By Hayley Wildes
There aren’t a lot of sports out there where a mother and son would have the opportunity to compete at a high level together. This is what makes Jake and Leeanne Young’s story so unique.
The pair shares a race car and were both recently crowned points champions of their respective classes in the Victorian Crash and Bash Association Championships.
Leeanne, from Maryknoll, took out the ladies division, while son Jake, from Tynong, won the open division. Crash and Bash racing isn’t your average car race though, as Leeanne explains, there is plenty of action.
“The type of racing we do, one way to put it is that there’s an element of stunt driving, so we race at racing speeds but we’re also allowed to tap each other off the track,” she said.
With such racing there is obviously a lot of damage sustained to the cars, this being one of the reasons that the pair shares a car.
“The type of racing we do, it takes a lot of work to keep the car on the track, so we share a car,” Leeanne said.
“Jake and his Dad work on the car; they build them and to keep the car on the track and to be a winning car takes a lot of time, passion and dedication – you have to have it.”
They both certainly have ‘it’ and boast the Championships to prove it.
Despite sharing a car, Leeanne admits they are competitive and share a special bond because of racing.
“I’ll look at his lap times and he’ll look at mine,” she said.
“We do get competitive, but we respect each other too.
“To be able to share a car with my son and have that special bond is great. I’m proud of him and I like seeing that knowledge getting passed down too.”
Leeanne first started racing in the early 90s at Drouin Speedway and Jake has been racing since he was 12 years old. It clearly runs in the family as Leanne’s daughters have also raced in past.
The pair race a Ford with a Barra engine and Leeanne admits she feels the pressure to bring home the car in one piece.
“I usually race first on the Saturday, so there’s a lot of pressure to bring it back in one piece. [Jake] only allows his Mum to race in the car,” she said with a laugh.
Jake and Leeanne would like to thank Goose’s Auto’s and Thrifty Car Rentals for their continued support.
