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| BEN RHODES (9) RACES DILLON BASSETT AND ANDY MERCER IN A UARA-STARS RACE. (DREW HIERWARTER PHOTO) |
Rhodes learning from one of the best
By Tom Gillispie
Fifteen-year-old Ben Rhodes has an
advantage over most drivers at Hickory Motor Speedway and everywhere else.
His mentor is Sprint Cup driver
Marcos Ambrose.
"A lot of people look at it as
pressure (to work with Ambrose), and I feel pressure to perform," Rhodes
said. "But he shares his experience and expertise from the Cup side, and
it's a big advantage to have him as a mentor."
The youngster got to test this year
at Virginia International Raceway with Ambrose, a standout on road courses and
a Cup winner last year.
Rhodes was a top Legends-car driver —
he says he won 43 of 66 races last year — and Ambrose's team was looking for a
developmental driver to run Late Model. The team called last year, and Rhodes
said yes. Starting last August, he ran four races last year for Ambrose, two at
Hickory and one each at Newport, Tenn., and Myrtle Beach.
Rhodes has been running the
UARA-Stars series, which is set to run Hickory on June 23, and filling in with
races at Hickory. In a partial schedule, Rhodes is 16th in HMS Late Model
points. He says he's also leading UARA rookie points, his goal for the season.
"I'm not running every single
race (at Hickory)," he said, "but trying to get in as much as I can
when the UARA is off.
"Hickory is a great track. It
has a lot of features that help you get around other tracks."
He says that most of the tracks he's
raced on are about the size of Hickory (.366 mile), with the big one being
1.017-mile Rockingham Speedway.
Rhodes says he started out in
go-karts at "6 1/2 or seven," first racing in his home area of
Louisville, Ky., then racing from New York to Florida. He jumped into
Bandeleros and Legends cars and then Late Models.
He's made a fine transition, but he
says it hasn't been easy.
"There's a huge difference
(between Legends cars and Late Models)," he said. "There's a bigger
difference than people think. So many things are different, and I'm getting a
feel for it, getting used to it. The brakes are a big difference. It's a hard
transition. It's more difficult for people with no experience (in bigger cars).
I've had to rid myself of what I did in Legends cars."
As for his goals for next year,
"Depending on how this year goes, I'd like to do Late Models or (the)
K&N (East series) next year," he said. "Right now, we plan to
stick with Late Models next year. It's going good right now. We've had a lot of
successful races. We've been fast in a lot of them but had bad luck; we were
wrecked out of two races."
Even though he's only 15, he says he
wishes he'd started Late Models sooner.
"Some of the people I'm racing
against (in my age group) have more experience than I have," he said.
"It's amazing how early people are getting started compared to Dale
Earnhardt Jr. (who was in his 20s). My ultimate goal is to make it to Sprint
Cup, and I'm giving it all I've got now. Hopefully, I can make it work."
Rhodes, who is 5-10, 123 pounds, says
he's been working out, trying to get stronger.
"As far as muscle, I've been
going to the gym probably three times a week when I'm home or, even when I'm out of
town, I'm trying to work out. It's a big advantage to be in better shape than
your competitors.
"I never want to say I got tired
or make an excuse when I failed. I work out a lot, and I've actually gotten
bigger."
Of course,
that'll probably happen as he gets older.
EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com TWITTER: EDITORatWORK
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