A Franklin native is the Southern Wedge Late-Model Association Points Champion.
For much of the past four decades, Chuck Southard has been one of WNC’s top stock car racers, winning titles in multiple series around the region. Recently, he was named this year’s top wedge driver across the Southeast.
“They race, I guess about 10 or 12 different tracks in North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia,” said Southard of the SWLA, which held its inaugural season last year. “Back in the late 80s they used to run wedge cars – it’s sort of like a throwback series with the bodies and whatnot – but they’ve got their own little series that travels around. There’s about 19 different drivers that follow it.”
With distinctive “wedge” bodies that pay homage to classic stock cars, the SWLA hearkens back to a golden age of dirt track racing. Throughout the 2025 season, Southard was the fastest man on the circuit.
“I would have to count them up, but I think we ended up running like 12 [races] … and we actually won four of the 12,” he said. “I think I ran second once. I should have won five; I led the whole thing but the lap that counted. … We were fortunate. We had two races we didn’t finish – we blew a motor and then had some trouble – but the other ones, when we finished, the worst we finished was third.”
At times reaching more than 100 miles per hour, Southard dominated the SWLA season. At the Fairgrounds Raceway in Boone recently, he captured the 2025 points title.
“It wasn’t completely locked in,” he said of his overall lead entering the final race. “But we won our heat and then led every lap, and it couldn’t have went any better. … We usually draw a number and line up in heat races, and I drew like a 41. I’m thinking, ‘There ain’t no way I’m gonna win, because I’m gonna have to start in the back,’ but it worked out.”
With his fourth win, Southard finished the year with 368 points, outscoring the second-place driver by 32 to cement the title. The championship was far from the first of his career, however.
“This was my first year in the wedge series, but I’ve been racing since probably 1987,” he said. “My dad used to race years ago when they had the old Rainbow Raceway out on Potts Branch here in Franklin. … He raced there years ago and I just always wanted to do it, so I got into it, and I’m still doing it. … I was probably about 19, I guess, when I started.”
“All these tracks we went to this year, I’d never been to, and me and my wife just wanted to get out and see them and race. But I’ve raced quite a bit around here – I used to race over at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Whittier. It’s closed now, but we actually won two track championships over there in 2001 and 2005 in the Super Late Model. And then it closed, I think in ’06, but in 2022 I won the Open Wheel Modified Track Championship at Tri-County in Brasstown, which is still running.”
Inspired by his father, Dwight, and accompanied by his wife, Maggie, Southard has added the latest to his full case of trophies. With help from his son-in-law and crew chief, Dillon Daves, he’ll now enjoy a well-deserved break from maintaining his car in-season.
“We’re down until probably March … just going through the car, and probably [adding] new sheet metal and stuff like that,” he said. “It’s like a second job – you get off work, and you come home and you work some more. … You have a lot of time in cleanup washing and cleaning your car, and if you bend or beat up anything you’ve got to repair everything and whatnot. … You have to stay on your engine, keep your valves set and your timing [mechanism] and spark plugs, and oil changes every couple of races.”
While Southard has not yet counted his winnings from all the races, he says he’ll put all the money back into his car, to prepare for the SWLA 2026 season. As the 2025 Points Champion, he’s earned the right to rest on his laurels.
“I may not race every race because you get to where you have to go, but I’m planning on racing. I may not run for points, [but instead] just go to the ones I want to,” he said. “I’ve met a lot of good people. … Most of them are good guys, and they’ve got a pretty good series there.”