Kid had a pretty good day:
Thomas McGregor got into auto racing early. In every way.
The first race he can recall attending was at age three with his father, a NASCAR fanatic, in Atlanta. But the Saskatoon native had already been attending races with his dad since he was nine months old.
Then, at age 11, a go-kart represented his very first set of wheels. He managed to get the thing going 120 km/h.
Fast-forward to age 18 in January 2011, when McGregor set a record in Miami by winning all four races in one day to claim top prize in two different car classes.
"It is actually a new record," said McGregor's manager Michael Duncalfe. "Most drivers only compete in one series per weekend, that's the norm. We're trying to get Thomas as much seat time as he possibly can in his rookie season."
McGregor picked up two gold medals in the Skip Barber Formula Mazda Southern Series and two more in the Mazdaspeed Challenge.
Even two weeks later, McGregor is still surprised at his accomplishment.
"Started off as an all right week, qualifying went pretty good," he said. "Then Sunday, I don't know how I did it, but I won all four races."
One year after graduating high school, McGregor is in his first year of racing south of the border and time behind the wheel is crucial to improving.
That was the thinking that led to McGregor entering in multiple race classes.
"It was very stressful. Not only the physical aspect of being beat up for four races, but the mental part really wore me out," he said. The seemingly endless close races were an endurance test.
"It was pretty crazy, and it wears down on you."
McGregor credits his father for his love of driving fast.
"My dad was a huge fan of NASCAR and Indy racing," he said. "I grew up watching it with him on TV and then going to some races in real life."
Mom, on the other hand, was not so crazy about her 11-year-old son racing around at highway speeds in a gokart.
"She wasn't able to watch at first," admitted McGregor, "but then she got better and started watching quite a bit."
Duncalfe said McGregor is competing in three different series at the moment, all of which will end in April, followed by the Skip Barber Formula Mazda national program and then a professional testing program for the remainder of the year, designed to help McGregor make the jump to professional racing next year.
"He's highly sought after right now from a number of teams in North America and Europe," said Duncalfe.
"Not only is he the first Canadian to be leading these championships, but he's the first driver to be leading two championships (at once)."
All this attention lavished on a kid barely out of high school might be stressful -if McGregor wasn't living his dream.
But he takes a different lesson from the publicity. "I think it's very humbling, in a way. To come from Saskatoon of all places and start racing at this level," he said.
McGregor may be humbled, but his goals are still lofty. "I'd like to race in the Indy car one day and win in that. And one day, as well, Formula 1. Definitely my ultimate goal."
Hopefully his mother won't have trouble watching then.
tlambert@thestarphoenix.com
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