1on1: In no time, Bayne goes from fan to driver (cont'd)

Q: When did you move to Mooresville, N.C.?

Bayne: When I signed with [the former Dale Earnhardt Inc., as a developmental driver] in 2006.

Q: And you grew up where?

Bayne: I lived in Knoxville, Tenn., about an hour and a half from the track in Bristol. I've been going to the Food City Race Night [celebration] since I was about eight years old. We did that last [Thursday] night. People were bringing up pictures of me when I was about four-foot tall, with my go-kart sitting beside me, and asking me to sign 'em. That's cool. It's awesome to have some people who have been following me that long.

Q: Do you feel all grown up now?

“

I love to snowboard and wakeboard. I just got into shooting a little bit. I've gotten into skeet-shooting a little bit recently ... I haven't conquered golf yet, but I've only played once. I want to take a shot at it. Anything that's a challenge, I enjoy taking it on.

”

-- TREVOR BAYNE

Bayne (laughing and smiling again): Oh, I'm all grown up, brother.

But seriously, it does seem like yesterday. I remember having a Jeff Gordon coloring box when I was in kindergarten, and all that stuff. I don't want to tell him that -- it might make him feel old. But it has happened fast for me, for sure. It was just a couple of years ago that I was starting [the USAR] Hooters Pro Cup [Series] and I was racing [at Bristol] at 15. And now we're doing it in the Nationwide Series.

I remember coming to races here and wanting to come up to the drivers to say, 'Hey, I race, too.' Now a lot of people know that, so it's neat to see what's happening now. Now I kind of rub elbows with some of these guys.

Q: What do you like to do away from the track?

Bayne: I love to snowboard and wakeboard. I just got into shooting a little bit. I've gotten into skeet-shooting a little bit recently ... I haven't conquered golf yet, but I've only played once. I want to take a shot at it.

Anything that's a challenge, I enjoy taking it on. Whenever I've tried something new, when everybody else has had enough of it and goes on inside, I'm the one who gets so fed up with doing bad that I stay out there longer, trying to get good at it.

I went to the SuperCross [motorcycle racing event] a couple of weeks ago with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and a couple of buddies to check that out. So we're pretty diverse. I'm into anything that gets the blood flowing.

Q: You even entered a wakeboarding competition last summer on Lake Norman just outside of Charlotte, didn't you?

Bayne: That was my first one. I finished like fifth, and this year I'd like to enter again and try to do better. I missed my 360[-degree spin]. I fell on it, so that's what cost me. I think there were like 14 [other competitors] in my class. I do it for fun, as a hobby.

This [racing] right here used to be for fun and my hobby. It's still fun, but now it's turned into a career and a job -- so that brings, I don't know if it's pressure, but there is a lot of effort that goes into it. So with the wakeboarding and snowboarding and all that stuff, when I go to the slopes and stuff, obviously it's in my nature to try to get better at that stuff, but it's also a time to just play around and have fun with it.

Q: Does it amaze you that you've gone from having "a Jeff Gordon coloring box" to racing against some of those types of guys in the Nationwide Series?

Bayne: It's been pretty awesome getting to know some of them as people -- because you set them up on this pedestal for a long time, and then you get here and they're just like the guys at the local tracks that you grew up racing against. And they see you as the same, too.

They work with you and help teach you, and that's pretty neat to see in our sport. Because they could all sit in their haulers and kind of keep to themselves, but they don't really do that.