Layne “Bug” Bellm, 14 years old and all of 5-foot tall, is driving circles, literally, around competition twice her age on oval dirt tracks around Colorado’s eastern plains.
Dirt track racing is in Layne’s blood, having been born into a Colorado racing family. Her father, Joe Bellm, is an accomplished 35-year local car racing veteran and promoter. Older sister Payton, 19, races in the Stock Car division and helps her father promote races. Her uncle and grandfather also raced.
“Itap all we know, I saw how my dad did it, how my sister did it, how everyone did it really and I was like, ‘I have to do this, this is awesome,’” said Layne, who recently finished her rookie season as a Hobby Stock driver.
The racing bug bit both Payton and Layne early as they spent much of their youth either at the racetrack, watching and learning from their father, or driving on a homemade 1/8th mile dirt track their father built to run go-carts, four-wheelers and quarter midgets.
“Me and Payton have never been super girly ever, we’ve never played with dolls, we never did any of that stuff, instead we played with dirt,” Layne said.
Soft-spoken and unassuming, Layne recently started her freshman year at Legacy High School. “I’m not a really big talker, I just go there to get my stuff done and get outta there,” she said.
At the racetrack, though, her persona changes. She transforms into a precocious, focused driver, negotiating banked turns at quarter-mile dirt tracks and rocketing down the straightaway at speeds up to 90 mph.
“There’s not much to think about,” Layne said. “You have so much adrenaline going through you, the world goes away, you are super focused and determined to do your best.”
Her father has won over 200 feature races and multiple local and regional track championships, including a NASCAR Winston Racing Series national title at Colorado National Speedway in 1998. He continues to race and often takes the checkered flag, but has taken a back seat to help his daughters with their budding racing careers.
“Racing helps in everyday life as much as it does at the races,” he said. “It teaches all of us not to quit. I can’t emphasize enough the family aspect, not just us, everybody’s little families become one big family on race night.”
Asked about the lessons she’s learned as a rookie driver, Layne said, “Never give up is probably the top one, thatap super important to know not only in racing but life in general. Never give up.”
That lesson proved prescient in her last race of the season, at the El Paso County Raceway. She was poised to win the Hobby Stock track championship, holding a comfortable points lead heading into the 20-lap main event. She needed only a fourth-place finish to win the points title.
On the 10th lap, a competitor bumped her from behind and spun her car out, nearly knocking her out of championship contention.
“I wasn’t really mad, I told myself that I got this, I did the best I could to get back up front,” she recalled.
After the yellow flag, Layne had to restart last because of the incident. Undeterred, she used the remaining 10 laps going high, going low and speeding past seven race cars to finish fourth, not only winning the title, but also taking rookie of the year honors in her division.
“To finish first, first you must finish,” said her father. “She’s got that down as good as anybody. Itap a huge success for Layne. There’s people that never won a race or championship, she’s done that in her rookie year.”
She’s getting noticed in school, too.
“Everyone is calling me CHAMP,” she said. “It’s awesome, a great feeling!”
