Racing for the mini-cup competition
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

Jake Spillers, who started racing mini cars this year, works on his car at his Ashburnham home.

He wears the number 6.

It is the same number that his favorite NASCAR racer, Mark Martin, wore at the beginning of his career.

Jake Spillers, 12, of Ashburnham, recently won first place at the Seekonk Speedway in the 600-restrictor plate SYRA mini-cup division. The race was on a track with speeds up to 90 miles per hour, although Jake has raced on tracks going as fast at 115 miles per hour.

Jake raced 25 laps - each of which is about a third of a mile - to win the race.

"It's a fun sport," he said. "It's very competitive."

The mini-car division lets kids between 11 and 15 years old race, and Jake took to the track for his first race four days after his 11th birthday.

During this season Jake has placed in the top 10 for each of the races in which he has completed.

Jake's venture into mini-car racing isn't his first time behind the wheel. He started his career behind the wheel with go-carts.

(Above) Burt and Jake Spillers pose with Jake's mini car and his first place tropheys from a recent race and one from his win while he was racing go-carts. Spillers races at the Seekonk Speedway on Saturdays from April and October. JOURNAL PHOTO /CAITLYN KELLEHER

"I've been racing since I was 6," he said. "I was racing at F1 Boston till I was 9."

Jake is a sixth-grader at Overlook Middle School.

For his rookie season, Jake and Burt, Jake's dad, have kept Jake racing mostly at a track in Seekonk and some races in New Hampshire. This means Jake has faced off against many of the same drivers through out the season, which runs from April to October.

The pair hasn't decided whether or not they will expand their racing tour next year.

"This division runs all the way down the East Coast," Burt said.

The pair spends a lot of time working together on the car.

"We clean it every week," Burt said. "This for me is a stress relief. This is what makes me happy."

Burt said he usually works on the car four to five nights of the week from the time he gets home at around 6 p.m. until 9 or 10 p.m.

He said part of the process is to run through the safety list, reviewing the status of the tires, and other car-care steps.

Burt said he has always been a NASCAR fan. When he was younger Burt said he raced super cars and has done some modified driving.

"My family has said (Jake's) been brainwashed since the time he was born," Burt said.

There isn't only a time commitment, but there is also the financial aspect of the sport is significant, especially the first year.

"The first season is a shock," Burt said.

Some of the cost is picked up by the sponsors, who like NASCAR sponsors have their names marking the cars and the trailers of their racers.

Jake is sponsored by S&F Concrete, GRC Steel, Aggregate Industries, MARCOR Environmental, Trans-Tech Performance and Mike's Mini Cups.

Every car is made the same and is exactly half the size of NASCAR's official cars. The safety mechanisms around the engine and gas tanks are the same as the professional cars, as is the structure of the car.

"Every car is made the same and it is up to you to customize and build it for your driver," Burt said.

Some of those changes are the size of the seat, the placement of the peddles, and how much extra weight must be installed in the car to make it weigh at least 600 pounds. Jake's car has three lead-filled poles to get him up to the mandatory weight minimums.

Jake said he has spun out three times this season, but blames other drivers who have knocked into him for that flaw in his racing records.

"At first when you spin out you're hoping that no one hits you," Jake said.

Burt said he remembers the first serious spin out that Jake had on the racetrack.

"That was scary," Burt said.

Jake said the goal is to get the car back under control as quickly as possible and it is a lot of instinct about how to do that.

"It's pretty much you know what to do," he said.

Burt said the go-cart racing that Jake did, starting at 6 years old, helped to prepare him for the mini-cart racing. The lessons are mostly trial and error and that "racing, it's instinct."

Burt said he and Jake have both made friends with people on the circuit.

"It's not a team sport, but there's camaraderie," Burt said. "Ninety percent of the guys, they want to see you run as well as they do because they want to have competition."