Rising in the ranks of racing in Florida, Blake Clouser is etching his own history among the generations before him at Volusia Speedway Park.
The Lake Helen, FL teenager has been around motorsports his entire life, starting by watching his grandfather and father, race around the Central Florida region before trying his hand at a Quarter Midget at four years old.
While racing locally at New Smyrna’s Quarter Midget track and traveling along the southeast with the Dixie Shootout Series and NASCAR Youth Series, he garnered the core fundamentals of racing while enjoying the sport as a kid. His only pressure from those nights came from chasing a trophy.
“It’s all my family has ever done,” Clouser said. “It started with my (grandfather), he raced at New Smyrna and Orlando (Speed World), then my dad carried it on, and he went to the top echelon of short track racing with Super Late Models. Then, I started in Quarter Midgets when I was four, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”
When Clouser reached the age limit of racing a Quarter Midget, he transitioned to New Smyrna’s half-mile oval aboard a Super Stock in 2022. While there was more speed and challenges packed in the division, the 17-year-old had a natural fit that catered to the childhood lessons taught in Quarter Midgets.
“I mean, it was definitely different, but I’m very grateful for what Quarter Midgets taught me,” Clouser said. “Pretty much everything, I could use the stuff I learned then to this day. When I first got in the Super Stock, I don’t wanna say it came natural, but it just felt right. I didn’t feel like I struggled adapting to anything. I think traveling and racing in parking lots every weekend helped my skills for sure. All I know and have done, I’ve had my dad. He’s a really good teacher, so that helped a lot.”
Clouser found immediate success after winning his first Feature in his second start at New Smyrna, and closed the year with a second win at Punta Gorda, FL’s 4-17 Southern Speedway.
In 2023, the interest in dirt racing arose after receiving an opportunity from his car owner, David Gould, and dirt veteran Justin Reynolds to drive a Factory Stock at Volusia Speedway Park.
“The No. 5 Super Stock, David Gould owns it, but it used to be Matt and Justin Reynolds’ car,” Clouser said. “They built it, so we talked to them a lot, and they were hounding me, like, ‘You need to come do dirt,’ and Justin was going to let me drive his car.
“Then, they built another car that went up for sale, so we bought it and turned it into the dirt car. Matt and Justin were really the ones that got us started into it, and Tanner Thomas and I became really good friends, so it just made sense.”
Like New Smyrna, Clouser found his avenue to Volusia Victory Lane in his first year of racing at the track by bagging a $750 payday at the season-closing Emil and Dale Reutimann Memorial.
“That win was definitely and completely unexpected,” Clouser recalled from the night. “I was still out there asphalting around, putting it around the bottom, and driving super straight. We had an old steel body on it, and we were just trying to figure it out. Justin and Matt gave us a baseline setup, but we didn’t know we had lead (weight) on the right side, a super tall left rear spring, and all this stuff that we had no idea why it was possible.
“I was up there and racing with (Joe) Belkey and (Jason) Garver, passed them, and came out on top. I couldn’t believe it at the time. That definitely kicked it off from there on, I was hooked, and that’s what we’ve been doing ever since then.”
Clouser continued to split his time between the two Volusia County racetracks, winning the 2023 New Smyrna track title in the Super Stocks before hunting the Volusia Factory Stocks title in 2024.
However, an incident with eventual champion Patrick Thomas in the opening race hurt his chances to score the crown. In the end, the two reconciled, creating a closer bond between the Thomas and Clouser families.
“Their family definitely means a lot to me,” Clouser said. “Especially over the last couple years, we’ve become super close. We’ve always knew who they were. (Patrick) used to win every single week at New Smyrna, then Tanner and I actually met on iRacing and started to become really good friends.
“Then, me and Patrick wrecked that night, and obviously, I’m super mad because that kills your championship hopes there. But, he came over and said sorry, and we’ve moved on and went on from there, really.”
While racing at Volusia in 2025, Clouser earned the chance to drive a 604 Late Model for Sean Reagan for the first time at the Battle in Barberville, picking up a seventh-place result. His drive formed the launching pad for a partnership he’s shared with former champ Joe Kump to pilot his No. 721 dirt Late Model.
“So, the car was owned by Sean, one of Joe Kump’s buddies from down south,” Clouser said. “At the time, Ivedent (Lloyd) was still driving for Joe, and Joe was putting me a car together. He was just doing his best to find me a ride, and that car was just sitting there, so he talked to Sean and got me that opportunity to get laps in a Late Model.
“One night at Volusia, he approached me and was like, ‘Where do you live in Lake Helen?’ So, we exchanged contact info, and it was one day where he came to me like, ‘Hey, do you want to drive this car?’ So we went and did practice that night, and he got me the deal with Sean to get me laps.”
For the remainder of the 2025 season, Clouser split his time between racing asphalt and dirt while balancing time between the Factory Stock and dirt Late Model time at “The World’s Fastest Half Mile.”
To start 2026, he made a debut appearance in the DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals for Kump before starting the “World’s Fastest Half Mile” points season at the Benny Corbin Memorial aboard Kump’s Barry Wright ICON Chassis and a Thomas-built No. 25T Factory Stock.
While running third in the early stages of the 20-lap Late Model Feature, he developed a liking for the 1/2-mile’s cushion that helped him power around Kole Platt and Jason Garver for the top spot.
“I started in third, and I felt really good on the bottom, but I wasn’t going anywhere,” Clouser said. “Them two were racing super hard and driving away, and the only thing that made me feel comfortable is my dad (stick signaling) me that I was away from fourth. So I went into (Turn 3), I lifted, it turned across the track, and I was like, ‘Dang, there’s definitely some speed up here. I need to be hammer down up here.’”
When multiple cautions flew within the final five laps, Clouser’s new task was to keep Garret Stewart and Garver at bay to take home the $1,500-to-win prize. While it frustrated him to wait longer to finish the job, executing the restarts for his first victory of the year was a product of his time in Quarter Midget racing.
“I guess the best word for it is ‘frustrating.’” Clouser said. “I hit one of them really good, and the yellow came out. I kept trying to change it up and try to not to allow them to guess what I was gonna do. Those two got more wins than I’ve participated in races, so I knew they were going to be hard to beat.
“I kind of felt them behind, and that’s when I took off. It was enough to hold them off, but that goes back to the Quarter Midget days. They taught me so much because there’s a lot of cautions and single-file restarts, so everybody’s right on top of each other, and you have to hit it right. I’ve lost many races and had plenty of butt chewings by losing races on restarts, so I was not going to let that happen again.”
Clouser will continue his chase for a 2026 Volusia Speedway Park track championship with the Short Track Showdown on Saturday night, April 11. Grandstand gates will open at 4 p.m, and Hot Laps will begin at 6 p.m.
How can you watch every lap of racing at Volusia Speedway Park? Live on DIRTVision.