By Chuck Corder

Even before his rookie season began this year, Beef “O� Brady’s Sportsman driver Shawn Laws felt the love from Five Flags Speedway.

A chance, business encounter with prolific Sportsman champion Steve Buttrick put the wheels, literally, in motion last year for the Gulf Breeze driver.

Before that, Bo Resmondo, another driver who competes in the Sportsman class, performed all the brick work on Laws’ home and race shop.

“Five Flags is one of the best short-tracks I’ve been to and I’ve been to a lot of them,� he said. “I honestly feel that the racing, even with the Sportsmen, these guys, in my opinion, they’re the best of the best at what they’re doing.

“They’re all class acts and friendly. They won’t hesitate to help if you ask. I love that about this class.�

But no one has shown more love to Laws than his spotter. And no one has shown more love to his spotter than Laws himself. More and more each day, in fact.

Stick with us here.

When racing returns Friday to Five Flags Speedway where $5 gets everyone through the gate to see the Sportsmen, Butler U-Pull-It Bombers, Home Depot Modifieds and Pro Trucks, expect teenagers and young kids to flood the famed half-mile asphalt oval for the annual Children’s Bicycle Races.

Sixteen-year-old Jordan Laws, who picked up his driver’s license just last week, will be there to work. The straight-A student at Gulf Breeze High will take his place in “Spotterville,� determined to not put his driver, who just so happens to be his father, in harm’s way.

“He’s a quick learner,� a beaming Shawn Laws, 41, said of his son. “He’s doing awesome. I know how hard it is and I couldn’t be prouder. If I’m racing somebody hard, and it’s early in the feature, he’s smart enough to say, ‘Dad, it’s clear behind you,’ and I’ll drop back so I can save my stuff ’til the end.�

It has been an impressive, if not quite yet a winning formula for the father-son duo. In his first season at Pensacola’s high banks, Shawn Laws currently sits a remarkable third in points.

He only ran once at Five Flags before 2014. Starting tail end to the 28-car field at the Sportsman Snowball Derby last December, Laws improved to 14th by the end of the 50 lapper.

“We were so tight for the Snowball, and couldn’t get it to loosen up,� said Laws, who purchased his No. 77 from Mobile driver Steven Allday last year. “We worked on it all winter. If I had to give the season a grade so far, it’d probably be a ‘B.’ I’d like to go faster and I like winning just as much as the next guy, but I’m thrilled we’ve been so consistent.�

A lieutenant with the Holley-Navarre Fire District, Laws is a former structural specialist with the Air Force.

A native of East Syracuse, N.Y., Laws rose to the rank of Master Sergeant and served on several overseas tours, including to Iraq and Afghanistan, before being discharged in 2009.

He was stationed in Boston, Guam, New Mexico and North Carolina among other places before ending up at Hurlburt Field in Mary Esther in 2008.

In 2000, Laws vied for a championship at a dirt track in New Mexico. Late in the year, he was deployed to the Middle East, missed the final two races and lost the championship by six points.

“It was pretty heartbreaking,� said Laws, who won in just the second dirt feature he competed in.

When he was relocated to Goldsboro, N.C., Laws was able to run on asphalt tracks, such as Orange County Speedway, a former NASCAR Home Track, and iconic South Boston (Va.) Speedway.

Jim, Laws’ father, was the NASCAR mechanic of the year in the early 2000s at Orange County, a legendary track in its own right where the likes of Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and a slew of other current and former NASCAR stars cut their teeth.

After moving to the Panhandle, Laws took occasional trips to Five Flags, but his passion to drive wasn’t rekindled until he decided to sell his boat.

The buyers of the 21-foot Capehorn requested a mechanic before the final purchase. When the mechanic arrived that day, he saw the 1,400-square foot shop Laws had built behind his house and introduced himself.

“He came up to me with that ear-to-ear grin he usually has on his face and said, ‘I’m Steve Buttrick,’ � Laws recalled.

A friendship quickly formed. The first time Laws stood in Buttrick’s pits, the blue No. 33 went out and landed in its familiar spot atop the podium in Victory Lane.

It was Buttrick who gave Laws the heads-up about Allday’s for-sale car.

And with Buttrick not running a full season this year, Laws has leaned on the reigning four-time Sportsman Snowball Derby king for helpful hints and setup advice.

Laws also credits his sponsors, Pensacola House of Prayer and A.K. Moyer Construction in Navarre, for helping offset costs this season.

Will Goulet, who won the 2009 Butler U-Pull-It Bombers track championship, with Navarre Auto Repair has been a big resource for Laws.

“He’s the one that helped out immensely with putting me in touch with folks,� Laws said of Goulet.

No one has been more vital, though, than young Jordan.

Smart as a whip, Jordan will be a junior at Gulf Breeze come the fall while also taking dual enrollment classes at Pensacola State College.

“He’s got the racing bug now, too,� Shawn Laws said of his son. “At night, it’s just me and him in shop, and he’s becoming a great little mechanic. He’s learning a lot.�

A lot about racing. A lot more about a father’s love for his son.