WESTBROOK – John Peters loves racing. He’s loved racing since he was bumper-high to a Chevy.

“My experience behind the wheel began at age four, racing go-karts at a small track called Richmond Karting Speedway in Richmond, Maine,” Peters, a 2015 graduate of Westbrook High School, says. “I did that for a couple of years, then raced at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway in Scarborough for a couple of years, when they still had a go-kart track.”

Like many kids do, Peters got involved in his sport-of-choice via his family. “My Dad, Greg Peters, raced for many years at Beech Ridge,” he says, “and my first memory at the track is watching him race from the grandstands. My cousin, Gary Babineau, and brother, Chris Peters, have also been Beech Ridge champions.”

Eventually, Peters took a little detour, away from the track and onto the football and baseball fields. He returned to racing round about the ripe old age of 15.

“I got into a full-sized race car in 2012 at Beech Ridge in the Thursday Thunder Beetle Bug division,” he says. “I was fortunate enough to win the Junior Varsity championship in my first season, so then we moved to the NELCAR Legends Tour in 2013, a regional series for legend cars.”

NELCAR stands for New England Legends Car Auto Racing. Legend cars are, according to the website www.uslegendcars.com, “5/8-scale fiberglass full-fendered versions of the famed NASCAR modifieds driven by legendary drivers such as Fireball Roberts, Buck Baker, Curtis Turner, Speedy Thompson and Banjo Matthews.” Legend cars look a bit like something out of a gangster movie.

“We had a great season, winning seven races and finishing third in the overall standings,” Peters says. “The following season is really when my tenure as both an owner and driver began, as I took ownership of the car and we moved into a Super Late Model, which is the same type of car we still race today.”

The Super Late Model looks more like what the average American knows as a race car.

Peters has raced in both Maine and New Hampshire, and hopes even to travel further abroad. “When we raced with the NELCAR series,” he says, “we went as far north as Speedway 95 in Bangor and as far south as Star Speedway in Epping, N.H. One of our goals is to do some racing in North Carolina, which is the hub of short-track racing in the US, but that opportunity hasn’t really presented itself yet. In between, we’ve raced at Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Maine; Wiscasset Speedway in Wiscasset, Maine; Lee USA Speedway in Lee, N.H.; and Unity Raceway in Unity, Maine.”

Despite being just 20, Peters is no slouch: “Fortunately, we have won in every division that we’ve raced in,” he says. “Our most recent win was at Beech Ridge last August in the Pro Series division. So far this year, our best finish is third, which we have done twice.”

Asked about his comparative youth, Peters says he is both experience and inexperienced: “Yes and no. In terms of Super Late Model experience, I’m in my fourth season, and the majority of the other competitors have been racing these cars for several years, and many of them have gotten to do more racing over the course of a year than we have been able to. In terms of racing experience overall, my combined years of experience between all divisions is 10, which is a decent amount compared to my weekly competitors. That’s mainly because I starting racing when I was so young.”

Much is required for a racer to succeed. Peters has a team backing him up, and it’s those folks, along with his sponsors, he acknowledges as the foundation undergirding his success.

“First and foremost it takes a great team of people behind the racer, which I have been fortunate to have,” he says. “From my parents and crew to our sponsors – Runtal Radiators of North America, the Kulwicki Driver Development Program, AML Landscape, AMSOIL: Four Season Synthetic, Superior Speed and Digby’s Variety – all of this is made possible by a collaboration of support. From there it requires a great deal of time, energy, sacrifice, commitment, focus and passion. Racing is a tough sport that requires a lot of buy-in and participation not just on race day but throughout each week and over the offseason.”

Peters’s team starts with his Dad, Greg, who’s also his Crew Chief. Greg Peters performs much of the maintenance work his son’s car needs each week. John’s mother, Gail Peters, keeps the team prepared and organized.

Also on Peters’s team are Patty Ryder of Westbrook, who’s “been with us since the go-kart days”; Jim Savage of Berwick, who came on board during the NELCAR stretch; Brooke Shaw, Peters’s girlfriend, who “makes a lot of sacrifices for this”; Landon McBride of Nottingham, N.H.; Nick Poland of Lewiston and Troy Davis of Windham.

“These are all people who love racing and want to help, and we wouldn’t be able to do this without their support,” Peters says.

Asked what the racer himself needs to do to win – what kind of savvy and fortitude he needs to display, Peters answers: “The best way for a driver to make the most out of any race is to realize what’s under them for a race car that night and to constantly toe the line between being patient and aggressive. Racing is all about being aggressive when the opportunity presents itself, but patient enough to know that it will come. I’d like to think of it as high-speed chess, except it takes a combination of both driver and car to be successful.”

But Peters & Co. don’t race only to make themselves happy. They’re also involved with the Kulwicki Driver Development Program, mentioned above. “It’s a program formed in honor of 1992 NASCAR Champion Alan Kulwicki, who passed away in 1993,” Peters says. “The goal is to assist young racers across North America.”

“As part of that,” Peters goes on, “we put together the ‘Kulwicki Kids’ program, aimed at getting the next generation of race fans involved in the sport and excited to get to the track. Our team has held seven drawings on social media, with the random winner receiving two free tickets to a Beech Ridge race, an autographed youth helmet donated by Superior Speed in Buxton, a plaque donated by Mainely Awards, team apparel and their choice of a book, DVD or die-cast relating to the legacy of Alan Kulwicki. This program has been a huge success and we hope to continue spreading the message to kids that we need their support to sustain the sport.”

Peters attends Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, N.H., where he majors in business administration and double-minors in history and economics; he’s also enrolled in the University Honors program. He returns to school this fall for his junior year.

Peters & Co. are racing at Beech Ridge on Aug. 26, Sept. 2 and Sept. 17. For more race dates, visit the team’s webpage, www.johnpeters51.com, or their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/JohnPetersMotorsports/

Adam Birt can be reached at abirt@keepmecurrent.com. Follow him on Twitter: @CurrentSportsME

The John Peters Motorsports team, left to right: Gail Peters, Greg Peters, Brooke Shaw, John Peters, Nick Poland, Troy Davis, Jim Savage. Missing: Patty Ryder, Landon McBride.

Photo courtesy of John Peters.