Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/258790
W e s t W o r l d >> s p r i n g 2 0 1 4 35 Jeff Topham profile: Scott Hargrove Fresh out of high school, the local teen is on the road to indyCar glory othing about Scott Hargrove's appearance suggests that he holds one of the most danger- ous jobs in the world. On the contrary, dressed in a white golf shirt and neatly pressed blue jeans, the fresh-faced teen looks like a part-time caddy at a posh country club. He sits at the dining room table in his family's spacious Surrey home and calmly fields questions. When his phone chimes in his pocket, as it often does, he smiles and quietly apologizes. The only hint that he may be engaged in some- thing slightly more onerous than waiting tables is the glint in his eyes. Hargrove is a race-car driver whose career is poised to take off. The 19-year-old is the only British Columbian, and one of the youngest Canadians, competing in the Mazda Road to Indy driver development series. He aced the first rung of the ladder last season by winning the championship i n t h e U S F 2 0 0 0 s e r i e s . H i s v i c t o r y guarantees him a place in the next step up – the Pro Mazda series, which features bigger, faster cars. To make the IndyCar circuit, "all" he has to do is continue to hit his marks in every hair-raising turn of every white- knuckled race for the next few years. Complicating his journey is the fact that Hargrove is a late-bloomer zoomer. He first donned a racing helmet at age 13. His com- petitors, most of whom hail from the rev- rabid American South, began bombing around go-kart tracks at age 6. Hargrove has to play catch-up, but judging by the wall of bling in his trophy case, he is well on his way. He got into the sport when a friend started racing at the only two competition- level go-kart tracks in the Vancouver area: Chilliwack and Sumas, Washington. Hargrove was smitten and asked his father if he could join the pack. Fortunately, Hargrove Sr. has one obligatory racer-dad trait: a love of RPMs. Jim Hargrove is the president of Analytic Systems, a Vancouver company that makes battery chargers and other power con- version products. The company sponsors Scott's car as an extension of Jim's love for all things fast. Hargrove Sr. raced autoslalom as a UBC student and later topped the podium at the 2003 Vancouver Indy, albeit in a sports car event that preceded the main race. There N 34 W e s t W o r l d >> s p r i n g 2 0 1 4 Jeff Topham surrey race-car driver scott Hargrove placed fourth last summer at the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch in Kent, england, the highest finish ever for a canadian. When the local teenager isn't zipping around a track, he can be found tinkering with electronics (his computer and car stereo spend a lot of time disassembled). a role model for young drivers, Hargrove is keen to do more driver awareness education and says he'd love to address high school students: "i would tell them to be confident behind the wheel, but never pull out your cellphone while driving." p34-35_Profile.indd 34 14-01-29 11:02 AM