Senior Paden Hines has been planning to start his racing career for eight months. He bought his car last fall and has been practicing racing on the weekends. He will continue to race on the weekends throughout the spring and the summer.

Paden first started going to the race track at Natural Bridge during the Covid year because he enjoyed watching the sport. His good friend Jack Brown got a car last year and began racing. Hines started helping him with his car and was able to get more experience with race cars. This allowed him to travel to some other race tracks, such as Maryland and Virginia Motor Speedway just north of Williamsburg. 

Paden runs in the Street Stock class and is having his first race on April 1st.

While being a senior and starting a new chapter of life with racing, there were many things that went into the decision to start now. Hines will be leaving for college in August. The school he is attending has several race teams, from dirt racing to asphalt racing. He shares how he hopes racing will help him in the future at his college.

“Racing here will give me experience and prepare me for the career I plan to pursue with automotive/high-performance. I’m hoping racing will open many new doors and prepare me to be a member of a high performance race team,” said Hines.

With every life choice comes responsibility, and buying a race car is a big one. Hines turned 18 and took out a loan and now has a monthly payment. He works as much as possible to make those payments. His sponsors have been a big help with buying parts and startup items. 

He has had many sponsors willing to help him. These include Austin Electric, Deacon and Sons Timber, Rhodenizer Heating and Air, Blacks Electric, The Seclusion, Brandi Wimer Photography, and Graybar.

In the sport, each race car driver has a group of people who help them with everything they need with the car. Those select people are called a pit crew. Hines has his family as well as many good friends that are willing to help him out in the pits. 

Additionally, Hines has had many people jump in and be willing to help him, mainly giving advice on how to fix things and helping him look for parts. Paden shared some information about a man named Roy Anderson, who has been around racing his entire life and raced himself for around 50 years. Anderson runs his own racing shop in Winchester, Virginia where he and his crew have done a lot of body work and setup work to help get Hines’ car ready for the track. 

Hines talks about who has been a great help during the entire process of beginning his racing career.

“I have had a lot of help from my Dad, Joey Hall, Kevin Bryant, and Jeff McCoy. They have helped from welding crossmembers to rebuilding rings and pinion gears and replacing a few transmissions,” said Hines.

 In the racing industry, every racer has a number. Paden’s number is 797, that number has a deep meaning within his family. The number has been in his family for over 50 years. Hines’s grandfather was a Virginia State Trooper in Rockbridge in the 80’s, who was killed in the line of duty and 797 was his badge number.

The process of racing has been a challenge with many ups and downs, as well as many late nights in the shop. But with every practice, he is working out problems to make him a better driver. 

The racing industry is a big part of Paden’s life and with that has presented him many opportunities. Rockbridge is cheering him on as he begins his racing career.