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CEFA: Learning to Earn

Program aims at training people, filling job needs

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Wallace Bromberg

In a classroom turned board room on the eastern edge of Birmingham, a dozen or so construction-industry executives from around the state gathered on a Tuesday morning to discuss their future.

It is a future that looks a bit bleak for them right now, but bright for prospective employees — if they only knew, understood and embraced what could lie ahead for them.

That’s the mission of Construction Education Foundation of Alabama — to not only raise awareness about rewarding careers in fields like electrical, HVAC, carpentry, plumbing, pipefitting and welding, but to provide the training to get students into those careers.

It was with that idea in mind that Associated Builders and Contractors of Alabama, Alabama Associated General Contractors and the Alabama Concrete Industries Association, the state’s three largest construction trade organizations, came together to found CEFA to offer nationally certified education opportunities to reverse the trend of a dwindling trained workforce.

It is a chronic problem faced by companies across Alabama, including that of CEFA board Chairman John Garrison, president and CEO of Pell City-based Garrison Steel. He knows the problem firsthand. He sees it every day in a pool of applicants — or lack of them — at his own company.

The CEFA board of directors gathered around him on this particular day to share his concern. They see it as a growing threat to the future of their industries, and they are finding ways to turn this harmful trend around.

They see CEFA as a viable bridge between a potential workforce and a good-paying career through intensive training, using nationally accredited curriculum. “When a student gets out of it, he knows what he’s doing,” Garrison said. The plus is that the certification is mobile. He can take that certification earned in Alabama and put it to work for him in the marketplace anywhere in the country.

Byron McCain, president of CEFA, explained that for too long, education in Alabama had a mantra: “College, college, college. Now, they’re saying college and careers.”

He uses charts and graphs to illustrate, but the net result over decades has been a workforce gap where too many students headed down a path toward a four-year college when the majority of jobs simply require advanced training.

In 1950, 20 percent of the jobs required a four-year degree. In 2000, a four-year degree requirement was still at 20 percent. In that same time frame, though, the need for skilled labor more than tripled from 20 percent to 65 percent.

With odds like those, it should be easy to envision that the quickest way to a $50,000 salary just might run through CEFA.

Recognizing the needs and the rewards, public education is beginning to move in the same direction. In its Plan 2020, the focus is “Every Child a Graduate — Every Graduate Prepared for College/Work/Adulthood in the 21st Century.”

And McCain sees that as a good sign for the industries he represents. “There are unbelievable careers that don’t come with college debt,” McCain said. “It is critical we get to the counselors. We’re losing a lot of people at 18 starting down a college path. The industry isn’t as generational as it used to be.”

The aim is to help give people “meaningful employment,” said Garrison. Through its training program, CEFA can put them on the path to that goal with good-paying careers awaiting them when they finish. Scholarships are available, as is assistance with job placement. They can even go to work early if they have the potential. “If they have the right desire, if they’re the real deal and are serious about getting through the program,” Garrison said companies can go ahead and hire them while going through the program. They can earn their way toward a career.

For example, McCain said, “There are opportunities for a 50-year-old to get a job and train at the same time.” And companies are looking for young people out of high school in whom they can invest for the long term.

Twenty weeks of training are required before CEFA can refer them to a company. The full training is 58 weeks.

“We’re at 70 percent capacity,” said Evans Dunn of Dunn Construction, who does asphalt paving. “We’ve got to get demand there. We struggle to get good people.”

“It’s a struggle every day,” said John Payne of Brasfield & Gorrie. “We’re suffering a labor shortage.”

But a good wage rate and benefits equals opportunity, he said.

“Consistent growth allows us to invest in a kid,” added Allen McCain of Bright Future Electric.

And that’s why these industry leaders are coming together and getting involved in getting the message out about initiatives like Go Build Alabama and using CEFA as a site for craft and apprenticeship training.

They know the benefits. Journeyman electricians can earn between $42,000 and $72,000 annually. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning, HVAC, professionals in an entry-level apprentice or technician position start out at $10 to $12 per hour and advance with their skill sets. An experienced professional can earn more than $65,000 per year. A welder can make $40,000 to $60,000 a year with the right knowledge and experience.

Average annual wage for an experienced carpenter is more than $45,000. An experienced plumber can earn $47,750 plus.

The higher the training and experience, the higher the salary can go, which is a win-win for all involved, these leaders say. And they’re not the only ones. “When you get serious about supporting yourself and your family,” said student Chris Rodgers, “CEFA offers the fastest way I know to learn how to earn.”

Features

St. Clair teen finds life in rodeo

[Show as slideshow]

Story by Graham Hadley
Photos by Graham Hadley
and Dr. Shawn Stubbs

For one St. Clair teen, the rodeo is worth giving up football and baseball for.

It’s worth giving up weekends, afternoons and most free time in between.

In fact, John-Cody Dale Stubbs’ Xbox has been broken for several years now … and he doesn’t miss it a bit.

Instead, the 15-year-old freshman at Briarwood Christian has a whole host of things he would rather be doing — bull riding, chute dogging (steer wrestling), goat tying and, his absolute favorite, team calf roping, among other rodeo events.

Cody looks like a natural on the back of his horse as he practices in the ring his father built on their property by their house in St. Clair County, and that innate talent and hard work are already paying off. He has been bringing in awards at competitions at both the state and national levels in calf roping and other events and sees no end in sight.

Row after row of winning buckles lined the dining-room table in front of Cody as he pointed to his favorite — a sportsmanship award — one of the few buckles he does not wear to keep it pristine.

His father, Dale, who is a retired firefighter and contractor, is quick to clarify that the sportsmanship award is not a “participation” award, but one of the top recognitions that is carefully considered by the judges.

“When he first won it, I thought it was a consolation prize, but they told me it was a big deal — that the vote for Cody had been unanimous,” he said.

Dale said he was not surprised that Cody had won it, but the behavior necessary to acquire the much-prized award is a common thread in the rodeo community.

“That’s the way rodeo kids are. They are really good kids who have spent a lot of time with their family and are well raised,” he said.

Cody has also won several saddles and some money from his competitions. Though he is very competitive and doing well now, he hopes to one day get a bigger piece of the winnings, which he says can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Dedication to the sport

Dale was not exaggerating when he said rodeo kids spend a lot of time with their families. In addition to normal family time, they spend most weekends and parts of the week traveling to various competitions, some just down the road, some in places like New Mexico and Oklahoma.

In fact, Cody and his Dad were gearing up to leave for another trip the day after his interview for Discover — they had been in Oklahoma the weekend before.

And where many traveling competitive athletes can fly to their destinations, Cody usually rides his own horses at each event, so those trips, both near and far, are on the road with the horses and all their support gear along for the ride.

In addition to competition road trips, Cody’s school is almost an hour from where he practices. A normal weekday afternoon sees Dale picking up Cody from Briarwood, driving to get something to eat, then he practices roping until around 9 p.m. every day. When he gets home, he has to take care of his horses and gear and many days, help get the RV packed and ready to hit the road to another show.

If he has any free time from all of that, Cody also has to train a new colt for riding.

“He ropes almost all weekends, so it is a six-day-a-week job,” said his mother, Dr. Shawn Stubbs.

And though he has missed some school for competitions, Cody also has his sights set on being a veterinarian one day, so his education is very important, too. He gets his homework done sitting in the truck on the way to practice. They plan on returning from an upcoming trip early in the morning and heading straight from the airport to get the aspiring animal doctor to school on time.

“You have to love it to do it,” Cody said.

From bull-riding to team roping

For all his dedication and the growing stack of awards — 18 buckles and several saddles — Cody has only been competing for a relatively short time.

“I have been doing this two and a half to three years,” he said. “I grew up around horses and animals. One day we went to Tractor Supply in Moody. There was a flier for a youth rodeo. I wanted to try bull riding. I also signed up for chute dogging.”

The first event was a win for Cody, just not the way he expected.

“I did pretty good at steer wrestling, but got bucked off bull riding.

“That was at Dusty Bottoms Rodeo in Sterrett. I noticed they gave away saddles for the most points. I realized I would have to do roping and horse events to win and started training in roping,” he said.

His mother was in the process of purchasing a horse from Wil and Rodney Sanders in Ardmore, and Dale said he was impressed by their operation.

“They were so nice. We asked about roping lessons for Cody.”

Then Cody “stole” his mother’s new horse to use for roping and riding, Dale joked.

Cody was working hard and competing and doing well, but he was not winning the events like he wanted to, so the Stubbs turned to Kenny Ellison from Calera.

“He has been helping me lately with my roping and riding,” Cody said.

Dale said he cold-called Ellison. “He is a very good guy. He took Cody in. Cody was roping really well but not winning. I called Kenny out of the blue. He did not know us.”

He has made a big difference for Cody in the arena.

“That’s just the way people in this sport are. The will help a kid out,” Dale said.

Gaining ground

Cody has been doing so well at a variety of events that he is starting to find sponsors — one of which is flying him out to Las Vegas and paying all his expenses there so he can do some product promotion and exhibition riding and roping.

RopeSmart has not only given Cody some much-needed equipment like practice steers and special wraps for the saddle horn, Cody got to rope with the owner at the national finals.

Standard Process does not do direct sponsorships for Cody, but they do help by providing some of the feed and other supplies for the horses.

Locally, he gets a lot of support from Jodie’s Harness & Tack. Dale said he could not say enough about the help and advice they get from the local business, located in the famous stacked-rock building on the outskirts of Odenville.

But the winning and everything that goes with it did not happen all at once. Many of the events Cody attends just focus on team calf roping, where he is usually the header, or steer wrestling. There are many levels and many different events to master for rodeo competition.

It was a lot to learn.

In team calf roping, as header “I catch the head of the steer (with a rope from horseback) and turn it for my heeler, who catches the back two feet,” Cody said.

“I also heel, where I catch the back two feet and get a dally and stretch the steer out.”

Aside from just liking roping, Cody said it is also his favorite sport because you can do it all your life — he sees ropers in their 80s at some events.

Other rodeo events — particularly bull riding — are more physical and more dangerous.

For bull riding “you draw your bull. They load him into a bucking chute. You have a bull rope. I wear a helmet, vest, chaps, a special leather glove to hold the rope and big spurs to get a better grip with,” he said.

The goal is to stay on for eight seconds

“I have gotten a lot better. I cover the ride — eight seconds — most of the time now,” he said.

Chute dogging — also called steer wrestling — is another sport Cody excels at but also takes its physical toll. Cody once had a gate not open right and ended up with a knee injury that day.

“Rodeo officials load the steer into a bucking chute. I get in there with it, get my arm around the steer’s neck and give a nod — the gate opens. You can’t touch the steer’s horns until you cross a line 8 feet from the chute. Then you grab the horns and use a certain technique to get the steer on the ground as fast as you can,” Cody said.

That event is the one that drew Cody to the state championship and is part of a national organization.

“That is what I went to New Mexico for,” Cody said.

His broad talent has opened many doors for him competitively. And once he started winning, Cody turned all his attention to roping and other rodeo events.

“He used to play baseball and football. He gave them up for this. He said, ‘Dad, I want to rope,’” Dale said.

For Cody, he sees two things in his future — “I would really like to get better. Go professional after (his parents emphatically agreed with this), after I graduate from vet school.”

Features

Leverton Brothers

Band topping the charts

Story by Carolyn Stern
Photos by Michael Callahan

The Leverton Brothers Band hardly had time to pack up their instruments between shows in the past few months. This local group is gaining recognition all over the county and beyond, and Benny (Benjammin) and Randy Leverton are realizing a lifetime dream.

More proof of “breaking out,” comes from the popularity of their single, “Polecat Holler.” It recently hit Number 1 on the Indie World Country Chart. The “holler” is an actual spot located between Gadsden and Guntersville. Bill Moon, who knows a lot about that area, wrote the lyrics, and band members came up with the music.

This recognition builds on the popularity of last year’s hit, “Take Me Back to Alabam’” written by Randy and Letha Leverton.

Brothers Benny and Randy are the founders of the band. Both have been musicians most of their lives. “I started playing guitar when I was 10 years old,” Benny says, “and I’ve been playing and writing songs for more than 30 years.”

Randy, who mans the drums and sings, has taken very much the same course. “Each of us played with different groups for a while,” he says, “then we got together and picked up other members along the way.”

Managing to keep their day jobs, the brothers grew their audience by performing as much as possible. Randy has owned RTL Printing and Signs in Pell City for 20 years, coincidentally, the band’s direct source for its t-shirts and CD covers. Benny is retired from CenturyLink Telecommunications. They split the band’s business between Randy’s Studio 1 in Cropwell, where the recording is done on Benny’s Benjammin’ label.

The band’s song list covers blues, country, rock and soul. Much of the music they play is written by one or more of the band members.

Talent binds the present crew. Benny’s wife, Paula, says, “Sometimes we sit in the studio and toss stuff back and forth. Somebody comes up with a tune, somebody else throws in some words.” She joined the band in 1990, plays percussion, sings and writes songs. She also has a day job as Executive Assistant-Nursing Administration at St. Vincent’s St. Clair.

Barry McNair, a classically-trained pianist is on keyboard. He began playing piano when he was five. His day job is teaching electronics for the Etowah County Board of Education. Barry moves between electronics and music with the ease of a man who enjoys both.

J.J. Jackson says he “hit the road in his teen years and has been wandering ever since.” He’s played bass guitar in a number of bands. “My favorite was the Crimson Tide band in the ‘70s.” It had nothing to do with the University of Alabama, he adds.

Phil Harris, acoustic rhythm guitar, is a seasoned songwriter who’s been performing for 20 years. Recently, he recorded “11 o’clock” and “Where Have All the Heroes Gone” at Studio 1.

Whether performing in front of a crowd or jammin’ together, there’s no stopping the music from flowing. As Benny puts it, “We just write about life, and we just love music.”

On a Mission

Christy Minor follows in her grandparents’ footsteps

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Michael Callahan
Submitted photos by Christy Minor

It’s a legacy of mission work that has taken Christy Church Minor halfway around the world and back again — six times. But it’s a calling to a continent she seems to have been destined to fulfill.

Her grandparents Clyde and Anneli Dotson were missionaries in Africa for 40 years. Her mother, Margaret, grew up as the daughter of those missionary parents in Rhodesia. And although Minor is a judge’s wife, a mother of two and an elementary school librarian in Pell City, Alabama, Africa has become a place that beckons her every summer.

Fresh from a mission trip to Swaziland, a tiny country in South Africa, Minor shares her experience from the comfort of Coosa Valley Elementary’s library, surrounded by Pell City children eager to hear her story about this faraway land.

A month earlier, she was wrapped nearly head to toe with the warmest clothes she could find. It’s winter there while Alabama children swelter in the heat of the summer sun. As a member of the Pell City First Baptist Church mission team, her work at an orphanage in Bulembu was getting its library in order in a building with no heat.

By the end of the week, neat shelves packed with books in orderly fashion replaced the titanic piles of books strewn about the floor that Minor had encountered upon arrival. She went through them all, discarding what wasn’t needed or was out of date and then transformed it into a real, usable library. “They were very happy to have a librarian,” she notes.

And just like she does on a regular basis at Coosa Valley, she would read to the children of Bulembu. Their favorite, just like back home, was “No, David!” And as Minor recounts to the Coosa Valley children about sharing the children’s book with their counterparts a world away, the look of familiarity is evident in their faces.

While where she was in Bulembu was an orphanage, careful attention is given to avoid the stigma of children with no family. They live in individual homes with “aunties” caring for them. She lived in one of the nearby homes, visiting the children each afternoon after school and working with them. She , too, became known as “Auntie Christy,” she tells her students in the best South African accent she can muster.

But by the end of the week, when the Bulembu children would see her on the playground, they reminded her of the joy they found in what they learned from the book she had shared. If imitation is the best form of flattery, they certainly discovered it. They would smile, hold up a single finger and say, “No, David!” to her as she passed.

Bulembu is actually a real-life lesson to be learned in and of itself. It was a deserted mining town bought by the not-for-profit Bulembu Ministries Swaziland just seven years ago. Swaziland fell victim to the AIDS pandemic and has the highest incidence in the world of this deadly disease. As a result, thousands of children have been left orphaned.

Bulembu, in which Global Teen Challenge plays a major role, was created with a vision to make it self-sustaining to give those children a chance to rise above the abject poverty that has controlled their region for generations. And it’s working. It is now 30 percent self-sustainable through a dairy operation, bottling honey, a bakery, a water bottling plant and timber sales.

“It is very encouraging,” Minor says. Teachers come from all over the world. “They said, ‘We just came here for a few months’ ” and seven years later, they’re still there.” She is convinced in seeing firsthand what goes on there — a challenging curriculum, medical care, love and guidance — “they will be the future leaders of the country.”

Because of this ministry, the benefits and accommodations were not what she had come to expect from previous trips. “I am used to going to remote, really destitute areas” — places where Malaria reigns and swollen bellies from malnutrition are the norm. But in Bulembu, “It was truly a trip of hope to see what can happen when God’s people come together to help children.”

It also made her see that she is needed elsewhere, in places where the visitors aren’t as numerous nor the opportunities as plentiful.

She wants to go back to those remote areas “where they need medical attention and where they have never heard the word of Jesus Christ.” That is her calling, she says, just like her grandparents before her.

Just after Minor returned to Alabama, her grandmother was to give a talk about missionary work at her Oxford church and asked her granddaughter to share her experience as well. “She was able to share about what was happening 50 years ago, and I shared what was happening five days ago.”

To them, it is a legacy of love and compassion that lives on. “I have always felt called to the continent of Africa,” Minor says, her eyes reflecting an unmistakable longing to return.

For her, it is an obvious conclusion. “My heart is intertwined.”

The Cane Makers

A stick and a knife are tools of their trade

Story by Tina Tidmore
Photos by Michael Callahan

Walking stick, cane, hiking pole and pilgrim’s staff: just a few of the terms that refer to the humble weight-supporter often associated with disability, the elderly and ancient Biblical characters walking through a desert. At least two St. Clair County woodworkers add creativity to the sticks they find in the woods, giving them eye-appeal in addition to a practical use.

Marvin Little, a retired insurance adjuster, takes a simple approach in his creations. His focus is on using a variety of woods and a variety of handles. He retains the bark and enhances the natural beauty of the stick.

Little’s interest in making canes started when he moved into a new home 15 years ago. While walking through the woods, he noticed some small trees and branches that would make good walking sticks. He has learned many of his techniques through online cane-making clubs where ideas are shared.

His own sharing sparked interest from another would-be cane maker. Cook Springs resident Jackie Stevens, who retired from the banking industry, remembers her interest starting when Little regularly brought his canes to the old St. Clair Federal Savings and Loan in Pell City to show the employees.

Little tried to get her involved in the Logan Martin Woodcarvers group, but she regularly declined. Finally in 2006, “I went to a meeting and became hooked,” Stevens said. Then, with a few unprepared, seasoned sticks Little gave her, she started creating her own canes.

Using a knife, Stevens actually carves shapes and figures into the sticks, including one she worked on of two snakes this summer.

Both Little and Stevens said a love for working with wood was passed down to them in their families. “I enjoy making something with my hands,” Little said. “It’s always a challenge to make something pretty and useful out of wood.”

“I even love the smell of wood,” Stevens said.

Little’s approach is not only to provide something attractive and unique, he likes knowing he is making something with practical use that is helpful to people.

But Stevens’ focus is on adding to her personal wood-carving collection or creating artistic pieces for decoration or display. She has given some as gifts or done commissioned pieces. They are strong enough to be useful, but that’s not her main focus.

Because their canes have different primary purposes, they have different price ranges. He sells his canes at local festivals and is careful not to invest too much time or supplies into them. “You have to make something that will sell at the venue where you want to sell it,” Little said. So his price points are $18 to $28, which generally amounts to enough to cover his expenses. He’s not making any profit or even paying for his time.

Similarly, Stevens isn’t in it for the money, even though she’s sold one at $60 and others up to $400. She started her cane-carving while seeking a stress-reliever. “My shop is the only place that I can completely lose myself with no worries or fears and lose all track of time,” said Stevens. “To me, the entire process from harvesting the wood to applying the final finish is rewarding.”

But she avoids turning it into a job. “I want it to be my idea, my style, no demands,” Stevens said. “I bowed out of the real world and come into my fantasy world.”

In 2006, when Stevens first attended the Logan Martin Woodcarvers, she was the only woman. But now others are involved, and they have taken up carving dolls. “The biggest thing is the friends I’ve gained in the group,” Stevens said.

Cane-making Process

Making a walking cane starts, obviously, with the stick. Marvin Little, who lives just north of Pell City, has used sassafras, hickory, oak, bamboo, sourwood, cedar and many other species. “A lot of it I don’t know what it is because I cut it in the winter when there aren’t any leaves,” Little said.

Some are branches, but most of the walking canes started as trunks of young trees. Little often turns the root ball into the cane handle. Broken limbs lying on the ground cannot be used because they are weakened by bugs. “It has to be something that feels good in your hand,” Little said.

Both Little and Jackie Stevens say “twisties” are highly favored. They are trees that have been twisted into a cork-screw form by vines. “If I find a good twisty in the woods, I’ve got to have it,” Stevens said.

Both Little and Stevens have friends offering them sticks and other wood. “I hate to see wood discarded,” Little said.

The harvested stick must be allowed to season for a year. Then, Little cleans off loose bark. It’s at that point that he decides what he will make with that stick. Some need to be straightened using water and a clamp. Sanding and painting are next. Then he puts on the handles and adds the protective clear coat.

In addition to the joy of creating something attractive, there is the challenge of doing so within the limitations and features each piece of wood has. “The wood has to talk to me,” Stevens said in reference to what she decides to do with it.

Much of the character of a walking cane is in the handle. Little has used a variety of items to create decorative handles, including doorknobs, deer hoofs and elk horns. Even a golf ball has been turned into a cane handle.

The most unusual request Little received was to create a wood-carved human skull as a cane handle. He has been asked to do canes shaped like snakes. But he has refused. Why? Simple. “I don’t like snakes,” he said.

To be functional and stable, the top of the cane must be in the same plane as the bottom, even if the middle is twisted. Also, the height of the cane needs to come up to the person’s wrist. Shorter or longer and it will not provide the stable support needed.

A cane Stevens is most proud of is one that used material from the former Avondale Mills in St. Clair County. “I made this cane in the memory of my Big Daddy McCullough, who worked in the mill all his life,” Stevens said. As the Mill was being dismantled, she asked for some of the remnant material.

She got some wooden thread spools and a 1902 sprinkler head that she made into a cane that she treasures. “I took several of these old spools of various colors, stacked them on each other and ran a quarter–inch thread rod the length of the cane and then put the sprinkler head on top,” Stevens said.

She has agreed to have her canes included in an exhibit at Heritage Hall Museum. Little plans to be selling his canes at this fall’s Homestead Hollow.

But beyond that, they do it just for the joy found in creating a work of art with a knife and a stick.

Fifteen and Fast

[Show as slideshow]

Pell City’s ‘Coyote’ Cole Daffron
a force to contend with on the race track

Story by Graham Hadley
Photos by Michael Callahan
Track photos courtesy of
Kelly’s Racing Photography

Though Pell City’s William Cole Daffron can’t legally drive on the road without an adult in the car with him, he already has one national championship under his belt on the track and has his sights set on ARCA and eventually NASCAR.

With help from his family, friends, supporters and sponsors, “Coyote” Cole has been working his way up the racing ladder, starting out on the go-kart circuit and moving up to Pro Challenge 3/4-size trucks in the past year. They have a dirt track car ready and are putting together a pro late-model racecar — possibly the last step before moving on to ARCA and similar competitions.

“Cole has his eyes locked in to the ARCA series as the next step to NASCAR. He is currently running a dirt crate late-model on a limited basis to get that much-needed experience,” his father, Scott Daffron, said.

The Pell City High School student is only 15 years old — he has his learner’s permit thanks to his mother Tracy Partain mailing him the paperwork when he was at the beach. While he is learning to drive responsibly on public streets, Cole has hit speeds of well over 100 mph on the track.

Cole started racing go-karts in 2007 when he was 9 years old. His father had been racing cars off and on for years and helping other racers, with Cole often following Scott to the track to watch.

Cole said he tried out baseball, but did not like it much — he knew he wanted to get behind the wheel. The decision to start racing was mutual. Cole wanted to race and Scott wanted him to do it too, but did not want to push him.

“It was his decision. He had to want to do it. I wanted to be sure he was living his dream and not mine,” Scott said.

For Cole, the choice was simple — he wanted to race. In fact, that is his core goal, to make a career on the track.

So Scott bought a racing go-kart. These are not your run-through-the-yard domestic karts many children have. They are miniature racecars and are almost as complicated as the larger vehicles, costing in the thousands of dollars. Scott started out with a used one in case Cole decided he did not want to keep racing.

But he took to the sport like a natural — and has a room full of trophies and winner’s checks, not to mention a national-championship ring, to prove it.

Cole started racing at the Talladega Short Track in 2007, pulling a respectable third place track championship that year. The following year, he earned a track championship, and by 2009, he won both the Alabama-Mississippi Series championship, champ kart, and the Maxxis Tire national championship, flat kart.

“That first race, it was exciting, different from anything I had ever done. It was the best time I ever had,” Cole said, though he did note the national championship race was the most exciting time he has ever had.

Scott said it was during those early racing days Cole earned the nickname “Coyote” — based on the coyote character from the Roadrunner cartoons. He was racing more experienced drivers who had already made names for themselves, “and I told him if he beats those guys, he would be the Coyote. … and then he started beating them.”

As the wins kept coming, with success across the Southeast in Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia and other states, Cole stepped up to the next level with the 3/4-scale Pro Challenge trucks, graduating at the same time from dirt to asphalt, once again proving himself a natural behind the wheel.

To date, Scott said Cole has not had a Pro Challenge finish lower than fifth. Just this September, he set a new track record during qualifying at Sunny South Raceway in Grand Bay, Alabama, and went on to win the race there for the sixth time in a row.

Even before that race, the PCHS teen had already been tapped as the 2013 rookie of the year for that series and is in a “three-way battle” for second place in the national championship, he said.

Scott and Cole say they fully expect him to be in an ARCA race by 2015.

Dedication, hard work
and more than a little help

Though Cole is the one driving the car, there is a whole network of support behind him making his racing career possible.

“A lot of people don’t understand this is a full-fledged racing program,” Scott said. The go-karts cost thousands of dollars, the Pro Challenge car costs thousands more, and the dirt-track car and the pro late model cars cost in the tens of thousands — and that is just to purchase the vehicle and get it race ready. That does not include maintenance and parts — especially tires, and the transportation to and from the tracks and other expenses.

Luckily for Cole, help is in no short supply.

His grandparents, Bill and Patricia Daffron, “are probably Cole’s biggest sponsors and his biggest fans. They make sure we have what we need to race. They are very supportive,” Scott said.

In fact, it is partially because of Bill that the family got into the racing business. He left the car dealership he had been working at to start a salvage yard and body shop. It was that car-filled environment that Scott grew up in that he credits with getting him hooked on racing (and restoring vintage vehicles, but that’s another story). Though his father still runs the salvage yard, Scott handles the body shop.

It is this family-run business and its resources that form the backbone of Cole’s racing operation.

Because of his quick success at the track, Cole has already landed one sponsor — Amsoil D&S Lubrication through Dennis Crowe, which has brought in some much-needed financial support.

Then there is Carl Dieas, who helps out around the shop and can always be counted on to track down parts — sometimes from very far away and on very short notice.

“I just help out a little here and there,” Carl said, but Scott was quick to clarify exactly how important a role Carl really plays.

“He has done a round trip in 13 hours for parts that had been ordered but did not come in time. If he had not done that, we would not have been racing that weekend. It’s hard to do this without Carl,” Scott said.

Cole and his Dad also throw credit to Scott Honeycutt — Cole’s spotter during races and his “right-hand man.”

“He is the best spotter I have seen. He can talk Cole through any thing, a wreck, whatever, on the track. … But he does not try to tell Cole how to drive,” Scott said.

For all the help he receives, Cole does his part, too — aside from just driving.

Between training and maintaining his vehicles, Cole says he does not have much free time. “I come in from school and start working in the garage. We take a break around 5 and eat dinner, then come back out and work some more,” he said, adding that the races take up “just about all my weekends.”

And though he is only 15 and can’t legally drive on public streets without an adult, he is preparing for the day he gets his driver’s license, too, by building his own truck in one of the family’s garages. He has already made solid progress on putting his 2009 Chevrolet together.

The thrill of racing

For Cole, all the hard work is more than worth it when he gets out on the track and it’s all about the racing.

“The first time I won a truck race, we had been working so hard. It was the last few laps and I was in front. The spotter was telling me where the other guy was behind me on the last lap. You pray you don’t mess up, and then you win,” Cole said, emphasizing that the excitement of those moments is almost beyond description.

Scott shares the thrill from afar, but gets equally excited. He remembers the national championship race in fine detail. “It was my most exciting moment. Watching him come around the corners in front. Cole was breathing so hard, his mask would fog up and he would fall back. The kids kept trading the lead, then we came out ahead.”

Along with the excitement of the race, Scott admits that, as a parent, there is also concern that something could go wrong.

“My heart feels like it is going to beat out of my chest every time somebody gets close to Cole on the track or something happens,” he said.

Luckily, Cole has not had any serious accidents to date, though he did flip a go-kart off a berm one time.

“We were coming out of a turn three wide,” Cole said. The karts got tangled up, and “I hit a berm and flipped in the air, landed on all four tires. It was pretty intense.”

“Thank God he landed on all four — there is no roll cage on those,” Scott said.

“And no seat belts,” Cole added.

Given his track record and continued winning streak, Cole said he thinks he has a solid chance of one day racing NASCAR.

His Dad agrees, but says they still have a ways to go, both as a team and Cole as a driver.

“I want to make sure he is mature enough. So far, everything has worked because we have been taking it in steps,” Scott said, pointing out that time behind the wheel is really the key to being a good driver. Right now, he wants Cole to race cars on the dirt track because, even though they can top 100 mph, the slick dirt will help prepare him for the day he races stock cars on asphalt and the tires heat up and become slick.

And, as Cole builds up his driving skills, Scott hopes to attract more attention to what they are doing, possibly even finding more sponsors and supporters.

“We are still in development. We are learning as we go along,” he said.

You can Follow “Coyote” Cole on Facebook here.

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