8-year-old Leland boy winning big on racing circuit
LELAND, NC (WWAY) — While most 8-year-old kids enjoy their weekends by hanging out with friends or even just watching tv, Reed Whitney from Leland is hitting the racing circuit across the country and winning a lot while doing it.
“All I see are the cars in front of me and the track,” Reed said. “It feels amazing. Feels like I’m doing about ten, but I’m actually doing thirty.”
This 8-year-old has been racing since he was five, but the plans to hit the racetrack came long before that.
“We always knew when we had a kid we’d want him involved in racing as we have been involved in racing all our lives.” Chuck Whitney, Reed’s Father, said.
Chuck got involved with racing thanks to his father. Reed’s mother, Amanda, raced growing up as well. Now the Whitney family is a racing family.
“We travel together, we race together and we get to spend a lot of time together as a family,” Chuck said. “Been involved with a lot big race teams and a lot of big wins but about any win with my son is my biggest. It’s a lot of fun watching him race and he’s actually become pretty darn good at it.”
Pretty good may be an understatement. Reed has won 65 races and brought home two championships all over the country. Bringing home trophy’s from nearly all his stops, even from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
reed makes it look easy, buT he says it’s harder than it looks.
“It’s pretty hard,” Reed said. “You’ve got a lot of good cars around you. Sometimes they aren’t but it’s still really hard.”
The hard work is worth it for Reed. There are a few things that top the list of his favorite things about racing.
“Winning. Seeing my friends and sometimes watching the races.” Reed said,
But most of all, the reason Reed likes to race is the same as any true race car driver.
“I like to go fast.” Reed said.
Reed has stop coming up in Charlotte, Chicago and Pocono.
While Chuck hopes his son continues to enjoy it, and win, he has one hope for the future.
“As long as we can keep racing as a family and keep going forward,” Chuck said. “Whether it be sprint cars, because that’s about as far as we can take him. After that he’ll have to find some help. Just for him to have a respectable career in racing.”
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