Rock Springs Elementary fifth grade student, Bryce Sanders, has been busy making a name for himself in the racing industry. Despite his shy disposition, he lays everything he wants to say out on the racetrack.

  At the age of 10, he has won over 50 races, holds numerous track records for lap times, as well as having been named the youngest racer to win certain titles. Bryce has done all of this racing go-karts and bandolero cars in the southeast.

  Since the age of two, Bryce has been compelled by racing. According to his mother, Chrissy, he was following in his grandfather’s footsteps long before he began actually racing the vehicles.

  “I grew up around racing. My father had a go-kart track in Barnesville. My dad builds [go-karts] for people. When Bryce was two and three years old, he was going down to my dad’s shop to watch him work and going with dad on trips for other customers,” said Chrissy.

  The experience, for Rick Sweeting, of sharing his love for racing with Bryce was special and influenced Bryce’s passion for the sport.

  “Part of our business was going off racing with clients and, when Bryce was about two or three, he started going with me. That was when he was exposed to [racing],” said Rick. “I worked out of my shop and, when he was here with us, he would always come down to the shop with me, watching and learning. As he got older, he started doing a little bit of work. He really was more interested in driving [go-karts] than working on them.”

  At the age of three, Bryce’s family built him his first go-kart. He would drive it around the yard and in parking lots as fast as he was able. 

  “I think [racing] is cool and I enjoy going fast,” said Bryce. “I also like to win races.”

  In 2014, when Bryce was five years old, he began racing go-karts in competitions. His first race took place at Lamar County Speedway on the track that his grandfather owned from 1990-2016. In his second race at that location, Bryce won for the first time.

    “It was very scary at first because of the speed and him being out there with other kids,” said Chrissy. “I didn’t know what would happen.”

  Despite initial qualms, for Bryce’s family, the transition into racing was an easy one. Taking an ‘all-in’ mentality, Bryce’s racing career is a family affair.

  “I was more into cars when I was younger, but never this type of racing. Once Bryce took a liking to it, it ate me up too,” said Brad Sanders, Bryce’s father. “It has been our life since he was five years old. We race everywhere we can.”

  Both his father and grandfather are Bryce’s ‘pit crew,’ there to support him through all of the ups and downs of racing, to include maintenance and to offer words of encouragement.

  “One thing I enjoy about racing is that it is not a team effort, it is just us, his crew. We experience everything together. Win or lose, it is just us,” said Brad. “We don’t rely on anyone else. No matter what the outcome, we do it together.”

  “We are just having fun doing it as a family,” agreed Rick. “Racing keeps Bryce out of trouble and keeps his grades up. He gets to travel all over the southeast just experiencing life.”

  Despite his mother’s apprehension of Bryce beginning to race at such a young age, she has, over time, become his biggest cheerleader.

  “I try to go to every one of his races. I know he enjoys it, so I am there for him. It would be the same if I were baseball mom or football mom,” said Chrissy. “I have loved every minute of this journey with Bryce, watching him put the helmet shield down and just having fun. Win or lose, we do it as a family. This is such a fun family sport that definitely doesn’t get as much hype as it should.”

  In his first year of go-kart racing, Bryce was undefeated in six races in Tennessee, with the SEKA racing group. That same year, he raced at several World Karting Association (WKA) national events in Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.

  While Bryce was in South Carolina, he won his first WKA national event. He was the youngest to win this title, at five years old.

  In 2016, Bryce moved up to a higher class that featured bigger motors and had more horsepower and was one of the youngest kids racing in that package. He competed at local tracks and out of state in Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina.

  That same year, Bryce, with the American Kart Racing Association, was named the inaugural Micro Swift or TaG restricted champion for that series.

  With a different motor package, he won the WKA Grand National at Atlanta Motorsports Park in Dawsonville, GA on the road course in both 2017 and 2018. In 2019, Bryce began racing bandoleros, the lowest form of NASCAR.

  Racing bandolero cars has always been a dream for Bryce. Since the age of three, he has attended Thursday Thunder at Atlanta Motor Speedway during the summer.

  “He has wanted to race [bandoleros] ever since, but you have to be eight to start racing them,” said Chrissy.

  Since Bryce began racing bandoleros, he has won six of the eight races he has attended, including the East Coast Bandolero Nationals held in September, where he won the Rookie division in only his fifth race ever.

  As of this December, Bryce has moved from the Rookie division to the Bandit division, a higher competition bracket based on age and experience.

  In the future, Bryce hopes to become a NASCAR driver like his inspiration, Brad Keselowski.

  “My favorite track is Martinsville. It would be cool to race there one day,” said Bryce.

  In the meantime, he continues to compete in bandolero competitions in the southeast while also keeping his grades up in school.

  For more information about Bryce’s racing journey, visit his Facebook page, Bryce Sanders Racing.