June 18, 2003
Lehn races after dream job
16-year-old competes in mini-outlaw racing as he pursues NASCAR goal
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
"My hands have been dirty since I was six years old."
Just 16 years old, Jacob Lehn is already an excellent auto mechanic and accomplished body technician (with a gold medal to prove it from the Annual Skills USA-VICA Leadership Conference and Skills Contest held in Lansing in May.)
For a decade, Lehn has been steeped in all things mechanical, most of it learned through hands-on experience guided by his father, Daryl. Lehn began his mechanic's career when his father gave him a gift of a pick up truck when he was six.
"I blew the motor up and then rebuilt it," said Lehn, who lived with his family in Wyoming at the time.
But Lehn, a Central High School senior next year, has his sights on a more ambitious goal for his life: becoming a NASCAR driver.
"As soon as I'm out of high school there's a school called the Skip Barber Racing School , it's the best school," said Lehn, who will be a second year student next year in the TBA Career Tech Center's Auto Body program. "They guarantee you a job in ARCA, which is like the NASCAR minor leagues."
For now, Lehn is beginning his second season as a mini-outlaw driver, traveling with his father and uncle, John Lehn, to races around the region. This class of racing consists of a snowmobile engine on wheels, with the drivers sitting in a cage that is part of the vehicle's steel tube frame. Drivers are only a couple of inches from the ground as they speed around a half-, three-eighths- or quarter-mile track at 90 miles an hour.
Aerodynamic styling is crucial to the class and mini-outlaws sport dramatic wings on back and front scoops. These features help prevent skidding through high-speed turns.
"I love speed and I like being able to do turns and come out of them," Lehn said. "I think it is different than driving on the street, you are keeping yourself on the edge of being fast and out of control at the same time."
"You're so close to the ground you think you're flying," he noted. "It takes getting used to."
Lehn began racing last season and garnered Rookie of the Year honors from the Mini-Outlaw Racing Association, the umbrella organization for his racing class.
Merging his mechanical abilities with his driving skills is a winning combination for Lehn's future, noted his uncle, John Lehn. While his family purchased ready-made vehicles to race, they have learned the ins and outs of every bolt, gear and clutch, especially Jacob.
"Jake is just 16, but he could take that car down to the bare frame and rebuild it back together," said John Lehn. "Daryl's and my hope is that by learning all of this, learning to drive and participating in the friendly family competition, even if he can't make it as a NASCAR driver he can make it as a NASCAR auto mechanic or be on a team."
Lehn, his uncle and father work on their cars at least daily before a weekend's race, well aware that they will get out of the vehicle what they put into it. They compete in 11 races a season and Jacob, with his eye on the NASCAR prize, continues to hone his skills at both the art and science of racing.
Along the way, racing has turned into a metaphor for life as well as Jacob matures into an adult.
"It is not just about learning to drive you have to learn humility, patience, and not to get mad," noted his Uncle John.
After struggling some last season, where wins suddenly became elusive, Jacob plans to focus on his mental strengths and strategies this year.
"Some of each is important, the mental and the physical," he said. "You're always trying to get the mental end to work."