lit a candle 1d agoJust last week I was reading his blog, the one about learning Brevard, and thinking I should tell him how much I liked it. Never got around to it. 68 is nothing.
Their story
Monte Dutton was an American sportswriter, novelist and songwriter whose folksy, conversational voice made him one of the best-known characters in the NASCAR press corps during the sport's boom years. Born on April 8, 1958, in Clinton, South Carolina, he spent roughly two decades, from 1993 to 2012, covering stock-car…
Monte Dutton was an American sportswriter, novelist and songwriter whose folksy, conversational voice made him one of the best-known characters in the NASCAR press corps during the sport's boom years. Born on April 8, 1958, in Clinton, South Carolina, he spent roughly two decades, from 1993 to 2012, covering stock-car racing, then returned to writing about high school and college sports in the Carolinas until a few weeks before his death. He died on October 8, 2026, at the age of 68, his family confirmed.
Dutton grew up in Clinton, the small Laurens County town that shaped nearly everything he later wrote. In his own essays he described growing up with two sisters and a brother, and his mother, Betty Davis Dutton, who was not quite 18 when he was born. He played football in high school for a state championship team, a hometown pride that later produced his first book, Pride of Clinton (1986), a history of high school football in Clinton. He went on to Furman University in Greenville, graduating cum laude in 1980 with a degree in political science and history, and he remained a devoted supporter of Furman athletics for the rest of his life.
He began in newspapers as sports editor of a semi-weekly paper in South Carolina, winning five South Carolina Press Association writing awards between 1985 and 1994. In 1993 he joined the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, then moved into motorsports full time as a writer and editor at FasTrack magazine in Gastonia, North Carolina. In 1996 he joined the Gaston Gazette, which sent him around the country as its full-time NASCAR beat writer. For 17 years his weekly page, NASCAR This Week, was syndicated nationally, first by Universal and then by King Features Syndicate, and he also wrote for AOL Sports, Athlon Sports and other outlets.
Colleagues remembered a writer who made readers feel he was sitting beside them. Author Bob Zeller said Dutton had "a unique point of view and folksy style that made it seem he was sitting there chatting with the reader." Fox Sports reporter Bob Pockrass called him "a pivotal member of the NASCAR media corps for decades." His work won the National Newspaper Association's best sports column award in 1994, five National Motorsports Press Association awards, five Eastern Motorsports Press Association awards, the Eastern Motorsports Press Association's Frank Blunk Award as writer of the year, and the National Motorsports Press Association's George Cunningham Award as writer of the year in 2008. He also served as vice president of the NMPA.
Alongside his journalism Dutton wrote a long shelf of books. His nonfiction included NASCAR: The Thunder of America (1998), At Speed (2000), Jeff Gordon: The Racer, Rebel with a Cause: A Season with NASCAR Star Tony Stewart (2001), Taking Stock: Life in NASCAR's Fast Lane, Postcards from Pit Road (2003), Haul A** and Turn Left and True to the Roots: Americana Music Revealed (2006), a book of interviews with singer-songwriters such as Jerry Jeff Walker and Robert Earl Keen. After leaving the NASCAR beat he turned to fiction, publishing nine novels: The Audacity of Dope (2011), The Intangibles (2013), Crazy of Natural Causes (2015), Forgive Us Our Trespasses (2016), Cowboys Come Home (2016), Lightning in a Bottle (2017), Life Gets Complicated (2018), Don't Ask, Don't Tell (2018) and The Latter Days (2023), plus a story collection, Longer Songs.
Music ran through all of it. Dutton wrote songs, played guitar and loved Americana and alt-country. After races he was known for gathering fellow reporters in media center parking lots, handing out cold beer and playing original songs while the traffic cleared, and he posted many of his performances, including his song Martinsville, on his own YouTube channel.
In his later years he covered Clinton Red Devils football, Laurens County sports and Furman for local sites and his blog, Nightrider's Lament, writing that he loved covering kids playing ball more than chasing race cars. He had recently moved to Brevard, North Carolina. Furman athletics director Jason Donnelly called him "a joyful soul, a friend to many, incredible storyteller, historian, and supporter of Furman Athletics." The cause of his death was not made public.
Biography adapted from National Motorsports Press Association statement (Oct 9, 2026); Greenville News / Todd Shanesy (Oct 9, 2026); EssentiallySports; The Daily Downforce; Contemporary Authors via Encyclopedia.com; Monte D.
In their own words
“I believe stock-car racers are the last vestiges of the folk heroes who once dominated the American sporting landscape.”
Interview on the King Features website, quoted in Contemporary Authors
“I love writing about kids playing ball, more, I reckon, than traveling around the country chasing race cars.”
His blog Nightrider's Lament, February 2024
“Towns are different. Clinton and Laurens are as different in their way at New York and Chicago. Now I'm learning Brevard.”
Post on X, June 22, 2026
“At first, I dismissed it. I thought, well, writing a novel is too hard if it's not a story one is fascinated by.”
On the origins of Cowboys Come Home, GoLaurens, November 2016
Photos
2Monte Dutton with his guitar on the Northern California coast
by People Forever
Monte Dutton in a Furman jersey, from his X profile
by People Forever
From social media
6Posts by Monte, and posts about them, kept here so they are not lost.