Right now America is going through a burnout resurgence that has started with Cleetus and Freedom Factory, and it’s spreading all across the continent, attracting a new breed of fans; like young gun Jake Nolan.

Jake is just 16 years old, and he’s already bringing home the cash and trophies with his 1989 Chevy Cavalier coupe after winning the Development Class at Summernats USA presented by Amsoil, and then fifth in the Open Class at the recent Burnout Rivals event, also held at the Freedom Factory, in Florida.

“Summernats was Jake’s first run in a car period,” says his dad Brian Nolan proudly, “Jake has always been obsessed with anything with an engine.”

As a father and son project the duo built the Cavalier in just three weeks before Summernats USA, but this wasn’t just a matter of cutting off the exhaust and bolting some old tyres to the rear, as we tend to do for our first burnout rides here in Australia. For starters the Chevy Cavalier is a front-wheel-drive platform, usually powered by a 90hp four-cylinder, and that just wasn’t going to cut it for a burnout car. So they took the body off an S10 Chevy pickup and plonked the Cavalier shell on top of the frame. Obviously the job was a lot more involved than that; “The firewall was the hardest part of the whole build,” Brian says, “We are running the Cavalier floorpan, but the firewall has been heavily modified to accommodate the LS engine.”

With the body and chassis mated together the guys have installed a 6.0-litre LS-engine, along with a 4L80E, and the rear end from a 1998 Chevy Tahoe, although Brain reckons the heavy-duty four-speed will probably be replaced with a lighter Powerglide when funds allow. Right now the build is all about having fun on a budget and Jake is having a whole heap of fun. At Summernats USA he made it into the finals in the Development class, which was set-up so that newbies to the sport could get their start, and Jake certainly qualified for that. Other than a test run in the driveway – much to their neighbours amusement – Jake had never done a burnout before, and the burnout pad is a pretty daunting experience for anyone, let alone a high school kid. Despite his inexperience, Jake handled the Cavalier like a pro and after successfully smoking out the pad for the allotted time, he climbed up onto the roof with two fists punching skywards. For his efforts he scored the first place trophy and $500 in cash, as announcer Dave Pendlebury held him aloft on the Summernats USA stage to the cheers of the crowd. 

A month later Jake was back at the Freedom Factory for Burnout Rivals, where he called out Cleetus McFarland himself for a head-to-head burnout challenge. The idea was that Cleetus would bring out a naturally-aspirated car from his fleet to take on young Jake in a mini burnout battle, but Cleetus brought his turbo-LS budget racecar Lumberjack out instead. Cleetus started well with high-rpm and plenty of smoke but the tailshaft exploded just over 20-seconds into the run, while Jake managed a solid smokeshow from start to finish and blew a pair of tyres to seal the deal. Cleetus later congratulated the young champion, claiming that he “blew the drive shaft trying to keep up to him”, which was a fine compliment from the legendary YouTuber. Ultimately Jake would finish 5th in the Open Class and take home another $150 to help pay for fuel and tyres.

It’s a pretty amazing start for a young guy who until just over a month ago, hadn’t ever done a burnout, and the plan is keep on going – money permitting.

“The build was a budget build,” Brian says. “We threw together what we had, and what we could get on marketplace. We might have $2000-2500 invested so far.”

Of course those costs will increase as they start to travel further for events. Right now they’re about three hours from the Freedom Factory, which is a fair haul for local events, but they’re planning on heading to Indy for the Summernats event up there later in the year, and they’re looking for a little help.

“We just got invited to Indy for Burnout Rivals, but it will cost about $1200 for fuel so that will be tricky,” Brian reckons. “We are definitely planning to go to Summernats in Indy in September. We hope to find sponsors soon.”

If anyone wants to help out, contact them through the Brian P. Nolan Facebook page.