There may not be a bigger fan in Arkansas of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies than Batesville dirt late model driver Billy Moyer Jr.

“I’m counting down the days [to the start of the season],” he said this week, laughing. “It’s in 2 ½ months, I think. I’m ready.”

While the Grizzlies struggle for NBA recognition, Moyer has found he is well-respected by the competitors at the top of his sport.

From the time he began racing full time in 2006, Moyer said his chief desire was to earn the respect of the men he had grown up watching race on dirt tracks around the country against his father, Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer Billy Moyer.

Entering this weekend’s 22nd annual Comp Cams Topless 100 at Batesville Motor Speedway, Moyer said the fight for respect was something he still takes very seriously.

“I think I’ve definitely gotten everyone’s respect, or at least I hope I have,” said Moyer, 26. “That was a big thing to get that. It means so much to have the respect of your competitors when you come from where I came from. I didn’t want anyone to think that I just expected it because of being my dad’s son.”

The elder Moyer remains one of dirt late model racing’s most revered and feared competitors, even now in his fifth decade in the sport. He is nearing 800 career feature victories, including Topless victories in 1995, 1997, 2002 and 2005.

But for Moyer Jr., the drive for respect meant even more than racing cleanly alongside his fellow racers on the track.

“It’s also how you carry yourself through the pits, that you’re not acting too cool or better than everyone else,” he said. “A lot of those guys, they keep an eye on that. If you come through the pits like an arrogant guy — ‘I’m Billy Moyer’s son and better than everybody’ — it doesn’t set well with people.”

He’s been in the sport long enough now, Moyer said, that he also can recognize the younger drivers who should be searching for respect as well.

“There’s some arrogant guys out there. You know how to take them,” he said. “There’s people like that in every sport, I suppose. I show respect as best I can, and the people that show me respect, I treat them even better. The guys out there that don’t get it yet, hopefully one of these veterans can get them pointed in the right direction.”

Moyer spent the majority of last season racing with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, one of the top two late model national touring series which is sanctioning the Topless 100. For the most part, he struggled in the series.

His only victory of the year came in a Comp Cams Super Dirt Series event in August at North Central Arkansas Speedway in Flippin, and his most impressive performance was probably a second-place finish in October in the Cotton Pickin’ 100 at Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Miss.

This year has been much more successful as he has followed mostly a free-lance schedule, hitting major events across the country. So far, he has claimed seven victories this season, including an impressive victory at Winter Extreme at Tucson (Ariz.) International Raceway in January, as well as $10,000-to-win events in April at Calvert City, Ky., and at Richmond, Ky., in July.

The most eye-opening performance, however, came with a fifth-place finish Aug. 2 in the World of Outlaws USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis. It was Moyer first career top-five finish in a “crown jewel” event and illustrated how far he and his team have progressed.

“To be in the top five with those guys and to drive to there — I started about the middle of the pack — that really means a lot to me,” Moyer said. “It really boosts your morale and makes you where you really feel like you belong.

The Topless 100 is the next crown jewel event on the late model calendar, and while it takes place at his home track, Moyer has not fared well in the event. He has qualified for the event four times in seven attempts, but his best finish came last year when he was 16th.

“You can hope for it, but it’s a tough crowd,” he said. “To win a crown jewel, 100-lap race, it requires a lot, lot more than any other kind of race.

“It’s definitely our home track, but we don’t race there very much, once a year, sometimes twice. I like racing there and it’s a fun track. You can’t be off here at all. It’s such a momentum-driven track. If you make mistakes, you’ll get buried up and you can’t really come from the back of that thing. You’ve got to be on the money the whole time.”