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England born
Sam Watts, may be only 15 years old, but the passion
and determination packed within this young man's body
is, remarkably, the very same essence of his NASCAR
upper
series counterparts.
When
Sam was just 20 months old, he sat atop a 4 wheel motorcycle.
He seemed to have a knack for handling that machine.
Said Sam, "My Dad asked me if I wanted to race
it. Then I started racing it. And then my Dad bought
me a dirt bike, so I started racing dirt bikes. I was
winning. I got third place in the championship season.
I was living in England, in a town called Brighton."
When Sam was seven, the family moved
to the United States and settled in Florida. "When
I moved over here," continued Sam, "I started
racing dirt bikes. Then we went up to Mid Florida Quarter
Midget Track and watched the quarter midgets. My Dad
bought a quarter midget a couple of weeks later. I
raced that and then I did a big race there and I got
second in it."
Sam won the first nine races in the
quarter midget novice division, incidentally.
From quarter midgets, Sam moved on
to Bandeleros. He was able to enter that series with
5 months left of competition, running a partial season.
That was last year. In 2003, he entered that series
again, ran only 5 races of approximate 30, won all
of those 5 events and still managed to finish 6th in
the points. The rest of the year Sam ran in the Legends
division.
He received that car as a very secret
Christmas present in 2002.
This kid is certainly no novice when
it comes to the "thrills and spills" of racing.
Sam spoke of one particular accident. "I was running
the Legends at Desoto Speedway, and I had my Isaac
Device on (The Kids Isaac), I rolled the car 3 times
and hit the wall upside down." There have been
others, but Sam is unfazed. That's just a part of racing
to him.
Sam told of meeting a NASCAR Cup
star. "They were practicing, testing at Indy for
the Brickyard 400 for the race some time ago. We had
a quarter midget race there. When we were putting all
the trailers in the spots, and I saw Dale, Jr. I asked
him to sign my hat and he said sure! He asked me what
my career is. I told him I drive quarter midgets now,
but, I want to proceed in to NASCAR and be the first
English NASCAR driver. He said good luck!"
But why racing? What makes this child
love and crave what these NASCAR super stars love? "Well," said
Sam, "I've always been a speed freak my whole
life. I did dirt biking and I liked it, for a little
bit. And then I got into car racing and I've just liked
it ever since I started. It's really, really fun!"
So how much are these kids truly
like their NASCAR star counterparts? Do they actually
put a fender to other children they're racing, a bump
and run, to literally move them out of the way like
the "big guys" do? Is this a practice that
is learned this early? "Every so often I do it," explained
Sam. "But, if they're like blocking me, if they
want to be mean with stuff like that and if they don't
want to move out of the way when I'm coming up to them,
then I just give them a tap and run like Jeff Gordon
does."
"One time I got up behind this
kid and he would not move. I think he was like 15.
He would not move so I gave him a tap and he scooted
up the race track. Obviously, he was mad. I got past
him, finally, after 3 or 4 laps of him holding me up.
That was going into third place. I was trying to catch
the leaders and at the end of the race he came up beside
me and stuck his middle finger up. Then, he came off
the track and said, yeah Sam, that was just great racing."
"Whoever races me clean, I'll
race them clean. I try to treat them the same way they
treat me." Interesting isn't it? Sounds like something
Terry Labonte, and others said this past season when
referring to the Busch/Spencer incident. It's one of
the unwritten racing laws, that apparently even child
racers learn to compete by.
Now, these kids aren't traveling
35 or even 45 mph. Paul Watts, Sam's father, said,
on occasion at Orlando Speedworld, Sam has actually
reached 95 mph. And at the Cordell track in Georgia,
Paul said the speeds have reached 105. Can you imagine
that?
Sally, Sam's mother said of Sam's
racing, "It is extremely scary, especially because
he is the youngest driver here, at the moment. It's
hair raising, but, he's good. That's the only consolation
I get. He seems to be thinking very mature for a 13
year old. He's a very mature child for his age. He
gets in his car and he focuses exactly like the NASCAR
drivers when they're ready to start the race ahead
of them."
"He's done an outstanding job.
All the credit he gets from other people he has earned
himself. He's got followers all over the place."
Her support of Sam is total and complete.
Sally offers this bit of encouragement for the mothers
of other young racers. "If your child is that
determined that this is what he wants to do, you just
have to give them as much backing as you can. You have
to be there and give them as much boost as you can.
If it's in his heart, this is what he's going to do.
You can't take it away. You have to give them all the
support you can. You can't think for him. And he has
100% of my backing, totally.
Incidentally, in the Legends events,
there are no spotters or radios. Imagine being the
parent of a young racer who has just rolled his car
three times and having no radio communication capabilities.
This is an impressive family, most certainly.
Paul, Sam's father, raced stock cars
in his mid teens back in England, so Sam comes by his
love of racing in an obvious way. "It's sort of
stayed in my blood, really" he believes. "I've
always wanted to be a famous driver myself, but, obviously
I could never be. So, now, I just want to help my son
and hopefully, one day, he will be one.
Paul has stressed this is a full
family effort. By doing so, Sam has learned many very
important "team" values. "I've watched
Sam, I've brought him up on motorized vehicles since
he was 20 months old, " he began. "We've
progressed a lot through the years. We've taken steps
forward and taken steps back. Since he's gotten into
cars, he's progressed a lot more quicker than we ever
thought he would."
"He's gotten more mature to
go along with that, as well. It's been a lot of hard
work on all sides of the family because it is a family
affair. But, I'm very proud of him. I hold my head
up high when I'm walking around. I talk to everyone
about him, because really, he's a kid in a man's world
when he's out on the race track."
Paul remains a strong influence for
his son. He believes, "In this world you have
to give and take. No one is perfect. Some you're going
to win and some you're going to lose. If you have a
bad race, the bad race always sticks in your mind.
You've just got to get over it. The next race we go
to is a completely different race. We just forget about
the bad ones and concentrate on the good ones. I've
told Sam you can never ever be a bad loser. We just
concentrate on what's happening at that race. We stay
focused on what race we're in."
"Last season has been a big
learning curve for us...a young kid out on the track.
All they want to do is see how you run on the track.
It took us a year, but, we've earned our respect. It's
been really hard work. We've had our fair share of
wrecks this year,but, towards the end of the season
we had our fair share of running in the top three.
Hopefully, we can get on and win a few more races this
(coming) year."
As an additional example of true "team" work,
this amazing young man has learned, Sam assists other
drivers when needed. He was helped as he was coming
up through the various series and feels it is important
to give something back to the sport. That truly shows
a great deal about the all important "team" work
aspect of racing, his up bringing and Sam, himself.
It is a family affair, indeed. Jessica,
Sam's 11 year old sister, is the scorer and timer.
And even Cadbury plays a role. By the way, Cadbury,
a genuine member of the pit crew, is a toy chocolate
poodle who attends every race.
Next season, Sam will run his first
full season in the Legends at both Orlando Speedworld
and Desoto Super Speedway. Other 2004 INEX track options
and events also exist. He will again get to compete
against Matt Martin, Cup driver Mark Martin's son.
Sam and Matt have raced against each other in some
Bandeleros events and one Legends race, thus far. Said
Sam, "Yeah, he's cool to run with."
Young Sam encourages other kids to
follow their dreams, whatever those dreams are. With
hard work and determination he wishes them, "Good
luck and do whatever they want. It's all what they
want to do...it's all up to them."
I asked Sam, when the time comes,
if he could speak to Childress, Roush, Hendrick, DEI,
Yates or another Cup owner about a possible future
with them, what would he say to them to cause them
to allow him to audition for a ride? "Well," said
Sam, "first of all I would tell them what I've
been racing in my career. And I would tell them where
I was born and where I'm from. And I would tell them
to look at my career and what I want to do." I
asked him if he would brag on himself. "No," he
said. He prefers to have his abilities speak for themselves.
Sam's future plans include running
the Legends series until the age of 16. At that point,
he has hopes of tackling a super late model division,
which he feels will help him head to Hooter's Pro Cup.
That, he hopes will lead the way to the ultimate goal
of the NASCAR upper series of Busch and Cup. In Sam's
mind, there is no doubt where he is heading. His father
said that Sam has said he doesn't want to make it,
he says he WILL make it and be the first England born
NASCAR Nextel Cup driver in NASCAR's history. You know
what? I believe him!
Look out NASCAR, Sam Watts is on
the move. The latest trends in racing are the "young
guns". The examples include, but are certainly
not limited to, Brian Vickers, Kasey Kahne and the
Bush brothers. Looking a few years ahead may not be
a bad idea, at all, for the Cup teams of tomorrow.
If talent, dedication, and determination will lead
to opportunity, Sam Watts is racing on that course
now.
Good luck, Sam. I'll be keeping track
of your progress.
Note: While other teams in the Legends
series that Sam competes in have local sponsorship
for their racing endeavors, the Watts have yet to lock
those valuable dollars down. Any serious Orlando area
businesses who would like a chance to back a local
young star in the making can contact Paul Watts at
C & H Auto Service at 407-647-4461. Or
to email Paul.
This page is
from a 2003 article written
by Marty Tyler, Staff Writer for catchfence.com.
You can find the entire article here.
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