You might think it’s a little insane to give a 12-year-old kid the keys to race car capable of reaching speeds approaching 200 kilometres per hour.
But it’s not all that strange if you belong to the three-generation racing Conn family of Prince George.
Last year, Aiden Conn set aside his kart and jumped behind the wheel of Legends car, racing seasoned stock car veterans, and it didn’t take him long to prove he could handle all that power.
“Last year he completely exceeded my expectations of what he could do,” Jason Conn, Aiden’s father.
“Every time he got in the car he did better, picked up time, became more knowledgeable. In Penticton, Trevor and Ryley Sibert, they’ve raced Canadian Tire National Series and they own the racetrack and at 12 he outqualified them.”
That July day in a 22-car field at Penticton Speedway Aiden qualified second and ended up seventh in the feature race. He also took home a few trophies after winning dashes and heats, before his rookie season ended.
Things happen quickly on the track and he had a few close calls and scary collisions. The open-wheel design makes Legends more prone to getting airborne if wheels run over something and that happened in a race at PGARA Speedway in Prince George when another car got launched and hit the back of Aiden’s, which broke the roll cage just above his head.
As a sprint car veteran who put Prince George on the map while winning big races in the King of the Wing National Sprintcar Series in the States, Jason knows there’s always risk in racing motorsports, but he and his wife Ginny aren’t going to hold Aiden back from pursuing his love for the sport.
“You do stuff in moderation, and we have all the safety gear,” said Jason.
Legends cars are five-eighths-scale versions of 30s-40s-era American coupes. Powered by a 1.2-litre Yamaha motorcycle engine, they are super-quick, with short wheelbases and twitchy steering that makes them a handful to keep under control on a racetrack.
“The first time was pretty nerve-wracking, but once I got used to it I loved it,” said Aiden.
The cars are designed to be low-maintenance and the chassis/suspension/body parts are easily replaced to minimize repair times. Tight specifications in the rules allow for only minor changes in setup to keep the cars and how they handle the road relatively the same for each driver.
The Northern BC Legends Touring Car Series started by Phil Hustad of Terrace stops in Prince George (five times), Quesnel, Williams Lake and Penticton. Aiden is by far the youngest driver on the circuit.
The grandson of PGARA pioneer Milton Conn had three years of racing in the Central Interior Karting Series under his belt before he entered his first Legends race. Just like his dad Jason, Aiden was eight when he started racing karts and he dominated the series, winning the junior championship when he was 11.
Milton Conn owned and raced super stock cars in the Prince George Auto Racing Association (PGARA) for many years, starting in the late 60s, and also raced modifieds in the Interior Open Wheel Association in the late 80s.
“He thinks it’s great (Aiden is) taking on the legacy,” said Jason.
“It’s good pressure to have,” added Aiden.
Last year at 12, Aiden became youngest-ever driver to race a lap on the three-eights-mile oval at PGARA Speedway. Because of his tender age, his dad is allowed to maintain radio contact with him during races and act as a spotter, warning him about where the other cars are on the track as he approaches traffic.
He has a simulator at home to practice racing but there’s no substitute for seat time and Aiden is hoping to get onto the PGARA track soon to crank up some practice laps. He got the feeling of horsepower long before kindergarten. At age 4 he was driving quads and snowmobiles on a course Jason plowed out for him in their backyard.
Not a lot of his Grade 8 classmates at Shas Ti Kelly Road Secondary School know 13-year-old Aiden races. He’s getting so used to speed on the track, by the time he’s old enough to get his licence to drive to the store his brain should be well-wired to handle city roads and react to hazards.
Legend Cars are the fastest-growing stock car racing class in North America, with more than 200 tracks in Canada and the U.S. hosting races. While Aiden is an exception in B.C. because of his young age, there are dozens of drivers in the States who compete in the Young Lions class for drivers aged 12-15.
He’ll get his first taste of international racing against his age group peers on April 22 at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Wash., followed by races in Penticton and Prince George later in May. They plan on racing between 22 and 24 race events this year. They’ll be packing two Legend cars in the trailer wherever they go so if one breaks he’s got a backup. Jason and Aiden plan on racing at the national meet in Las Vegas in November.
With all that travel they’re looking at a $10,000 budget just to get to all those races and they’ve already got a few local sponsors on board, including TX2 Recycling, Jepson Petroleum and Tharow Crane. To appeal to friends and family who don’t have businesses and want to help him continue to progress as a race car driver, Aiden started a $100 Club and everybody who contributed had their name stenciled on his car.
“We just want to make sure that we do our part back in the community so people who have the talent that Aiden does, they won’t go unseen,” said Tony Muratori, who co-owns TX2 Recycling with wife Tanya. “We want him to succeed and as business owners we want to do everything we can to get him there.”
The Legends will be featured in PGARA’s opening race meet, the Turgeon Memorial, on Saturday, May 25.
