LEE COUNTY TEENAGER ON FAST TRACK - By Annabelle Tometich

Even as a toddler, Blake Lehr knew he wanted to race cars.  The Fort Myers High School sophomore recalls spending countless hours of his childhood watching NASCAR races with his father, and dreaming of one day being in the driver's seat himself.

At the age of 8 his parents indulged his dream and bought him his first race car, a 345-pound 11 horsepower Ultramax Go Kart.

That was December of 1998.

In June of 2001, Blake won his first race in the World Karting Association at Auburndale Speedway in Lakeland.  His first state victory came February 1, 2002. In May of 2004, he recorded his first national victory in Beaver Run, Pa.  And last year Blake swept the WKA Florida State championships, winning all three divisions (junior animal, junior light and junior heavy).

Blake attributes his success to one thing - his dad Greg.  "My dad's taught me everything." Blake said.  "He taught me how to listen to my car, know my car and trust my car.  He's been there since day one."

When the father-son team started, neither knew much about winning races.  "It was like were in front of this huge mountain and we had no idea how to scale it." Greg said.  "We got our brains beaten in, race after race.  It took us two to three years just to get competitive." "The problem was the karts.  We just couldn't get the karts right back then, but over time we started understanding them.  That's when I knew Blake was going to be good."

In just seven years of racing, Blake has outgrown go-karts.  At 15 he became the youngest driver in the Florida Association of Stock Car Auto Racing open wheel modified series.  His new car weights in at 1,600 pounds and packs a whopping 650 horses, a lot of power for someone who only has his learner's permit.

"The next youngest guy is 19, but most of them are 25 to 35." Blake said.  "My first race, they all sort of looked at me funny, I don't think that they knew if I was serious." Blake proved he was all business when he started the race at the back of the pack in 20th position (his crew chief insisted he start last because it was his first FASCAR race) and passed nine older, more experienced drivers to finish 11th.  In his second FASCAR race at the DeSoto County Speedway on Sunday, Feb 26th, Blake hopes to place in the top five.  He plans on competing in all of the 20-plus FASCAR Pro Modified series races this season, and in three years, he hopes to make the transition to the pros.

"I race as much as I can.  Every weekend I spend like 10-15 hours on the track in DeSoto, and every (event) that comes up, I try to get to." Blake said.

"You have to be 18 to race in NASCAR, so I have three years.  I think by then I'll be ready."