When he was 7, Juriad Hughes Jr. began testing his speed against the fastest beast in the asphalt jungle. He would walk to the sidewalk outside of his home and stare down Broncos and Jaguars, Mustangs and Beetles, assessing not hood ornaments but horsepower.
Hughes would catch the eye of a driver, turn and sprint down the road, straining to win a neighborhood version of Man vs. Machine.
As he grew into a teenager, Hughes chose a more familiar pace car — his mother's. Leticia Jones would cruise down the long, leafy street that led to their front door, and Juriad would sprint alongside, urging her to test the speed limit.
Hughes, a senior at Irondale High, is a promising football player who is creating an international footprint in the world of track. Earlier this year, he broke a 41-year-old state record in the long jump, then won the long jump and finished third in the 100 meters at Nike Outdoor Championships in Oregon, and later won the long jump at the under-20 Pan American Games in Puerto Rico. The latter established him as the best young long jumper in the western hemisphere.
Monday morning, Hughes again sprinted alongside his mother's car on their tree-lined street, bursting from shade into the light.
"I'd race anything," Hughes said. "Car, motorcycle, bus, anything that came by. I'd be out there a good amount of time. I'd race one car down the street, then race another car back. The next day, I'd do it all over."
He's still doing it, still racing his mother's car between football and basketball practices and track workouts.
"Starting out, he went to the busiest streets, thinking that's where he would find the fastest cars," Jones said. "For him, it was the thrill of running fast. He was so determined that he would tell me he was going to beat this car or motorcycle, and you couldn't tell him that he wouldn't.
