ARCADIA SPORTS PAGE ARCADIA SPORTS PAGE Page 62 October 2012 14-year-old has eye on 2014 Le Mans 24-hour race Matt McMurry hopes to be the youngest driver ever at Le Mans when he takes on the 2014 race at 16.6 years old. By Nathan Humpherys When Matt McMurry wants to drive a Corvette Z06 to train for the 24-hour Le Mans, he fi rst has to ask his mom if she will give him a ride to the track. McMurry, age 14, started driving go- carts when he was 4 years old. “At fi rst, he wasn’t real fond of it, but he liked the time with daddy” his mother, Bobbi, recalled. “And then he got real good at it.” When he was 12, he took a class at the Bob Bondurant School of Performance Driving and became the youngest driver to ever pass the course. Not long after, he decided that he wanted to set the record as the youngest driver to race in the 24-hour Le Mans. “The (driving class) was a lot of fun, so I wanted to keep doing this for a long time,” McMurry said. Two years later, he’s racing in the Skip Barber Summer Series, training with fi ve- time Le Mans winner Johnny O’Connell and testing with race teams for the USF2000, his next step in climbing the ladder of successively bigger and faster cars. He hopes that when the 2014 24-hour Le Mans race is run, he’ll have advanced enough to participate and set the record at 16.6 years old. “It’s pretty surprising that a kid this young knows what he’s doing,” O’Connell said. “This kid has got a very unique opportunity that his parents are giving him, and I get the impression he appreciates it.” McMurry isn’t the brash adrenaline junkie you might expect. Instead, he’s measured, focused, and a little on the quiet side. He tends to sit back and observe others until he feels comfortable trying things out himself, a trait that helps his mom feel more at ease when he gets behind the wheel because she knows he won’t try anything he’s not comfortable doing. “I trust Matt,” she said. “He’s very pragmatic. He just chips away at things really slowly.” Being methodical can be an asset, because before races, drivers have to practice over and over, adjusting where they brake, turn and accelerate until they Continued on page 64 Watch top prospects from all 30 organizations in Major League Baseball in your neighborhood for six weeks before Thanksgiving during the six-team Arizona Fall League’s 20th anniversary season. Games are played Monday-Saturday at 12:35 or 6:35 p.m. Opening Day is Tuesday, October 9. Scottsdale Scorpions (Angels, Giants, Indians, Pirates, Yankees) Scottsdale Stadium Home Games October: 10*, 12*, 13*, 16, 17*, 19*, 22, 25, 26, 29, 31 November: 1, 2*, 7, 8, 14*, 17 (AFL Championship Game, 1:10 p.m.) *6:35 p.m. Defending Champion Salt River Rafters (Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, Nationals, Rockies, White Sox) Salt River Fields at Talking Stick Home Games October: 9*, 11*, 16*, 18*, 20*, 22*, 23*, 25, 26, 30* November: 1, 3 (Rising Stars Game, 5:10 p.m.), 6*, 8*, 9*, 13, 14 *6:35 p.m. ONE LEAGUE, TWO HOME TEAMS Affordable Family Entertainment WWWMLBFALLBALLCOM&ACEBOOKCOMMLBFALLBALL4WITTERCOMMLBAZFALLEAGUEs   Season Passes s Family (limit 6): $ 115 s Adult (18–54): $ 85 s Senior (55+): $ 75 #ALL  ANDMENTIONTHE Arcadia News SEASON PASS