Scott Morales

Scott Morales
[[Image:|150px]]
Age	26 (at time of death)
Nationality	United States
Car #	78
Years Competed	{{{career}}}
Current Team	Groves Racing
Championships	0
Pole Positions	1
Wins	1
First Race	2009 Paul's Bunion Removal 100
First Win	2010 Daytona 200 presented by Smash Beer
Last Win	2010 Daytona 200 presented by Smash Beer
Last Race	2012 Orange County 200
FARC National Series Driver

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 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.

2014

Despite being dead, there was a Scott Morales who attempted the 2014 Smash Beer 500 at Texas World Speedway. Fans, crew members, and even his widowed wife Andrea Kinasa (who was also racing that weekend) have said that he looked identical to the late Scott Morales, however this Scott Morales said on multiple occasions though out the weekend that he wasn't the deceased driver. He would ultimately fail to qualify for the race.

Disappearance

Things would take a strange turn of events once the Smash Beer 500 ended and Scott was nowhere to be seen, his racecar, hauler and crew were still there, but not Scott. Crew Chief Curtis Barrett was the last person to see him. Curtis said that "He was helping us with getting the car in the hauler, thanked all of us, we high fived, I turn my back for a second and he was gone." His crew would go looking for him, but no trace of him was seen. Barrett would also state that "we don't know how he got there, there wasn't a car he drove here in and he didn't say anything about going home with anybody. We asked Andrea if he went home with her, but she said no. He also didn't have any contact info aside from a twitter account, which had the same handle as the late Scott Morales, but it's been inactive since the day he died." There have been multiple claims of his appearance at different tracks, notably from Karjala, Decatur, Daytona, and even Gravis City, but none have been confirmed.

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