Rusty Carlton to be Formally Inducted into SAS Hall of Fame Tomorrow

At Cherokee Speedway tomorrow, the Southern All Star Dirt Racing Series will honor Mr. Rusty Carlton and formally induct him into the SAS Hall of Fame!

Rusty Carlton began his race officiating career at a very young age at his home track, Confederate Motor Speedway in Woodruff, SC. He ran line ups and in later years flagged and scored at the now shuttered facility.

Carlton returned to racing in 1997, joining his younger brother Kelley at Laurens County Speedway in Laurens, SC.  The elder Carlton served the speedway as a track official and progressed to the lead tech official role by the end of his tenure.

It was a natural progression that shortly after Kelley began working with Southern All Stars in 1999,  that Rusty joined him on the road in 2000 as a tech official. Rusty remained with SAS for 11 years ending his time as the lead tech official.

Rusty also dabbled in doing some racing photography and was somewhat of a historian through his vast collection of old photos from around his home region.

Rusty retired from active officiating at the end of the 2023 season. He is the father of 2 daughters and a grandfather to 4. He continues his passion of motorsports through his hobby of building plastic models and following his grandson Luke Cooper’s racing career.

Please join us tomorrow at Cherokee for the ‘Blue Gray 100’ and to honor Mr. Rusty Carlton!

Other 2026 SAS Hall of Fame inductees that will be or have already been formally honored include: Billy Franklin, Scott Sexton, Ivedent Lloyd, Jr., David Atkinson, Chad Harrington, Matt Wagner, Mark Chisum, Chris Mullinax, Tony Davis, and Billy Parker.

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