A Special Talent on the Track

For as good of a driver as Cameron Dodson is -- and his success on the track certainly proves it -- the Greenfield native is an even better person, say close friends and even rival drivers.

They describe him as humble, polite and outgoing; mature for his age and fun to be around. Other drivers respected his skill behind the wheel and admired his drive to be the best he could be in the sport he loved.

"He's just a good kid," said close friend Ryan Langston, a nationally ranked micro sprint driver from Greenfield who worked on Dodson's team in 2003 and '04. "If anyone ever needed anything, he would do all that he could do to help them out."

The news of Dodson's automobile accident early Tuesday morning hit the racing community hard. It was met with disbelief, shock and sadness.

"It's just devastating any time something like this happens," said Rick Dawson, president and owner of the Anderson Speedway. "Any time somebody in the racing family is injured like this, it feels like one of your own."

As of this morning, the 20-year-old Dodson was in critical but stable condition from the one-car wreck just north of Ind. 234.

"I still don't think I realize the severity of it because Cameron is just so tough," said Chris Santucci, team manager of Carl Edwards/R.E. Technologies Racing, Dodson's racing team.

"It's truly tragic," added fellow sprint car driver Brad Armstrong of New Palestine. "It lets you know how precious life is and how you can't take anything for granted because in one second, your life can change."

He was especially baffled about how something like this could happen to someone so experienced behind the wheel.

"If it happens on the race track, it's one thing," Armstrong said, "But when it happens in a street car, it's just devastating."

It wasn't just the racing community devastated by the news of Dodson's accident.

But those who know him outside the track are equally impressed by the type of person the 2007 Greenfield-Central alumnus is.

"He's a very quiet young man, but when he spoke, it was with great thought and people listened," said G-CHS Principl Steve Bryant, who was so impresed with Dodson's leadership, that he put him on a cotudent leadership groups at the school. "He wasn't one to offer or suggest ideas, but when he was asked his opinion, he always had very good things to say. He was very thoughtful, and he provided good leadership that way."

Bryant was also wowed by Dodson's dedication to both racing and his schoolwork. Dodson went to G-C part time to allow time for travel to races.

"But he always made up his work, and got it in early," Bryant said. "He was just a special and gifted young man."

This gift was especially noticeable on the track.

Dodson was a winner from the time he started driving quarter midget cars when he was 8 years old.

His career progressed, the wins kept coming no mater what series, level of type of car he raced in.

Since 2004, he's won at least one race a year.

"He won on some very tough tracks against some very good drivers," said Kurt Smith, Dodson's business manager at Rising Star Management Group. "He has a resume of a 50 year old and he's only 20."

The way Dodson can handle a car was a sight to see.

"He's one of those young talents who just came on the scene and blew everyone away," Dawson said. "He was a great driver. I watched him over at Winchester (Speedway) and saw him do things in a car that I don't think were possible."

"He always put the car where it needed to go to win a race or move up a position," Langston said. "He always made the right moves and made very few mistakes."

While some young drivers rubbed the veterans the wrong way, that wasn't the case with Dodson, Dawson said. The way he hendled himself on and off the track earned him the respect from his fellow drivers both young and old, he added.

Armstrong agreed, and added that Dodson's maturity when he was racing and how he conducted himself outside of it impressed the other drivers.

"For some young guys, it's easy to be distracted by other things," Armstrong said. "But he was very focused and very driven."

Despite the early success, Dodson remained humble.

"I think the thing that impressed me the most is his humility," Bryant said. "When he was 15, he was ranked the No. 1 driver for his age in the country, and you would have never known it from being around him."

He was the Mid American Sprint Series Champion in 2004, won an overall title in Super Sprints in '05, and produced five feature race victories in '06.

Dodson really began to make a name for himself when he hooked up with Carl Edwards/R.E. Technologies Racing.

In 2007, he earned Rookie of the Year honors in the Silver Crown Series after posting six top-five finishes, 13 top-10 finishes and a win at the Phoenix International Raceway.

"He always had God-given talent, but when he stepped up to sprint cars, he had the talent and respect for the vehicle and was able to use that knowledge to come right out of the box good," Armstrong said. "It's always tough for a racer to admit another racer is pretty good, and he was pretty good."

In four races this year, Dodson finished second twice and won the Casey's General Store 100 in Iowa in August.

"He was probably the quickest learner I've been around, and gets up to speed faster than anyone I've ever been around," Santucci said when asked what makes Dodson special behind the wheel. "H's not afraid of speed like some drivers are, and was always dedicated and focused on the track."

Santucci, a veteran in the sport, said Dodson's maturity is what amazed him the most. He said he carried himself like a pro, not like someone just out of high school.

"I think a lot of that comes from his parents," he said of Thomas and Cindy. "he comes from great parents. You can tell a lot about a person by their parents, and when you meet them, you can see why so many people like him."

Smith said the young driver is always good with children and fans, would stay late and sign autographs or shoot the bull about racing.

He said when Dodson met with NASCAR officials, media or potential sponsors, the Greenfield native always left them impressed.

"He has very good people skills," Smith said. "He's a really good kid and just a neat young man. And from a talent side, he's unbelievable."

Racing in a circuit that helped Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon to auto racing's pinnacle, and racing for Edwards, one of the top drivers in the sport, Dodson appeared well on his way to reaching his dream of being a fulltime NASCAR driver.

"That's what he always wanted," Langston said. "He was just all about racing, and he was just going toward that dream the best he could."

The two met seven years ago at a race track in Illinois when Langston heard the PA announcer say that there was another Greenfield driver at the track.

From that point on, they became close friends; working on cars; spending time together at the track or even racing four wheelers in Dodson's back yard.

"He always liked to have fun," Langston said. "He always took pride in winning a race and always had fun doing it. He was just really enthusiastic about what he did, and always had a good time doing it."

Langston's favorite Dodson racing story isn't from Homestead, FLA., Phoenix, Chicagoland or any of the other big-name tracks he dominated in.

It comes a few years back at Spoon River in Illinois, a year after Dodson wrecked his sprint car on the same track.

"He was racing against some very good, experienced drivers, but he got the lead and when they tried to pass him, he was able to hold them off," Langston remembered. "They didn't rattle him or mess him up. He held them off and ended up winning the race."

What happens next for Dodson will be seen in coming days, months and years. But that story shows what type of fight Dodson has in him.

"I'm pretty confident he's going to make it out of this because he's just too damn tough to let this stop him," Santucci said. "We're just waiting for him to get back to doing what he does best."

Original Story: Greenfield Daily Reporter: http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/articles/2008/11/21/sports/01.txt