Teenage driver gets an education wheeling around the Lakeside dirt track

A white Chevrolet Monte Carlo sits in the garage behind Jeff Elder’s grandparents’ house in Smithville, a four-wheeled nucleus of family life.

Jeff is a 16-year-old stock car driver, but racing has coursed through the Elders’ veins longer than Jeff has been around.

He’s just the youngest link in his family.

Oftentimes, Elder is also the youngest racer in his class at Lakeside Speedway. He began stock-car racing last year after working for seven months at the local Price Chopper and saving $5,600 to buy a car. Last year, Elder won rookie honors at Lakeside.

Starting at age 8, he raced go-karts and accumulated five championships. But Elder’s relationship with racing really began when he was 2, when his father, Kerry, bought him a Power Wheels go-kart.

In the Elders’ household, racing is a one-man sport on Friday nights but a family affair every other day of the week.

Michelle Elder wrote on her son’s dashboard in the Monte Carlo.

“You got this! Love you! XO, Mom.”

The inscription is just one symbol of the imprint that family has imparted on Elder.

For decades, Elder’s grandfather and Michelle’s father, John Turner, has worked on cars in this garage nearly every waking moment. When his grandson began racing, there was no place Turner would rather be than in his grandson’s pit crew alongside Kerry.

“We’re poor,” Michelle says.

“We buy used tires from other racers,” her husband continues. “Instead of going out and buying new tires and parts.”

Elder’s grandmother, Connie Turner, flinches every time she watches Jeff compete. Jeff’s 12-year old brother, Jayce, is scared to race.

They sit next to each other in the garage, grandmother and Jayce, both in lawn chairs. That is the closest they will get to a race car.

“There’s always nerves and prayers that go every time before he even gets on the track,” Kerry says.

Jeff’s crash about a month ago didn’t help ease Jayce’s fears. Jeff coiled around a turn, lost control and was plowed on the right side by three other cars. Jeff couldn’t race until he acquired the money and parts to fix his car, which took a month and caused Michelle a broken bone in her back during the repair.

Laughter pings around the garage when they’re asked how often they work on Jeff’s car.

“Every day,” Kerry says. “Every day.”

“Seven days a week,” his granddad mumbles.

“About five hours a night,” Jeff nods. “We pretty much tear everything apart and put it back together. It kind of just depends on how the night went on how much we tear up.”

Jeff feels safest when he’s swirling 15 times around a dirt track at upwards of 80 mph.

Ironic, he knows. But racing has taught him something — actually, much more than just something.

“Everybody thinks that I’ve just had a lot of money handed to me,” he says. “Like I just jumped in there and started doing it. And there’s actually a lot more to it than what people think. (Racing) taught me respect and earning money for what you want to do.”

Kerry stands on the opposite side of the garage with his hand on his cheek and a cigarette dangling out of his pursed mouth. He ponders the question long after his son has answered it.

“I’d have to add patience,” Kerry says. “Because he’s got to be patient for the car to be put back together before he can go race again. In a race, he’s got to be patient to let things happen instead of just getting in there and just going, wrecking and running into somebody.”

Jeff nods modestly in agreement with his father. But the fact of the matter is that, right now, he’s feeling impatient. He wants to start working on the car again.

He’s itching to race on Friday night.

This story was originally published July 24, 2014 at 7:34 PM with the headline "Teenage driver gets an education wheeling around the Lakeside dirt track."