Mesa 14-year-old is fast behind the wheel

Every young athlete dreams of the day when he can compete against his hero. Some are lucky enough to do it. And a few - like San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers did last month against the Jets' Brett Favre - are talented enough to beat the men they once idolized.

That was the case with Mesa's Timothy Alan Ward.

He covered all of the previously mentioned ground when he beat NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Carl Edwards this June at the tender age of 14. Sure, it was just a 21-lap go-kart race at a promotional event, but like his mom will tell you, Edwards didn't lose to anyone else that day.

"It was really cool, but the coolest part was when I got to talk to him," Ward said.

Ward appears humble about this and other achievements in his young racing career. He even looked embarrassed when his mother, Amy Jo Ward, pulled out his picture with Edwards from after that race.

It will be another two years until Ward can lawfully navigate Mesa's streets in an automobile. But that hasn't stopped him from strapping into a modified dirt race car and whipping around a track at more than 80 mph for the past year.

Ward was named 2008 Rookie of the Year by the Barnett Harley Davidson Touring Series as well as by two local raceways - Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix and Canyon Speedway park in Peoria. He earned the same award from the UMP Dirtcar Wild West Region in which he is ranked fourth, and he is ranked 50th out of nearly 3,000 racers in the UMP National Modified points race.

He has four runner-up finishes at main events and several heat wins. Not a bad start for a kid that wants to race for a living one day.

"Mostly I want just to be able to race Dirt or NASCAR or whatever I can professionally," he said.

But it's not all fun and games. In the summer months, Ward and his father, Rick Ward, each spend about three hours a day working on the car. During the school year, his dad assumes most of the labor.

Lucky for Tim, a passion for speed seems to be built into the Ward genes. His father is a former modified dirt car driver with more than 25 years of experience. His older sister has won competitive races before and is dating another driver on the tour.

Tim is named after two NASCAR legends, Tim Richmond and Alan Kulwicki. It's safe to say that racing is a Ward family affair.

"When I found out I had a son, I knew he'd be a racer," his mom said.

And so he is.

Ward began racing dirt go-karts at the age of five. At 12, he graduated to Modified Midget dirt cars. In 2007, he won the AMMA Non-winged Championship and later that year took his first shot at Modified Dirt.

In his first Modified race, Ward did something he hasn't since - crash. While Tim didn't sustain any injuries or seriously damage his car, the incident did raise some concern.

Tim's dad said that some of the other drivers "got vocal after the crash that they didn't want him out there."

The next youngest drivers on the tour were 17 and 18, and after that a 25-year-old.

Tim learned from his mistake, and the other drivers began to respect him.

"They saw that I was smooth," Tim said.

One of Tim's strengths, his dad said, is that he "stays on the right front," which means that he doesn't slide his car much on the dirt track and also maintains a line on every turn.

But for Tim, there's not much to it. "I just go out there and drive," he said.