Teen driver a racing whiz

CEDAR RAPIDS - Jake Griffin has dreamed of becoming a NASCAR driver his entire life.

In the past year, he won nine late model features and dirt track championships at three Missouri facilities and was named "Rookie of the Year" at all three. The pursuit of his life's dream now has him on the asphalt surface at Hawkeye Downs.

Oh, his "entire life" encompasses all of 13 years.

"I've always been the young one," said Griffin, who plans to race modifieds and late models this summer at Hawkeye Downs."Every track I've been to I've been the young one. At first it was kind of hard, but now that I already know people that are older than me, coming to asphalt really wasn't that big of a difference."

The Quincy (Ill.) native got his start drag-racing four-wheelers at the age of 3. He gradually became the youngest driver to be licensed to run a United Midwestern Promoters late model or modified at age 11. He made his Hawkeye Downs debut last week, winning his heat race in the modifieds and finishing second in the feature.

"I was happy," Griffin said."We did really good in the modifieds. We didn't do as good in the late model, but I think we're going to improve a lot in the late models over the year."

To accommodate his small frame, Griffin's crew made some adjustments to his car, moving the pedals back 8 inches and installing a 6-inch riser underneath the seat. A 10-inch growth spurt over the past year has Griffin now standing between about 5 feet, 4 inches, prompting further adjustments.

"It's kind of the same thing this year," said his father and crew member, Dan Griffin."We've got some of the same stuff in there, but we've maneuvered it around a little bit, to make some more room for him."

Griffin follows a normal school schedule, but once the Friday bell rings, father and son are on their way to the next racetrack.

"As long as he is happy and doing what he wants to do, we're going to keep racing," his father said.