Waterford - The best stories often originate from the unpredictable or the unsuspecting. Try this: The 14-year-old without a driver’s license setting records at the racetrack.

The kid who doesn’t shave whizzing past adults who probably own a chassis somewhere older than he is.

The kid who was walking the halls of Clark Lane Middle School last year, looking like all the other eighth graders, except this particular kid can drive a truck in excess of 100 miles per hour, negotiating the competition and avoiding that big, concrete wall.

This is the story of Brody Monahan, who set a New London-Waterford Speedbowl record Saturday night with his sixth straight win in the Trucks Division. The last driver to win five straight in any division was Allen Coates in 2009, the year Monahan was born.

To understand Brody Monahan doesn’t get any more complicated than the “Monahan” part. The Monahans are part of New London-Waterford Speedbowl royalty, what with Brody’s dad, Shawn, a past champion (at Thompson Speedway, too) and his mom, Jennifer, a past Powder Puff Derby champion. Heck, Shawn Monahan and his brother, Diego, are the only two that hold the record at the track for winning in every division.

Now comes this youngin, though, for whom “and the child shall lead them” is quite literal.

“Well,” Shawn Monahan, who otherwise passes his time as the owner of Critical Signs in Waterford, was saying the other night, “Brody was once known as ‘Shawn’s son.’ And now I'm known as ‘Brody's father.’”

Funny thing sometimes about family passions, though. The kids don’t necessarily buy in, preferring the rugged individualism of writing one’s own story. Brody Monahan began writing his story, a very Monahan family story, at age five, in something called a Wild Thing.

“I was always around the racetrack,” he said. “It was the only sport I knew. I started racing at like five or six in a Wild Thing Car, kind of like a Go-Kart but it has a wing on top.”

They practiced in the parking lot of Cohanzie School, son and dad did. They began racing on Monday nights at Stafford on its infield short track. So much for the kindergartner passing time playing on the swings.

From there came Bandoleros (designed for younger racers) at age eight, which Monahan raced in Waterford and Seekonk, Mass. In 2021 at age 12, he advanced to Legends (they look like old, classic coupes), the first time Monahan ever drove a standard race car.

“I think in 2021, my rookie year, I was figuring it out,” Monahan said. “In 2022, we went out with a positive mindset and won nine races.

Against adults.

“We had a guy come up and yell at him one time and then realized ‘oh my God,’” Shawn Monahan said. “This little kid gets out of the car.”

Brody on driving against adults: “I think of them as another car on the track. I think that's half the battle for most people is not fearing who they're racing against.”

Brody Monahan’s successes have earned him trips to race in Las Vegas and Charlotte, among other places. Now he’s graduated to trucks.

“The truck has more power. They're faster basically. They're full scale compared to a Legend car,” Shawn Monahan said. “Legend cars have so much power for their size. It's common knowledge in the racing industry, that if you can drive a Legend car and get your feet wet with one of those, you can drive anything because they really challenge your capabilities.

“So most of the people who are running on TV on Sunday afternoon started out in the Legend division and got their feet wet. So when people retire from the Legend division, they generally adapt quickly to the next division that they're in because of what they just went through.”

Now Monahan, who will enter his freshman year at Waterford High next month, has defined a career path for himself.

“I want to drive on Sunday afternoons,” he said, alluding to NASCAR's traditional day. “Between 2021 and 2022, I was reflecting on 2021 and what I could do differently. Then all I started thinking about, like most of the time that I had free, sometimes even in school, is how I could win.”

Whatever else is true about race car driving, there’s no denying this much: Scaredy cats need not apply. There is risk.

“The scariest part is there's a wall, obviously,” Brody Monahan said. “If you're heading for the wall, knowing that you're gonna hit it, you’re going full speed towards the concrete wall, it's pretty scary. But the cars are pretty safe. Probably the worst I've ever been is having some bruises.”

And for mom and dad?

“Every time he’s on the racetrack, we say a prayer,” Shawn Monahan said.

“I grew up going to the track with my parents,” Jennifer Monahan said. “I've been around it my whole life even before me and Shawn got together. But I think it was a little easier because I had been around it. Still, you think like a mother all the time.”

It helps, too, that Shawn Monahan is Brody’s spotter during races. Of course, he never really stops being dad.

“I have selective hearing sometimes. When you're in the car and you're watching it, it's like a whole different race,” Brody Monahan said. “I make my own decisions most of the time.”

And so life goes on now for the whiz kid, hopeful to find the right team and the right people to continue this dream. Not bad so far for 14, though.

“It’s still so amazing to me and Jennifer and everybody else that sees him do this,” Shawn Monahan said. “Every time he hops into a car. He adapts so quickly. And it just shocks us.”

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro