MOORHEAD — "Green flag flies, and we are racing at Circuit of the Americas, Jeremy Swenson takes them four abreast," an announcer at a recent race said.
It's not hard to find Moorhead's Jeremy Swenson in the pack on the track.
Lately, he's been in the lead . Swenson is one of the country's top competitors in Gridlife series racing that is growing in popularity nationwide.
"We've got 50 to 60 cars (typically) that take a green flag from the start, and you're all racing to get back to the stripe first. One thing that's appealing in this series is it's only a 15-minute race," Swenson said.
In his garage in Moorhead, between races in New York, Texas, South Carolina and soon Michigan, Swenson walked us through his race car, a Corvette.
ADVERTISEMENT
"It's pretty basic. You've got just what you need, a shifter, the steering wheel, three pedals, (and) communications so I can talk with my crew," he said.
Swenson used to race cars with serious speed, about 165 mph. In Gridlife, there's a limit. Jeremy's corvette races at about 130 mph on 3-4 mile tracks.
"You get the excitement of the start of the race and the finish of the race, and they happen one after the other, and it's just excitement for 15 minutes," Swenson said.
With the Gridlife series, there is no money won. The only prizes are pride and trophies.
"This is absolutely skill-based. That's one thing that's great about this series is we try to make all the cars equal as best they can," Swenson said.
The competition keeps him coming back, not to mention, "I'm pretty decent at this stuff, so it's an adrenaline rush, but also I love the competition, and winning is so much fun. ... I've been so fortunate," he said.
His dad, Scott Swenson, was handy with cars. He raced stock cars in northwest Minnesota.
"He'd love it. The sensible side of him would say, 'What are you doing?'" Jeremy Swenson said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Scott Swenson died young, at 51, from prostate cancer. But that racing spirit is beside son during every race.
"I am pretty sure he'd be crying almost every time I take a checkered flag. ... His number was number 3 on his race car, and so is mine, and I put three fingers out the window if I win in honor of my dad," Jeremy Swenson said.
He won the championship his first year and this year is leading the pack again.
More information on Jeremy Swenson and Gridlife:
The Trust Project
