Teenage brothers team up as driver and crew chief at Eastern Iowa race tracks

INDEPENDENCE - Racing needs youth and Independence Motor Speedway is restocking its pool with local talent like Logan and Landon Duffy.

Logan, the driver, is 16, and crew chief Landon recently turned 14.

'We got into go-karts when I was 6 and he was 4,” Logan Duffy said. 'We've been racing ever since.”

Landon mostly scrapes mud while dad, Jim, and 'shock-guy” Scotty Fitzpatrick handle most of the under-the-hood work for the team, although his efforts still are very much recognized.

'He's by my side all the time and through the good and the bad, he's still my brother,” Logan said of Landon. 'He's been a good brother by helping me.”

Then there is legendary racer Gary Duffy, the brothers' grandfather who quit racing the year Landon was born and who is there with decades of knowledge to share with the young team.

This season, Logan has been racing in Marshalltown on Fridays, Indee on Saturdays and Dubuque on Sundays with occasional appearances at Davenport.

'We race as much as we can and we're doing pretty good so why quit?” Logan said. 'It's a lot more fun to race when you don't have to fight the car every night, so we've been racing about every time that we can.”

That has resulted in a spike in his experience and it shows with multiple feature wins this season in the late model class.

'My first win was exciting,” said the soon-to-be junior at Independence High School. 'But none of my friends or family were there to see it so the second one probably meant more. It was at my home track and all that.”

In school, Logan likes science. On the track, he prefers the low-side from his days in a kart racing. But he is starting to experiment as he gains experience.

'With go-karts, the bottom is where you have to be,” Logan said. 'I'm starting to move around a little. It'll take time, but right now the bottom is where I like to be.”

Comments: justin.webster@thegazette.com