Racing is a family sport.

The names Earnhardt, Foyt, Andretti and Unser all have a dynasty type of ring to them in and now in Sachse, a 13-year-old kart racer and his dad are looking at making French another family name in motor sports.

Jake French, 13, will be competing in the 2009 ROTAX World Finals this week at Ghibli Raceway in Sham El Sheikh, Egypt against some of the top young open-wheel racers in the world.

“I’m pretty excited about it,” Jake said. “I’m looking forward to the competition and there’s 55 countries coming to one single race track to race at one time.”

Jake and his father make up the backbone of his ROTAX Kart team, and the pair has been working in tandem as father and son since 2004.

It was in ’04 when Jake and his father Mark took the cart around the SachseHigh School parking lot and Jake could begin getting a feel for open-wheel racing.

Several years and countless races later, the eighth-grader from MemorialPreparatory School in Garland, is still enjoying himself and sticking with racing, and even at his young age, he is looking forward in the speed world.

“We [dad and I] have talked about it a couple times and my dad has mentioned a lot that karting will lead to bigger sports around the country and even the world,” Jake French said.

After all, Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti and a host of other Indy and Formula One racers all came from the kart world.

Right now, Jake French is still living as a wide-eyed 13-year-old enjoying his first trip outside of the country.

It’s an adventure for him and as long as his success behind the wheel continues, the road will keep winding toward a bright and driven future.

Driven

Jake French loves speed and the family impact of the racing world.

His carts have been clocked at around 80 mph, an alarming speed when seated inches off the ground.

However, the speed hasn’t been his fondest memory in racing. In 2007 when Jake and his father went to Denver, Colo. for the ROTAX Grland National Championships, their experience there stood out in his memory.

“It was my first time to be competitive in my class and I won almost all the heats,” Jake said. “The cool thing was it was only my dad and me. We weren’t under a tent or anything, we were going there with a single trailer.”

Marcus Murphree is the editor of Garland/Wylie/Sachse neighborsgo and can be reached at 469-330-5692 or via e-mail at mmurphree@neighborsgo.com. Got a story, photo or video you'd like to share? Post them directly on neighborsgo.com. Got a story idea? Send it to me directly. For more about how neighborsgo.com works with our neighborsgo print editions, please visit neighborsgo.com/help.