VENTURA, Calif. – What began three years ago as a test aboard a 13-year-old midget owned by Pete Davis led Jake Andreotti being named the Don Brasile Rookie of the Race at the recent Turkey Night Grand Prix at Ventura Raceway.
Back in 2020, Davis, owner of Hot Head Competition Engine Heaters and a former racer, called Andreotti’s father for a payment on an engine heater. Some small talk ensued that knocked over the first domino down a path to Andreotti turning heads on a national stage with the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets this month.
“It started when we bought an engine heater from him for the sprint car at Watsonville (Calif.), Andreotti recalled. “He told us, ‘Don’t worry about paying us yet. Test it out a few times and we’ll worry about payment later.’ He gave my dad a call a few months later and asked for the money, and my dad said, ‘What are you up to?’ Pete said, ‘I’m about to go out to Antioch (Calif.) to test a midget.’ My dad said, ‘Jake always wanted to drive a midget.’ Pete, being the great guy that he is, said, ‘Come on out. Jump in and try it.’
“It was an old ’07, wide-body Stealth with an old Esslinger with the intake facing the dirt and everything,” Andreotti continued. “He believed in me right from there. He saw something that I didn’t quite see in myself just yet.”
After the test went well, the pairing began competing in California, partaking in a few BCRA midget races in the latter half of 2020 and picking up a pair of top-five finishes. When the USAC National tour came through in November, they signed in for three of the events but didn’t make any of the features competing against the top teams in the country.
At the beginning of 2021, Davis knew he had a driver worth investing in and made the call to upgrade their equipment, a decision Andreotti is forever appreciative of.
“He upgraded to a new Spike and a BB7 Esslinger and really just believed in me,” Andreotti said. “I can’t ask more of him. I’m so grateful for everything that he’s put in to believe in me to go out here and do this. It’s just so awesome. I’m so grateful to have somebody as good as Pete to believe in me and put all of this money up, all the time and effort to get the car out here and keep pushing.”
They progressed throughout 2021 and collected a USAC Western States Midget win at Ventura. At the end of the season, they again took on the national tour and Andreotti made his first feature at Merced Speedway.
Fast-forward to late 2022 and Andreotti entered the USAC National Midget western swing with the modest goal of making some more features aboard the Davis No. 00. He exceeded his expectations.
To kickoff the stretch Andreotti won his heat race at Bakersfield Speedway and finished 14th in just his second feature start with the series. At Placerville Speedway’s prestigious Hangtown 100, Andreotti made the feature all three nights against a loaded field, posting a best result of 11th on night two.
Andreotti elevated his game for last week’s two-day tilt at Merced Speedway. On night one, the Castro Valley, Calif., driver timed in ninth quickest, and a second-place effort in his heat lined him up on the front row of the feature.
After slicing it up for 30 laps with the likes of Carson Macedo, Buddy Kofoid and Justin Grant, Andreotti finished third in just his sixth national start.
The celebration soured when post-race inspection determined the engine’s RPM limits exceeded the maximum allowed amount by a mere 200 RPM, disqualifying Andreotti’s top-three result.
“That was definitely pretty disappointing,” Andreotti admitted. “It definitely added some fuel to the fire. I knew that if we didn’t perform after that, it would put a little more pressure on me.”
Andreotti and company remained optimistic and saw the performance as pivotal in their progress. For the final two nights of the western swing, they upped their expectations.
“At that point we looked past the whole let’s just be happy to be in the show mindset,” Andreotti said. “We were like, ‘We’ve got to go for a win.’ We progressed a lot with our mindset and goals throughout this whole western swing.”
The latter night at Merced began with promise as Andreotti timed in fifth quick but struggles in the heat race led him to the B main. He transferred to the feature but could only manage a 19th-place finish.
The stretch of races concluded with the 81st running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Ventura and Andreotti delivered a drive that helped him forget all about the Merced misfortune.
“Going into Turkey Night I’m a huge fan of the longer races,” Andreotti said of his mindset entering the finale. “I’ve always liked the endurance side of things. It adds a whole lot more stress on the drivers on how to adapt to the whole different track conditions that awaits in the long races.”
Andreotti showed why he prefers longer races. After locking directly in to the 98-lap feature through qualifying, the 20-year-old drove like a veteran, blending aggression with patience while keeping his nose clean as he moved forward from ninth to fourth, just a spot away from matching his Merced outing.
The result was enough to earn him Rookie of the Race honors, putting his name alongside drivers such as Kyle Larson, Tanner Thorson and Zeb Wise in the record books.
The night served as a near-perfect conclusion to Andreotti’s seven-race run as he put the cherry on top of an encouraging and educational stint with the best drivers of the discipline.
“I learned a whole lot on the driving side,” Andreotti said. “We learned a boat load setup-wise about pushing the car harder to keep up with all these faster, national level drivers. We learned a lot of different setup things, how to free up the car, how I can find more grip. It all worked out.”
Perhaps most importantly for Andreotti, the swing capped by a top-five finish at one of the sport’s most coveted races allowed him to show Davis he made the right choice putting him in the car two years ago and that the relentless work they’ve put in is all worth it. They’ve come a long way from taking that 2007 Stealth for a test drive back in 2020.
“I’m so grateful for Pete, for everything he’s done,” Andreotti said. “He didn’t have to do any of this. It’s all because he didn’t want my dad to pay him right there for an engine heater. If my dad would’ve paid him when he gave us the engine heater, he would’ve never had a reason to call my dad and have me test a midget. It’s cool how the stars aligned for that and how we upgraded everything because of how much he believed in me. I’m eternally grateful for that. I love racing midgets, and it’s all thanks to him. I definitely wouldn’t be in a midget if it wasn’t for Pete.”