Jaired Bolduc relies heavily on his intuition and common sense when stock-car racing.
“On and off the track is a lot of adrenaline all at once, which is usually fine to deal with, but in some cases, it could be a little too much,” Jaired said.
Whether it’s the shaking steering wheel or loose bolts, Jaired trusts himself to know when to slow down and assess the situation with the help of his dad, James Bolduc.
“It’s taken a lot for us to figure out how to make it go fast and how to make it be safe,” James said.
For two years, the duo has worked to get the car on the track and Jaired behind the wheel. Just in time — before the end of the season and Jaired’s 16th birthday — the car was done in early September.
“Soon as it was ready, we were like, ‘Let’s go,’” James said.
Nowadays, Jaired and James spend a good number of their evenings at the racetrack in Claremont.
“For the most part, it’s just trying to help a boy have a dream,” James said.
Five generations of speedsters
As a fifth-generation short track racer, Jaired’s new full-time hobby does not come as a surprise. If anything, his dad is best equipped to get him on the podium.
Before moving to Wilton in 1999 to start his own family, James hailed from Maine, where his grandfather, uncles and cousins all raced locally.
For a long time, the Bolducs followed James’s cousin’s racing and supported her from afar, but recently, when she started to move on from the hobby, James and Jaired took it on for themselves. Jaired is the youngest of five and, with all his older siblings having moved out, the family could dedicate more time and resources to his interest.
“The other four have grown up and moved out and done their things, so this is our chance to do something now that he’s come of age,” James said.
From a young age, Jaired was diagnosed with diabetes, and the Bolducs have used the racing publicity to raise awareness: wearing matching neon-green shirts and hats with a blue ribbon symbol that reads “Diabetes Awareness.”
“He’s been diabetic since he was 2 years old, so we’ve tried to do everything we can to give him opportunities to experience everything possible,” James said.
Now, this hobby not only gets the father-son duo out of the house, but the whole family joins in.
“Usually, I cook food, they all show up, but now we can all go to the track, and laugh, and chant and have fun,” James said.
Watch out for #48
About two years ago, after they purchased a race car, James and Jaired began stripping the vehicle in hopes of fixing it up themselves.
Eventually, reality hit, and they realized they had bitten off more than they could chew.
At the beginning of May, they started working with professionals. With the help of Blanchard’s Auto Salvage in Wilton and Lou’s Custom Exhaust in Milford, Jaired finally had a race car with an 8-cylinder engine and had lined up two sponsors.
To set their car apart, the Bolducs went with bright green and pulled the number 48 from Jaired’s favorite NASCAR driver, Jimmie Johnson, when he drove for Hendrick Motorsports and won seven championships.
The duo was ready to start racing at the beginning of September, as the season wound down. Typically, the racing season starts in April and ends with a championship in September. This year, Jaired joined too late to be considered for the competition, but hopes to be in the running next year.
“It’s our rookie season, per se. We kind of get our feet wet, we talk about it over the winter, and figure out how to make it faster and try not to do anything dangerous with it in the meantime,” James said.
In the end, this new hobby is purely for fun and father-son bonding.
“The excitement for me is watching him get out of the car with a smile on his face,” James said.