Edwin Cedeno makes a hard turn at Rattlesnake Raceway this weekend during Octane Fest.
Three cars parked within close proximity of one another idle on the south side of the track in the pit area.
Three brothers had just finished their first heat of the second and final day of Octane Fest at Rattlesnake Raceway. Each walk around, survey and inspect his car, refuel and apply necessary fixes for the upcoming main event later in the day. They talk among each other and help one another out in the pit.
Racing is a contagious sport, more so when there’s a sibling rivalry involved.
These three brothers race together in the Hobby Stock division this season, as they rank in the top of the pack. Cody Morris, the youngest of the trio who’s been racing for three solid years, leads the division while brothers Mikki Beuchat and Edwin Cedeno are not far behind.
“It’s just another race. We race up here every other weekend,” Beuchat said about Octane Fest. “(The season) is not too bad. My first two races were a little rough.”
Beuchat is the oldest, graduating from Churchill County High School in 2007, and he drives a blue 1986 Monte Carlo with 21 marked on the sides. Cedeno graduated seven years later and can be seen driving in an orange chariot with a light green 17 on each side of the driver and passenger windows. Morris, whose car body is white with 42c painted on the sides, is the youngest as he embarks on his final year in high school in two months.
“It’s a racing family. It’s really competitive,” Cedeno, a one-year veteran, said.
Heading into this past weekend’s Octane Fest, the three finished second through fourth in last month’s Memorial Day main event. Morris won the main event on Saturday while Beuchat finished fifth and Cedeno took eighth. All three stumbled slightly in Sunday’s race as Morris lead the trio with a fourth-place finish followed by Beuchat in sixth and Cedeno in 12th.
“I’ve been at the track since I was a baby,” said Morris, who’s raced for three years. “I ended up getting my own car and started racing.”
On any given night, Beuchat, Cedeno or Morris can come on top, adding more fuel to the rivalry. But heading into the summer, it’s the youngest of the three who leads the bunch in the points.
It just makes it more competitive.
“Competing with the three of us, we’re talking smack,” Cedeno said. “I’m working my way up.”
Regardless of who finishes where, however, all three are in it for the family bond.
“Being able to drive and hang out with my family,” Beuchat said of his favorite thing about racing.