Can you imagine sending your child (between the ages of 5 and 16) speeding around a racetrack at up to 75mph?
I absolutely could not…but that’s exactly what the parents of the little stars of the Discovery+ series “Baby Drivers” do.
They don’t imagine it, they get it done. Before watching the show, I honestly couldn’t wrap my mind around it, still, I was excited to see the show (nonetheless). Immediately after the introduction of all of the families on the show, I felt sort of like a hypocrite. Why? Well of course if it were my child and/or children, I would want them to follow their dreams. I would never want to be a hindering knot in the dreams of my children. You can’t say to your child that they can be whatever they dream to be in this world, that they could do whatever they want to do when they grow up (in a sense of conquering their dreams)…and then when they say, “I want to be a racecar driver.” -you say, “Anything but that.” It doesn’t work that way. You can’t build a child up for greatness, and then when their version of greatness doesn’t match yours, you break them down by snatching it away. And to me, that goes for the following in your footsteps dream as well. So while I would never want to place the most precious belonging(s) that I have in harm’s way, I also wouldn’t want to crush their dreams either. I would want to help them be the best they could be, in the safest way possible…so what do you do? You gear up for battle. Two quotes from two different dads in the cast stood out to me (perfectly coinciding with one another), in matching my view on it all: “There are many days that I feel like I’m sending my kid off to battle”…” So you do what you need to do to make sure your kid has the best armor.” And that is exactly what they do. Some parents spend up to $80,000 a year on their child’s dream. Maybe more depending on how hard they are going (especially with multiple children). Troy Adams has been racing just about all of his life. He ended his racing career with NASCAR, being one of very few African American race car drivers in the industry…his family owns a Motorsports Park…he coaches on every possible level of racing-so it’s only right that he and his family won the deal for the Discovery+ series.
Troy is quoted on the show saying, “People see go-karts as just a hobby, but I see go-karting as a platform to raise up a new generation of elite athletes.”…And after watching just two episodes of the first season, I would have to say that I agree. I am invested, and I can’t wait to see what these little shooting stars do next… Here is what Troy had to say during our interview covering the new series “Baby Drivers”:
FEMI MAGAZINE (Tyrane Hughes): “Hi! How are you?”
Troy Adams: “I’m good. How are you?
FEMI (Ty Hughes): “I’m fine, thank you…and thank you so much for doing this interview with me.”
Troy Adams: “No problem!”
FEMI (Ty Hughes): “Thank you…so I’m so excited. The show is crazy. I mean it’s bananas, it’s amazing.” (I say through laughter)
Troy Adams: (He gives my statement a huge smile) “Alright, so you’ve seen it.”
FEMI (Ty Hughes): “Yes, yes. Actually, my best friend and I streamed it yesterday. We already had Discovery+, so I was like, “Okay, let’s go check it out.” I think it was around 12 PM Eastern time, so it must’ve been up there just a few hours before we watched it. We watched it over brunch…It was um…I didn’t know it was gonna be that good. No offense. I knew it was going to be good, due to the topic…but, I didn’t know it was going to be that good. I mean like, I am ready for the next episode. We watched the first two.”
Troy Adams: “Okay. Alright…to be honest with you, I didn’t think it was going to be that good either (he laughs).”
FEMI (Ty Hughes): “Right! I was like, “This is crazy!”…This is my next new thing. I didn’t know that I would be so interested. Those children and your son, hats off to them. They drive better than I do.”
Troy Adams: “I appreciate it… We’ll have to get you onto the racetrack (he laughs at me).”
FEMI (Ty Hughes): “Great (I laugh some more)…Okay, so I know you’re busy and on a schedule, so I want to thank you again for giving us your time…I’m just going to jump right into the questions. This one is actually not a question. For the readers, we’d like you to just tell us about yourself, and secondly about the Adams Motorsports Park.”
Troy Adams: “Alright, I’ll blend them both together…Troy Adams, 53, is married to my beautiful wife, Kara Adams. Most people know my son Truly. Actually, his name is Troy Truly Adams. So his nickname is Truly. The crazy thing is…and I don’t speak on this often…but this week has been a week of reflection for us, and it’s been a blessing. I don’t even think the producers know about this…Two years ago, my wife and I, our family lived in a trailer. Life was tough, my wife was beating cancer, we were going through everything…and two years later we’re living in a nice house now (“that God has blessed us with”, Troy makes sure to give honor to God in between his statement), and we have a t.v. show. So that’s in a nutshell about me. I’ve grown up in the racing industry all my life. With the track, it was started in 1960. It’s the only African American-owned track in the U.S. If not the world. It started off on a farm within our land. It was a farm that my grandfather and grandmother owned back in the 50s. My uncles were really into racing, but you know back in the day minorities weren’t able to go into legal racing and get treated fairly. So they brought a little go-kart for one of my cousins, and they were out in the front yard with it…and my grandmother told my grandfather Frank to get the boys out of the front, and go out in the back in the field and drag them a little race track. Crazy enough, that little race track-two weeks later people started driving by on the street, saw the little racetrack and my family opened up for business. With my family opening up for business, my grandfather and grandmother never worked another day again in life after that. And so it’s been a crazy world, in an industry where it’s predominantly white, we have been one of the leaders in the industry for years…I would say after 2018-2019 when it was okay to be a black-owned business, especially even in motorsports-that we kind of got on the rooftops and started yelling out that we were black-owned. People started praising us for the fact that we were able to get to the top in the industry.”
FEMI (Ty Hughes): “I gotta say that that is amazing, and I’m so glad that you opened up to us with that piece of personal information. I’m very appreciative of it because I myself am a firm believer in God. I’ve been through a few things myself, we all have. So I just want to say that I am very happy to know that your family was covered and that everything worked out for you all. I mean, God can do so much in such a little bit of time, and turn things around. So I am very happy to hear that…I’ll get into the third question: “How did the show (“Baby Drivers”) come about?”
Troy Adams: “Whoooo!… See, it must just be like God all over (he exclaims). It had nothing to do with me. I will not lie…I’ll give you a little backstory. My wife after cancer ended up getting laid off from her work as the Vice President of Marketing for a credit union. And we have just believed that everything happened for a reason. So she came to work at the track with me, and that was an experience within itself. We’re big on visions and vision boards…and she kept telling everybody that had been to the track that we should be telling our story on t.v. I used to tell her, “I don’t want no t.v. show. That’s crazy. It’s too much work. I don’t want that.”…and she was like, “Baby, just be quiet… and we’re gonna get a t.v. show”. So I was just like okay, you know. I’m one of those who knows that you gotta know what battles to pick (we laugh). Pandemic hits, and we start getting a lot of talent agencies that started asking us for clips, and long story short-a few just didn’t feel right, again and it didn’t feel right…the production company finally reached out to get another clip, and I guess it was between 3 to 5 other race tracks-they shot a “pilot”. The “pilot” did extremely well. The team that Discovery+ has is phenomenal, and ours ended up winning over Texas, Florida, and a couple of other ones I think. The biggest thing I think was just how we run our business. How diverse and comfortable we are with all communities, and what we instill in the kids.”
FEMI (Ty Hughes): “Amazing, amazing…Okay, we’re going to get back to the show…but I want to touch on something real quick. The generational wealth that you’re building, the legacy that you’re building (continuing) with your son and your wife, your family…”Can you speak on that a little bit?”
Troy Adams: “Yeah. You know what? That’s a very…I can say that this is the first time that I’ve ever been asked that question. I can’t say that I’ve ever been asked that…When it comes to generational wealth, my grandfather and grandmother-I believe in looking at the past and understanding it, as far as understanding the direction in which we are going. Blacks owning land back in the 50s and the 40s, as much as my grandfather and grandmother owned… was phenomenal. So it skipped a generation with my aunts and uncles and came to me. Just in a sense that they didn’t understand that value. Maybe it wasn’t that they didn’t understand it, but that it wasn’t as important to them. As a community, we don’t do that as much, in reference to teaching our kids. And so with Truly, he understands exactly how expensive this sport is. In fact, every year in October he has to do what we call “dial for dollars”. He has his own marketing deck at 11 years old. He has a video marketing deck. He has to get on the phone and call companies, call friends, to raise money for him to go race. Now we match whatever he raises, but he has to do his own programming. He’s done that for the last year and a ½. Because we have to teach him that money doesn’t grow on trees. In our community, it’s not a known fact that we can just go into motorsports. So it takes hard work, it takes dedication, and racing is just one of the ways in which we do it. We do real estate as well a little bit. He’s also involved in the fixing up of our rental properties, to picking up trash/picking up dog poop. Like, I’m just a dude from the hood… Like I said, by chance…and this is racing.”
FEMI (Ty Hughes): “Right. I love it. That’s why I wanted to touch on that because I just felt like I had a sense that there was something great behind all of that…Okay, so we’re going to get back into the show with the next question. And that’s the cast of the show, the “baby drivers”. “Tell us a little bit about the cast.”
Troy Adams: “So I’ll start off with our youngest, Hudson Hidalgo. They’re a Hispanic family out of L.A. They’re very into racing, always been into racing. Once he had a baby boy, in fact, he had two. It gets very expensive for him. He’s all about his son’s racing. I think as soon as his boy came out of the womb, he knew his son would be his racer. Sometimes they struggle financially to do it, but they do it for Hudson to go racing. You’ll see on the show, the dynamic of the husband and wife in that they might not have a lot of money, but they work hard for their son to accomplish their goals. Which is all the families (they all want their family goals to be accomplished). There’s gonna be that inner struggle, you know. Hudson has won a lot of races in the past, but for whatever reason when the show hit, he struggled a little bit. So that’s gonna be very interesting to see that play out…The Walcott family, Kadijah and Nick, and their son Grayson from Chicago are very unique. In a sense that Grayson has won a lot of races in Chicago when he was at the lower level of kid kart, but when they came to us they wanted to move their son up-as most families do. You know you want the best, you want them to race against the best, but I tell people that California is no joke when it comes to racing (and spending money on racing for those families that are getting here). So Nick and Grayson moved out to California to train with us, and race with us. In fact, they’re on their way out here next week again for the whole summer. They’re possibly moving to California…Now I am going to say something that may get me in trouble if taken out of context. I tell people right out of the gate that I am from a different era, and this is not a negative thing for me. It’s to be made a truly positive thing. So I want to be sure to put it in a positive text. Kadijah is the typical black woman. Now, when I say typical-I am talking about a black woman who has been very successful, and she is very strong-willed in an industry where she has had to fight all of her life (she is a doctor)…to not just show how smart she is, but how good she is. Then, she has a son who is kind of going that same path, and she wants the best for him. At the end of the day, she doesn’t take any crap, right. She wants the best. She wants to see progress. So she is the type that doesn’t take any mess. She’s from the Southside of Chicago. Her first time when she came to talk to me…we may not be able to say it, but she was like, “I F* wit chu.” (we laugh). You know. When she said that…I said, “Kadijah, you are my crew. We good from right now, and I will figure out how to make it work. Nick’s an ex-rugby player, so they’re just dedicated. So when I say that, that’s not a slap, you know. I think being in her industry, she demands a high level of return on investment. Not just with money, but on time with her son (the family makes a lot of sacrifices which cause them to be separated in their unit at times). And you’ll see that in the show as well…Then we have Lil’ Troy. Ron is crazy. He’s my dude…and the reason why I say that is, here is a family- Caucasian male (Lil’ Troy’s dad), and Asian mom (Jenny)…Lil’ Troy is a beast, and I call him my “mini-me”. He hates losing, and at one time, he had a horrible attitude that I had to check all of the time…but, his attitude came from his daddy. That’s why he and his daddy get into it a lot, but again, they do what they have to do, whatever it takes for their kid. And I love it, and I can respect that…So the Biezonsky family started training with us. They’re a great family, and they love their kids. They have three kids, and in our industry, you rarely will find a family that has multiple kids racing. The one thing about the show…our experience was different, you know. I always said that I am not a dude on t.v. I’m not. I’m just a coach that loves my kids, and I want the best for them. How the producers shot the reality for me is pretty awesome. I am always surprised when making a statement with the cast. So my reactions are 100%. That’s with 90% of our cast. Then there’s that little 10%, which you’ll see with the Biezonskys is extra…and I think that’s a cool part of the show as well. You know you’re dealing with all of the kids, but we all get a chance to laugh. Finally, with my son-I’m a proud papa. My son’s a beast. He believes he’s the best at everything. If you ask him, he’s the best at football, and the boy can’t even catch a football (he laughs)…(“He’s speaking it into existence.” I chime in, joining him in laughter)…Oh my God, are you kidding me (he continues with a big smile). He thinks he’s the best at everything, but the flip side is that dynamic of coaching my son. You know, and how do we keep it to where-yes we’re going to work as an athlete, but also he’s an 11-year-old kid. So we’re still nurturing that side of it. You know, people always ask me about the legacy of Adams. Sometimes it comes out in the show, but at the end of the day, he has to create his own legacy. Because I’m going to love him whether he goes into racing or not. I may be pissed because I hate losing, but at the end of the day he’s still my son.”
FEMI (Ty Hughes): “I noticed that in the show, you know. I was like, you can tell that there’s a sense of firmness and that the discipline is there, and the instilling of the importance of everything that is on the line…but you can strongly sense and see the love and support that is there as well. So I definitely love that…So the next question out of the last two is: “If we could without giving too much away-What are some of your favorite moments, your favorite highlights from the first two episodes?”
Troy Adams: “Yeah, because that’s all that I’ve seen. This process is crazy…You know I laugh because my wife, for years, has always said that she does not want to be in the front. She’s not the one in the front. That I’m the talent, and she manages me and everything we do (he beams). She’s the boss, right. So the funny parts of the show are a lot of times when we are together. Like when she starts talking about Jeanette in her jumper, that was hilarious. That in itself, shooting the show with my family, being able to just truly enjoy the ride and enjoy that experience with Truly. The show and the production of the show took a different direction in the middle, and it allowed Kara and Truly to be on set with me a little bit more. They got to be in the interviews a lot more, that was a blessing and an awesome experience. I would say that the second part of that is seeing the growth of my kids throughout the years, and throughout this year. Seeing exactly how much they’ve learned, not just in the racing process, but how to deal with people. Dealing with the producers, dealing with the camera people, being able to shut that off at times, and knowing that when they get to their race karts that they’re a race car driver-not an actor, not a celebrity. You know, stay humble, and go do your job. So those are probably the two things that I enjoy the most.”
FEMI (Ty Hughes): “Okay, great. Thank you…So lastly, what would you like to see come of all of this? Like what is in the future for the Adams Motorsports Park as well?”
Troy Adams: “So personally, foremost, what I would love is that we do 10 seasons (I completely agree!*)…I’ve been speaking that into existence from the first day, you know since we started the show. Outside of our personal, our family, and how our company goes…it really is that parents will be able to sit down with their kids and be able to see the good and the bad of sports. Not just racing. Also to be able to enjoy and learn something about a different sport, that most of us as African Americans don’t experience. More importantly that they understand what it takes to be an elite athlete, mentally, physically, and emotionally-but also that through all those times, they just need to love their kids and enjoy the journey. Enjoy the ups and the downs, and the journey as your kids get older.”
FEMI (Ty Hughes): “Perfect. Okay, well I thank you for your time. I know that you guys have lots to do. So again, thank you.”
Troy Adams: “Well Ty, you’re welcome…my wife, my boss is over here yelling at me, “And sponsorship!” We can’t do this without our marketing partners!”
So there you have it! This beautifully scary journey in a nutshell. I think that Troy did an awesome job at giving us the rundown on it all. I would like to send this out with a quote (quoted on the show) from the boss herself, his lovely wife, Kara: “Professional racing is a billion-dollar industry…and if you want to get there…this guy is how you do it!”
Talk about being driven! (some pun intended)…If you want to follow these awesomely devoted families, you can check them out on the Discovery+ app. The series premiered May 23, 2022.
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Images Courtesy of Discovery
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