Like most his age who come from a loving home, he also has various accomplishments from his young life showcased throughout his room.

But unlike most children his age, he had to move some 70 of those accomplishments – trophies – from his house to his family’s barn in order to make room for all the new ones he has continued to win.

“There’s a bunch of them,” he said standing in front of them with his father John at the family barn in Springfield. “There just got to be too many at the house so we decided to move them here.”

Fox, who lives in Springfield and attends Goodpasture Christian School in Madison, is a drag racer who not only competes, but also dominates, the Junior Drag Racing League (JDRL), which is owned and operated by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).

Early Success

He has competed at tracks all across the eastern half of the United States and has won numerous awards in multiple states. His racing career began at the meager age of 8 and he wasted no time quickly ascending through the ranks.

He won Rookie of the Year honors in his first season at Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Ky. and by age 9, he had recorded 20 wins in six different states to go along with numerous championships at several different tracks across the mid-south.

By 2009, Fox’s talents reached the popular video website YouTube and he won the JDRL Nationals Championship for 10-12-year-old division at Bristol Motor Speedway in East Tennessee. He added to his trophy case with local track championships at Beech Bend Raceway and Music City Raceway in Goodletsville that year as well.

“He’s probably going to be one of the great ones,” said Edmond Richardson, who resides in Greenbrier.

Richardson, who operates a drag racing school in Bowling Green, has won multiple NHRA championships, including his fifth national championship in Pomona, Calif. last weekend. He has also followed Fox’s career for the last five years.

“He’s 12 years old and drives a car like a 25-year-old, and not just any 25-year-old but a good 25-year-old driver,” Richardson said. “He has a natural talent with great hand-eye coordination and he’s a great listener. You put all that together, and he’s got what it takes.”

Fox participated in Richardson’s drag racing school and quickly adapted to the life of drag racing according to Richardson.

Jay Fox’s Drag Racing Bio

12 years old
2x Kentucky Junior State Champion
2x Indiana Junior State Champion
2011 Tennessee Junior State Champion
10-12-year-old JDRL National Champion
6x track champion
2007 Beech Bend Raceway Rookie of Year

“He was just always ready and willing to learn and he’s really smart,” he said about Fox’s time at the school. “He has great support at home, too, and two loving parents. He’s got a chance to really succeed in drag racing if that’s something he chooses to pursue.”

More championships

2010 was the first year the NHRA instituted state championships across their member tracks. In order to claim a state championship, a driver must accrue the most points at multiple tracks or events during a given year in a certain state.

Fox claimed the corresponding inaugural junior championships in Indiana and Kentucky in 2010 and successfully defended those titles again this year (2011). Just for good measure, he added the Tennessee junior state championship to hisbelt this year as well.

“God-given talent,” Fox said when asked how to describe his overwhelming success in five short years of drag racing. “I just get in the car and I drive. I like to win and I like to drive but other than God-given talent, I don’t know how to explain it.”

The JDRL began in 1992 and features drivers under the age of 18 competing in Jr. Dragsters, which is a car that’s very similar to an actual dragster except with less speed and power.

Around 4,500 participants compete at nearly 130 different tracks across the country with the Western and Eastern Conference Finals as the premier events of the junior racing season. A ‘Wally,’ which is the prized trophy awarded the NHRA drivers on a yearly basis, is also awarded to the junior winners. Fox has already won five.

“When I get in the car, all I’m thinking about is hitting the tree,” said Fox, which means timing a driver’s start correctly in drag racing. “Then, if I keep the car straight at the start, if you do that it will normally stay straight the whole way, then I get ready for the finish.

“It’s just normal.”

Tricks of the Trade

His success hasn’t come without some minor peril on the track though.

Fox routinely drives against older competition – up to 18 years old – at tracks when he competes on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout the summer months. It’s safe to say most don’t like losing, let alone to a boy six years their younger now and 10 years their younger when he started in 2007.

“They’ve basically done everything to my car,” he said. “They’ll try anything. They’ve cut my fuel line, broken valves and a bunch of stuff.”

The pranks, tricks and sheer attempts to wreak havoc on his racing ability hasn’t dampened Fox’s spirit one bit though.

“It just makes me want to beat them more,” he said. “One time I even won with a flat tire after they broke off the tire valve.”

While Fox continues to go to school each day and live his life like any normal 12-year-old boy, it’s pretty clear his talents go beyond anything that’s normal or average. His 100-plus trophies, copious track championships, five state titles and multiple Wallys speak to that.

But even he knows he’s been given something special.

“I’m thankful I’ve been given this chance,” Fox said. “God gave me this gift. I really can’t explain it.”

Fox is the son of John and Marcia Fox, of Springfield.

By: Will Borthick-Robertson County Times

Thanks to: www.tennessean.com