Jerome Wickham, a student at Bellefontaine Middle School, won the pole, heat race and final in his first visit to Music City Kartplex in Shelbyville, Tenn. recently. Wickham is starting his third year of racing go-karts. Wickham was born on Dec. 12, 2012 and his racing team is therefore called 12³ Motorsports. He has a rare genetic metabolic bone disease called XLH (x-linked hypophosphatemia).
During the off-season, he participates in robotics competitions. Wickham currently races a 9-horsepower road racing kart that can reach up to 60 miles per hour. In the final race of 2024, he was running in the top three for most of the race before being forced off course on the final lap.
This season, he aims to win races and achieve a top-five championship result. On April 21, Brewfontaine will host a Dine & Donate event, with a portion of the day’s sales going toward expenses for racing and advocacy for awareness about XLH.