especially me, ever measuring up to what he has accomplished are pretty slim. I mean the guy has done everything.”

While Billy picked up a feature win in his first year in 2007 in a weekly racing series event at Poplar Bluff Speedway (Poplar Bluff, Missouri), he went winless in 2008.

“I think that when I won a race in my first year of driving anything, it only fed the monster that I was a chip off the old block and that racing would come naturally,” he explains. “The reality is that I beat six other cars that night, and luck was definitely a part of it. In 2008 I entered a lot tougher events against a lot tougher field of cars, and my inexperience showed in my results.”

With the winless season in 2008, Moyer Jr. started to receive criticism from fans, who said things like, “he sure isn’t his dad” and “he just doesn’t have it.” It was a tough situation for the young driver. On more than one occasion fans approach Moyer Jr. in the pits, only to ask where his father was racing on a given night, and failed to show any interest in the youngster’s program. It took the air out of Billy each time as his social side was dealt a blow from uninterested bystanders.

The 2009 season would prove to be a breakout season for Moyer Jr., as he tackled a regional series by pursuing the COMP Cams Super Dirt Series title. Early in the campaign he claimed his first special event win with a $2,000 payday at Riverside International Speedway (West Memphis, Arkansas). The win would set the tone for the season as Moyer Jr. went on to not only claim a second win, but ultimately the series championship.

“That was a big deal for me, to be able to have such a good year with not only the championship and a couple of wins, but I was also able to record some strong finishes like making the feature for the COMP Cams Topless 100 and some of the end-of-the-year, big events in Mississippi,” he says.

: Moyer Jr. already has a nice collection of checks at his shop in Batesville, AR.

Some of the haters finally cut Billy a break with these accomplishments, but he still was subject to harassment and barrages on internet forums and from some fans who deemed his racing progress loomed behind the expected curve.

“I like to tell myself that stuff like that doesn’t bother me, but the reality is that I’m human, and you can only ignore people talking about you for so long,” comments Moyer Jr. about the criticism.

In 2010 Moyer Jr. took his program on the road as he entered his most aggressive schedule to date, which included the daunting task of the UMP Summernationals. Each year the Summernationals schedule features approximately 28 races in a 30 day stretch. It tries even the most seasoned drivers and teams. For Billy Moyer Jr., it served as school in session as he learned a great deal about the sport, and while he didn’t score any wins, he did finish in the top ten in the final standings.

“That Summernationals deal is tough,” Moyer Jr. laughs. “At the same time it was a lot of fun, and guys like Shannon Babb really taught me a lot about how to stay on top of your game when you are racing every night of the week.”

Along with his strong UMP Summernationals performance, Moyer Jr. won seven events during 2010, including the biggest win of his career, a $5,000 payday in the Bama Brawl at North Alabama Speedway (Tuscumbia, Alabama).

For the 2011 season Billy competed in a schedule similar to the 2010 campaign, but he found the going to be a little tougher as he battled mechanical gremlins for much of the year.

“2011 really tried me as a driver and our team as a whole,” Moyer Jr. says. “I know I’ve only been racing for a few years, but I’ve never felt so much like just giving up, because anything that could go wrong, did go wrong. We picked things up late in the season and came away with seven wins, but 2011 is definitely a year that I wanted to quickly put behind me.”

Moyer Jr. celebrates one of his race wins in victory lane.

With the 2012 campaign comes a new day and a new venture for Billy Moyer Jr. He recently announced that he will be chasing the World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year title. The tour will see him enter over 50 events across the United States and Canada against a talented field of competitors each and every night. While he’s seen most of these tracks as a crew member for his dad, he has only actually raced on a handful of them.

“I know it’s going to be a tough experience, but I think I’m as ready as I’ve ever been to try something like this. I’m really excited to get out there and see how I measure up against some of the nation’s best drivers. I’m also excited to get out to the east coast and race at a lot of places for the first time and show them that my dad and I are two different people,” notes Moyer Jr.

In addition to the strong competition, Moyer Jr. is quick to indicate tire selection and big tracks will be a major challenge for him.

“I’ve grown up racing on mostly hard tire rules. Now I’m throwing myself to the wolves, where you can run any tire that you want, and on most nights I’ll be on the relatively unfamiliar soft compounds,” he explains. “It’s also no secret that big tracks have been a problem for me so far. I’ve got a lot to learn on flat, half-mile tracks, and I’m sure there will be just as many as ups as downs this season. (But) I like to think that I’m mental ready for the challenge.”

The 2012 season will no doubt see Billy Moyer Jr. facing some adversity and struggles, but at the same time the courage and determination that this young man is displaying will gain unlimited respect from competitors and fans, who will see that he is truly trying to emerge from the shadow of his legendary father.