Brandon Booth didn't come up through the ranks to go racing. Several weeks ago the 23-year-old Longwood resident made his New Smyrna Speedway racing debut in the Super Late Model division -- the fastest cars and the track's marquee class. His father, Kevin Booth, helped piece the deal together and now they are regulars at the half-mile oval. Motorsports editor Godwin Kelly talked to each man on a recent night of racing at NSS:

Brandon Booth

Where do you race?

"We race at New Smyrna and Orlando SpeedWorld. I like here better. To me, this is a nicer facility. It's the nicest track around here."

You're kind of young to be racing?

"Oh heck, not as young as some of these kids here. There's a kid over there on the other side of the garage who is just 14."

Who owns your race car?

My dad, Kevin Booth.

How did you get involved in racing?

"I've been interested in racing since I was much younger. In the last couple of months, we threw it all together. Tonight will only be my third race. I've been trying to do this for a while, but I've been interested in racing since, gosh, since I was 9 years old."

So you didn't race your way up through the system?

"I just jumped into a Super Late Model several weeks ago.

That's a racing baptism by fire isn't it?

"A lot of people have told me that's a little nuts, but we're doing OK so far."

Do you want to do this as a career?

"No, we're just here to have fun, have a good time, hang out with friends and that's about it."

Kevin Booth

You are OK with Brandon racing at this level?

"Oh yeah. He's loved racing since he was a little kid. He's always wanted to do this."

But he's never been in a race car before this season?

"We raced go-karts when he was little. He had never raced a car before. When we got the opportunity, we did this."

What got you back to racing after such a long layoff from the sport?

"We were coming out here to help friends and watch racing. We ran into some of his friends that he knew from high school. They told us to come on over to the Bobby Good Racing shop. Mr. Good races, too. Brandon knows a lot about the sport. So we started talking to Mr. Good and working with him. When Brandon graduated from college, he became an intern at their shop. We found a car and they helped us put it together and he started driving."

He's really new at driving?

"His second race was the Billie Harvey 100 in April and he finished 10th. His first Super Late Model race was a few weeks before that at Orlando. I'll tell you what, I was a basket case. I was pacing back and forth. He's real good."

Where do you think this will go?

"He would love for this to become a career and lead to something. He's got a degree from Florida in business and sports management. I think he'd love to head into some sort of racing career. He is just into car racing and loves it so much it would be a shame if we couldn't leverage it in some way, shape or form."

So this is good, clean fun for father and son?

"Yes it is. It keeps us together. We are together at the track all the time and sometimes we'll work on the car until 2 in the morning. It's just good, family fun at this point."