All in the family: Upbringing has Finney hooked on racing

SYCAMORE – Looking back, Jake Finney didn’t really have a choice, not that he minds. He was always going to race cars.

His grandfather, Phil Finney, built racecars. His dad, Dave Finney, got his start at Sycamore Speedway and made it all the way to NASCAR’s AutoZone Elite Division, a step below the Craftsman Truck Series.

“I grew up around it so I was always in the shop, turning wrenches and wanting to race,” Jake said. “When my dad started, I was 2. I’ve been hooked ever since.”

Now, Jake runs in four series. He’s runs weekly at what he considers his hometown track of Grundy County Speedway, the Big 8 Late Model Series, the CRA Super Series and, in what is probably the series that means the most to him, the Mid-American Racing Series.

Last season, the 23-year-old Finney finished fifth in the point standings out of 41 drivers. It wasn’t that much of a surprise to Dave, who has watched his son grow from a go-kart driver at the age of 14 that finished 11th in a go-kart series out of 40 drivers to a successful stock car driver that’s in contention to win almost any race.

A veteran of racing all across the Midwest, Dave said there is a way to tell if a young driver has the skill set to become a good driver that can sustain a long run of top 10 finishes.

“Usually it’s their attitude,” he said. “Their feel for the car and they understand what the car is doing. It’s not just hopping in and going around in circles. He knows what to do when he gets out of the car that makes it even better, all the adjustments and all that.”

Part of that knowledge comes from growing up with racing. Where it can lead, nobody knows.

“He’s really benefited from it,” Dave said. “He’s going to go a lot further than any of us. It just takes the right person to notice you.”

Jake said NASCAR’s Nextel Cup is probably an unlikely dream and racing will always be a hobby for him. He’s about to complete his degree in business administration at DeVry University.

That doesn’t mean he won’t add to the table filled with trophies that sits in a corner in the shop at Finney’s Electric.

The Mid-American series was supposed to start three weeks ago, but the first three events have been rained out. Regardless, Jake has aimed his sights eye in his fourth season on the circuit. He feels he’s grown as a driver after winning his first stock car race this past season and taking second place at the Governor’s Cup, a Mid-American race, at the esteemed Milwaukee Mile track.

“I’d like to say I’m a lot better and I don’t take the same crazy chances I used to,” he said. “I still race really hard.”

Just like his dad, who said that if the Finney’s can get a few more sponsors, “might play a little” and race a couple of times this season.

In hard economic times when sponsorships, which, along with winning a race purse are the two ways drivers can keep their hobby going, Jake tries to balance his thirst for winning with what he said was the best piece of advice his father ever gave him.

“To win the race, you’ve first got to finish the race,” Jake said. “Each week, if you can roll your car up on the trailer and didn’t wreck it and nothing blew up, there’s always the next race.”