Athens resident to race alongside top drivers — like NASCAR champ Chase Elliott — at Rolex 24 - Online Athens

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Evan Lasseter  |  Athens Banner-Herald

Dylan Murry still remembers the bright lights of go-karts driven by friends flashing by when he attended a night race as a 5-year-old in Barnesville, Georgia.

By then Murry was no stranger to racing. 

His father, David Murry, was a professional racer for 40 years. Murry watched races from the top of his mom's shoulders and joined his dad on post-race podiums

However, the night in Barnesville set fire to Murry’s passion for racing. After seeing his friends in action, Murry wanted to be on the track so bad he couldn’t watch. 

“It was just the coolest thing to me to see my friends out there doing that,” Murry said. “Then I'm sitting here just watching, and then I got to the point where it was like I couldn't even watch anymore, because I wanted to be out there so bad”

Murry successfully begged his parents for his own go kart, and by his early teens he knew he wanted to be a professional racer. 

This weekend Murry, an Athens resident, will race in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway. The field consists of numerous car classifications and drivers from the International Motor Sports Association WeatherTech Championship Series (IMSA), NASCAR, IndyCar and Formula 1. 

Among many international racing stars, Murry will race alongside NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson, reigning Cup Series champion Chase Elliott, 2019 Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud and open-wheel legends Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves. 

Murry, 20, made his debut in IMSA in 2018 after finishing sixth in his NASCAR K&N debut in 2017 at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina. 

He attributes his rise in the racing world to his dedication and lasting relationships with friends and family.

One of those relationships, of course, is with his father.

David Murry knew his son had the talent to race for a living after Dylan made a pass on the final lap of a go-kart race at Carolina Motorsports Park in South Carolina. 

“He made a fantastic pass to win the race,” David Murry said. “And it's like, OK, you can't teach that. You know, you can tell somebody that, but they've got to have that instinct of knowing when and what to do.”

With Dylan growing as a man and competitor, the pair often discuss race craft as part of his development. At a race in 2019, Murry was faster than the car in front of him but couldn’t make the pass. He was frustrated after the race and asked his father how he could have got around the racer.

David leaned in on his experience having raced at that track multiple times. He told Dylan the key passing spot was in the first turn. 

At the same race track a year later, against the same racer and car, Murry made the pass. The relationship has helped Murry's success, and though he has “very few real heroes in racing,” his dad is one of his biggest influences. 

“I'm not saying that just because he's my dad, but it's just the way that he does things,” Murry said. “I just love the way he races, I love what he does stuff off track and everything like that.”

After growing up around the track and committing to the sport early, the choice still came with sacrifices. Murry had to complete his last year of high school online because of his travel schedule. Days he wasn’t racing were entirely devoted to schoolwork. 

In many ways he didn’t have a “normal childhood,” David Murry said. However, the time and effort devoted to the sport never really felt like a sacrifice to Dylan.  

“For me, it wasn't so much of a sacrifice, it would have been more of a sacrifice to not do racing, as opposed to not having the normal childhood,” Murry said. 

One of Murry’s first friends that helped bring him to Athens. Matthew Tesvich, an international business and management information systems major at UGA, met Dylan in third grade when he moved to Cumming, Georgia. 

Their houses were connected through the woods and Tesvich instantly knew Murry was devoted to racing because he wore fireproof racing shoes to school. Tesvich transferred to UGA after a stint playing baseball at Kennesaw State University. 

When Tesvich was looking for places to transfer, Murry was also looking for his own place to live. Murry asked him where he was going to school, and said that maybe they could room together. Murry could have moved to a known hub of racing like Charlotte, but looked to his longtime friend to be his roommate. 

While Murry’s fire for racing started watching friends on a go-kart track, his friendships and relationships led him to where he is today. 

“I mean this is the definition of friendship right here,” Tesvich said. “He was literally dedicated and willing to move anywhere in the country depending on where I was going, so we could be roommates.”

The Link Lonk


January 28, 2021 at 09:29PM
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Athens resident to race alongside top drivers — like NASCAR champ Chase Elliott — at Rolex 24 - Online Athens

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