Many of us sit in front of the TV and watch a sporting event dreaming about performing in front of a national audience. James Anderson may not be racing on national television, but with the help of his dad converted watching NASCAR on television to racing his own cars on the track. He's done both road course and oval racing in a Legend Car, and after spending 2024 on road courses, he plans to run primarily ovals in 2025.
Hometown: Windham, Maine
Number: 25
Division: Pro
Team: Anderson Racing
1. How did you get your start in racing?
I watched NASCAR on TV growing up. One day my dad said, “Well if you wanna be a race car driver we gotta go get you a car,” and that same day he bought me a Quarter Midget in 2014.
2. How did you pick the number #25?
I’ve always wanted to be number 18 because I was a Kyle Busch fan when I was a kid. My very first car that we bought had number 25 on it and we didn’t have the money at the time to re letter it so the first season we left the numbers on the car and I’ve been number 25 since.
3. Who is your biggest inspiration?
My dad is my biggest inspiration. He’s always been the one to encourage me, even through the worst finishes and everything he would always believe in me from the start.
4. What is your favorite racing memory?
My very first Legend Car win was in May of 2019 which was my second year in [a] Legend Car. The week prior, one of my best racing buddies at the time hooked me in the left rear on the very last corner of the race and wrecked me. It really made me wanna win a race after that and then I finally did the next week.
5. How do you get focused before a race?
I always pray before a race. I sit in the car and make sure I'm breathing and focus on keeping my heart rate down and keep focus and praying. At that point anything that happens in the race is in God’s hands and it takes a lot of stress off me.
6. What is your favorite track?
My favorite is Chemung Speedrome which is in Upstate New York. It was a tight track with high banks. They stopped Legend Car racing but before 2019 they used to get 25-30 car fields.
7. What do you enjoy the most about road course racing?
Road courses are my favorite because of the technicality of it. [Ovals] you have to master a track, but road course you can gain or lose so much time in every single corner. It’s being perfect and it takes a lot more driving skill and talent to contend in a road course.
8. How has your driving style evolved over the last six to seven years since you started racing?
I think it’s biased but I’ve been a pretty good driver from the start. My overall knowledge of what's best to do in each situation has grown a lot. I would make a lot of mistakes in the beginning and lose my temper easily at other drivers. I now realize when I’m driving that things are gonna happen and you can’t lose your temper over things like that.
9. How do you balance your personal life and racing?
It’s been very tough the last couple of years. A lot of my focus has been taken out of racing and put into my business, so I’m limiting my racing and just doing 12 or 15 races this year. Last year I limited myself to only racing road courses and this year I'm gonna do mainly an oval course.
10. Do you have any hobbies outside of racing?
Racing and my business takes up a lot of my time. My other hobby would be building my truck.
11. What destination would you like to visit one day on vacation or while racing?
The Vegas oval nationals would be a cool place to visit. I’ve also wanted to make a nice vacation trip out of Charlotte. They’re talking about the new Charlotte track being a [Road Course] World Finals at some point so it would be cool to make a trip going to see.
12. Who is your favorite race car driver of all-time?
Kyle Busch since I was a fan of his growing up.
13. What advice would you give to someone wanting to be a Legend Car driver?
Commit and stick it through. Put as much time and effort into becoming a better race car driver and use other people as a helper for you. Get as many people’s advice as you possibly can and use other people as resources too. People are willing to help. My dad and I knew nothing about how to set them up and I didn’t know anything about driving them. A lot of good people helped me with developing my driving skill and helped us get the car to a good setup.