Bailey Todd Harris, 25, is quiet and unassuming. You would never know that you are talking with someone who has accomplished so much and in such a short time. Born and raised in Sumter County, he holds a bachelors degree in business administration from Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW). He graduated with honors. He owns his own business.

"I really wanted that business degree to help me with my own business," says Bailey, referring to the successful pine straw and lawn service he started at age 19 during his second year at GSW.

Bailey's mother Carol and his father Tom are also GSW alumni and his brother Tommy attended GSW before transferring to Valdosta State. Education is obviously very important in the Harris family.

On the surface it's easy to see that young Harris is comfortable in his own skin. He talks easily about himself and with pride in his family. His dad Tom Harris runs Harris Marine in Cordele and his mother Carol works as a school principal. Both are extremely supportive of both their children. Carol grew up on a farm near Cobb and Tom is a farm boy from Plains.

At age six, Bailey started racing go karts. By the time he was eight, he was racing on a national level.

"We won three or four State Championships," he states, "by the time I was 11 we had won three World Karting Association National Championships."

The 'we' Harris refers to includes both parents who never missed races and supported their son as he advanced through the state and national ranks as a racer. He moved into racing the four-cylinder cars at Cordele Motor Speedway's dirt oval. By the time he was 16 he was racing a full-blown Sportsman Late Model class car.

"The Sportsman Late Model class was pretty much the premiere class that raced at the Cordele Motor Speedway. We had success in the big car classes, too. Actually our first year out, we were 'Rookie of the Year.' When I say 'we,' I mean my mom and dad, too," he adds.

In the Sportsman Late Model class, 16-year-old Harris was racing against professional racers.

"We had a lot of success, but we had to spend a lot of time working at it. That class was so competitive we had a lot of maintenance issues and my dad, who is my crew chief, spent many late nights working on the motor, the drive train and other parts of the car. I was running this class when the Cordele speedway paved the dirt track and went to asphalt. I really preferred the dirt track, but I liked running on the asphalt, too," he says with a smile.

It was around this time that Bailey was getting more serious about running his business and was looking for a way to continue racing without spending so much time during the week getting ready. Drag racing seemed like a good fit.

"As I got busy with my business and needing more time during the week to work on the business, I wanted to do something in racing that required less maintenance than circle track racing. We talked it over and decided to go drag racing," states Bailey. "I really wanted to run 'heads up' but after studying the situation we decided to go bracket racing."

In bracket racing, racers compete against the clock, where reaction time is important. Any size motor has a chance of winning since you are racing against your best time, not the other car. The Harris Race Team moved into an advanced class, Super Pro, where a lot of electronics are permitted.

"Bracket racing pays the winner about the same thing that circle track racing pays," says Bailey, "with a lot less expense. It just made more sense for us. We started drag racing with a short wheel based roadster. That first year was a struggle. I was an amateur trying to get a foothold in an advanced class of bracket racing. We had essentially started over."

Then the second year the Harris team scored a feature win and several runners-up and finished that year second in points.