For many teenage boys, the first time behind the wheel of a car is a rite of passage, with perhaps a bit of nervousness mixed in.

However, it’s nothing new for Nathan Jackson of McDonough. He has a great deal of experience in handling himself on the asphalt – before he even has his driver’s license.

Nathan, 14, is a freshman at Ola High School and a winning race car driver on short circuit tracks. His most recent race was on a 5/8 mile track in Cordele, Ga.

In fact, he’s gotten so good at the sport that he now teaches other young people about the finer points of racing.

“It feels really good to be able to teach other kids what I’m doing, because I love racing,” said Nathan. “The main thing I like about teaching the kids is seeing that we have more kids coming up in racing, and that if they have questions or if they always need someone to talk to about it, it feels good that I can go help them. I can show them what they need to do.”

Nathan served as an instructor on a road course at Atlanta Motor Speedway three weeks ago where the teenager was asked to be a mentor for a young Bandolero class of racers.

“It’s the car that you first get into when you’re 8, before you step up into a Legend car,” said Nathan. “I was teaching them because last year was my last year in them, and I had won two championships on the road course at Atlanta Motor Speedway. So, they asked me to be the instructor, show them the line and talk to them about the track, what they should do and where. So, I got to teach them the basics of it.”

Jackson is also slated to take part in a Legends racing event this weekend at Atlanta Motorsports Park in Dawsonville. He will then have two more races on December 8 at AMS for the season finale.

Nathan began racing in 2012, when he was just eight years old. The seeds for his affinity for the sport were likely planted years before, when his father, Kurt, was racing road courses.

“I was at Daytona International Speedway when I was four weeks old, watching him race,” said Nathan. “He won a big race down there.” The teenager emphasized that short-circuit racing involves more than simply driving fast, and that it required him to master a number of technical aspects to the sport. He credits his father and others with helping him to perfect his racing skills.

“They just basically helped me on-track,” said Jackson. “They got in their cars, they showed me the line and they brought me up to speed.”

Nathan’s love of racing is reflected throughout his home on the outskirts of McDonough. In his driveway earlier this week was a short-circuit race car that, at one time, belonged to NASCAR racer David Ragan, and another that was once owned by fellow racer Buckshot Jones. The latter vehicle, said Jackson, appeared last month in a Legends race at Crisp Motorsports Park in Cordele, Ga. – the car’s first race since 1999.

He acknowledged that one of his racing challenges thus far has centered on the differences between the Bandolero and Legends vehicles. For instance, the Bandolero weighs 750 pounds with a driver, while a 1,300-lb. Legend car has 152 horsepower.

“I was really happy with it for my first time at Crisp Motorsports Park in a Legend car,” said Jackson. “I’ve been down there in a ‘Bando’ and done really well, but for my first time down there in a Legend car, to only be maybe a tenth [of a second] off the fastest car there by the end of the night, I thought, was a really big improvement for me. My dad and I took notes on what we need to do different, and next time we go back down, we should be right up there with them.”

“The ‘Bando’ only has springs and shocks in the back,” he said. “The front is solid, whereas the Legends car is sprung all the way around. The biggest deal that I had to learn when I got into a Legends car, I tried to see if I could go down there and keep it at a steady speed like I did in the ‘Bando,’ just trying to use a little bit of brake, but I didn’t realize the fact that feeling all the weight roll over to the right side of the car was so much different in how it handled. I almost lost it going around the corner.”

“[With a Legends car], you’ve got to pretend there’s an egg on the gas pedal, and you’ve got to just ease into it and be really gentle on it,” he continued.

Nathan’s interests aren’t limited to those on the racing track. He began playing the trumpet when he was a sixth-grader at Ola Middle School. He is now part of the marching band at Ola High School, which recently won a Grand Champion award at a competition in Forsyth, Ga.

Jackson also displays his vehicles at events for People First of Henry County and others in the special-needs community, a cause which is close to his heart.

Nathan said he works hard to get his homework and schoolwork done every day – particularly on race weeks while ensuring that all his cars are ready.

“The biggest challenge overall is just trying to make sure everything is done in the time that it needs to be done,” said Nathan.

Much like the people he has met in the racing community, the teen said band mentors have been instrumental in helping him to hone his skills.

Kurt Jackson, who has a background in road-course racing, said it is different from circle tracks or short-circuit racing. He was a senior instructor at the event where his son was an instructor, and said Nathan’s expertise was evident to the young participants.

“I’m very proud of what he’s done, considering where we started,” said Kurt. “From what he does every day, assuming I do my job right, he can go out there and run with the fastest of the fast.”

The father said competing against other Legends cars, as opposed to Bandoleros, poses challenges in Nathan’s racing journey.

“The Bandolero is twice the weight, and it has an outrageous amount of horsepower for weight,” said Kurt. “The Legend car also has gears, it has brakes on all four sides, it’s bigger, and it’s heavier.”

Kurt said rather than focusing on being perfect on the track, he and Nathan do their best to improve with each race.

“Right now, when we go to tracks, our main thing is what did we learn, and can we get better from what we learned, and trying to teach him that it’s never perfect,” added Kurt. “We have to learn how to get better and better every time we go back, because our competition’s always going to get better. We’re somewhat starting back at square one, relearning cars, relearning information, gathering information so that when we do go back, we’ll be better than what we were, and we’ve done really good this year.”