Teen living race-car dream

Young sprint car driver’s family scrambling to repair car in time for Petaluma Speedway’s Saturday opener.|

No one was looking toward this Saturday’s opening of the Petaluma Speedway season with more anticipation than Will Fatu. But in an eye blink, anticipation turned into anxiety last weekend when Fatu crashed his shiny new sprint car while practicing for the big event.

Fatu was taken to the hospital and checked for a minor concussion and a strained neck. By Monday, he was feeling fine physically, but hurting emotionally as he, his father and his mother frantically scrambled to repair the pretty much wrecked race car.

“The car was completely totaled,” said the driver’s mother, Sairah Fatu. “I think the only thing that did not break was the engine, the seat and the driver. The safety equipment did its job.”

The family was hustling this week to get the car in shape for Saturday’s big opening. At press time, they weren’t sure if it would be ready in time.

If not, Fatu is sure to be back on the track soon. Race car drivers are a hearty breed of single-minded determination, and Fatu is endowed with more determination than most. How else do you explain the way he is able to compete in the tough world of dirt-track racing at an age when most 13-year-olds are still learning to steer remote-control cars.

Fatu’s story is unique, not only for his age, but for the determination of his entire family, which includes his father, Richard; his mother, Sairah; and his 5-year-old sister, Natalie.

None had ever been involved in racing in anyway until it became obvious that cars that go fast were Will’s passion.

“We gave him an opportunity to play several sports, but he didn’t take to any of them except golf,” says Sairah. “He was pretty good at it, but he has too much energy for golf.”

The family visited an indoor karting facilty, and Will and his family discovered what would become a way of life.

“We found a whole world of kids racing that included whole families and we just bought into it,” Sairah says.

Will’s climb up the racing ladder has been spectacular, and his family has been there with each step, learning along with their son.

In 2014, Will was track champion at the Kinsmen Kart Club in Dixon. The next year, now graduated to outlaw carts, he was Rookie of the Year on the big dirt track at the Dixon Speedway.

Last year, he raced mini-stock cars at the Petaluma Speedway, competing against adults three and four times his age.

“You usually have to be 16 to race at Petaluma, but they decided to give him a chance and see how he handled the car,” says his mother. “He finished second the first time he was on the track.”

Will says that, despite his age, he has been readily accepted at the Petaluma Speedway. “All the people and the drivers are really nice,” he says. “The drivers are like a family.”

Will is now ready for the next step - sprint car racing.

The family, helped by a track official, located a car online in Modesto, bought it, and Will and Richard set about preparing the car for Saturday’s season opener.

The car, powered by a small-block Chevy Corvette 500 horsepower engine that, according to Will, will turn speeds up to 100 mph on the Petaluma track, looks intimidating, but not so much to the driver who is still three years away from legally backing the family car out of the driveway.

“It is actually safer than the outlaw karts,” he says. “It has a lot of safety features.”

And the safety features work, as he found out last Saturday.

Handling a go-kart at 60 mph or a sprint car at 90 mph inherently comes with some risk. Will has suffered a broken collar bone from a go-kart accident, and his mother admits to being nervous watching her pre-high school son spinning around the track with 30- and 40-year-old racing veterans. “His grandparents cover their eyes,” she says.

The only person who doesn’t seem fazed is the driver. “I get butterflies before a race, but that’s pretty much it,” Will says.

So, what is it that puts a 13-year-old in a 500 horsepower rocket, going around in circles at 90 to 100 mph?

“It is a feeling and everything that comes with it,” says Will. “It is the G force, the feel of the wheel. the whole experience of racing.”

It is an experience he hopes to take all the way to the NASCAR circuit someday. The way it is going, it just might happen before he applies for a driver’s license.

Will and his family are determined to get the teenager back on the track as soon as possible, but repairing the car is a significant expense for a family that does just about everything on its own. Although Will’s success and his parents’ resolve have brought in significant sponsorships from Cattlemen’s, Les Schwab Tires, Signarama and several others, it is still a major expense for a working family.

“Although this is rough, I would not want it any other way,” says Sariah. “Our son is an amazing race car driver. And we will help him follow his dreams as far as we can.”

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.