Menlo Park native Jesse Love racing to the top

Bickford saw the “it” factor that so many others in the racing world had seen, and he told Jesse Love that at that point forward, everything he’d do he needed to come across as a professional. Six years later, Jesse Love, the Menlo Park native, is now 18 years old and on the brink of racing fulltime in the NASCAR Xfinity Series — NASCAR’s Triple-A — next year for Richard Childress Racing.

“Jesse took that, embraced it wholeheartedly, and carried that professionalism with him for the rest of his career in everything he’s done,” Duke Love said.

Duke Love recalls nothing but success for Jesse Love ever since he started racing at five years old. Jesse Love had racked up multiple state and national titles through the Quarter Midgets of America before the age of 10. Jesse Love was obviously fast, but two characteristics stood out to Duke Love, a former midget car racer himself: his ability to feel speed, and his incredible track presence.

“It is a certain born with or not born with thing,” Jesse Love said about the ability to feel speed. “Due to the grace of God I was born with it. The speed stuff definitely helped me as a kid but you still need to find ways to separate yourself from other people as you get older.”

So, at 12 years old, Jesse Love was sat down by his parents. They told him that if he gave everything he had into the sport, then they’d return the favor and do everything they can to help him succeed. There was no turning back after.

As Jesse Love was racing the 51FIFTY Energy Drink Junior Late Model Series that season, his parents would ask him questions walking to and from the track as a mock interview to practice handling the media.

“Every single aspect of his career, we looked at and focused on how can we excel,” Duke Love said. “Whether it’d be interviews, autograph sessions, sponsor related events, his website. Every single thing.”

Lot of early success

Televised on MAV-TV, Jesse Love won five of eight races and the championship in the Junior Late Model Series that season. He was also the first driver to ever win the USAC Dirt and USAC Pavement Championship in the same season giving him the USAC Western Overall Championship for midgets. After that, Jesse Love competed in the Silver State Road Course Series with INEX Racing at the infamous Las Vegas Motor Speedway Road Course. Jesse Love again won five of the eight races including the last three in a row to capture the championship. This win brought him to four-offour for the 2018 season.

Jessie Love had also competed in the BCRA Midget Series and the Hunt Magneto Sprint Car Series that same season, both of which he had to apply for an exception to compete in because of his age. Thankfully, his resume at that age backed him completely.

In 2020 it was announced that Jesse Love would run full-time in the ARCA Menards Series West in the no.19 Toyota car for Bill McAnally racing and with Venturini Motorsports, a team that competes in various ARCA competitions. After finishing second in his first race, Jesse Love won his first West Series race on June 27, 2020, at Utah Motorsports Campus in just his second race.

McAnally was on the radio with Jesse Love for the entirety of the race, and he recalls this race and moment in Salt Lake City, Utah as one of the most memorable in his time working with the young racer.

McAnally remembers their being tons of ups and downs during the race that Jesse Love had to manage, and frankly, could’ve thrown him off his game. Jesse Love, just 15 years old at the time and the youngest ever racer to be picked up by Toyota, kept his composure and won the race.

“He was so mature for his age,” McAnally said. “He knew what he needed out of the car, he could communicate what he needed from us. At 15 years old I remember taking him out to dinner to talk to sponsors and he carried the conversation. It was so impressive.”

Climbing the ladder

Love finished the 2020 West season with three wins and nine top-five finishes on the way to a series championship where he was the youngest to win it at just 15 years, 9 months and 24 days. He returned to the series with BMR racing and Venturing Motorsports in 2021 and captured his second consecutive West Championship.