James Lynch won his first Midwest Truck Series feature race in August 2021 at the prestigious Wisconsin International Raceway.
The Palos Park native was 17 years old and just a few days away from starting his senior year at Brother Rice.
When school commenced, they did not announce his victory over the sound system. They didn’t have him do a victory lap around the hallways.
“They didn’t really care,” Lynch said. “They’re a big football school, a big baseball school. I had a counselor who really enjoyed it. But other than that, I didn’t get much acknowledgment.
“The other kids … they knew, but I don’t think they knew how serious it was. It’s a weird sport for someone who doesn’t know it. It’s a sport where you’ve got to really be there and watch it live to understand.”
Now 19, Lynch is driving a late model and getting plenty of acknowledgment at Grundy County Speedway.
On May 19 — only his third night ever competing at the Morris oval — he set fast qualifying time and finished third in the 30-lap feature.
On May 26, he was second quick behind Scott Tomasik and ran up front during the feature with race winner Jim Weber before finishing fifth.
Weber, who is the current points leader, was mightily impressed.
“For a kid that’s 19 who has only raced at the track four times, man, he’s got some savvy,” Weber said. “I trust him 100% already. He’s fast and talented, has a good car and good people around him.
“He’s a well-rounded kid. I really liked him from the get-go. We’ve talked, and I could probably give him some more advice to get him better. But I don’t want him getting better too fast because then he’ll be whooping me.”
The truth is, he’s been fast for most of his young life.
Lynch starting racing go-karts at age 4. After winning a United States Pro Karting Series national championship and Route 66 Sprint Series championship in 2017, he moved up to legend cars and was a five-time Illinois state champion.
In 2021, he won his first Midwest Truck Series feature in his rookie season.
“Wisconsin International is probably one of the hardest tracks,” Lynch said. “We managed to get a win over Brad JJ Mueller, who is a pretty big veteran driver. He had four new tires and I only had one. That was a pretty big deal for us.”
So far in 2023, Lynch is 2-for-2 on the truck circuit, winning at State Park Speedway and Madison International Speedway.
The late model is a new challenge, but he’s acing his early tests.
In February, Lynch competed in the World Series of Asphalt at New Smyrna Speedway during Speedweeks.
“We got really good qualifying times and beat a bunch of NASCAR drivers,” Lynch said. “We almost won the Orange Blossom 100, but our engine overheated and we had to pull in.”
His crew chief, former Wisconsin late model competitor Paul Block, confirmed Lynch is good at mixing it up — without mixing it up.
“He’s very good at going where he needs to go,” Block said. “If he has to go to the outside, he’ll do that. When he won at State Park Speedway, he took the lead from the outside on the restart and never looked back.
“But he also keeps the car clean, which is a great thing. We don’t want to be fixing them all the time.”
Lynch smiled when I suggested that winning a NASCAR title might punch his ticket into the Brother Rice Hall of Fame.
“They probably would then,” Lynch said. “I think a couple of them keep an eye on me. It’s just nice to race close to home here at Grundy, where my friends can come and watch.”