It's a familiar route for a young driver looking to gain experience in the bike: Just ask Dad.

But while it's common for young Maine drivers to gain experience handling their parents' horses, Mom and Dad don't hand over the reigns easily.

Case in point is 21-year-old driver Christopher Nye, who up until this year rarely got drives from his father, top Maine trainer Shawn Nye.

Shawn's barn wins at a brisk clip for owners who expect to make money, and drivers are a big reason for Nye's, or any stable's success. "It’s hard to ask an owner to take Gary Mosher or Heath Campbell off a horse for a young driver that has four wins," Chris says.

Chris got his first drive at the Cornish Fair, which offers a day of exhibition races each year, and got his first win there at 14. At 16, he started driving at Maine's parimutuel fairs, then got his provisional license at 18.

Up until last fall, Chris often drove the type of horse that rarely deserved a second look from any handicapper. It didn't surprise Chris that he wasn't getting many drives from his father, though he readily admits that he "always wanted to drive" for his dad.

“We’ve always got along very good," says Shawn, but whether Chris drove or not really wasn't his call to make. As Chris says, "Owners are in the business to make money."

Late last fall, Chris got his chance. With Nye's first-call driver, Gary Mosher, retiring for the year and second-call driver Heath Campbell heading to Florida, Shawn turned the driving over to Chris.

"In two weeks he had five wins. That proved his ability to me,” Shawn said. And to the Nye Stable owners.

Chris was more than a flash in the fall. This year, he captured two driving titles at the Maine fairs and ranked fourth overall during the fair season. Overall, Nye is eighth in the state with 71 wins from 324 starts with a UDRS of .324.

Nye is the fourth generation of a racing family that goes back to the 1960s when his great-grandfather, Howard, purchased his first racehorse. Howard’s son Gerald trained and drove in the 1970s, his red, white and gold silks visiting the winner’s circle 528 times with both overnight and stakes horses.

In the late 1980s, Gerald’s sons, Derrick and Shawn, started their racing careers. Derrick accumulated 238 driving wins in the 1990s before retiring from racing, gaining a good reputation with trotters. He was instrumental in development of the great Indianapolis, a trotter that captured multiple track records and invitational victories in Maine, with Derrick holding the reins, before being sold and leaving for the Meadowlands.

Shawn stayed on the training side, and got his 500th training win this summer at the Windsor Fair. It's been a family affair, as wife Bobbi and sons Chris and Joey have always been in the barn helping.

This year, Chris became the youngest driver to ever drive in the Paul Bunyan Invitational at Bangor, sitting behind Cactus Creek. He then grabbed the driving titles at Topsham and Union fairs and was second at Windsor Fair.

“I saw that he was driving more aggressively," says his father. "He's more comfortable in the sulky."

As some of his driving heroes have done in the past, Chris is looking to head west. After Thanksgiving, Chris will be taking six horses with his girlfriend, Tiffany Tilton, and stable in New York and race the Buffalo and Batavia circuit.

It will be like starting over, but Chris Nye already knows how to prove himself to the people who matter.