Thaddeus D. Moffitt (born September 12, 2000) is an American professional

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It or ...

driver. He last competed part-time in the

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of ...

, driving the No. 43

Chevrolet Silverado The Chevrolet Silverado is a range of trucks manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand. Introduced for the 1999 model year, the Silverado is the successor to the long running Chevrolet C/K model line. Taking its name from the ...

for Reaume Brothers Racing and the No. 20 Silverado for Young's Motorsports and part-time in the

ARCA Menards Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into the three nation ...

, driving the No. 44

Chevrolet SS The Holden Commodore (VF) is an executive car that was produced by Holden between June 2013 and October 2017. It was the second and last significantly restyled iteration of the fourth (and final) generation of the Holden Commodore to be manufa ...

for

Ferrier-McClure Racing Jeffrey McClure (born January 22, 1967) is an American former stock car racing driver who raced for multiple years in all three major NASCAR series as well as what is now the ARCA Menards Series. Since the conclusion of his driving career, McClu ...

Racing career

Early career

Growing up in a racing family, Moffitt cut his teeth in

go-karts A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performance racing ...

at age fourteen and later moved up to

quarter midgets Quarter midget racing is a form of automobile racing. The cars are approximately one-quarter (1/4) the size of a full-size midget car. The adult-size midget being raced during the start of quarter midget racing used an oval track of one-fifth of ...

and limited late models, running at tracks like Caraway Speedway and

Ace Speedway Ace Speedway is a 4/10 (.400) mile oval stock car racing track in Altamahaw, North Carolina. The track was constructed by Roy Maddren and opened in 1956 as a 1/3 mile dirt oval. In 1984, the track was expanded to a 3/8 mile dirt oval. In 1990, u ...

. Speaking about having racers in the family, he said that advice will be given upon request but also that older relatives wanted him to develop without help. Moffitt was the 2016 Southeast Limited Late Model champion, and won his first late model race earlier that year.

ARCA Menards Series

Moffitt made his

ARCA Racing Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into the three nationa ...

debut in April 2017 at

Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway is a motorsport racetrack located at the Nashville Fairgrounds near downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The track is the second-oldest continually operating track in the United States. The track held NASCAR Grand N ...

, driving a car reminiscent of one driven by his grandfather

Richard Petty Richard Lee Petty (born July 2, 1937), nicknamed "The King", is an American former stock car racing driver who raced from 1958 to 1992 in the former NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most notably ...

, for Empire Racing, a satellite team of Richard Petty Motorsports. He ran three races in 2017. Moffitt's best finish was eleventh, at Lucas Oil Raceway. In early 2018, Moffitt tested at

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. In addition to NASC ...

and announced races at

Pocono Raceway Pocono Raceway (formerly Pocono International Raceway), also known as ''The Tricky Triangle'', is a superspeedway located in the Pocono Mountains in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. It is the site of three NASCAR national series races and an AR ...

and Lucas Oil with the potential for more races to be added later in the year. In his second start of the year, at Salem Speedway, Moffitt was involved in two incidents, one with Natalie Decker and one with Jack Dossey III. Moffitt rebounded from a mid-race spin in his next race to claim his first top ten, finishing tenth in the race at Toledo. On January 9, 2020, it was announced that Moffitt would join DGR-Crosley for the season-opening race at Daytona, and would then run all races on the schedule until sponsorship dried up, plus Memphis, which the team had previously signed a sponsor for. He claimed three top five finishes over thirteen races, with a career-best finish of fourth at Memphis. In January 2021, it was announced that Moffitt would return to ARCA with the renamed David Gilliland Racing team for at least eleven races that year. He proceeded to compete in almost the entire season, only being replaced by

Taylor Gray Taylor Arthur Gray (born September 7, 1993) is an American actor, best known for playing Ezra Bridger on the animated television series ''Star Wars Rebels'', and Bucket in the Nickelodeon series '' Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures''. He also ...

for the dirt races and Canadian J. P. Bergeron for the final two events. At

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

, Moffitt was involved in controversy after his retaliation attempt against Drew Dollar for a previous wreck resulted in a crash which injured Tim Richmond.

NASCAR Truck Series

On February 10, 2022, it was announced that Moffitt will make his

Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

debut at Daytona for Reaume Brothers Racing in collaboration with

GMS Racing Petty GMS Motorsports, also known as GMS Racing in the Craftsman Truck Series, is an American professional stock car racing team formed by Richard Petty and Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. and operated by GMS Racing. In the NASCAR Cup Series they field ...

, running a paint scheme that pays tribute to Richard Petty's

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

retirement season.

Personal life

Moffitt was born on September 12, 2000, to Brian Moffitt and Rebecca Petty-Moffitt in Trinity, North Carolina. His mother, Rebecca, is the youngest daughter of

NASCAR Hall of Fame The NASCAR Hall of Fame, located in Charlotte, North Carolina, honors drivers who have shown expert skill at NASCAR driving, all-time great crew chiefs and owners, broadcasters and other major contributors to competition within the sanctioning ...

driver

. Throughout his childhood, Moffitt played football and other organized sports. In his mid-teens, Moffitt began competing in

Kart racing Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

before moving to Late model racing in 2016. Moffitt had attended Wheatmore High School before deciding to switch to online schooling midway through his high school career. In 2019, Moffitt traveled to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

to run a 1981 edition of grandfather

's racecar at the

Goodwood Festival of Speed The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual motorsports festival featuring modern and historic motor racing vehicles taking part in a hill climb and other events, held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England, in late June o ...

. Despite sharing the same last name, he is not related to fellow NASCAR competitor Brett Moffitt.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Camping World Truck Series

ARCA Menards Series

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Menards Series East

ARCA Menards Series West

Season still in progress

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moffitt, Thad Living people 2000 births ARCA Menards Series drivers Racing drivers from North Carolina People from Asheboro, North Carolina Petty family