Patterson impressive in 2 series starts

By Ken de la Bastide

For most of the racing season Andrew Patterson is working with the Jordan Anderson team in the Xfinity Racing Series. But in two starts with the Kenyon Midget Series, Patterson scored a fourth place finish at Anderson Speedway. At the challenging Shadybowl Speedway, Patterson set fast time to capture the K&K Marketing award and followed that up with his first career heat race win.

“We had a pretty good day going at the Shadybowl, until the rains came,” he said. “The times were really close and I was lucky to be one of the first cars out. It was a pretty decent lap,” Patterson said. “I watched the rest of qualifying and it was a really tight field. I was ecstatic to win the pole.”

Patterson, 19, started work for the Jordan Anderson Racing team last year as an intern doing a little bit of everything. This year his race shop duties include preparing the interior of the car and at the track he is the team's tire specialist. “I measure all the tires and check the air pressures,” he said. “My over the wall job is to service the driver providing water, removing tear-offs and dealing with any radio issues.”

Patterson said with the Xfinity Series competing for the next 12 weekends, he is doubtful of making another appearance with the Kenyon Midget Series this year. “I would really like to do more with the series,” he said. “A lot of it will depend on the schedule. “I've raced against some of the guys before in karting.”

Patterson recently purchased a 600 micro sprint and would like to race in Indiana on the same weekend as the Kenyon Series. “I definitely want to stay in the industry,” he said of a career. “Going on the road is a lot of fun. But I would like to go from full-time to part-time so I can do more racing,” Patterson said.

He started working for Jordan Anderson racing in December, 2020 before graduating from high school.

“We were close to the Anderson family,” Patterson said. “We used to watch him in the truck races at Eldora. I didn't want to go to college, but my parents wanted me to get some life experiences,” he said.