Page 10 - Hobart Institute of Welding - Fall 2020 World of Welding

HIWT Graduate Austin Abney’s success comes full circle with XC2 Pro-Am National Championship

Jared McMurry
jmcmurry@jrpress.com

that’s a big confidence booster right there. I would say that’s the
biggest thing is keeping your confidence level high.”
Abney, who started racing in 2014 and graduated from Fountain
Central in 2017, will move up to XC1 Pro-Am class for the final race
of the season at the Buckwheat 100 in Newburg, West Virginia this
weekend. As a part of the XC2 Class, Abney starts in the second
row of the pro race, but sits in 10th in the overall standings heading
into this weekend.
While Abney’s climb to the pro-level has been a quick one since he
moved to the XC2 class full-time in 2018, it was a slow process just
starting out as a young teen six years ago.
“When we first started, Dad wasn’t about it at all,” he said. “He
told me no multiple times, and it came down to the day of the first
race and he was not excited about it, but immediately I came off
the track that day and I don’t even remember how I finished, but I
could see his face light up and he was all about it. And ever since
that day, anything I’ve wanted to accomplish or do in racing, he’s
A last minute decision paid off in late October for Veedersburg’s been 100% supportive. He’s helped me get to the races, helped me
Austin Abney when he clinched the GNCC XC2 Pro-Am National out financially and that’s how we’ve got to where we are now.”
Championship with a second-place finish on his home track at Abney is the son of Darrel and Beth, and they have been his biggest
Crawfordsville’s Ironman on Oct. 24. supporters since day 1. Following graduation from Fountain Central,
In 2019 Abney ran at 38 Indiana local races, winning 36 of them, Abney attended Hobart Institute of Welding Technology in Troy,
but the decision to join the national circuit in 2020 wasn’t an Ohio and has worked full-time at Delta Welding in Attica since
automatic one. 2018. Racing has now become a second full-time gig.
“It was literally two days before the first national race in 2020, “You miss out on a lot with racing,” he said. “You’re gone all the
I told Dad (Darrel Abney) ‘pack your stuff we are going,’” Abney time and it’s a full-time job just doing the mechanic work.”
said. “and he’s had the passion for this sport as long as I have and Abney admitted he’s talked several times about walking away from
he said ‘alright we’ll go,’ and that’s what started the journey this the sport, but he keeps hanging on. It keeps fueling his fire.
year.”
And that fire is going to continue to burn for Abney right into 2021
Abney ended up placing second at the first race of the season at in the XC1 Class.
Big Buck in Union, South Carolina, and that lit the fire for the rest of
the season. Second-place finisher Drew Landers captured titles at
the first three tracks, including a win at the General in Washington,
Georgia in mid-March, but when racing returned to Washington
at The Bulldog following the COVID-19 hiatus in mid-May, Abney’s
domination started.
The Veedersburg native picked up wins at The Bulldog, and
then won rounds six and seven at High Point in Mt. Morris,
Pennsylvania and John Penton in Millfield, Ohio. He also won at
The Mountaineer in Beckley, West Virginia and Burr Oak in Millfield
in rounds nine and 10.
“Going into racing nationals you can be the top-dog at locals all
you want, but you go into nationals knowing you’re not the top-dog
anymore and you have to fight your way up there,” Abney said. “As
the season went on my overalls got better and better and I was
catching more of the XC1 guys and getting to ride with them and

2020 FALL ISSUE - 10 - www.welding.org
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