SJ Sports: Fast Forward

While most 16-year-olds can't even decide what they'll wear to the mall on any given afternoon, Tom Hessert III has already decided what he wants to do with the rest of his life. He wants to be a professional racecar driver. Even if it's a bit ambitious in theory. Even if it's a bit dangerous. Even if it's not an option on the career survey at his high school guidance office.

Conventional teenage life holds little interest for Hessert, who has just completed his sophomore year at Cherry Hill East High School. There's nothing easy about the path he's chosen. There are bumps and bruises, long hours on the road and countless demands on his time. These are sacrifices, but they are a means to an end. Hessert knows exactly where he wants to go as he takes every measured step along the way. "I want (racing) to be what I do for a living," Hessert said. "I know this is what I want to do with my life. Whatever opportunity comes up at a higher level of racing, whether it's NASCAR or Indy Car racing, that's what I want to do. Yes, I am missing out on some stuff now because of the sacrifices I've made. But then again, I don't see them as sacrifices, because this is what I love to do."

Hessert celebrated his 16th birthday on May 22. By the laws of the state of New Jersey that require licensed drivers to be at least 17 years of age, he's not even allowed to drive to the supermarket, to school or anywhere, for that matter. It is a strangely ironic twist, considering that Hessert has been racing competitively for the past 10 years. So how is a kid who has yet to experience his junior prom so sharply focused on his career goal? It's simple, really. Hessert has been around racing, around cars, his whole life.

It's In His Blood
Hessert's father, Tom II, caught the racing bug from his uncle, Ed "Doc" Hessert. "I learned everything from him," the elder Hessert said. "I didn't get so much of the knowledge from my father. My dad, as long as you put the key in the ignition, that was his understanding of cars." Doc's nephew started a business back in 1978, just to earn enough money to race cars. Many around South Jersey know that business today as Classic Auto Group, based in Turnersville. In one of his first races, Hessert destroyed his car. It took him five years of work at the dealership just to pay back his bank loan. His workdays typically went from 7 a.m. to midnight. "My only vacations were my car races on the weekends," Hessert said. "Being at the dealership for long days like that, I didn't see my family much. Being at the car races on the weekends meant that I got to see my kids."

And so it was that young Tom III took in his first race when he was but two weeks old. Over the years, his father struck a balance between maintaining a successful business and a successful racing career. He started by winning a championship in the Formula Fords road racing series before moving on to some Winston Cup races in 1985. Later in his career, Hessert won the 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race three times. He put his racing career on hold for a while because of business growth with his Classic Auto Group. The hiatus didn't last long. By 1993, Hessert was racing in the Busch Grand National series. Three years later, at the Phoenix International Raceway, he passed his Indy 500 Rookie test.

Had he chosen to do so, Hessert could have signed with a team and entered the prestigious Indy 500. But by 1997, Hessert decided to retire from racing. "I get a different type of enjoyment now from working with customers," he said. "I certainly enjoyed my time with racing, and I was fortunate enough to be able to win a lot of them. But after a while, I had a job I had to perform. I have a family. It was just my time."

The Next Generation
At some point, it would became young Tom's time. The younger Hessert is quick to point out that his father was not "a Little League dad, the kind that would force me into the sport because he wanted me to race." Rather, the excitement and lure of the sport grew on him. The smells and the sounds of the track stayed with a young boy who knew he'd want to drive in a race of his own one day.

At the age of six, Tom Hessert III got behind the wheel of a quarter midget dirt car with a 3-horsepower engine for his first race on a 1/20th of a mile dirt oval track at Blackbird Speedway in New Castle, Del. "From what I can remember," Hessert recalled, "I think we were running second before something happened." From there, Hessert's love for the sport only grew. So did his success. Last year, Hessert won four races in the micro sprint series, racing on dirt oval tracks in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Along the way, he has absorbed and learned a great deal. "That's the best thing about him," said Lou Ciccone, owner of Ciccone's Auto Body in Essington, Pa., and a successful driver along the midget circuit. "Tom learns quickly, and he's very calm and poised as a driver. He's learned a lot from his dad and it shows."

Back in January, Ciccone arranged for Hessert to test a midget car at Orlando Speedworld. "He had never sat in a midget before, and he was two-tenths of a second off our lap times," Ciccone said. "And that was constant; he didn't just do it once. He's very smooth with the car and listens to what he has to do." Ciccone was so impressed that he used a connection to land Hessert a spot on the Keith Kunz racing team. Hessert will be spending the better part of his summer in Columbus, Indiana, just outside Indianapolis, racing and working in the shop. "It's a big step for him, a tremendous step," Ciccone said. "But I know he's ready for it. I wouldn't have arranged it for him if I didn't think he was ready."

Emancipation
How serious is Hessert about his budding racing career? Serious enough that he went to court to get his next opportunity. When he goes to Indiana this summer, Hessert will be racing full midgets in the United States Automobile Club, where several big name drivers like Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon got their start. Most USAC drivers are of the legal age of 18, but Hessert had to get emancipated in order to be allowed to race as a minor. "There's a strict procedure to it," Hessert explained. "You have to submit a resume and get accepted. Then it goes to court." So Hessert made the trek to Indiana for his court appearance. He was approved on May 6. Hessert was elated. He only knows of a handful of USAC drivers across the country that have been emancipated. "I am amazed at the sacrifices he's made and how much he's been willing to do for this," his father said. "He has so many priorities at his age, and he balances them out so well."

One of Hessert's priorities is becoming what he and his father call "the total package," a well-rounded individual. While most pro drivers have thrown themselves right into the business after high school, Hessert plans on attending college and obtaining an engineering degree that will help him better understand how his car and other cars work. He maintains a B average in the classroom and gets to the gym to stay in shape. He even finds time to play on the junior varsity tennis team at Cherry Hill East. On occasion, Hessert will even pick the brain of another family member. His aunt, Kathleen Hessert, runs Sports Media Concepts in Charlotte, NC, where she has worked with the likes of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams on the ways of being media savvy.

He's leaving no stone unturned. As a result, Hessert's schedule will only get more hectic from here on out. The demands on his time will be greater, and so will the challenges that await him. He wouldn't have it any other way. "I don't know what I would do if I wasn't doing this," Hessert said. "It takes dedication, but I'm willing to do it. I can't imagine doing anything else."

Content provided by South Jersey Sports Club.

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Author: SJ Sports Club-John DiCarlo