Jackson Storm

Jackson Storm is a racer who competes in the Piston Cup Racing Series. Following his debut in 2017, Storm proved to be highly talented, hitting top speeds that veteran racers struggled with reaching. His stellar performance sparked interest in the next-generation of racers. Storm achieved a number of wins during his first full season, winning the Piston Cup in his rookie year and setting the record for fastest lap of all time at the Florida International Speedway.

A front runner in the next generation of racers, Storm’s quiet confidence and cocky demeanour are off-putting but his unmatched speed threatens to redefine the sport. Trained on high-tech simulators that are programmed to perfect technique and maximise velocity, Jackson Storm is unbeatable — and he knows it.

Background Information
Before becoming a Piston Cup racer, Jackson was a cyber-sportsman, making a living playing racing video games (most noticeably, the racing game SC3). One day, a businessman set up a cyber-sport tournament which involved racing games. He organized this tournament to find a worthy racer for his team. Of the 18 million cars that entered this competition, Jackson was the winner. As a reward, Mr. Biggs offered to make Storm "the face of video-games" and hire him for his team. He asked Ray Reverham to find Jackson and engage him in the real sport.

In the beginning, Jackson declined, having earned enough money from his career in cyber-sport. He liked his freedom and did not want to change anything. Mr. Biggs blackmailed Storm, saying that if he did not become a racer then he would have to return all the money that he won from the tournament, and that he would not be involved in the video-gaming business. Storm then accepted the offer, but his cockiness was hard to deal with.

He began training in a special racing centre with the other next-generation racers, but again, his attitude was a huge problem. He would often bully other members of the training centre and steal their allotted time on the racing simulators. He would frequently challenge the other racers on the simulators, and upon losing to one racer in particular, Storm raged, damaging equipment and setting off the fire alarm. Due to repeated bad behaviour, Mr. Biggs decided to fire Jackson. Ray saw some kind of potential in Jackson, however, and decided to leave the training centre with him. A trainer from the racing centre had actually contacted IGNTR and told them about Jackson's skills. They offered to sponsor Jackson, which he accepted, on the condition that Ray could be his crew chief.

Personality
Jackson is described as "cocky, unfriendly, and as cool as black ice". He gives off the impression that the world isn't really worth his attention and that nothing could ever impress him. He isn't one to make friends, claiming that he "doesn't roll that way". This is mostly down to deep-routed trust issues, as well as believing himself to be horrible when it comes to making friends. He prefers to spend his time alone playing video games as he feels this is the only thing he's ever been good at.

He expresses disdain when it comes to work, for example turning up late to team meetings and wanting to spend time with the few friends that he has instead. However, Jackson is persistent, and refuses to give up on something once he's started.

Once establishing himself as a racer and becoming aware of how talented and successful he is, Jackson develops a rather large ego. He believes he is representative of his racing generation as a whole and only really cares about himself and winning. Knowing full well that he is capable of incredible things on the track, he tends to take little notice of other competitors, believing that they are no threat to him. Many fellow racers view his cocky demeanour as off-putting, as well as the fact he doesn’t have much regard for the history of the sport or older, veteran racers. On the rare occasion that he does recognise a competitor as a threat, he takes the time to insult them, which will often get into their heads. He openly mocks and acts incredibly disrespectful towards his competition, especially those older than himself.

Despite his overall calm and cool personality, Storm becomes angry in times of weakness, seen when Cruz Ramirez moves to pass him during the Florida 500. Jackson responds by violently barring her against the track’s wall.

Jackson does have positive traits however, as he is shown to only want the best for his racing team.

Trivia
For various trivia about this character, click here.