It’s getting hot. The car is burning up but inside sits sophomore James McCollum in his white helmet and blue and white fire suit. The temperature is 20 degrees higher than outside the car, but this racer just sits quietly awaiting his upcoming race. No matter the situation, McCollum has to deal with it. That includes if he needs to go to the bathroom before the start of a race.

A typical practice for McCollum on a Saturday is a few laps around the track in Madera. He gets up at 5 in the morning and leaves his house at 7 with his brother, another racer, and his father, a mechanic, for Madera and does not return until 10 in the evening. McCollum’s only time for homework is either Friday nights or Sunday mornings because he races in the Madera Speedway Whelen All-American Series Toyota Sedan Division. 

“Something about cars makes me like it,” he said. McCollum has done go-cart racing since he was 5 and has just transitioned into racing cars. He made the switch this March when “(he) realized cars are a lot faster than go-carts.” But because cars are a lot faster, they are more dangerous, too. 

Though he is a rookie to racing, McCollum has already experienced his first heat race, win, and wreck. In a heat race, the members are divided into two heats -- Heat One, consisting of the top eight racers, and Heat Two for the weaker eight. McCollum was part of Heat One and was in third place at the fourth turn when the car in first and second place had a wreck and he took first. 

After winning his first race, the ecstatic racer punched the inside roof of his car leaving behind a dent. Not only does he want to do well, but he also wants to impress his father. 

McCollum said, “I was really excited” because his “dad will be proud.” Not only was his father proud, but his mother was in tears and called all their relatives. 

Though she was excited about the win, she has never given up her guilt tactic to make McCollum quit racing. He said that sometimes she would start saying, “It hurts me to watch you race … ” 

Although she doesn’t attend many of the family’s races, she feels more comfortable watching McCollum’s father race rather than McCollum and his brother because the father has more experience.

McCollum’s joy soon ended when he experienced his first wreck, which is far from watching it on television, he said. “People get excited about crashes, but I want to make sure everyone’s okay.” 

The wreck made McCollum “nervous about racing again,” but he says “you just have to accept the consequences.” The first thing he did after the minor wreck was check if he was okay and if the car could be started again. 

Luckily, McCollum was not severely injured and he has already gotten back to racing. The one thing that the wreck hurt him the most was his ego. He said, “I learned that I wasn’t invincible.”