There’s something humorously ironic about a 15-year-old racing alongside fully-grown adults in a “late model” race car with 400 horsepower under the hood. There’s something even more unusual about that teenager being good enough to beat them, too.

Jacob “Rowdy” Burns, originally from Warren and now living in East Greenwich, has been racing competitively since he was five, already amassing nearly 10 wins and a championship throughout various levels of local racing series.

“Oh don’t tell me that,” he says with a wince when asked about his decade of involvement in the sport, apparently feeling old, despite not being old enough to legally drive a passenger vehicle yet.

On Saturday, Burns was by far the youngest driver to be gearing up for The Haunted 100, the final race within the 30th annual American-Canadian Tour (ACT) Late Model racing series that took place at Seekonk Speedway. The race had championship implications for the season, and although Burns was not in the running for a trophy this time around, he has a bright future ahead of him and a strong support network cheering him on.

“He’s got generational talent,” said Burns’ uncle Ronnie Louro, who finances his racing career with the help of local sponsors including JML Excavation, Wayne Electric, Power Stretch Carpet, MJF Plumbing Heating, Century Sheet Metal, and Quality Construction & Roofing. Fellow racer and Warren resident Vincent Arrenegado Jr. also helps perform maintenance work on Burns’ car.

It’s no small expense. The type of car Burns was driving on Saturday can go for as much as $60,000, plus all the maintenance, travel and raceway fees that accompany the actual car. Racing seasons last around six months, from May to October, and can include as many as three races a week. The sport has taken Burns all across the East Coast and down to Florida for events. Burns points to his great uncle, who started racing in the 90s, as the inspiration for his racing ambitions.

At just 15, Burns has already experienced the highs and lows of a racing career, complete with rollover crashes, totaling a brand new late model (not his fault, Lauro reported), and the thrills of winning a championship series in a “legend” model car — which are 5/8-scale replicas of American automobiles from the 1930s and 1940s.

On Saturday, Burns was racing alongside Fred “Flying’ Freddy” Astle, one of his racing idols who was a four-time repeat champion from 2008 to 2011. He said it would be the final race of his career, while Burns’ career was just beginning. Astle only made it 15 laps on Saturday, while Burns finished 8th overall out of 30 competitors.

A young man of few words, Burns doesn’t seem to dwell much on his age, or how he represents the passing of the torch between an older generation of racers with a brand new one.

“You gotta start young to get somewhere,” Burns said matter-of-factly.