Anthony Perrego, the 24-year-old driver out of Montgomery, NY, made his debut in his brand new No.18 Ray Graham Racing, Teo Pro Car, Big Block Modified during the annual DIRTcar Nationals in Florida just last month.

The new combination quickly picked up speed with Perrego collecting two fourth-place finishes and two sixth-place finishes. His four top-ten efforts at Volusia Speedway Park earned him third overall in the final point standings for the DIRTcar Nationals.

“The first night we kind of messed up a little bit while running second,” Perrego said. “We had a bad restart; the car didn’t turn and lost a couple positions. The rest of the week was good though. We ran in the top ten all week so for our first time being in the car, I was happy.”

It wasn’t until the middle of January when Perrego announced he will be teaming up with the Graham Racing team this coming season, just a few weeks prior to the DIRTcar Nationals.

“It wasn’t until about two weeks before Volusia when Ray decided he wanted to go to Florida,” he said. “So, we had two weeks to throw the car together.”

Luckily, for Perrego, he works at Teo Pro Car in the off-season, which may have worked in his favor.

“It was a mad scramble, but the car went together quickly,” noted Perrego. “We were doing everything down to lettering the body panels, so that was a first.”

During the off-season Perrego assembles the race cars and builds the bodies at Teo.

“It’s definitely beneficial for me to work there,” he said. “It’s good to be close with everyone at Teo. During the winter I can keep my car there, work during the day, and assemble it at night.”

After his strong performance at Volusia Speedway in his new Teo, Perrego has shown that he has what it takes for the Super DIRTcar Series this season.

“I think we have a little bit of momentum that we can take with us moving forward,” he said. “The car was good. We have a couple things we need to change, but I’m feeling confident about it.”

Perrego hopes to run the same schedule as last year with his previous car owners, plus run the 30+ Super DIRTcar Series race schedule with his new team.

“We’ll be running at Middletown on Saturday’s and may try some hit and miss shows at Albany since they’ll be having some bigger shows there this year,” he added. “I’ll also be doing the North and South Short Track Super Series again with Bryan Smith and Gary Simpson.”

Perrego is no stranger to touring the northeast with the Big Block Modifieds, however, this year will be his first time running the Super DIRTcar Series fulltime.

“I’ve run hit and miss races, but I’ve never been to Canada before and a handful of the tracks I’ve never even seen before so it should be interesting.”

Both series are equally grueling and competitive, nonetheless, the Super DIRTcar Series may be a little bit of a learning curve for Perrego compared to what he’s used to on the Short Track Super Series.

“The tires will be a big difference,” he said. “We run American Racers on the Deyo series and they’re softer so I think the setup will be a little different with the Hoosier tire. The tracks are a lot more slippery up than what we usually run but I think running at Albany will give us a good test and tune to get us acclimated.”

One thing in particular that Perrego is looking forward to on the Super DIRTcar Series is the qualifying format.

“I like that DIRT does time trials,” added Perrego. “I know Brett does it in the south but with time trials you can control your own destiny. If you time good, you start up front of the heat race, then if you run good in your heat, you’ll be starting further up front.”

Not only will Perrego be taking on the Super DIRTcar Series for his very first time but will also be doing so with a new team. With every new venture comes experimenting, risks, and rewards. Perrego doesn’t seem to be too worried, if anything, he’s confident.

“Our goal this year will be to win a couple races on the series,” he said. “We had a good chance in Florida to do it, so I think we have a really good chance to make that happen. I’d like to shoot for a top-five in the points. Everyone wants to win the points title, I’d like to do that as well.”