Go-Karts whip by, causing an ear-shattering rumble, as the smell of burnt rubber and gasoline fills the air. The shiny red of the Kart and the loud motor of the engine make 5-year-old Griffin Layton fall in love.
“As soon as I touched the Go-Kart, I knew I wanted to be in that seat, compete in races, and go fast,” Layton said. “I wanted to be great like the guys I saw on TV.”
Junior Griffin Layton drives a high-speed Go-Kart at races around Texas, which helps new racers improve their skill and eventually move on to professional racing. Layton began racing after he went to Dallas Karting Complex, where he drove their Go-Karts and raced on their track. He placed in the top 1% out of 280,000 people who drove on that course.
“That’s when I knew I could do this as a career, and I knew I could be great,” Layton said. “I started making plans to move up in the sport so I could reach my dream.”
After deciding he wanted to race, Layton obtained his own Go-Karts, and a coach who helped him improve on his natural talent.
“My mom has really helped me a lot, she says not to worry about the cost, and my dad encourages me by saying how hard it’s going to be,” Layton said, “but I just keep moving forward, and I have a lot of friends helping me.”
When Layton started racing, he needed to buy all the equipment to be eligible to compete, and his dad, Cliff Layton, bought the equipment and funded his dream.
“When he first started racing, I just wanted him to be safe, but I also wanted to supply him with the equipment that could help him reach his dream,” Cliff said.
Griffin’s first race wasn’t perfect by any means. During the qualifying round, he spun out and needed assistance to get pushed off the track. At the starting line, his Go-Kart stalled out, and he couldn’t get the Kart to move.
“During the race, everything went very well. When I just put what happened behind me, I was able to have a really good race,” Layton said.
His first race coincided with the last race of the season, so he practiced all offseason to try to perfect his skill, going to the track frequently and even buying a racing simulator that he uses at home.
“Getting better at racing, so I can move up to the next level, really motivates me to get better,” Layton said.
Griffin hopes to move up to F4 soon and continue to compete as a professional driver when he leaves high school, and his dream is to be an F1-series racer.
“I want to be remembered in F1, and I want to be the new era of talent,” Layton said. “I don’t have a favorite racer because my real racing hero is me in ten years,”.
Griffin stands out as the only racer at the school, and he would be one of the first F1 racers to come out of the area.
“There’s a lot of things I love about racing, I love the competitiveness, I love how the sport works, and most of all, I love going fast,” Layton said.
