Whether behind the wheel or behind the scenes, the Little family has always been big in racing

Father’s Day brings gatherings and reflection. For the Little family, three generations of race car drivers with ties to Spokane, it also provides a chance to look back on more than 50 years in motorsports.

Family patriarch Chuck Little developed an interest in racing in the 1950s and early 1960s. The passion passed to son Chad, who earned victories across the West and at NASCAR’s highest levels, including a Busch Series win at Daytona. Chad later introduced his son Jesse to racing, nurturing the next generation of success. Jesse competed in the K&N Pro Series before advancing to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR O’Reilly Series and finally the NASCAR Cup Series.

Building a multi-generation family legacy in NASCAR was far from Chuck’s mind when he got started watching races in Mead and at Joe Albi Stadium alongside his father.

“My dad used to take me and my brother to the circle track races up in Mead and over to the dirt oval at Joe Albi when we were young,” said the 82-year-old. “He helped Ed Sneva, so he was kind of into racing a little bit but never wanted to be a driver. He liked to work on race cars and see them go fast.

“My brother and I ended up going to the fairgrounds and watching races there, and next thing you know, we’re racing cars back in the mid-1960s. My kids were young and up in the stands watching, and it was a family thing for us to go to the track and compete and have fun. It wasn’t part of the plan then to see where it all went from back in those days.”

Chuck Little’s career includes starts on the NASCAR Cup Series at Riverside International Raceway. He later promoted racing at the Spokane Fairgrounds oval and eventually owned and operated what is now Stateline Speedway. While Chuck moved into track operations, Chad emerged as the family’s second-generation driving star.

“Chad got going at about 16 years old, younger than me, that’s for sure,” Chuck said. “We ran a lot of races in our time where the family would load up in the motorhome and off we’d go. Those included watching Chad get some big wins on the West Coast, including three Motorcraft 500 victories at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington, against the likes of Bill Elliott and other good drivers. We raced with Jefferson Racing and George Jefferson was instrumental in guiding Chad along. It was great to see, and it let me be part of the car ownership while running the racetrack.”

Chad Little took the family’s success to the national stage, including starts with Mark Rypien’s NASCAR Busch Series team. From there, Little moved to the iconic John Deere-sponsored Ford in the NASCAR Cup Series. After racing for Jack Roush’s team, he followed his father’s path into the business side of the sport.

“There was a time when you could tell it was no longer kid fun and became very serious,” Chad said of his early driving days. “Dad sacrificed a lot so I could race with good people and have the resources we needed. That showed me what it would take when my son Jesse set out to race cars.”

Like his father, Chad later found himself watching the next generation from a different perspective.

“I lived a little vicariously through Jesse in those early days, a feeling of enjoyment and fun. I remember turning to my wife, Donna, at a race when he was about 6 years old and he was over there throwing rocks with his friends, and I was trying to get answers to how the car was. Memories of those days remind me that I was once a kid out there racing with my parents and having fun and learning how to be a driver.”

Jesse found success in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series and K&N Pro Series before advancing into the sport’s national divisions. As driving opportunities became more difficult to fund, he followed his father into NASCAR operations, including technical aspects of the sport.

For Jesse, the NASCAR role was a preview of working as a team leader, something the third-generation driver saw as a new part of the family legacy.

“I didn’t see myself leading a NASCAR O’Reilly Series team for Sam Hunt Racing when I was a driver. Knowing Sam for many years helped me to transition from driving into leadership, but I thought I’d become a consultant for a race team, not a team leader making the decisions that I make every day,” he explained.

Jesse credits much of his success to the sacrifices made by his grandfather and father.

“The older I get, the more emotional it becomes to understand the sacrifices Grandpa Chuck made to move a family across the country for my dad. My mom and dad sacrificed, along with my aunts, uncles and grandparents, to help me get started. Now that I’m in my 30s, I realize how fortunate I am to have experienced the sport and developed a love for it. Our family’s life has revolved around racing, and I want to carry that legacy forward just as Grandpa Chuck and my dad did for me.”