Full speed ahead for 13-year-old race car driver

Published on Tue Dec 15, 2009
<p>It was late March when Vinton's Tim McGuire and his 12-year-old son, Michael, walked into the office at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, N.C. Kim Foushee, the race track's director of operations, remembers the scene like yesterday. "Actually, I was like, 'Oh my gosh, here we go again!' " Foushee recalled. "I've had several folks to come in here and promote kids. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>"But they didn't have the credentials and the experience that Michael had. So I told Tim here's the deal: We've got to fill out all this paperwork, and, of course, we've got to make sure that the insurance will cover him. </p><p> </p><p>"And I said: 'We'll give him a shot. Now if he goes out there and tears everybody up, we're going to have a problem.' " </p><p> </p><p>A problem? </p><p> </p><p>How about no problem. </p><p> </p><p>At Orange County Speedway's 2009 postseason banquet Friday night, Michael McGuire, now 13, was crowned Limited Sportsman Division champion and voted the most popular driver by fans. </p><p> </p><p>The kid tore them up, all right. He won in his third start on the fast 38-mile oval, and won four times overall, never finishing out of the top three in a dozen 50-lap races with fields that averaged from 18 to 20 cars. </p><p> </p><p>More importantly, the 5-foot-2, 108-pound youngster quickly displayed to all of his much-older competitors that he can handle a 3,200-pound race car. Ask South Boston's Joey Throckmorton, the 26-year-old driver who finished second to McGuire in the division. </p><p> </p><p>"I didn't really think he would be as good as he was," Throckmorton said. "I mean, nothing beats experience. </p><p> </p><p>"I had heard a lot of junk. Nobody thinks a 13-year-old can drive. I mean they can't even drive on the road, much less drive a race car. </p><p> </p><p>"Well, if you went to the race track and didn't know which car he was in, you definitely wouldn't be able to tell he's 13 by the way he drove." </p><p> </p><p>Early green flag </p><p> </p><p>Michael McGuire has been around racing all his life. </p><p> </p><p>His father raced for nearly two decades, winning Late Model Stock titles at Franklin County Speedway and Radford's New River Valley Speedway (now Motor Mile Speedway). His uncle Tony McGuire is a two-time winner of the Bailey's 300 at Martinsville Speedway, an event that's akin to the Daytona 500 for the Late Model Stock division. His grandfather Charles "Squeek" McGuire once owned the Callaway track and has been a Roanoke Valley mainstay in the auto parts salvage business. </p><p> </p><p>"I grew up watching my uncle [Tony] race at Motor Mile," Michael said. "I heard [my dad] was pretty good, too. </p><p> </p><p>"So I've always wanted to do it. I love going fast. ... I've watched races on TV a lot. The Speed Channel is my favorite channel." </p><p> </p><p>His first fast ride was a go-kart, a gift from his father on his fifth birthday. </p><p> </p><p>Michael hasn't stopped mashing a gas pedal and working a steering wheel since. At age 8, he got his World Karting Association license and started running races throughout the mid-Atlantic region. He won the Virginia series championship twice and captured the Tennessee series title three times before he turned 11. </p><p> </p><p>Last summer, he moved into the seat of a full-sized stock car, winning five races at Franklin County Speedway's Mod4 division. However, when the speedway eliminated the four-cylinder division after last season, the McGuires had to find another place to go racing. </p><p> </p><p>The outlet was provided by Orange County, a historic track where NASCAR's old Busch Series ran from 1983-94 and produced such winners as Jack Ingram, Tommy Houston, Dale Jarrett and Mark Martin. Reigning four-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson cut his teeth there as well in the mid-1990s. </p><p> </p><p>No longer a NASCAR-sanctioned facility, where all drivers must be 16, Orange County provided the age loophole the McGuires needed. A couple of weeks after their initial visit to the track, the McGuires loaded up the same race car in which Tony won at Martinsville in 1994 and went back for Michael's "driver tryout" session. </p><p> </p><p>"We wanted Michael to come in and have a practice by himself so we could evaluate him," Foushee said. "And I'm watching him go around the track, and I'm telling this guy standing with me, 'The kid has got a good line and he's pretty darned fast.' So we decided to give him a shot." </p><p> </p><p>The kid delivers </p><p> </p><p>When he showed up for his first race two weeks later, Michael McGuire confessed he felt like some kind of circus act. </p><p> </p><p>"Yeah, I got a lot of looks ... a lot of weird looks," he said, laughing. "That's one of the things I hate most about going to a new track where no one knows you. When you first walk out of the trailer with your [driver's] suit on, you just want to get in the car so they can't even see you." </p><p> </p><p>He can't hide anymore. </p><p> </p><p>"All the looks I first got kind of changed right when they saw me drive," Michael said. "After a few races, they got to know me, and they knew that I'm a clean, hard, good driver and that I can race. </p><p> </p><p>"It was a big move racing 30- and 40-year-olds. Sure, it's pressure. But my dad always tells me, 'There's no pressure.' ... I'm just a kid and I'm just trying to get some seat time out here." </p><p> </p><p>He got much more than that. Michael finished third in his first race. In his third start, he led all 50 laps and won. </p><p> </p><p>"The best feeling ever ... just totally awesome, I'm telling you," Michael said. </p><p> </p><p>His 42-year-old crew chief never could have expected such a glorious summer of repeated weekend trips to eastern North Carolina from the team's Garden City shop in Roanoke. </p><p> </p><p>"It was impressive stuff," Tony McGuire said. "Michael took right to it the first day we sat him down. It was unbelievable. </p><p> </p><p>"We were really nervous because we didn't know what to expect. I mean our race car is four years from being an antique. To be honest, we figured he'd be bouncing off some walls and it was going to be some carnage. We just assumed it was going to happen. Well, I didn't have to put a fender on that car the whole year. </p><p> </p><p>"Michael is just crazy consistent. We didn't have the fastest car, but by lap 30 of the 50-lap race, he's right there with them. And then when he got up there with the rest, he just wore them out at the end in some of those races." </p><p> </p><p>Down the road </p><p> </p><p>Like most teenage leadfoots who are hooked on stock car racing, Michael McGuire's ultimate goal is one day to make it to the major leagues -- NASCAR's Sprint Cup series. </p><p> </p><p>This past season, Joey Logano became the youngest driver ever to capture a Cup event, winning at New Hampshire only 35 days after his 19th birthday. </p><p> </p><p>"Seeing Logano do that at his age got me excited," Michael said. "My dream is to make it into NASCAR at 21. Because I want to have fun with it, I want to go up through the ranks, I don't want just to take a huge leap into NASCAR." </p><p> </p><p>Of course, the McGuire family doesn't have the kind of money like Logano or some of the other young guns who have bought their way into a Cup ride. </p><p> </p><p>"That's one of the reasons I drive my butt off," Michael said, laughing. </p><p> </p><p>Next season will be a major test for the Vinton racing clan. The plan is for Michael to run the United Auto Racing Association circuit that runs 150-lap events at tracks throughout the Southeast. The series features Late Model Stock cars with 390 four-barrel carburetors, plus some big-money car owners such as ex-Cup crew chief and current television analyst Larry McReynolds, whose son, Brandon, runs the tour. "It's going to be harder there," Tim McGuire acknowledged. "The races are longer, but the good thing is the UARA don't allow tire changes other than wreck repairs, so we don't need a full pit crew." </p><p> </p><p>Can Michael make it to the big leagues? </p><p> </p><p>"We don't have the ability to write a $3 million check to give him an opportunity," Tony McGuire said. "He's going to have to bust into the sport on raw talent and somebody recognizing him. </p><p> </p><p>"It's a hard sport to break into, but I honestly believe that if anybody from our area is going to do it, this kid has a big head start. When he's 18 years old, he's going to be hard to beat. He's hard to beat now." </p><p> </p><p>Foushee, who opened the door for Michael by letting him race at Orange County, said she believes it will happen. </p><p> </p><p>"Michael is the most genuine article there is," Foushee said. "I've not seen a seen a bit of super race-car attitude to come out of him. He's got all the credentials, he's got the skill and he's got the personality. He's well on his way." </p><p> </p><p>On Wednesday, Michael McGuire will be in Charlotte, N.C., where he will visit NASCAR's No. 1 racing organization -- Hendrick Motorsports. He will tour the facility and meet with some representatives of the team's driver development department. </p><p> </p><p>"It's a cool thing that Michael has got their attention enough that they're willing to meet him," Tim McGuire said. "At least we're on the radar, and that's what you want right now. And then, we'll see where the road takes us."</p>