The St. Johns Grand Prix is an annual road racing event held at the airport in the high country of St. Johns, Arizona. The 1.9 mile course, held on the runways and taxiways, features a challenging combination of right and left hand turns and long straights. The last time Chad Boat turned right and left was over three years ago in a karting event, so the learning curve for this 14 year old was going to be steep.

Friday practice was a chance to learn the track, and Chad was a quick learner. By the end of the day Chad was 5th fastest for the day. Saturday brought more track time, and Chad was able to gain more speed, topping the speed charts with a time of 1.24.17. The second session brought even more speed and Chad again topped the charts with a time of 1.23.0, under the qualifying track record.

Chad had high hopes for the pole in qualifying, and put a tremendous number up on the board with a run of 1.22.57. Others, however, had also found some speed, and Chad ended up 3rd in the qualifying order, the fastest rookie in the field. The roll of the dice for the inversion was eight, so Chad would start 6th in the field.

At the drop of the green flag Chad got blocked to the outside and dropped back to the eighth position. Chad steadily worked his way through the field, making passes like a veteran. Running in the third position, Chad attempted an inside pass on eventual winner Darrin Young, only to lock up the tires and do a spin to the infield. He recovered quickly, but had dropped back to the sixth position and had lost sight of the leaders. He moved to fifth in the next lap but had too much track to make up to catch fourth. He crossed the finish line in fifth position, an impressive run considering it was his fist time on the course.

“I felt like I had a good chance to win, but then I just got in a little too fast trying to pass Young”, Chad said after the race. “I feel like I learned a lot about driving these trucks on a road course and it was a lot of fun.”