It was at age 4, after racing in a small go-kart for the first time, that Miles Murray discovered the passion that would drive his young life.
Now 17 and a senior at Fairfax High School, Murray races larger U.S. Legend Cars and recently won his biggest and most significant local championship yet at Dominion Raceway near Fredericksburg.
With his 2024 Legend track champion title, Murray earned a berth in the Legend Car Asphalt Nationals at Dominion Raceway, where he placed 25th in the main race of Pro Legends division. The national competition took place last week from Oct. 24-26.
“It’s really, really special and pretty cool to work this hard and win in Legend Cars,” said Murray, who regularly races on tracks in Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. “It shows hard work pays off. We had so many curveballs thrown at us. We just didn’t have the car to perform to win the [national] race.”
Murray’s six-year-old No. 18 car — black with with blue trim — is one of five cars racing for Tyler Hughes Motorsports in Stevensville, Maryland. Affectionately referring to the vehicle as “old girl,” Murray told Legend race organizer INEX that he’s always raced as No. 18 in homage to NASCAR racer Kyle Busch, who was long sponsored by McLean-based M&Ms maker Mars Inc.
Legend Cars are a step below the Late Model, then the NASCAR circuit, which is Murray’s ultimate goal to drive. He realizes that will take time, more work and support, because those circuits are so expensive.
“In motorsports, you start in go-karts and you have to climb the ladder to bigger cars, just like in other sports,” Murray said. “It’s not easy stuff.”
Murray played a number of sports at a young age, including football in middle school. He eventually opted to concentrate on racing as his primary pursuit.
When not in class, Murray helps out doing odd jobs in the athletic department at Fairfax High School. When the school day ends, he’s off to work on his car or race the vehicle.
Despite the more cautious nature of his mother, Sandy, his father Scott Murray rented the original go-kart for his 4-year-old son to ride, which he did regularly in the large parking lot of the Fairfax County Government Center in Fairfax.
After the Murrays eventually purchased a family go-kart, Murray participated in his first race at age 5. He competed in many events at Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas.
Murray raced in his last go-kart event at Daytona International Speedway in December 2021, finishing third. He began racing in the Legend Car series in 2022.
Murray wants to continue and keep moving up in the sport, but he also plans to attend college at George Mason University.
