SNOHOMISH — His mom remembers her busy toddler dismantling and reassembling all manner of conveyances. Even then she could see the wheels turning in his head as the boy quickly perceived how tricycles and bicycles worked.
Not much has changed, except that now Daniel Moore is a teenager with a dream of driving on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit.
The conveyances he tinkers with these days, such as the Mini-Me sized car with the 2001Chevrolet Monte Carlo body style parked in the family driveway, are more complex. The wheels are turning ever faster.
Moore, a 15-year old Snohomish High School sophomore, raced the sleek unit against skilled adult drivers up to three times his age this summer. He clinched the 2003 Western National Mini-Cup Open Division season championship last month at Spanaway Speedway in Tenino.
Mini-Cup racers drive half-scale replica’s of NASCAR Winston Cup series cars. Powered by Honda GX-390 4-stroke motors, the fully configurable stock cars zip around 3/8-mile tracks at speeds of 90 miles per hour.
The Western National is a five-race summer series conducted within the Northwest regional mini-cup season, which runs April through September. In five Western National points races, Moore had one victory and three second place finishes to edge his friend B.J. Brown, of Vancouver, 186 to 184.
"We might bump fenders and the tension is high on the track, but we’ll shake hands and joke about it later," Moore said.
Along with his Western National title, Moore finished second in the Northwest region standings and was named Rookie of the Year.
Moore’s car looks like an expensive toy at first glance. Especially sitting in the driveway next to a really expensive toy like the black 1980 Corvette he and his dad — also named Daniel Moore — are restoring.
Getting in and screaming around a track flat-out for 25 to 50 laps might seem a dicey proposition. Not so for a proven performer such as Moore.
"One of the biggest things is to have good reaction time," Moore said. "You have to be consistent and be able to anticipate what the other drivers are going to do."
Moore unlatched the top hatch and slid his 5-foot-11, 150-pound frame down into the driver’s seat to point out the safety features in place to protect drivers.
He wears a two-layered fire suit, Nomex head sock and gloves. A five-point harness system safely secures him within the full roll cage. Wrist restraints keep hands and arms from extending outside the windows, where they can get pinched between cars, or between the car and a wall or the track.
The helmet rests comfortably on top of his neck collar, ensuring his head won’t bob around while racing or in case of a crash.
The fuel cell is at the rear, foam-filled to prevent fire or explosion in an accident. There are front and rear brake systems and two master brake cylinders.
"Safety is paramount, there is no compromising," his dad said. "It makes mom feel better, too."
The engine is behind the seat. "That’s about 400 degrees at my back," young Moore said.
On summer days, when the track temperature hovers around 120 degrees, it can get much hotter inside a fire suit.
To cool off, Moore installed an air intake on the driver’s side. The intake hose runs to a small cooler filled with freezer packs. A battery-powered mattress pump sucks the cold air out of the cooler and blows it through another hose directly into his helmet.
An aspiring shade-tree mechanic almost by the time he could walk, at age 3 he was already cranking wrenches as efficiently as young Tiger Woods handled golf clubs.
The racing bug bit at 5 when he started riding a 50cc motorcycle. By 9 he had taken up quarter midget car racing. A quarter midget is like a go-cart, only more powerful with a full body and a roll cage.
When Moore’s family relocated to Snohomish two years ago, he had outgrown the quarter midget and moved up to the mini-cup class. He won the 2002 Mini-Cup Future Stars Division Northwest Regional Championship. The title earned him an invite to the open division this year.
The elder Moore may be crew chief, but his son’s technical skills are indispensable. "He’s the guy that turns all the wrenches, he started early so now he’s the expert."
Moore is leading the restoration project on the Corvette, having already reupholstered the interior, changed out the steering unit, replaced the starter and resealed the engine.
As an added touch, he installed a television and PlayStation 2. The sound system, powered by a 300-watt amplifier with a pair of 8-inch sub-woofers, rivals the throaty growl of the Corvette’s engine.
"Loud," his mom Jan Moore said.
Dad pointed to one of the family cars. "That was a stock Nissan until Daniel got hold of it," he said.
Moore popped the trunk to reveal a 2,000 watt amplifier and two 600-watt sub-woofers.
"Again, loud," mom noted.
Over the summer, he built a motorized tricycle out of a collection of parts that would have made Johnny Cash proud. It’s powered by a snowmobile engine and the rear axle came off of his quarter midget. The brake and shift cables he scrounged from old bikes. Somewhere a wheel-barrow may be angled into the turf, but at least Moore’s trike has a front tire.
The exhaust system used to be tubing on an exercise machine. The frame?
"I was going to sell an old bed at a garage sale," his mom said. "I came out and he had (the rails) cut to pieces. He welds very well."
"He’s going to make a great engineer," his dad said.
Moore is an excellent student. He is looking into the automotive or mechanical engineering programs — and joining the racing team — at the University of North Carolina. Driving in the Winston Cup Series remains his goal.
"In the old days, if you had the skills you could just pick up your car and go do it," Moore said. "Now, it takes multi-million dollar funding. I want to have a back-up plan, a good degree in case this doesn’t take off."
A lofty goal and a solid plan. Don’t bet against him.
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