It’s never an easy decision to retire from doing something you love early, but Mason Daniel had to come to that this summer with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series.
Daniel, at age 21, announced publicly on Wednesday that he would be retiring from sprint car racing.
“I saw several doctors and we decided it’s best to shut down my team and step away from racing,” Daniel said. “I want to get back in the car tomorrow, but this is something for my health going forward that I need to do. The toughest decisions are normally the right ones.”
Daniel made 41 starts in his World of Outlaws career.
He had planned to race for years to come with the series and learn tracks as the years went on.
“It’s pretty heartbreaking,” Daniel said. “Everyone has a dream, and mine was to be a competitive World of Outlaws driver. I got to do the Outlaw part of it, but I wasn’t at the competitive level that I wanted to reach. It really sucks to be completely honest. I thought I was going to race until I was in my 40’s, so to lose my career at 21 is just a huge blow. I left my family, I left everything in California to go chase this dream. The Outlaws became my family. The hardest thing about this I knowing I didn’t get to accomplish what I wanted to.”
According to the release, Daniel and his team will pack up the belongings in their shop and sell the assets to teams around the country.
“I’m still honored that I was able to do the tour for two years and meet all the people I met,” Daniel added. “I created a family out there on the road. I appreciate all the connections I made more than anything.”
