Trevor Bayne     Driver, No. 29 stock car     USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series   Age 15

"When I get in that race car, everything kind of clears out of my mind."

The most remarkable impression that surfaces strongly about Trevor Bayne is not just his ability as a youthful stock car driver, but his maturity for his meager years. Fifteen years on this planet should give one experience, but Bayne's presence and responses are notable and precocious. He has packed a lot of good racing sense in his young mind and that could lead to a promising future.

I've interviewed hundreds of drivers in Hooters Pro Cup, ARCA, IndyCar, NHRA and NASCAR and if no one had told me in advance the age of Bayne I'd have missed his real life math by at least four years. All a reader need to do is listen and evaluate, but I think you'll agree this young man has a jump start on maturity.

That's an emotional leap that counts enormously on the competitive motorsports road that leads to top series like NASCAR Craftsman trucks, Busch or NEXTEL Cup. Many seek that journey, few arrive. Time seems to benefit Bayne, but as in all prospective futures only time will tell.

Time:Late Season 2006
Place: USA International Speedway, Lakeland, Fla.
Event: Hooters Pro Cup races

Dwight asked Trevor Bayne:

You're a prospective NASCAR driver learning in this series. Your comment on that?
"Hopefully we'll be going to Cup soon. I'm just 15, so we got a little while before that can happen, but we feel that running in this series will give us a good opportunity to make it to this level."

You're 15. You can't even drive on the streets any where. Is that right?
"That's right I couldn't even get an apartment last week. We haven't done it and I took my birth certificate."

I understand you're a good student in school. Do you think that transfers to the track?
"It definitely does. Math is such a big part of motorsports. I want to go to college for motorsports engineering. I have a 4.0. I'm in three honors classes. It's kind of tough to keep up with it, but school has to come at the top. Racing is very important but I feel there's a lot of racing that I have to go to school for."

Veterans in this series say young drivers here already know what they are doing. Do you feel like you know what you are doing?
"I definitely do. I don't think we would be here if we didn't. We made it to this level. Last year we won the R.O.T.Y national championship. It's a good transfer to the corners from those cars to these cars, but the horse power is totally different. I feel like we're doing really good. We're very confident about how we're doing so far."

A lot of fans can't know what it's like to go into a high-speed corner. Could you explain that?
"If you drive through a corner you can get down the straightaway. That's the hardest part of the job of driving obviously. There's so much to a car that the fans don't really see. They think if I got in that car I could make it go fast. They think it's all up to the driver when really these crew guys we have, they're the biggest part of it."

Could you describe yourself to a fan?
"I have plenty of time for fans if they want to come up to me, that would be good. I'm very dedicated to what I do. Like I say it's kind of hard to go back and forth to school, but so far I've been able to do it."

Do you know where you get the fire, the desire to race?
"It's kind of in me. My dad raced and he promotes it, but it is something I want to do. It'd not like dad wanted his son to make it to NASCAR. It's definitely not like that. It's just I'm a very tough driver in this sport. I feel like I can succeed in it."

Do you believe race car drivers have quicker minds and better hand-eye coordination than average people?
"I think it's just the experience in driving that gives us that coordination. You talk about intelligence. There is so much marketing in this sport. It's almost more marketing than it is driving. You can't just be the best driver out there and go get a NASCAR ride. You have to be familiar with your sponsors and be able to be a good speaker everything you do."

How is the learning curve coming for you?
"It's been pretty crazy this year going from 120 horse power to 620. The horsepower was the biggest change and then you have the weight difference too, adding about 1500 pounds on to it also. These cars drive almost better than the Allison Legacy cars do through the center of the corners. The Allison Legacy cars really progressed me and got me ready for this. I went straight from that to Hooters Pro Cup and we've had some good runs. I can't say enough about that series."

What's the most stressful part of your job?
"I think it's the pressure of having to do good. You don't go out there and learn how the car is. You always want to do better than the car is. As the driver it's frustrating sometimes when the car isn't all the way where it needs to be. You got somebody that passes you and runs off from you. Hopefully that won't happen much, but when it does it kills you to see that someone has a better car than you do."

Second Interview:

"We had an awesome practice, but that doesn't really mean anything. The checker flag is all that matters."

Do you think motorsports champions have common traits and skills? If so, can you identify a few?
"I think dedication is the biggest thing in champions. This sport is all about dedication. It takes time and a lot of effort. If you're not at the shop every day you can't expect to go anywhere in this sport. You just got to stay with it. That's the biggest thing is dedication to me."

Focus is important. Is there a secret to focusing?
"I think that's everybody's own preference, I guess. Focus for me is when I get in that race car, everything kind of clears out of my mind. Most of these race car drivers have been doing it a while and they know how to get their mind cleared out before they take off. Because if you don't have you're mind cleared out, you're going to have some problems in the race car. It takes a lot of focus and concentration."

As far as learning goes, you've got a lot to learn and you're starting out so young. Your comment on that?
"This sport the way it's going the people are getting younger and younger every day. With me, I started out when I was five years old. This is how we are working our way up to higher goals, NASCAR. That's the way a lot of people's goals are right now. I think the way we brought this team up, it can possibly be done. This Hooters Pro Cup Series is a stepping stone for us. It's definitely going to be a good place to put our foot in and next year we're going to come back with even more experience than this year. We just got to keep strong in it.