Scott Morales

Scott Anthony Morales (born February 18th, 1986, died October 14th, 2012) was a American race car driver. He was known for his Sprint Car experience along with his ARLA experience. He drove the No. 76 Groves Racing/Colletta Inglesby for Groves Racing.

Morales was married to TM Lights driver Andrea Kinasa and had a two-year-old son, Raymond Christopher Morales. He was the older brother of Formula Overdrive driver Kenny Morales.

Biography
Morales was born the son of Darlene (née Gregerson) Morales and Nicholas Morales on.

He started racing go-karts at East Bay Raceway in Tampa, Florida at the age of six, where he won a championship in the 5-7 age group. He also won championships at the age of 15 and 16 in the 13-17 age group.

Then in 2003, he started racing in the National Sprint Car Association Southeast Division where he met future three-time champ Daniel Leckliter (formerly Clezl). Morales won 23 races in the NSCA and the championship in 2007.

2009
He was then picked up by Kenn Groves in 2009, and made his first start at Pocono Raceway (of a three-race audition) where he won the qualifying race. He finished third in the main race behind Brenda Riggs and Lance Andrews. Morales missed the Clairmont race, but notched his second qualifying race win at Dwyer. Morales finished 24th in the race. Morales would go on to complete the last three races in the 2009 season, where his highest finish was another third at the Appleton Speedway Fright Nite.

2010
Morales kicked off his 2010 season with a ninth-place finish in the 2nd annual Rookie Shootout. A week later in the Daytona 200 presented by Smash Beer, he parlayed a 25th-place starting position into his lone ARLA Elite Series victory, leading 14 laps. The rest of Morales' season included two other top-five finishes, three other top 10s, and seven DNF's. Morales won the pole at the season finale at Rockford.

Morales would end up finishing ninth in points and second in the Rookie of the Year standings behind Amy Harrison.

He also ran a few races in the TM Junior Series, not showing any results. He quit after focusing on both ARLA and his pregnant wife, Andrea Kinasa.

2011
Morales' 2011 season has not been as successful as his 2010 season. He has two top-ten finishes (at St. Petersburg and one at the 2011 OX200 at Buffalo Downs). He has also failed to finish a race four times.

2012
Morales had a horrifying flip at Daytona on the lap 29 big one. the rest of his marred by wrecks or mechanical failures. He finally got his first top 5 at the Four Corners 200, finishing 3rd, but it was heavily overshadowed to Yevgeny Kuznetsov's victory. He would fail to qualify for the 2012 Mini Indy 500. but he rebounded with a 10th place finish at the Smash Beer 400 in the first race. He would get a 4th place finish at Albuquerque.

Death
Sadly, Scott wasn't able to continue on his good luck, as he was killed in the 2012 Orange County 200 after a horrific crash in race 1 where he was pushed into the turn four pitwall. His known cause of death was from massive internal injuries after the steering wheel hit him in chest. He was just the second driver to be killed in ARLA competition, the other being Floyd Moss in 2004.

Trivia

 * Had a Pikachu plushie named Sparkplug in his car, it was present at his win at Daytona.
 * Was fluent in English, Spanish and French.
 * Lists Lance Andrews as one of his heroes, and was at Michigan when he won his long awaited race.
 * Was known for openly opposing the Twin Race Format the Elite series uses, saying that "The Qualifying races are there for a reason, to keep drivers who don't know how to drive out of the series."
 * His only ARLA Elite Series win came one day after his birthday