Taylorsville man dies in crash

Hickory Police investigated a fatal traffic crash on Saturday, May 11, 2024, involving two vehicles traveling on North Center Street, which resulted in the death of a Taylorsville man, according to a police news release.

At 4:21 p.m. Saturday, a white Lexus SUV, driven by Choeum-Mach Chang, 53, of Hickory, was traveling south on North Center Street. The Lexus SUV was attempting to turn left onto 18th Avenue Northeast and was struck by a 2007 Harley-Davidson motorcycle, driven by Sean Darrel Vardell, 38, of Taylorsville. The Harley-Davidson motorcycle was traveling north on North Center Street prior to the collision.

Following the traffic accident, Vardell was transported to Frye Regional Medical Center by Catawba County EMS where he was pronounced deceased.

This crash investigation is ongoing. If anyone witnessed this traffic crash, or has information pertaining to this investigation, please contact Hickory Police Officer J. Watson at 828-328-5551 or email him at [email protected].

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The Times ran a feature front page article on Mr. Vardell on March 17, 2021, shown below:

Have Race Car, Will Travel

Local man helping to grow Carolina Sprint Tour participation

By MICAH HENRY

Taylorsville’s Sean Vardell is hoping to build interest in the area for dirt track racing. He not only promotes the sport, but is a driver as well as the series owner for the Carolina Sprint Tour (CST).

“The whole series in this area only had six cars when I got involved a few years ago,” Vardell noted. Now, CST has over 30 cars in NC and SC, with 16-17 regularly running at meets, “it’s one of the fastest growing series in North Carolina.”

Vardell, who does research and development for oil refining and power generation industries, notes that Sprint cars are built sturdily, but this can be done at a low price point, making it easier to enter the sport. The series’ cars are based on the RaceSaver IMCA (International Motor Contest Association) Sprint car standards.

“We are an underdog within the series. But we’ll beat a whole lot of more expensive cars,” said Vardell. He added that a racer can build a Sprint car for a price tag of between $9,000 to $20,000 if it’s done wisely.

The Sprint car is based on a chassis of about 87” to 88” wheelbase, with a V-8 engine and one gear (no transmission).

“It’s either in gear, or in neutral,” he explained.

The engines run on methanol and have mechanical fuel injection and mechanical fuel pumps, similar to the systems that first debuted on sports cars in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Sturdy and reliable, the 305 cubic inch V-8s are a proven power-pack.

“It’s hard to overheat them, running on the methanol, and they have a redline of 7500 rpm,” Vardell noted. “You can get three seasons out of an engine if you refresh them.”

He noted that he sourced his car’s frame from Triple X Racing Chassis of Washington state. Car sponsors include Eastham Machining International, Fab-Tec, Top Performance Engineering and Machine, The Joie of Seating, CJE Enterprises, KH Suspension, and TriboDyn Lubricants. The businesses and logos pictured on the car are those of his supporting sponsors for his race team.

Locally owned In-Line Designs prints his graphics and wraps the car.

Vardell’s #86 car (that’s his birth year) features lime green paint. That’s due to a request from his father to paint it a color that would be easy to see among the field of drivers.

The Sprint car has a right rear tire that is 13” larger circumference than the left rear to keep it traveling true around the dirt tracks, which measure either 3/8 mile or 1/2 mile.

Race events usually consist of a 25 lap feature, with an 8 lap heat race held prior.

Originally from Illinois, Vardell moved to North Carolina several years ago, first landing in Mooresville to pursue a career in the racing industry. He attended NASCAR Technical Institute and then worked with Roush/Fenway for a while. He then moved to Taylorsville about five years ago, with his wife, Terra, and their children.

“My business, Eye Can See Arts by Terra, is part of his many sponsors on the car. I jokingly say I am his ‘life sponsor’ but, truly, he puts my business on his car in support of me. We support each other in our passions,” wife Terra stated.

He noted that he loved go-karts in the back yard as a boy. His father raced in ARCA events back in the early 1990s. Vardell tried kart racing around age 12 and later Outlaw kart racing, saying he “loved the open wheel cars.”

Vardell said his family is very supportive of the Tour and his racing. “Terra has been right there, through many long hours at night, particularly at the tracks,” he added.

Although Vardell owns the Carolina Sprint Tour series, he said, “At the track, I’m just a driver.”

“We do it for the fans,” Vardell related. “We have 6,000 fans who follow us hard-core. It hearkens back to the early days of NASCAR with this series. It gives the local hometown hero a chance to thrive again. I don’t do it to make a living. I enjoy putting on a show.”

He noted that he loves the camaraderie among the Sprint racers. “We’re all one big family.”

The biggest race of the year is “Nationals,” held in Nebraska each year in August, ranging up to 120-140 total cars.

Carolina Sprint Tour hosted their first race March 12-13 in Fayetteville (Vardell won Night 2 there). The next race is April 17 at Sumter Speedway in South Carolina.

A capable CST racer

His first official year racing with CST, 2018, Vardell won Rookie of The Year and third in overall points.Then, in 2019, he won fourth in points over all. Then, last year, 2020, he clinched the series Championship, which is top in points overall. He got his first win during the first race of his first year in April 2018, making last Saturday’s checkered flag his second in the CST.

The race schedule and other information on the series is on their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/CarolinaSprintTour, or email [email protected]. You can message Vardell Motorsports on Facebook to learn more about racing merchandise.