Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson should probably keep checking their rearview mirrors. There’s a new NASCAR superstar in the making.
According to CBS News, Gray Gaulding, 12, has been dominating the track ever since he began racing motorbikes at age 3, and he’s now the youngest driver in racing’s Legends Division. Gaulding has racked up 10 wins, netting the youngster $20,000 in 2010.
That may seem like a lot of money for a middle schooler. But for Gaulding, racing is like a job.
“People say you have friends on the racetrack, but when you put the helmet on and are strapped in, there are no friends,” Gaulding told CBS News.
Gaulding takes his racing so seriously that his parents moved the family from Virgina to North Carolina, so that their son could be closer to Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“Gray is a great son,” Dwayne Gaulding, Gray’s father, told CBS. “I was very blessed to have an awesome son.”
Dwayne negotiates Gray’s sponsorship deal with gunbroker.com, an Internet seller of handguns.
“There ain’t no other sponsor come along I feel comfortable with,” Dwayne Gaulding told CBS.
And Gray loves the spotlight.
“Some people say that I have too much camera,” Gray told CBS. “But there’s never too much of the camera, because you never know who’s watching.”
Hey may only be 12, but it looks like Gray Gaulding could be the next Ricky Bobby.
