SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — “C-Weed” may not be a familiar nickname around fans that follow racing at South Boston Speedway.
If young Conner Weddell continues to log performances like he did in South Boston Speedway’s March 21 Late Model Stock Car season-opener the familiarity of his nickname will certainly grow.
Weddell finished a close second after a tough battle with former NASCAR and South Boston Speedway champion Lee Pulliam in the 100-lap race that opened the season for South Boston Speedway’s Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division. If not for a late-race caution, Weddell could possibly have earned a victory in his South Boston Speedway debut.
“To run up front and lead laps and finish second to one of the best, it’s insane,” Weddell remarked. “It just makes us hungry to be one spot better. There is nobody better to run second to. I’m just super grateful for the opportunity to race at South Boston Speedway and be so competitive.”
The 16-year-old racer’s unusual nickname is a spinoff from his real name.
“I got my nickname pretty much from my last name,” the teenager explained. “My dad used to race in the arena racing series, and because of our last name, Weddell, people used to always call him “Weed.” When I was born, they called me something else for awhile, and eventually moved on to “C-Weed.”
Racing has been a core part of Weddell’s life from the start.
“I have been around racing ever since I was born because my father was around it,” Weddell noted. “I just fell in love with it when I was little and it’s really all I ever talked about since I could talk. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”
The talented teenage racer began his racing journey in much the same fashion as most other young racers.
“I started racing a quarter midget,” Weddell said. “The car I started racing in was Tyler Hughes’ car, who is my crew chief now. I started in one of his cars when I was four-and-a-half. The first laps I ran in it was around a high school parking lot. I went through the rookie school at our local track and started from there.”
Success has come to Weddell in his climb up the racing ladder. Last season he finished fifth in the final point standings in the American Racer Late Model Division standings at Dominion Raceway with three wins, 13 top-five finishes and 16 top-10 finishes in 20 features. The stats were good enough to put him 13th in the NASCAR Division I national standings.
Weddell moved up this season to the Late Model Stock Car ranks and is competing for the championship in South Boston Speedway’s Hitachi Energy Late Model Stock Car Division.
The Centerville, Maryland resident said the competition at South Boston Speedway is what drew him to focus his attention at the four-tenths-mile oval this season.
“If you want to be one of the best you have to race against the best every week,” Weddell pointed out. “This is like racing a Martinsville heat race every week. The heat race I ran in at Martinsville had Peyton Sellers, Landon Pembelton, Trevor Ward, about everyone that has won a clock and is super-talented. I think the competition at South Boston Speedway this season is harder than running the CARS Tour.”
Next up for Weddell and his fellow Late Model Stock Car Division competitors are twin 75-lap races that will headline the Danville Toyota Race Day event on Saturday afternoon, April 4 at South Boston Speedway.
Weddell will face a new challenge in the April 4 twinbill.
“I raced twins at Dominion Raceway, and we used to run twin 50s, so this will be the longest twin races I’ve ever run,” he pointed out.
The teenager says he likes the idea of twin-race events.
“I like the aspect of running a race and then getting to come back, work with your team, tell them what the car did, the way the balance of the car shifted, get a moment to reset and go at it again and get another shot at it.”