Forrest Reynolds testing at South Boston Speedway

FORREST CAN RUN…FAST

19 Year-Old Living Life in the Passing Lane

JW Martin

There’s no need to tell Forrest Reynolds to run, he already knows. His life, it seems, is a constant race. He has two full time jobs; Monday through Thursday he’s a student at UNC Charlotte, and on the weekends he’s the wheelman for the number 04 Gusler Fencing Late Model race team.

Reynolds makes 150 circuits around Motor Mile Speedway in each event he competes in; but the laps ran at the track is only a fraction of the miles logged getting to the track. The most seat time Reynolds gets these days is behind the wheel of his 1995 Nissan pickup, which he races in an over 300 mile round-trip interstate journey between his two professions.

Reynolds weekly commute to the track is not uncommon; almost half of this season’s Late Model roster is comprised of out-of-state racers. What makes Reynolds different is the fact that he’s 19 years old, and having to juggle the two most important aspects of his future at the same time, at a young age.

Upon graduating high school, most teenagers either chose to further their education by attending college, or they decide to jump-start their career by entering the workplace. Few teens do both, and if they are blessed with multitasking capabilities, one of the two- typically the job, is part time. This is not the case for Reynolds. Factoring in those elements of travel, time and money, Forrest Reynolds has seemingly found the balance in a racing education.

“Pretty much Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights I work my butt off to get my schoolwork done and get caught up through the weekend, and then Thursday evenin’ I come home and completely shift gears. Ninety percent of the time I leave my book bag at Charlotte and I come here and work on the racecar all weekend,” Reynolds explains.

Granted, the strenuous lifestyle would be challenging. But not for Reynolds; he’s been doing it for most of his life.

And the cradle will race…

Like most in the racing community, Forrest Reynolds caught the bug at a tender age. Dad was a huge racing fan, and bred within his son were the genes that produced that infallible racing hormone. All he needed was a little persuasion.

“My Dad got me into it,” Reynolds recalls. “He started taking me to go-kart tracks when I guess I was around six or seven, and shortly thereafter we bought a kart.”

Reynolds was 7 years old when he starting racing competitively; wheeling go-karts with monumental success. Within a span of three or four seasons the young Forrest raked in around 50 wins and several championships.

“We dominated that,” Reynolds adds.

As Forrest began to find success on the track, he also found conflict in the classroom.

“Every year when I started a new grade, my parents would have a talk with the teachers and let them know that I would be missing a lot of school because we would be traveling around racing go-karts or mini stocks.”

The dawn of his racing career brought with it a plethora of expeditious changes. Forced to mature faster than most at his age, he quickly learned the art of time management and prioritizing. In more ways than one, his life became all about speed.

At age 12 he made the move up to the Mini Stock division, competing regularly at Franklin County Speedway. Due to age restrictions Reynolds would be relegated to lower divisions until he turned sixteen, even though his ambition and talent far exceeded his age. He would compete at the Limited Sportsman level when he turned 15, as well as Late Model Trucks a year later. The speedway would be a big learning curve, however, and would lay the foundation for Reynolds’ biggest step – the transition into the Late Model Stock Car division.

Welcome to the show

It was the last day of June, 2007. In nine races, Reynolds had recorded 2 top five’s- one of which a runner-up finish- heading into the Landmark Builders/Dublin Developers 150 at Motor Mile Speedway. It was driver number 04’s inaugural season at the Late Model level, and he and the team were racing on a tight budget. Forrest qualified tenth that day, behind a slew of veteran powerhouses the likes of Jason Mitcham, Davin Scites and the reigning track champ, Philip Morris.

It would be a race clothed in controversy. Armed with nothing more than a simple Crate motor, Reynolds meticulously picked off the cars ahead of him one by one. The number 04 sat third when a late race accident forced the race into overtime, and one lap after the start of the green-white-checker finish, Reynolds had muscled past the number 06 of Davin Scites and into second place. Yet another caution reset the field, however, and likewise set the stage for the coming altercation.

Reynolds got the jump on the start, and as he and leader Philip Morris barreled into turn one, the pair of leaders made contact. The contact received took Morris out of contention, and garnered Reynolds the black flag instead of the checkered flag.

Scites would be proclaimed the winner, but post-race inspection would reveal the number 06 was incompliant with the NASCAR rule book. The infraction would warrant a disqualification and a day later Reynolds was reinstated as the victor after officials reconsidered and revoked his black flag.

Regardless of how it was won, the race proved to fans and critics alike that the young New Castle native was fast enough and fearless enough to run with the big boys. And even though the team was under-funded, the remainder of the season would yield six top ten finishes in nine starts.

Structurally, not much has changed from that debut season. Going into the ’08 season, Reynolds retained his crew, including his stand-out crew chief, Mark Stephens. Every night of the week, somebody-and often time’s more than one person-is at the shop fine tuning the white Chevrolet Impala. And on the weekends, Reynolds –like always- spends as much time under the car as he does in the car, something he prides himself for- and for good reason. He’s so in tune with the mechanical make-up of racecars that his major at UNC Charlotte is mechanical engineering.

But there is one defining difference between the pair of seasons: support. This year, Reynolds has a brand- new car, a brand- new trailer, and enough financial backing to take the pressure off him and his Dad. And Gary Gusler is to thank. With sponsorship help from Gusler Fencing, ’08 looks to be Reynold’s most promising season yet.

“Gary Gusler has been the greatest thing to happen to us so far this year. Anything we can possibly need to win with he’s taken care of us and gotten us,”

Reynolds explains.

With the sponsor, Reynolds feels he will finally have the needed edge on the competition-something he was without last season.

“It helps out a ton. Having the tools that we need to win with- that’s what we didn’t have last year- we didn’t have that last little bit to separate us from the rest of ‘em.”

While it may still be too early to tell, Reynolds’ only performance of the season bodes well for the number 04 team. With basically no practice with the brand-new Chevy, Reynolds crossed the stripe in sixth place after rallying from his thirteenth place starting spot. Once the team logs some laps with the new machine, the short-term results are expected to be drastically improved.

As for the bigger picture, Forrest Reynolds remains modest. With a good head on his shoulders and maturity abounding, the 19 year old has practical goals for the future.

“Realistically, I’d like to have my degree- maybe be an engineer for a [Nationwide] team or some kind of a race team. If the next season or two goes good for me maybe I could move up- maybe to Pro Cup or Busch East would be excellent. But you can’t really bank on that.”

With knowledge of the future notwithstanding, Forrest Reynolds’ past and present is proof enough of his ability. Able to juggle two professions at once is impressive, but to do it competitively is something Reynolds’ has mastered- at age 19. From the classroom in Charlotte to the speedway in Virginia, one thing is certain- Forrest Reynolds is talented. And that’s something you can take to the bank.