Jacob Van Wazer was just 18 months old when his dad put him behind the wheel for the first time.

The car was a pink, battery-operated Barbie convertible Rick Van Wazer and his buddy picked up at a garage sale.

"We thought it would be fun to put Jacob in there and watch him crash into everything," Rick said.

But once the toddler figured out how to make the car go, he tooled around with surprising skill - "a natural," his dad says. "He didn't hit anything."

By the ripe old age of 2, Jacob figured out how to change the speed control on his battery-operated truck to make it go faster. At 3, he was driving a go-kart. When he was 5, he won his first championship.

And today, the 72-pound fifth-grader drives a half-size version of a NASCAR race car at speeds up to 85 mph. (His record speed was 92 mph in a go-kart at the Milwaukee Mile track.)

This season, Jacob won seven feature races, six heat races and the Junior Division Championship in the Central States Region Super Cup series. That has put the 11-year-old Lombard boy on the radar as someone to watch in the world of racing.

"I like to go fast," Jacob says. "I like to win, too."

"What's second place?" Rick prompts.

"The first loser," Jacob says, grinning.

Jacob's car, No. 88, is an $11,000, state-of-the-art custom race car built by Ken Jones Motorsports in Lombard.

"If you took a NASCAR car and put it next to it, you couldn't tell the difference except it's half the size," Rick Van Wazer said. "It has the same suspension, disc brakes, rack-and-pinion steering. And we go half as fast."

But it's still plenty fast for an 11-year-old to be whipping around a racetrack. "When they're doing 70, 80, 85 miles per hour and they start bumping, that's when I get nervous," Rick said. Jacob's mom, Tami, says she will be "eating Tums and throwing up."

"I know he's safe in there," she said. "I just get really nervous. But I know he really loves it."

Safety features include a five-point restraint system, a separate head-and-neck restraint and a fuel cell to prevent gas explosions. Like professional race car drivers, Jacob wears a helmet, fire suit, fire-resistant gloves and fire-resistant shoes.

"Safety is our biggest goal," said Rick, an estimator for a body shop and an admitted gear head. "Every week the car is taken apart and checked to make sure there are no issues. I know every inch of that car. We work on it every night of the week."

Still, Jacob spent his seventh birthday in the emergency room following a head-on crash during a go-kart race. He suffered whiplash and cuts and bruises. And he was so sore all over that for three days "we had to lift him out of bed and put him on his feet," Rick said. That accident "shook us all up."

But Jacob's only broken bones - an elbow and his ankle, twice - were from garden-variety accidents on the playground and the driveway. Proving, as his dad says, that "anybody can get hurt at any time doing anything."

The Van Wazers spend most summer weekends on the racing circuit from Rockford to the Wisconsin Dells. Each race costs the family about $500 with entrance fees, gas and travel, so they've lined up a roster of local sponsors, including Sky Centers Martial Arts (where Jacob takes karate), Ken Jones Motorsports and J&R Cycle and Ski, all in Lombard.

Before every race, Tami gives Jacob the special good-luck handshake that's just between the two of them. Rick communicates with him throughout the race, using a headset inside Jacob's helmet, to get feedback on the car's performance. (The car also has an onboard computer and two transponders).

Sometimes, he also has to talk his son through hairy situations. "If someone's trying to rattle his cage and he's upset, I'll say, 'Come on, buddy, you can do it.' Believe me, it's hard for me to be the calm one."

At home, Jacob has a little boy's race car-themed bedroom, decorated in black and white checks and lined with trophies. His mom fills scrapbooks with racing memorabilia.

In the summer, the Van Wazers bring the No. 88 to cruise nights in Elmhurst and Lombard so neighborhood kids can sit in it and get their picture taken.

But there's more on Jacob's plate than racing. He loves sports, plays soccer and basketball on traveling teams and is an honor roll student at St. John's Lutheran School in Lombard.

"Thirteen A's and 2 B's," Jacob reads proudly from his latest report card.

"If Jacob doesn't make the honor roll, he doesn't race," Rick said, "and I'm as serious as can be."

Jacob is already winning races against 14-year-old drivers now, so Rick wants to start him practicing in a full-size car next year. Drivers are supposed to be 15 to race in a full-size car in the Central States Region, but Rick believes racing officials will consider moving Jacob up early because of his skill and experience.

Jacob's goal? To become a NASCAR driver.

And Rick, a former race car driver himself, thinks his son has the right stuff.

"There are a couple of drivers watching him," Rick said. "He's under a microscope right now with the big race teams; they're looking for the next talent coming up.

"Honestly," Rick says, "I think he can make it to the top."