At nearly 8, midget car racer a seasoned competitor

Right after Aedan Hobbs, now almost 8, won his first quarter midget race, he stepped out of his car and informed his father that he’d just done better than race driver Jeff Gordon had in his first race, also in a quarter midget.

“Jeff Gordon took fourth,” said Jeffrey Hobbs, Aedan’s father. He’s also the race director of the Las Vegas Quarter Midgets & Southern Nevada Open Wheel Racing, a club that aims to make racing appealing to entire families.

Aedan has been racing since he was about 4. Before that, he cruised his home turf in an electric car.

“He was putting his elbow up, and doing five-point backup turns, and parallel parking,” recalled Hobbs. “I knew there was something special about his ability to drive.”

Still, he said, he initially discouraged Aedan from racing. He’d raced himself, and his father had been a professional. He’d seen his father badly injured.

But when it comes to safety, Hobbs has faith in quarter midgets — cars that run about one-quarter the size of a midget race car. The cars can reach 60 mph.

The club uses fire suits, wrist restraints, racing harnesses and other safety measures and abides by NASCAR and IndyCar rules. The racing takes place on a one-eighth-mile dirt oval at Mesquite MX, about 85 miles northeast of Las Vegas and just across the Arizona border.

“We’ve never had an injury in four years,” Hobbs said. That’s taking into account Aedan’s two flips.

Hobbs said his wife, Heidi, doesn’t worry about Aedan getting injured after she witnessed that first flip.

“We just rolled him back over, and he went on and finished the race,” Hobbs recalled. “I think he won the race.”

Parents might not be quite as safe. Hobbs remembers the time Aedan swerved to avoid another car, knocking Hobbs to the ground.

But toppling doesn’t necessarily scare this clubhouse of parents. Most race in the club, too, Hobbs said. There are 30 cars, all told. Twelve are quarter midgets. Most racers are Las Vegans, although some occasionally travel in to race from California, Utah and elsewhere in Arizona.

“It’s family bonding,” Hobbs said. “I work on the cars. My wife gets Aedan ready.”

Aedan’s twin sister, Quinn-Abbey, hands out trophies and plays cheerleader at the track, like a pint-sized “Wheel of Fortune” Vanna White.

Racing doesn’t have to be expensive, once you get past the car price tag, Hobbs said.

The tag: $800 to $5,000. The club average runs from about $1,500 to $2,000. Luckily, a car can run through a whopping 2 gallons of gasoline in an entire season. Tires last about two seasons. And the cars are sturdy.

According to his father, Aedan has more than 50 races under his belt, and three championships. He has learned a few things.

His advice on the terrors of flipping: “You have to get a grown-up to flip you back over.”

On Dec. 11, he and the club will race again in the “Super Sunday” series final in Mesquite. What will Quinn-Abbey probably do when Aedan hits the track?

“Go Aedan!” she shouted.

For more information about the club, go to LVQM.webs.com.