John Rittenoure - TULSA, Okla. (April, 24, 2023) - Near the end of the 2022 racing season 20-year old Hayden Ross of Muskogee lost his life in a tragic off-track accident. Ross had just wrapped up the 2022 Complete Well Testing Sooner Late Model Series championship and his death shocked the racing community.
Hayden Ross will be missed, but his legacy will live on in the racing community with the formation of the Hayden Ross Motorsports Foundation. The Ross family wants to use the foundation to help grow the sport of auto racing.
In an effort to help Sooner Late Model Series competitors the foundation will add to the 2023 points fund by matching funds received from title sponsor Complete Well Testing.
“The Hayden Ross Foundation is going to help out this year,” said Hayden’s dad, Brady Ross. “We are going to try and match what Complete Well Testing is doing and put that mostly toward the points fund. We want to give back to the drivers and spark more interest in the Sooner Late Model Series.
“We talked about $6,000 to win the championship and $2,000 for tenth and $2,000 for Rookie of the Year. That is a good incentive for drivers around here to chase that series.”
Ross wants to see interest in the series grow among racers.
“I have talked with some people who are thinking about changing over from a B-Mod to a late model because the cost is not much different,” Ross saId. “They are not racing at the same place every weekend and with a schedule in Oklahoma we are not traveling a bunch.
“This is a really good series that is a platform for young drivers to get into racing.”
The foundation is also trying to invest in up and coming racers by working with area schools.
“The Hayden Ross foundation is setup to try and give money back to the students,” Ross said. “It is an educational type of deal to try and help kids get into the sport.
“There is an excellent program in Warner Public Schools. They have a car that is completely built by students and the driver is superintendent of schools. He is a racer and started this deal. We want to help them for sure. We are trying to get something like that inh\ Hayden’s hometown school. We have had a lot of positive feedback.”