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Gulfport's Nikita Johnson accelerates on his hometown track at Firestone Grand Prix

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Published  March 2, 2025 1:23pm EST
Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
FOX 13 News

Gulfport native competes in Indy Car NXT series

FOX 13's Regina Gonzalez shares the story of the young driver who is already making waves in the racing community.

The Brief

    • Gulfport's Nikita Johnson accelerates on his hometown track at the Firestone Grand Prix.
    • He placed 11th in the INDY NXT series, which is an impressive accomplishment, considering he's only 16-years-old.
    • While he continues to set his eye on a future in Formula One, he still finds time to be a student, an older brother, and a normal teenager.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla - Gulfport’s Nikita Johnson represented HMD motorsports on his hometown track at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg this year. 

Gulfport's Nikita Johnson accelerates on his hometown track at the Firestone Grand Prix.

He placed 11th in the INDY NXT series, which is an impressive accomplishment, considering he's only 16-years-old!

As his father, Obie Johnson, told FOX 13, Nikita was quite literally born to race.

"I kept telling his mom he was going to be born on my birthday, May 26, and she said, 'no he's still got three weeks.' So we were watching the Indy 500 at home and she goes into labor. I never saw the end of the race, and she had him on May 25," Obie laughed.

READ: Firestone Grand Prix: Meet the chef fueling the race teams for close to 30 years

But little did he know; he would have his own young motorsport athlete in the making.

Nikita was already racing overseas when he was just a child.

"He was the first American to have a class D license to race in Italy. We made him an Italian for the year at eight-years-old so he could bypass the rule that he had to be nine," Obie recalled. "He competed internationally in Italy for an Italian team, so we did that for a few years and then came back to the United States, and then he became the youngest Formula 4 winner in history."  

Local perspective:

No matter where in the world he's racing, you'll always see him nod to the Florida symbol on his helmet.

Gulfport's Nikita Johnson accelerates on his hometown track at the Firestone Grand Prix.

Over the last two years, the life-long Pinellas County resident has also been victorious at his hometown track, becoming the youngest race winner in Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg history with a victory in the USF2000 category in 2023. He was only 14 at the time.

This year he made his INDY NXT series debut representing HMD Motorsports, of course, with an entire fan base in the stands.

"We have so many friends and family out here, a bunch of supporters through town," Nikita said. "It's pretty cool when I can be walking through town and people are like, Oh hi, you're Nikita, and everyone is living the race through me. It's so cool."

While he continues to set his eye on a future in Formula One, he still finds time to be a student, an older brother, and a normal teenager.

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The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Regina Gonzalez.

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