Placerville Teen Youngest To Race In 25 Hours Of Thunderhill
WILLOWS (CBS13) - He doesn't even have a driver's license, but one local teen is about to race with some well-known legends.
The young Placerville teen will hit speeds of up to 130 mph at one of the biggest races in Northern California.
Right now it's just practice for a lot of the drivers, but come tomorrow, for one young driver it will be the biggest race of his life.
He's barely five feet tall, but at 13, Roy Fulmer has big racing dreams.
"I just hope to go pro and race with all the professional drivers," said Fulmer.
And this Placerville kid will get the chance to race the same track as pros like Kurt Busch and Al Unser Jr. this weekend at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. It will be the first time someone so young has run the race.
Fulmer races in a team of five, taking shifts zipping around the track against guys five times his age.
"On the race track they don't give me any room. They will try and push me around. Find my limits," he said.
"This is serious business out here, we have cars that are going 170-180 mph at the end of this straightaway," said Carl Young, one of Fulmer's teammates.
Young is a good 40 years Fulmer's senior, and says he thinks this pint-sized piston has talent.
"I love it; i think it's fantastic; the fact that these kids are coming up so early, it gives them so much of an advantage. I wish I had that advantage when I was their age," he said.
Young did bring up a good point: these cars are going very fast and there have been bad crashes here.
Fulmer is well aware and says it's all part of the sport.
"I don't worry about it too much. As long as I keep my head screwed on right, I'll do just fine," he said.
Racing is in Fulmer's blood. He started on go karts at seven years old, and instead of thinking what can go wrong, he can only focus on what a win here this weekend would mean.
"You get to be, like, one of the coolest guys. Everyone gets to say, whoa, look at that 13 year old, he won the 25 Hour," he said.
There's a lot of excitement for young Fulmer and a lot of the drivers out here. The race starts Saturday at 11 a.m.
Fulmer gets a little bit of help during the race. He will be sitting on a four-inch pad to make sure he's the proper height to see over the steering wheel.
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