This week’s spotlight is on Jaden Chapman, the driver of the #13 Pro Late Model car. Jaden is 29 years old and was born, raised and still lives in Sarnia Ontario, with his wife and high school sweetheart Jessica and their 9-year-old son, Lucas. Jaden has been around cars since he was born and has loved cars and racing for as long as he can remember. When Jaden said he still lives in Sarnia the first thing that crossed my mind is “that takes a lot of dedication and commitment to travel roughly 3 hours each way to race at Sauble Speedway!” Which lead me to the question “What is Jaden’s favourite thing about Sauble that fuels his love the track?” Jaden stated that it all started in a conversation he had with another Sauble driver, Andrew Gresel, Jaden had said that if Sauble were to ever bring back the Pro Late Models, he would do whatever he could to help build the car count. Jaden goes on to say “the biggest thing about Sauble Speedway that our team enjoys is the atmosphere at the track, everyone is always so pleasant, and it seems a little more relaxed than some other tracks. Myself as a driver, I absolutely love racing at the track. I enjoy how technical you must be in order to turn a decent lap time but even more technical to set up a successful pass.” Jaden has been racing himself for 14 years, the addiction started when he spent a few years watching his cousin race in Delaware, that got him hooked! Jaden then scrimped and saved as much as he could and bought his first car for $700 when he was only 14! He spent every available night and weekend with his dad putting a new body on it and then learned how to build his own engine. As the years went on Jaden continued to put time and dedication into his love for the sport and progressed to higher divisions until he got to where he is now,
which is the Pro Late Model class.
Over the years Jaden has made partnerships with MANY sponsors, A couple of these sponsors have been supporting Jaden for over 10 years! These sponsors are Ackwood Auto Parts and Crystal Clear Janitorial. Jaden’s other sponsors are Technical Heat Treatment, St. Germain Autobody, Hill’s Cleaning, Lug Nuts Truck and Trailer, DT Freight, Klondike Lubricants, Fastenal racing and Interface testing.
Jaden’s best advice to a someone just getting into racing as a driver is that you don’t’ need the best of the best to compete, keep your expectations realistic because this is for fun after all. Set individual goals for each race and to always race your own race. Yes, it’s nice to win but bring able to put the car on the trailer after a race with no damage is just as good as a win. Speaking of win, Jaden has found himself in Victory Lane a few times, he describes these moments as absolutely amazing because they are such a small budgeted, family ran team, all his wins so far have been at Delaware Speedway, but he hopes to change that this season, by bringing home his first checkered flag at Sauble Speedway. Jaden’s first win was in his V8 stock that Jaden, his dad and wife, Jessica built from the ground up. Jaden’s most memorable win was when he won the Jukasa short track national qualifier race at Delaware in 2019, it was his first Pro Late Model win! When he won Jessica had to wake Lucas as he had fallen asleep on the pit wall as the race went long because of so many cautions. With that win they were able to run in the National event at Jukasa.
To close out my interview I asked Jaden if he had anything else he would like the fans of Sauble Speedway to know about him and his team. Jaden shared that “we are a small family run team. My wife, Jessica does all my tires and keeps the crew in line. My 9-year-old son, Lucas plays a huge roll with doing set up on my car.” Jaden’s team may be small but they sure are mighty and we can’t wait to see them perform and bring home a win at Sauble Speedway this 2023 season! Good luck to Jaden and his #13 Pro Late Model team!