No matter what Christmas brings for Trevor Sanborn, it likely won’t top the gift he’s getting this week.

The Parsonsfield native confirmed this week that he will be testing at Daytona International Speedway this weekend. Sanborn leaves today to head south for the opportunity of his racing lifetime.

“I’m wicked charged up,” said Sanborn. “I’m really looking forward to going down there. I want to go back there in the future, which is in February to race.”

Sanborn is testing this weekend at the invitation of Bobby Gerhart. The racer and team owner in the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) series is giving Sanborn the chance to race this weekend.

“I’m going to test Friday through Sunday,” said Sanborn. “He’s going to be there on the sidelines to show me what the ins and outs are to get around Daytona.”

Gerhart has been racing in the ARCA series since the late 1980’s. He was the Rookie of the Year in 1988. He has 80-plus ARCA starts and has totaled 27 top 10 finishes and nine top five finishes. In 1991, he was in the top five in points.

“He’s one of the best ARCA race teams,” said Sanborn. “I’m pretty happy to be going with him and hopefully compete in February. He drives for it at the moment, but he’s letting me get into it a little bit and hopefully, it will turn out that we can race there full-time.”

Sanborn struck up a friendship with Gerhart last spring when he met him at a race.

“I’ve known him for about a year now,” said Sanborn. “I met up with him at the Kansas Speedway. He told me to keep in touch with him. I’ve talked to him a bunch of different times. I happen to give him a call one day, and he gave me this opportunity.”

Sanborn learned last week that he might have the opportunity to test but didn’t get confirmation until this week.

“I didn’t really know until Monday, but I’m happy,” said Sanborn.

This weekend is only a testing session but could serve as an audition for Sanborn. He hopes it could lead to a ride with Gerhart on the ARCA Tour, which starts at Daytona February 2. Gerhart and Kyle Krisiloff are both confirmed to start the series in Daytona, but the team has a history of running several entries in a race.

“I hope it just leads to bigger and better things – hopefully moving down there and racing down there and making it my future,” said Sanborn.

Sanborn, who works for his father’s scrap metal business in Eliot, was the youngest Rookie of the Year in the Pass North Series last year at the age of 20. He finished on the podium five times in PASS North and finished second in the PASS North events at Thompson International Speedway in Connecticut, Riverside Speedway in New Hampshire and Speedway 95 in Hermon. He also finished second in a PASS South series race last September at Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina.

Before joining PASS North, Sanborn was a regular in the Pro Series at Beach Ridge.

“I’ve actually raced Super Late Models,” said Sanborn. “I’ve raced them from Canada to Florida. Now I get to go to the next level, which is an ARCA car, which is basically a Nextel Cup car.”

Sanborn knows he’ll not only have to show some of his driving prowess on the track this weekend, but also make a good impression off the track.

“You’ve got to be able to click,” said Sanborn. “You’ve got to be able to get along with everyone. You’ve got to fit. When it gets to that level, it’s not just driving. It’s everything.”