While he says a few feature wins "would've been nice," Chatham's teen racing star is treating his first year in the Late Model circuit a success.
"Just running with those guys [like Dale Glassford] and being competitive with them is amazing," says 16-year-old Jake Hooker.
The UCC student finished third in points through the South Buxton Raceway season, behind only Glassford and fellow star Gregg Haskell. This was Hooker's first season racing in an 80-horsepower late model, and he says it's a world of difference from the go-karts he raced last year.
"You like the gas pedal to be like an egg, so you can't mash it and get into it hard," says Hooker. "You just got to work the brakes and see where you're comfortable at. When you get in trouble you have the horsepower to get you out, not like in the sport stock."
In preparing for the 2017 season, Hooker says he wants to explore opportunities racing more in places like Ohio and Michigan.
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