Whiz Kid: Dean Jensen

Few people know what it’s like to experience the thrill of riding a race car. Dean Jensen is one of the lucky few who fulfill the need for speed.

“Your adrenaline is just flowing when you are in that car,” said Dean, of Willow Grove.  “When you’re on the track, you’re just so determined to win.  It’s like nothing else you can experience.”

The 15-year-old Archbishop Wood student is a member of the Doylestown Quarter Midget Racing Club, an organization that allows kids from ages 5 to 16 to race. The quarter midgets have scaled-down versions of midget race cars. The club races nearly every weekend from April to October. There are also national events on selected weekends.

The organization is sanctioned by the QMA (Quarter Midgets of America). The cars are pure race vehicles and are replicas of the cars seen on dirt tracks.

The DQMRC is the perfect racing outlet for Dean, who developed a passion for racing at an extremely young age.

“I got a motorcycle when I was 4 years old,” Dean said. “Ever since then, I’ve wanted to drive something and race.”

Jensen’s father, also named Dean, is an avid supporter of the organization and is hoping it will continue to expand.  He believes it serves as a positive outlet for the young participants.

“It’s great for the kids,” said the senior Jensen. “You see the kids who are in it, and they aren’t troublemakers.”

Because of the cost involved with racing in the DQMRC, Dean decided to sacrifice his summers off from school so he could afford to stay on the racetrack.

“I started my own landscaping business,” Dean said. “That’s how I pay for my racing.  It keeps me busy all summer long. All year long, I’m either cutting grass or racing.

Dean recently competed in an event in Harrisburg at a farm show. After a slow start, he took second place in his second event despite some stiff competition from several other racers.

Sports networks are fond of showing clips that involve some hostile confrontations between professional race car drivers.

However, the competition between racers in the DQMRC is friendlier than some of the volatile eruptions on the NASCAR circuit.

“You hug each other and high-five when you get out of the car,” Dean said. “You congratulate the winners.  It’s not like other sports where you see people racing for money.  Some of them are more worried about that then the sport.  If you come in second and your buddy wins, then you’re happy for him.”

The thrill that rushes through Dean on race day is the high level of speed his car takes him to every time he is competing on the track.

“It’s just the speed and the short length of the track,” Dean said. “How fast you go around the turns are unbelievable. The pressure that you take going around that track is just ridiculous.

Dean knows it will be difficult to continue racing after his days with the DQMRC are done because of costs, so he is savoring every moment he has on the track.

Dean also has a message for those who think racing merely involves driving around in a circle at high speeds.

“People say NASCAR drivers only turn left,” said Dean. “The mental strain is ridiculous thinking of what you have to do to get up there.  Everybody else is going at the same speed as you are, so you have to come up with something different to beat them.”

For more information, visit the organization’s website at www.dqmrc.com.