Jake Hooker isn't old enough to get his driver's license yet, but that's not stopping him from tearing up the dirt track.
The 15-year-old has two top-five finishes so far in his rookie season of UMP Late Model racing -- and he finished last year as the Sport Stock champion.
"Last year was crazy," says Hooker. "We won the ten features and all the memorial races and the points so last year was just an amazing year for the team and I and all my sponsors."
While he is finding success early and often this season, Hooker also admits it has been a big learning curve going from the 300 to 400-horsepower Sport Stocks to the 800-horsepower Late Model UMPs.
"I'm not putting any pressure on myself to win one this season," says Hooker. "Don't get me wrong, I'd love to win one, but I don't want to have so much pressure on myself that I'll spin out or something like that."
Hooker also admits it can be a bit intimidating racing against some of the veteran drivers.
"Just to think that my dad used to race against them when they were rookies and now I'm racing against them -- it's amazing," says Hooker. "They're just so fast and it's unbelievable to race against those guys."
Hooker says he's hoping to make a career out of racing, possibly in the United States, but for now, he's satisfied with honing his skills closer to home.
His next race will be Saturday night at South Buxton Raceway.
