Born to race, destined to win

Hinckley native gaps the competition in Northeast Ohio’s Legends car racing circuit

by Melissa Martin

Derik Gacom can’t remember a time when he didn’t want to be a race car driver.

The 22-year-old said his passion for speed came at an early age, fueled by family weekend trips to raceways across the state in the early 2000s. At the time, Derik was a preschooler and his father, Neil Gacom, was a household name on the Northeast Ohio stock car racing circuit.

Derik recalled being captivated by the sound of revving engines, the squealing of tires and waving checkered flags. And as he grew, if he wasn’t handing his dad wrenches in the garage or cheering him on from the pit, there was only one place you were going to find him, doing laps in a motorized go-cart around the Hinckley Township cul-de-sac where he was raised.

“I’d be out there for hours just practicing, driving in circles and just waiting for my chance to get behind a real steering wheel,” he said. “It couldn’t happen soon enough.”

A family tradition

Derik came by his obsession to race honestly. Not only was the racing gene in his blood, thanks to his father, but his maternal grandparents, Donald and Patricia Petruzzi, also shared a love for cars. For decades, the couple owned Don’s Brooklyn Chevrolet, and once their grandson was ready to put the pedal to the metal at the age of 14, so were they.

Derik said his grandparents helped him get his start in Legends car racing when he was just a freshman at Highland High School. As he had already been riding ATVs, dirt bikes and go-carts for years, he was familiar with the pedals in the car and how they worked. With his family’s help, he rented a car to practice on the track at Barberton Speedway, getting a feel for driving a car and operating at high speeds. Race cars at Legends do not have power steering or power brakes, so taking turns and slowing down is more challenging than most people realize.

“I’d spend my practice days driving on the track by myself, getting a feel for the speed and how to handle the car. Driving it is a lot of work,” Derik said. “Once I got the hang of it, I started speeding up, learning how to better maneuver the car until I was ready to start taking on the competition.”

He failed to place in his first race. His biggest accomplishment was “finishing the race without crashing,” he said.

“I didn’t wreck. That was probably the best thing that happened that day,” Derik joked, noting that the races are 25 laps. “But after that race, I felt just like Ricky Bobby in the Will Ferrell movie, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. From that moment on, I was just hooked.”

A ride of his own

The winter after his first racing season, Derik purchased his first INEX Legends race car from U.S. Legends Cars, located in Harrisburg, N.C., just outside of Charlotte. The vehicles can be purchased already assembled, or buyers can buy kits that can be assembled and custom-painted for a more personalized touch.

Derik, who was 15 and entering the automotive collision program at the Medina County Career Center, said he and his father opted to purchase the kit. They assembled it themselves, painted it black with the number “51” affixed to the side and Derik’s nickname, “Rowdy,” written across the windshield.

Derik said he earned the nickname for his tendency to get “a little aggressive” chasing the finish line.

“Let’s just say I do what I have to do to get in a position to win,” he said.

Unlike traditional stock car racing, Legends car racing is more affordable, featuring 5/8-scale fiberglass replica bodies of 1930s and 1940s American cars powered by motorcycle engines. Built on tubular steel frames, the cars feature scaled-down hot rod or coupe bodies similar to a 1934 Ford.

Legends cars are powered by Yamaha motorcycle engines, paired with six-speed sequential transmissions, weighing approximately 1,250 pounds, including the driver. They produce approximately 120 horsepower and can reach top speeds of about 120 mph.

Because the cars are small, drivers of Legends cars can be as young as 10 and continue racing throughout adulthood. Another benefit, Derik said, is that repairing damage to the cars isn’t as costly as making mechanical and body repairs to traditional stock cars.

Building a name for himself

Derik moved to higher classes quickly in his first few racing seasons.

“You could say I learned how to race cars traveling at speeds up to 90 mph before I could ever drive a car on an actual road,” Derik said, noting that when he began racing, he was a year shy of being able to apply for his driver’s permit.

Once he got a feel for racing, he decided to try his hand at driving open modifieds, which mix open-wheel cars and stock cars. The front wheels and engines are exposed, but the rear tires feature covers or fenders, and they run on high-horsepower V-8 engines designed for short-track speed.

The attraction, Derik said, was that they were fast and they were loud, his favorite on-track combination.

“It just wasn’t where my heart was,” he said, noting he returned quickly to Legend car racing and hasn’t looked in the rearview mirror since. “This just feels like home.”

Derik said he found his rhythm behind the wheel this season, so after eight years he won a race in May at Midvale Speedway.

Derik took home a second win the same night, followed by two more at Lorain Speedway in June and July, along with a fifth first-place finish at Midvale in early August. Earning the trophies and cash prizes that came with the titles was gratifying, but he is prouder of his accomplishments as a driver.

“On the track, I’ve learned that being aware of where you are is key to winning as much as having a well-maintained car and knowing when to drive aggressively and when to back off,” Derik said. “But before I could learn any of that, I first had to learn how to be a good loser. And that’s what’s made winning so much better.”

While the racing season is coming to an end in Northeast Ohio, Derik said he plans to continue racing in North Carolina and Virginia, along with his father, who recently purchased a Legends car.

“He’s still about a lap behind me at this point and races in a different class, but he does it to have fun with me more than anything,” Derik said.

Deciding which road to take

Derik’s aspirations don’t stop at the raceway. He is a senior at Kent State and will graduate in spring 2027 with a bachelor’s degree in business management. He operates a Hinckley-based landscaping business he started more than a decade ago at age 11.

Initially, he mowed lawns for neighbors in his subdivision. Once he earned his driver’s license at 16, Derik purchased a truck and trailer and took the business on the road.

After graduating from MCCC in 2023 with experience in auto collision, Derik started a second business, restoring classic cars. His projects have included a 1969 Camaro, a 1978 Corvette and a 1968 Chevelle, all Chevys, which would have been near and dear to his grandpa Don’s heart.

In recent months, Derik has also found himself in pursuit of a new kind of speed, this time in the air. He’s taking flying lessons at KSU, hoping to obtain his pilot’s license before he graduates.

“Obviously, fear is not a factor in anything I do, much to my mom’s, Michelle Gacom’s, dismay,” he said. “But no matter what I do, she’s always my biggest fan.”

On the track, Derik said his winning season inspired him to strive for faster times and even more wins next year and beyond.

“This is such an adrenaline rush, and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of that,” he said.

Photo caption:

 Hinckley native Derik Gacom made a name for himself this past summer at Northeast Ohio racetracks where the 22-year-old won a number of first-place trophies in the Legend racing car circuit. Photo submitted.