PETALUMA, Calif. — California young gun Daniel Whitley turned heads over the weekend in his first start behind the wheel of a non-winged sprint car.

Whitley, 17, advanced from outlaw karts to sprint car racing when he debuted Saturday at Petaluma Speedway during the track’s first point race of the season.

Piloting the Simpson Motorsports No. 6k, Whitley got off to a hot start at the three-eighths-mile oval, posting the fifth-quickest lap in time trials. He then showed a prowess for passing cars by charging from 12th to fourth during the 25-lap feature.

Whitley methodically worked his way forward, cracking the top five 17 laps into the main and passing Angelique Bell for fourth with seven laps to go and holding serve to the checkered flag.

It was an impressive performance considering it was Whitley’s first time behind the wheel of a “big car.”

“We were really pleased with the night we put together on Saturday and for my first time even sitting in a sprint car, I feel like it was definitely a great first showing,” Whitley noted. “It’s good to show we can show up and be fast right out of the gate. I definitely feel like I met my expectations and getting my rookie ribbon taken off was my main objective. (Crew chief) Kirk Simpson had the car on rails and that made my job easy.

“I really look forward to racing with Simpson Motorsports and developing myself as a driver.”

Whitley was quick to note he noticed plenty of differences while adjusting his driving style from the lighter, more nimble outlaw karts to the heavier and more powerful sprint car.

“The first difference that you really feel is the wheel base. It’s really different because you can’t see your front tires, but the suspension is also very different given that the go karts don’t have any,” Whitley explained. “I didn’t have to change much between the outlaw karts and the non-winged sprint car. They drive somewhat the same and as long as I kept my tires forward, the car was fast.

“Getting used to the sprint cars on iRacing helped some as well; the transition wasn’t too noticeable, but you could definitely feel that there was more power to work with. It was a lot of fun.”

After cutting his teeth at California’s Cycleland Speedway, however, Whitley added that outlaw kart experience makes adapting to a sprint car easier in some respects, as well.

“Driving the sprint car actually felt kind of slow for me, since everything in the outlaw karts happen so fast,” he pointed out. “I feel like the outlaw kart prepared me well for what we faced on Saturday and I’m looking forward to the next time out.”

Whitley tipped that, while California’s racing scene is still somewhat unsettled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he hopes to race as many of the Hunt Series events as he can this summer.

Whitley said the goal for he and Simpson Motorsports is to gain experience and seat time for a move up into the USAC West Coast 360 Sprint Car Series a year or so down the road.

“We know it’s a process and those things don’t happen overnight, but that’s one of our longer-term goals,” he said. “We want to jump into the USAC scene out here in California once I’ve learned some more and feel ready to make that leap because some of the best in the business run in those circles and we want to work up to being on that level.

“This is the first step and we’re excited about what we’ve got to look forward to the rest of the year.”