In this family, everybody races, even mom

VINTON — Jacob Floyd of Cedar Rapids spent his Friday nights at Hawkeye Downs for a decade before he hopped into a Hobby Stock at age 14 to race against his mother Kandi and his father Jeremy.

“It was pretty intense,” Floyd said of competing against his mom and dad on a weekly basis. “It was a lot of fun and late nights in the garage. I started early and have kept it going ever since.”

Floyd wasn’t able to race as much last season due to the pandemic and decided to take a step back this year to enjoy the sport as much as possible.

“We’ve hit several tracks this year including Hawkeye Downs, Vinton, Marshalltown and Independence,” Floyd said. “I’ve gotten too competitive in the past because I was points racing and it gets frustrating. You need to have balance to keep going. The minute you slow down, you have more fun.”

Fun, after all, is what started the Floyds racing two-plus decades ago when his parents just wanted a weekend hobby.

“We just wanted something to do on Saturday Nights,” Kandi said. “So, we raced at Hawkeye Downs in the Women on Wheels division.”

Now that she can come to the track to watch her husband and two boys, Jacob’s younger brother Jaycee is also a driver, Kandi is more than happy with her decision to entrench her family in the sport.

“It’s amazing. You know where your kids are when they get into racing,” Kandi said. “They aren’t going to get into drugs or anything like that because this is where their money goes.”

Not only does Kandi usually know where to find her husband and kids, it’s brought them closer than ever.

“When I started racing, all three of us were on the track together,” Floyd said. “It created this little family rivalry. It’s just always been a hobby for us and the minute we were on the track together it increased that family bond.”

Although she no longer races, Kandi is there every week to support her three favorite drivers. And next year, Jacob hopes to get Jaycee into a Hobby Stock and have a new trio of Floyds racing side-by-side.

There is also another driver Jacob is excited to see start racing. His seven-year-old son Lorenzo.

“He loves it and is ready to get in one himself, but he has a few years,” Floyd said. “He’ll be in a car as soon as he can and he’ll be out here with us. He and I will race together. That’s how my dad and I started and that’s how he and I will start.”

While Jacob has struggled over the past few weeks at Benton County Speedway, the family still is very much in love with the sport and plans to keep showing up at local tracks.

“Cedar Rapids is great because you have Hawkeye Downs right there in town plus it’s so central to some many tracks,” Floyd said. “You hop on any highway and you’re at a racetrack so we’ll stay local for sure.

“Support your local tracks and businesses and keep them open for as long as we can.”