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A driver that has had the eye of a lot of people this year is Nick Layman. Nick races in the Cyber Stock division at Kalamazoo Speedway. He has been a strong competitor the entire year. On Saturday nights races for Cyber Mania Nick was turned sideways out of turn two and partway down the backstretch. A hard hit shift both the front and rear of his car. A long list of repairs is in store for him and doesn't know if the car will be ready to go for next weeks Cyber Nationals. I had a chance to talk with Nick after the races and even though his car wasn't looking to good, Nick still had a smile and good sense of humor. How long have you been racing? "This is the first full year I've had in the Cyber Stocks. I've raced Enduro for three years and I raced about half a season last year in the Cyber Stocks. We had a little trouble with the car last year." What got you into racing? "My aunt and uncle, Rick and Michelle both raced and they started young. My dad used to race and it's just in my blood." Nick's dad is the car own and it is only the two of them that make up the team. "Occasionally if I have problems people from other teams will come around and help us." The crash on Saturday had a big impact on his points race for the season.What are your looking at doing for the future? "Next year I plan on moving up to a Pure Stock. I don't have the funds to get the car so I need to find someone that has a ride that I can move into. If I can't find a ride I probably be back in the Cyber Stocks for next year." Nick has two feature wins and I wanted to know what his best memory of his first feature was, "Checkered flag, just looking up and seeing it. It really is an hard feeling to describe but it was amazing." Do you remember the first time you got into a race car? "Yes I do, it was actually the biggest Enduro of the year at Kalamazoo and it was $5,000 to win. I started on the pole and on the first lap I got spun out coming out on the backstretch and I had 250 cars coming head on at me. They couldn't see me because of all the smoke that there was from spinning out. I finished about a hundred laps and I got up to about 12th."

Nick is 19 years old and graduated in 2008. He is going to be graduating again on Friday but this time it is from KVCC in the automotive academy. Nick hopes to get a job in a dealership or a small shop were he can spend all day around something he loves. Another side of Nick is his hobbies away from the cars and racing. Nick is a very big bowler and loves league play. He also enjoys hunting, fishing and what all of us loved to do at his age, hang out with our friends. One thing I always like to find out from the drivers is why they chose the color and number for their car. "The number five is actually my dad's old race car number and the color green is the color the car came and I didn't want to paint it."

With a lot of work ahead of him and his dad Nick is not alone in his efforts. Nicks sponsors have backed him in his racing and wanted to make sure they were represented. Nick is sponsored by: Affordable Auto Care, Competition Race Fuels, GForce Custom Screen Printing & Embroidery, Formula K, Fastenal, Snap-on Tools, Wayne Browning, and Race For Kids Sake.