Justin is a 18-year-old senior at Mooresville High School in Mooresville, Indiana. He started racing quarter midgets when he was just five years old. His second race brought his first trip to victory lane and he was hooked for life. Over the next five years, Justin managed to create an impressive resume for himself winning ten National titles and multiple other championships.
At the age of 10, he climbed into a 600cc Micro for the first time. When 2009 rolled around, Justin competed in the restrictor class. By 2010, Justin was running the outlaw nonwing class and added outlaw wing by the end of the season.
2010 also brought an opportunity to run a Kenyon Midget on asphalt. Again, he instantly found success. Not only was he the youngest ever Kenyon Midget driver at the age of 11, but he also became the youngest ever winner after winning two of the seven races he competed in.
During the 2012 season, Justin ran full-time with the Speedway Motors POWRi National Micros and ran 3 Jegs/CRA All-Stars Tour late model races. In June, he became the youngest ever POWRi micro winner at the age of 13 after winning at Lincoln Speedway in Lincoln, IL. He also made it to victory lane in July at Belle-Clair Speedway's Mike Phillips Memorial 66 race, where 108 cars were vying to make the 22 car field. He ended the POWRi micro season sixth in points amongst some of the best micro drivers in the country after winning the final race of the year, the Kokomo Klash at Kokomo Speedway.
Justin moved to midget competition in 2013, debuting at the Rumble in Ft. Wayne in December of 2012 against a stout field of competitors. The first night, he made the feature by finishing second in the B-main and drove to the front of the feature in a hurry, picking up a runner-up finish. The second night of racing brought a big flip down the front stretch after making a last turn pass for the final transfer position. The crew got the car back together and Justin drove to a third place finish in the feature. The two combined finishes made him the highest overall finisher and therefore the overall champion.
Going outdoors, he continued with the POWRi organization for 2013, but this time he stepped into a National Midget. At only fourteen years old, he and his team made the commitment to run the full season among some of the best in the country. The season started strong, but recurring bad luck kept him from snagging any wins. Back for the 2013 edition of the Rumble in Ft. Wayne, he took a DNF on the first night, but rebounded in impressive fashion. He piloted his way to victory on the second night, becoming the youngest winner in the sixteen-year history of the race.
For the 2014 season, he would run a POWRi and USAC combined schedule. The season started great with a 3rd place finish in Oklahoma and followed with several top tens. However, in the middle of June, a stuck throttle resulted in a terrible crash. He suffered a concussion that would keep him out for 6 weeks. The crash certainly didn't affect his ability to drive, as he captured his first outdoor midget win in his first race back, leading every lap, then did the same in his next race, again leading every lap. He'd capture another win by the end of the season, but fell just short of a POWRi win several times throughout the year.
Next up was the Battle at the Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin, IL, where he made his name known across the country yet again, racing wheel-to-wheel with Joey Saldana and Bryan Clauson to capture a third-place finish. A week later, he'd return to Ft. Wayne's Rumble race, capturing yet another feature win there and tying for the overall championship, but losing it on a tiebreaker. He would debut at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals two weeks later. There, he'd transfer to the feature from the B-main on his preliminary night, and put on an outstanding show, starting 19th and moving up 12 spots to seventh by the end of the race, nearly picking up hard charger honors. Unfortunately, his night was cut short on the main event night, flipping in turn three in the B-main. Regardless, his talent shined throughout his previous month of racing, showing great promise for the young driver in 2015 and beyond.
His dedication and determination to excel on the track is no different than what he shows in the classroom every day. He is an honor roll student enrolled in all advanced classes. He hopes to become a motivational speaker or sports analyst, but, of course, has aspirations of driving race cars for a living.
Justin also realizes that it is important for him to give back to his community; he does a driver safety seminar for first-grade classes at a local elementary school every May. It is an invaluable experience for a young man as he polishes his public speaking and communication skills.